Trucks park off in Sydney Road

ILLEGALLY parked trucks in Umbilo are in the news again.

Recently Berea Mail noticed lines of trucks parked in Sydney Road, while driving with a Umbilo SAPS officer.

The officer noted that this was an ongoing problem, and other police officers who were stationed in the road had said business owners had complained to them about this, however this was a Metro Police issue.

Morgan Subramoney from Metro Police said: “This was a case of a diesel price drop, and therefore there was an influx of trucks to refuel at the fuel depot. An officer indicated that there were no obstructions to entrances or exits to business premises.”

Last September an Umbilo resident raised concerns over the number of trucks double- and triple-parked along Sydney Road, making the area extremely hazardous and sometimes almost impassable at night.

Vanessa Burger said the number of parked trucks reduced Sydney Road by two lanes on some days, which she said, must have a considerable impact on local businesses and air quality. She said the truckstop/garage opposite Dalton Hostel was often totally gridlocked and unusable for obtaining fuel.

At the time she noted a homeless man was killed by a truck outside Dalton Hostel and said she had witnessed another three near misses within one hour, as trucks narrowly missed residents crossing the road in the evening when they were returning from work.

“Because of the parked trucks lining both sides of the road, oncoming traffic was obscured to pedestrians who take their lives in their hands each time they cross the road. There are also many children who live at the hostel and cross Sydney Road twice daily to catch taxis to and from school,” she said.

She said many other areas around south Durban were 'under siege' as the number of trucks on residential roads and through business areas had increased dramatically.

Many complaints had been received by Berea Mail last year regarding trucks illegally parked in Hillier and Teignmouth Roads in Umbilo, and one resident reported an accident last month where a driver's vision was obscured by a truck parked in the road.