WORRIED residents in a street plagued by parking chaos watched as firemen had to leave two engines at the top of the road and walk to a house where there was a suspected fire.

People in Holland Road, Westcliff say they are sick of parking problems in their road and were amazed when the engines were forced to park at the top of the street when it looked like they couldn’t get access.

Crews then had to trudge down the road on foot on Tuesday afternoon, but luckily the call had only been a false alarm.

Julian Lowes, chairman of Milton Community Group, said: “People are worried about emergency services reaching them. This call-out was probably very minor by the look of it but what happend if there was a raging fire? They will have to run hoses all the way down Holland Road or all the way down from the seafront. “

It’s not the best way to fight a fire, especially as there are so many elderly residents in the area.” P

arking pressures in the area have reached boiling point with many residents blaming Southend Council for letting homes be converted into flats.

The extra people they house have been clamouring to park in the street along with commuters who use Westcliff railway station.

Cheryl Hindle-Terry, Southend Council’s Team Leader of the Parking, Traffic Management and Road Safety Team, said: “Holland Road is not subject to parking restrictions and vehicles regularly park on both sides of the road. “

However we do work closely with the Fire Service and if they identify a parking concern, we will of course propose action to avoid any potential delays to emergency situations.”

She said they had surveyed residents in streets around Westcliff railway station in 2011 about parking controls .