Churchill Labour Councillors Andrea Mann and Shamim Talukder have secured action on Pimlico Road coach parking. After receiving this enquiry from a resident, they made immediate enquiries to the Council’s Highways Team. Residents say:

“Coaches are often parking on Pimlico Road in the morning, waiting to enter Victoria Coach Station.  I do not feel this is fair to residents that nearby streets are used as a permanent parking zones.  Royal Hospital Road banned coach parking last year, quite effectively I hear.   Why is this not possible for Pimlico Road, which is far busier and more polluted?   Without some action, Pimlico Road may find itself with a queue of waiting coaches, as used to be the case on Royal Hospital Road.”

Now the Council will be taking action. The Highways Team say:

“Pimlico Road is the strategic exit route from Victoria Coach Station for services out to Heathrow and the West in general – so it is advised that a Bus/ Coach ban on the road is not viable. However, the parking or waiting of coaches on sections of Single or Double Yellow Lines (during controlled hours for Single Yellow Lines) (SYL) will be in contravention to the local SYL controls at this location, in that:

• During the controlled hours – presumed to be Mon to Fri 8.30am to 6.30pm (need to check) no motorised vehicles are permitted to park on the SYLs
• And there is one sign at the entry to Pimlico Road west of its junction with Ebury Bridge Road that indicates that HGVs and Bus/Coaches are not permitted to wait or park – any day outside of the about SYL controlled hours ie Midnight to 8am and 6.30pm to Midnight.

I am forwarding this complaint about coach parking on Pimlico Road to the enforcement team for attention. However, the presence of this old and faded sign is inadequate to promote the order and we suspect that all other signs have been lost when lamp columns were replaced etc. So, we will look into this matter.In the meantime, we will also contact Victoria Coach Station management and FLIXBUS management to make contact with the operating companies.”

Also, the Council will soon be commencing the design and implementation of a proposed Ebury Bridge Road coach ban scheme. Given the inadequate signage mentioned above, they will also be “seeking to totally refresh this traffic order by implementing a set of new, larger and clear signs along the length of the road towards the Royal Hospital Road boundary with RBKC as means to fully clarifying this order for coach drivers.”