PARKED cars left recklessly blocking residential streets have prompted a group of residents in York to plead with the council to take action.

The roads around Clifton have become so bunged up with cars that householders are taking a petition about their concerns to City of York Council.

The Clifton Residents' Association is organising the petition, which will be discussed at a meeting in April before ward councillor Ken King presents it to the council.

Coun King has dubbed the parking situation in Clifton "dangerous, difficult and unsightly" and Residents' Association chairman Marjorie Sharp said the problem has grown worse as more and more households in Clifton got more than one car.

And although the association has tried to help by getting dropped kerbs outside homes so people can use front gardens as driveways, this has not always been possible, she added.

Residential street Burdyke Avenue is particularly badly hit, where it can be difficult for buses to get through, as are streets close to York District Hospital where visitors or staff use the residential streets as an alternative to the hospital's car park.

Mrs Sharp said: "I know of someone on Ratcliffe Street who had to go four streets away to find a space, her street was so full."

There are several ways the problem could be tackled, Coun King and Mrs Sharp said, but the petition calls on council officials come up with whatever solution they think best .

Coun King added: "It may be that we need more parking bays, or it could be another solution, but we leave that to the experts at the council.

"I accept that money is tight at the moment so we need to find a reasonably cheap solution to this problem."

The council's Traffic Netowrk Manager Alistair Briggs agrees there is a problem for people in the area. He said: “We are currently investigating ways to help resolve parking problems in the area of Burdyke Avenue, and whether we’re able to put forward restrictions such as yellow lines to ensure the road can be used for normal through traffic."

Dangerously parked vehicles should be reported to the police, he added.