Neighbours hit out at car hire firm over parking

Vehicle rental company Enterprise has been accused of congesting residential streets in west London, leaving families struggling to park and temporarily blocking a resident's driveway.

Residents living near the firm's King Street office in Hammersmith claim the company's use of local parking bays for customers turns the neighbourhood into "Piccadilly Circus" most mornings.

Drew Palmer, who has lived on Ravenscourt Road with his family for six years, said the issue had become particularly bad over the past 12 months.

Enterprise apologised to residents, saying it is "committed to being a good neighbour" and that it had secured overflow parking to help ease the congestion.

Palmer said: "Some of [the vehicles] are not locked properly at night, the windows aren't shut, so you will have a car alarm going off at two or three in the morning. I have a dog it will drive absolutely mad.

"It will just echo up and down the street, because generally the street's quite a quiet street."

Photographs seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service show large vans occupying bays along Ravenscourt Road, presenting challenges for other drivers.

Palmer said the issue got worse during drop-off and pick-up times at nearby schools as parents are left with nowhere to park.

In one instance, he said, an Enterprise van covered much of the entrance to his driveway for 36 hours over a weekend.

"It was a Saturday morning, because there's no parking restrictions here on Saturday or Sunday. It wasn't until Monday morning I stomped up there, absolutely livid because we couldn't get in," Palmer added.

Michael Rivers, another resident escalating concerns about the firm, claimed that Enterprise was trading on the street without the relevant licence.

He said: "If they want to pretend that it's not trading then they must put that on record formally, and we will contest that.

"Because it is trading, and it requires a licence and we will move Hammersmith not to grant them a licence."

Palmer agreed, saying that customers are "encouraged" to collect and drop hired vehicles from the residential streets, and that Enterprise staff operate with their iPads outside its premises.

Rivers said the council's record on the matter has been "very complacent and lax", calling for further enforcement.

Describing the wider impact, Palmer said: "You have to park miles away. Or if you've got young children with your shopping or prams or strollers, then you're stuffed. Absolutely stuffed."

A spokesperson for Enterprise said: "We understand the concerns that have been raised about parking and traffic around this busy location and are actively working to address them."

A Hammersmith and Fulham Council spokesperson said: "We recently spoke to Enterprise rental and they agreed to find a new solution. We are monitoring the situation closely and appreciate everyone working together to solve this problem."

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