Cosham physiotherapist frustrated with 'eyesore' broken vehicles and claims Salisbury Road has become a 'junkyard'

Broken vehicles strewn across Salisbury Road, Cosham, are making it difficult for staff and patients at Gary Sadler Physiotherapy Clinic to park.

Co-owner Sarah Moore said the issue has been going on for almost five years and that the suspected perpetrator refuses to co-operate with her requests to move the cars, vans and trucks. There is also a boat in a nearby street.

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More than a dozen dilapidated cars, vans and lorries block sections of the road and pavement in the area. Some have obvious damage including deployed airbags, and many have flat tyres.

Sarah said: ‘There’s a particular gentleman and his wife who had a yard and basically buy broken down or smashed up BMWs, predominantly - although they’ve got a a lot of vans down there as well - and then take parts of them and sell them.

‘They got kicked out of the yard they were in and they were supposedly going to a new yard but when you speak to them he said “I’m not paying for a new yard and as long as they’ve got tax, I can park down your street." It just looks like a junkyard down here - it literally is.

‘We’ve got 12 smashed-up, broken-down vans and BMWs with airbags all off and then there’s a whole load of them including a boat down Knowsley Road. I would think you’d struggle to get a fire engine down here in the event of a fire. Patients can’t park near to our clinic, they’re having to park miles away. Some of them are injured or elderly so that causes a problem.’

Sarah has raised the issue with the authorities but has been told that - so long as the vehicles are taxed - the behaviour is not against the law.

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Portsmouth City Council councillor and cabinet member for traffic and transportation Lynne Stagg said: ‘It's a very difficult one. Any vehicle can park on the highway unless it's a restricted area - such as double yellow lines or a dropped curb - as long as it's taxed.

‘They’re an eyesore. It’s potentially dangerous as well because they’re so close together - the ones I saw were on quite a nasty corner. They really need to be inspected and something done about them if the law allows that to happen.’

Sarah claims that when she has confronted the man in question on multiple occasions, he has said he does not have to move any of the vehicles and was ‘not interested’ in discussing the matter.

The News visited an address where the owner of the vehicles is believed to live but was unable to contact them. Neighbours, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed that the issue was a known problem and has been ongoing for several years. They said they were concerned about safety issues posed by the vehicles’ presence.