A quiet residential street in Shepherd’s Bush has consistently received the most parking tickets in south west London since 2017.
MacFarlane Road in Shepherd’s Bush reportedly receives on average 14 parking tickets a day and is the number one hotspot for parking violations in Hammersmith & Fulham.
The short tree lined street near Westfield in White City received 14,318 tickets between November 2017 and October 2020 for various parking contraventions according to data from Proviser, a nationwide parking ticket database.
MacFarlane Road resident Umar Rafi said: “The parking is pretty bad, it’s really annoying because if someone wants to come visit, they have difficulty parking.
“You can pay for parking around the corner, but there’s only three spots and they’re always full.
“Even when my parents come to visit, they have to park on a different road.”
The data revealed that Hammersmith & Fulham residents receive the most amount of parking tickets in all south west London boroughs.
In an average year the borough receives 244,075 parking tickets.
Fines include parking in resident’s bays without clearly displaying a permit and not displaying the right ticket for the location.
Proviser created their parking tickets database from data collected from parking charge notices (PCN) and parking fine information using Freedom of Information requests to local authorities across the country.
The second highest borough for parking fines is Lambeth with 236,549 tickets issued and Kensington & Chelsea comes a close third with 219,243.
But MacFarlane Road tops the tables with 5,082 parking tickets a year, the most of any residential street in south west London.
With Westfield shopping centre just metres away from MacFarlane Road, the street was being used as a sneaky pit stop for shoppers to park up and quickly enjoy the facilities without having to pay a premium for parking.
The council took strict measures to ensure the parking bays were purely used by those who lived there.
John Stone* who has lived on the road for 32 years said: “It’s actually because of Westfield, it would be completely crazy otherwise.
“It was a complete nightmare, it is so handy for Westfield, everybody would want to park in the street.
“Before the council sorted it there would be stupid people blocking the street.
“If you have visitors, you have to register them under the gringo scheme for them to be able to park here, the same goes for disabled people, even if you’ve got a blue badge.
“I feel good about it because otherwise, like on Boxing Day when people still do try and drive down here, it gets so busy and thank God they give up and park somewhere else.”
Other ticket hotspots in Shepherd’s Bush include Wood Lane, Uxbridge Road and Bulwer Street, all of which surround the Westfield shopping centre district.
A Royal Mail worker who wished to be anonymous said: “It is what it is. If people are parking in there it’s their own fault, there are obvious signs.
“The parking restrictions are until 10pm, I think it’s because of Westfield. It does make my job a little difficult when I’m doing this route.”
*Name has been changed to protect anonymity.
