Road safety campaigners have slammed the introduction of new traffic calming measures outside Harold Hill Health Centre which they claim have made the situation worse.

The measures were introduced in Gooshays drive by Havering council several months ago following complaints about parking from residents and users of the centre.

But to their dismay, the number of parking spaces has been reduced to two, and a series of bollards have now appeared in the centre of the road.

And residents say that patients of the health centre still park in the road out of necessity, so that buses and heavy vehicles have to edge past or wait for them to move.

Harold Hill road safety campaigner Dave Ainsworth said: "People who use the health centre still park their cars outside anyway, so to prevent them from doing so is plain daft.

"They are now parking further down the road, on a bend, so causing even more obstruction. As for the bollards, I and others have personally witnessed buses and other large vehicles being forced to drive on the wrong side of the road in order to proceed.

"Too often the council has solved one problem by causing two more, but here they haven't even solved the original concern.

"You would have thought that they would have learned their lesson from the shambolic siting of bollards at Petersfield Avenue shops - but no!"

Patients at the Health Centre also expressed their concern.

Lesley Burns, of Romford, said: "It is a pain. People still park round here and in the afternoons it is really quite busy. There are so many bollards as well."

One young mother, who did not wish to be named, said: "I don't know why they did it. It means we have got to park across the road, which is a hassle when you have young children."

Paul Hurst, chief inspector of Thameside bus company, also added his weight to the disapproval.

He said: "We have had one or two complaints from our drivers."

"There have been some problems caused by the narrowing of the road, and we are getting round it, but it could be better.

"It delays vehicles, but not excessively at the moment."

A spokeswoman for Havering Council responded: "The measures were introduced earlier this year.

"We are aware that concerns have been raised and we are currently looking at the situation to see what changes, if any, may be necessary."

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