We HATE living near a major football ground – there’s parking rows and rubbish dumped everywhere… we’re being forced out
LOCALS of the streets near a major footie ground have revealed what life is like as parking rows rage and fans dump rubbish everywhere.
Residents complained that their streets are used as rubbish bins and urinals on match days and say that it’s a “nightmare”.
The people living on Partridge Street, Manchester, which sits in the shadow of Man United’s iconic home of Old Trafford, claimed that the problems have “been going on for donkeys years” and never seem to be solved.
Graham Wright, who has lived on the street since 1989, told Manchester Evening News: “These problems have been going on for donkeys years. The fly-tipping and dumping rubbish in the alleyways is just horrendous.
“Wetherspoons gets absolutely jam packed so people end up peeing up the walls”
He claimed that a gate had been put up to stop supporters accessing the residential road from the main route to the stadium, but that the lock had been filled with superglue to prevent it being shut.
When Graham took matters into his own hands and put his own padlock on the gate, he said it was soon cut with pliers.
However, he explained that the parking was the worst issue of all.
The street requires a permit 24 hours a day, but Graham said that some fans dump their cars on the road anyway and willingly foot the bill.
He explained: “People just park on the street and are fined. That fine is reduced to around £30 if they pay within a week, which, if you have a car of four people, is only £7.50 each. So, really, it’s just the same as parking in a normal car park isn’t it?
“You learn to put up with these things. When I moved in, 40,000 fans would come to the stadium – but now that’s over 70,000. You can imagine what that’s like.
“The parking is a nightmare. You really want to see what we have to put up with on a match day or event day. We pay for a permit but it still doesn’t guarantee we will get a space anywhere near our house, so what are we paying for?”
He added that the problem has become so bad that he has had his house valued and is thinking of selling up, saying: “They are forcing us away.”
In the neighbouring Sir Matt Busby Way, the road separated from Graham’s by a gate, Ali Mirage experiences similar frustrations.
The road, where he has lived since 2014, is blocked off by police on match days and sees tens of thousands of fans walk along it when their team are in action.
Ali said: “I’ve actually written to our MP because anyone that lives along here or on the street behind us needs a permit. But that doesn’t mean you have a reserved space. It’s a joke.
“We can’t park our cars here at all on match days, so when we then try and park on the street behind us, they all kick up a big fuss even though it isn’t reserved for them either. We have to try and sneak our cars in at night.
“The back gates to the alleyway usually stay open, so people sneak in there, take their pants down and urinate. It’s a nightmare to be honest, we need the police patrolling the area and the backstreets.”
Ali is now considering starting a petition for private parking spaces outside each house to guarantee a spot on peak days.
In January, Trafford Council announced a public consultation on the issues after a stream of complaints from locals.
Councillor Tom Ross, who leads the council, said: “We know that the vast majority of matchday and event fans are well-behaved and a credit to Manchester United and visiting teams.
“However, there is a small minority of anti-social people so we want to find out the impact their behaviour has on the lives of people in our communities around Old Trafford football stadium.”
Manchester United did not provide comment to Manchester Evening News but pointed to that fact that the club has reintroduced a quarterly councillor forum to hear local concerns.
They have also paid for 12 temporary match day toilets and have pledge £22,000 to install better gates in the alleyways around the ground.