Driver disgusted by broken glass in car park

I want this to be brought to the attention of Banbridge District Council regarding this matter. It refers to the car park at the back of premises in Bridge Street, Banbridge.

I am a 54-year-old lady and have been a citizen of this town for over 50 years and I am saddened to say that the standards of premises and car parking in this area are an absolute disgrace.

I always do my shopping in Bridge Street, and it is so convenient to the Butcher, the Baker and Greengrocer shops to park my car at the back of The Bridge Bar and Lyttle’s furnishing shop.

I have arthritis and carrying shopping bags long distances is quite an ordeal, so to make life easier I use this car park on a weekly basis because I do not have to walk long distances with my shopping.

On Saturday January 14 I drove into this park at around 12noon and could not drive my car into any of the empty spaces at the back of these shops. There was so much broken glass which I could clearly recognise as beer bottles, Smirnoff bottles, Buckfast - too many to mention!

It seems to be happening now quite often.

This is an awful sight and certainly does not create a good image or most certainly would not encourage any visitors to visit our beautiful park and play park in this town.

Name and address supplied

Responding to the lady’s comments Eric Morton, Operations Manager from the council’s Technical Services said, “The car park is cleaned from Monday to Friday every week. On the occasion mentioned above it would appear those reponsible for the broken glass had got hold of a wheelie bin outside the back of a local pub and proceeded to smash much of its contents in the car park.

“When we heard about this the car park was cleaned on Sunday morning.”

A spokeswoman for Roads Service said, “While Road Service has the responsibility for this car park, under a local agreement, the Council cleans it.”