Burger van owner claims lack of parking spaces is hitting her business (From Gazette Series)

Burger van owner in Yate claims lack of parking spaces is hitting her business

8:40am Thursday 2nd February 2012 in Yate and Sodbury news By Alexandra Womack

Sue Hackett who is unhappy about the parking next to her snack trailer in Culvert Avenue, Yate

A BURGER van owner who has been serving up bacon butties for 16 years claims she is being forced out of business by South Gloucestershire Council staff taking up all available parking spaces.

Sue Hackett started trading on Culvert Avenue, at the entrance to the Westerleigh Business Park, in 1996 but says since the council’s Badminton Road office opened in the spring of 2010 hungry customers have been buying their breakfast elsewhere.

"I am losing £130 plus a week, or between £500 and £600 a month," said Mrs Hackett, 57.

"Lorry drivers cannot park because all the spaces are taken up by council staff so they drive on by. Even my regulars find it difficult to stop and I am definitely missing out on a lot of passing trade.

"There used to be two of us working flat out but now there is barely enough work for one person."

Mrs Hackett, who has lived in Yate all her life and was brought up in one of 26 now demolished council houses on the site of the £32million Badminton Road office, said her financial woes had led to health problems as well as the recent breakdown of her marriage.

"There never used to be any parking problems here until that office opened," she said.

"Since then it has been a nightmare. It is so stressful but I will not be driven out by the council.

"I have always paid my £1,400 annual licence fee but when I called the council to raise the issue they just said 'tough' basically."

Mrs Hackett has kept logs which show up to 16 council staff cars parked on Culvert Avenue on an average weekday morning and said she had witnessed employees moving their vehicles elsewhere on the industrial estate every two hours because of the parking time limit.

"There has to be some restriction otherwise council staff would park here all day," she said.

"I would like it reduced to one hour so lorry drivers can stop for a break and to discourage council staff."

Shortly after the council office opened, the Gazette reported how businesses in the nearby Beeches Industrial Estate faced similar parking problems.

More than 700 staff are based at Badminton Road but there are just 312 car parking spaces and employees who live in a two-mile radius of the building are not allocated a parking permit.

A South Gloucestershire Council spokeswoman said: "The waiting restrictions implemented on the A432 Badminton Road immediately surrounding the council office, which includes Culvert Avenue, allows on-street parking for any vehicle for a period of up to two hours, Monday to Friday, between 8am and 6pm.

"These restrictions were subject to various stages of extensive public consultation between 2009 and 2011.

"We also operate a green travel plan at our Badminton Road office to encourage our staff to use sustainable travel options to help reduce congestion and minimise parking on nearby roads."