Drivers urged to park better after buses blocked

Cafe operators on Jersey's north coast have asked drivers to be more considerate after bad parking prevented buses from reaching them, and could potentially block emergency service vehicles.

Drivers were warned about "inconsiderate parking" over the weekend by Trinity Honorary Police at Bouley Bay and LibertyBus also cancelled its service to Bonne Nuit because of similar issues earlier this month.

Mary Tunney owns Mad Mary Beach Cafe at Bouley Bay and said: "There's just a few people that don't abide by the rules and make it difficult for everybody else."

Cameron Huri from Bonne Nuit Beach Cafe added: "We lose a bit of business when people can't get to us by bus."

Tunney has been running the cafe in Bouley Bay for 22 years and said she had never seen the area as busy as it had been during the recent hot weather.

She said: "I've never seen it so busy here... obviously it's brilliant people are coming down here.

"We just need those one or two people to make sure that they're parking considerately."

Huri's family have been running Bonne Nuit Beach Cafe for more than 10 years and he said: "When the bus can't down here because of the parking in the wrong place then it limits the amount of customers we can have per day."

Kevin Hart from LibertyBus said the issue has been hard for bus drivers to deal with.

He said: "We couldn't even get to the point of turn around so unfortunately, we had to cancel the services for about four hours until the issue was resolved."

Hart added: "All we want people is to take some consideration because if we can't get through it means a fire engine can't get through so it really is a safety issue.

"There are places in Jersey where buses no longer serve because of indiscriminate parking over the years so we don't want that to happen to anywhere else."

Andy Jehan, Constable of St John, said the parish was worried about the safety implications of bad parking in places like Bonne Nuit Bay.

He said: "The biggest concern is the ability of emergency vehicles to get to the bay with higher usage increases the amount of risk of an incident happening."

Jehan added "It's not just limited to Bonne Nuit and I would ask people to just be considerate if there isn't any park and then unfortunately, you're going to have to move on and find somewhere else."

Jehan also raised concerns about how honorary police officers are treated when they speak to drivers about parking.

He said: "They've received some unpleasant comments from some people who have been totally inappropriately parked... it's totally unacceptable".

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