A family of six are calling on the council to make a Reading road safer after five of their parked cars were damaged by traffic.

The Lewis’ have watched drivers crash into their vehicles, scrape their paintwork and smash their wing-mirrors since Norcot Road was turned into a red route in March 2020.

Owain Lewis, 20, saved for a year for a Ford which was totalled by another car in just two months before Christmas, and on Saturday, his sister Charlotte, 27, found her Renault the victim of a hit and run.

“I was distraught. I didn’t know what to do, I just fell on the floor,” said Owain after his car was written off.

“It was a car I wanted for a really long time so I was not best please, to be honest.”

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All the accidents have occurred while the Lewis’ cars have been parked in bays built for residents after the red route stopped them parking on the verge.

“It’s a complete mess there’s just not enough space for it and then when you get the buses come past it’s even worse,” said Owain.

He described how bays on opposite sides of the road are too close together, forcing cars to swerve into a narrower carriageway and closer to oncoming traffic.

As a result, he said the wing mirrors were knocked off his previous two cars every other month.

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Sister Steff Lewis, 29, also repeatedly suffered wing mirror damage before she moved to Caversham.

“They work hard to save the money for their cars,” she said of her family.

She called on the council to make changes to the bays, including more lighting, or to remove the red route altogether.

Reading Chronicle:

A spokesperson for Reading Borough Council said: “It is a 30mph residential street with street lighting, the bays meet necessary standards and there is good inter-visibility.

“The Red Route further improves the area by clearing footways and verges of parking, and clearing areas of carriageway of parked cars where it is not considered appropriate, for example on the inside of bends.

“On-street parking is incredibly common, and whilst it may be easy to blame accidents on the change to a Red Route, they are caused by poor driving and driver behaviour.”