RESIDENTS in a north Kent village are battling with a mass of parking restrictions put in place to stop commuters taking over the roads.

Greenhithe village was designated a controlled parking zone by Dartford Council in August last year after fast rail links to London attracted commuters in their carloads.

But the restrictions mean that Greenhithe homeowners now struggle to park, and have to move their cars during the day due to restrictions.

Tim Carrington, of High Street, cannot park outside his own house. He said: “The restrictions are necessary because they started a busy railway station without adequate parking so commuters come into Greenhithe to park. But the council has got to look after residents first.”

He added: “I’m one of seven people in the street without any off-street parking. We are fighting with commuters, residents and visitors.”

Mother-of-three Jackie Smale, of Argles Close, has a single yellow line outside her house where cars cannot park between 11am and 12pm weekdays.

Mrs Smale, whose family has four cars, said: “I know it’s only an hour but it’s easy to forget when you’re doing household chores or if someone visits. There are places to move the cars to but they are restricted too because you can only stay there for four hours.

“When you have only room for one car on your drive it’s really inconvenient.”

Residential parking permits, costing £50 a year, are only available for six Greenhithe streets.

Dartford Council were unavailable for comment.

Parking restrictions

  • Double yellow lines - to prevent parking at any time on certain stretches of road.
  • Single yellow lines - to stop cars parking on both sides of the road. Some also have signposted restrictions, to prevent all day parking by commuters.
  • Waiting bays - painted bays in which cars can stay for a restricted number of hours.
  • Resident permit parking bays - costing £50 a year, residential permits allow drivers to park in bays in the zone to which they are registered and operate 9.30am to 4pm Monday to Friday. Visitor permits can also be purchased at £1 for each day.
  • Permit holders’ parking bays - commuter season permit holders only can park in these bays from 5am to 6pm. The permits cost £60 a month.
  • Shared use bays - with both limited waiting restrictions and permit use.