Breeze blocks and cones are being used to save parking spaces on Croydon’s streets due to a lack of council funds for more parking permits.

Residents are concerned over the disorganisation of controlled parking zones (CPZ) and residential parking permits across Croydon.

A CPZ requires people to buy a permit or pay for parking within the area. CPZs cover Croydon town centre, Coulsdon town centre, East Outer perimeter, South Norwood centre and Thorton Heath, where the main commenter train stations are.

According to Croydon Council website, Oval Road, Dominion Road and Dartnell Road all miss out on the area covered by a CPZ, therefore people utilise their roads so they do not have to pay for permits or parking within the area.

Commuters to East Croydon station dodge the CPZ fares by parking on these residential roads. Residents of Dominion Road and Dartnell Road have had their request for a ‘controlled parking zone’ rejected by the council despite the severe parking congestions.

The residents have resulted to using various objects to save their parking spaces.

A resident from Dominion Road claims they spoke to the council and they said they have run out of funds for new CPZs. One local claimed that parking is now so difficult to find that people are “using bins, cones roadblocks, spare cars, and spare tyres” to try and save spaces.

They added: “I have tried reporting it on the council app, but nothing has been done. My partner works late shifts, and when he comes back, every parking space available is taken on our road. He has to go to a RingGo car park and pay instead. I am happy to pay for a permit on another road, but they won’t let me if I don’t have a certain address.”

A resident from Oval Road, which is very close to East Croydon station, said: “There is an awful lack of parking space on Oval Road, yet it’s often used for access to the town centre and East Croydon train station.”

“We approached councillors for a petition to restrict parking for non-residents, but we’ve been ignored and told that we could not do that, despite similar petitions being put forward in other wards in the past.”

Eastlondonlines also talked to residents in the wider Croydon area and found out what they would like the council to do. Some wished to remain anonymous.

Peter Edwards, who lives near another station in North Croydon, said: “People will park all day on our road because we [are] within walking distance of a Zone 4 station, instead of a Zone 5 one. This saves them hundreds on their season tickets but leaves us with nowhere close by to park.”

He added: “It really should be in the Parking Enforcement team’s remit to remove obstacles in the road and to issue warning notices if it is clear which households frequently act in this anti-social manner.”

When asked what they would like to see from the council in response to the parking chaos, a local said: “Short term, they should give out fines to those using residential road parking, but long term they need to change the way they use permits, especially for commuters using the stations. People are using drastic measures to hold parking spaces and the council is not doing enough to tackle it.”

Ramesh Rao, a resident from Addiscombe Railway Park said: “I don’t believe anything is going to change in the foreseeable future, especially with the finances of Croydon Council.”

Croydon Council told ELL: “We have 11 areas to consult. With the current resources within the team, we cannot estimate when we would be in a position to consult residents [on these roads] and the surrounding area. We are making a case for additional resources to enable us to improve our capacity and if this happens, then we should be able to consult more areas by next year.”