NEIGHBOURS are running out of patience over parking issues involving staff and contractors at a key Covid vaccine site in Swindon. 

People living near Thermo Fisher say that for months people working at the biotechnology giant’s base in Kingfisher Drive have invaded the surrounding residential areas with their cars and parked inconsiderately. 

Householders in streets like Smitan Brook, Cole Close, Lovell Close and Robinson Close claim they often have to deal with bad or illegal parking, reporting blocked driveways, parking on bends or zig-zagged areas and and cut-up grass verges.

Paul Baxter is one of the people living on Lovell Close and he has described the level of the problem and why there’s so much strength of feeling towards it.

“More often than not I’ll come home and there’ll be nowhere to park in my street, which is fine, but it does start to take its toll when its everyday,”  said the 60-year-old.

“My wife’s dad is also suffering from an illness so he can’t walk that far. When he visits he often has to.

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“Then there’s parking in front of driveways, taking up two spaces when they could take one and some neighbours who have asked them to move have received abuse back.

“It’s been a big problem for months now and whenever anyone tries to do something about it, no-one seems to respond.

“It’s got a lot worse recently with people parking wherever they want and people are worried that it’ll get worse again.

“There’ll be a revolt in Covingham if things carry on like this,” Paul added.

“But at the moment the tension, the anger, the growing anger, it’s all unnecessary, Thermo Fisher needs to do something.”

It was announced in October that the US company will become a production hub for worldwide supply of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, potentially bringing £70m investment and 200 jobs to the town.

Ward councillor Kevin Parry said: “I very much welcome the work that Thermo Fisher are doing regarding the vaccinations and employment of local people within the facilities.

“But obviously the parking is a concern to local residents, and myself, and I’m not happy with it.

“I’ve raised this with council officers and they have issued tickets where they can but at this moment of time we have a situation where employees are parking on grass verges, are blocking residents access and are parking on zig-zagged areas – this behaviour is disgraceful and shows a lack of respect.

“Thermo Fisher have given reassurances that their on-site parking will be back open shortly – we want them to be a company that people are proud of and that doesn’t impact on the local community.

Mike Potts, the senior director and general manager of the Swindon site, has since written a public letter to affected residents explaining the action the company has taken.

“I would like to thank you for your patience during our site expansion project,” he wrote.

“We would like to acknowledge the increased number of vehicles parked near the site over the past few months and would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and disruption this has caused.”

Mr Potts said Thermo Fisher had arranged for off-site parking and a shuttle bus to transport staff, as well as issued guidance to all staff not to park in residential areas. 

He also committed to covering the costs of repairs to several grass verges that had been damaged in the area. 

He wrote that in December some of the expansion work will be complete which will open up further parking space for workers and contractors and should help alleviate the problem.