RESIDENTS living near Colchester General Hospital are outraged after highways chiefs claimed there were no parking problems in their streets.

Essex County Council said it would not introduce yellow lines near the hospital, in Turner Road, because it did not think there was a problem.

It has dismissed the concerns of 100 residents, who attended a meeting in November to complain about problems in Kingswood Road, Wryneck Close and Lufkin Road.

They complained that hospital staff were parking in their streets and said refuse lorries and other large vehicles struggle to make it down their roads because of the volume of cars.

Colchester Council urged the county council to introduce parking restrictions.

But Norman Hume, county councillor responsbile for highways, said traffic surveys and recent visits to the site found there were plenty of spaces for residents to park and no turning areas or driveways were obstructed.

John Atkins, 72, of Kingswood Road, told the meeting: “I don’t know where you get these morons and what information they work on, but I would love them to come and live here. We have all had our drives blocked.

“They park on the pavement. One of our neighbours had his wall knocked down three times by people doing three point turns, the road surface is broken up badly – I would dispute there is no problem.”

Doreen Lee, 80, of Kingswood Road, said: “I was up at 7.30am yesterday and there were cars all the way down the road.

“My neighbours had to call the police because they couldn’t get out of their drive the other day.

“There is a problem and the county council needs to come here and look at it properly – not just for an hour, but a whole day or a week.”

Martin Goss, who raised the issue with Colchester Council’s strategic overview and scrutiny committee, said he was disappointed with the county council’s response.

He added: “It just shows there is a need for a unitary authority in Colchester to deliver solutions for people that are actually needed – not to say there is no problem.”