RESIDENTS are urging the council to tighten parking restrictions on a Radcliffe street after an ambulance was unable to get to an emergency.

When Denis Garvey (76), of Shirebrook Drive, collapsed in his front garden on Tuesday, July 27, his neighbour, Mr Steve Beswick, telephoned for an ambulance.

But when the emergency vehicle arrived, the paramedics were unable to get to Mr Garvey's home because of double-parked cars.

Mr Beswick (33), said: "The ambulance came within about three minutes, but because of all the cars, it could not get to the front of Denis's house.

"It took about three minutes for the ambulance to arrive but ten minutes for the paramedics to actually get to him. The paramedics were wonderful. They brought a wheeled stretcher down to the house and carried him to the ambulance. But I had to run to the various buildings around the area and ask people to move their cars."

Neighbours in the area have already written to Bury Council about the problem, and say that a number of the cars belong to council workers from the Radcliffe area office on Whittaker Street.

Mr Garvey's wife, Sheila (74), said: "We see them getting out of their cars with the badges around their necks. We have got a petition before now, because of this problem, but the council said there is nothing they can do. They came on a day when the traffic was relatively light, so I bet they wondered what we were moaning about.

"Luckily everything was alright in the end, and Denis was fine, but what if there had been a fire? A fire engine would have never been able to get all the way down because of the cars."

The residents are so concerned about the problem, they are urging Bury Council to restrict parking in Shirebrook Drive to residents-only.

Mrs Garvey added: "We sometimes have to park right at the top of the street if we have been shopping because someone has parked in the space at the front of our house. And if we have been on a full shop, it means carrying all the bags down to the house."

Mr Ian Lord, Bury Council's traffic management and road safety manager, said: "We are aware of this and are investigating but at this stage I can't say anything further."