Seaholme railway station anger as drivers booked

A commuter says she is disgusted after being booked for angle parking at Seaholme railway station, which recently underwent a controversial design change.

In April, the Weekly reported commuters’ fears that insufficient parking at Seaholme would lead to people deserting the station. The council had installed bollards north of the station that prevented people from angle parking. It then introduced parallel parking.

The furore, which exploded on Facebook last week, came on the same night the council vowed to prioritise parking provision in Williamstown.

Last week’s council meeting heard that it was awaiting plans from Coles for a decked car park behind the supermarket and Williamstown Town Hall.

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Jodi Swinn posted on Facebook that she was “absolutely disgusted” to find a parking ticket on her – and every other – car at Seaholme station.

“It seems someone has decided to penalise those who have no choice but to park angle [sic] rather than parallel due to the cars already there, and the fact that the trees are in the way.

“Way to discourage people from using Altona Loop to begin with – should I go back to driving to Newport because they actually have parking? People will drive to Newport, which will lead to less patronage on Altona Loop, which will not encourage Metro to increase services.”

Commuters posted on Facebook that they couldn’t park in surrounding streets because two-hour restrictions had been implemented at the request of residents.

The council will build more commuter parking in Market Street, Newport, but an officer’s report said this should not come at the expense of residents’ parking.

The report said the council was in talks to introduce unrestricted parking for Altona commuters on the south side of Railway Street North.