LETTERS: Ridings Centre in Wakefield needs traffic issues sorting

It would have been even better news if, at the same time, the council’s highways department had announced an improvement in the approach to and exit from the multi-storey car park in George Street.

At busy times, and especially during the Christmas period, drivers trying to leave the car park and turn right into George Street face a multitude of hazards. Their view of oncoming traffic on their right is obstructed by taxis parked on the double yellow lines outside Morrisons. Why this illegal practice has been allowed to continue for so long I cannot understand.

There is no alternative but to pull out into the road in order to see around the taxis, while at the same time keeping a sharp lookout for cars coming from the left, whose drivers tend to cut the corner when turning into the car park and pass too close for comfort. At the same time there are vehicles coming from Thornhill Street and, as if that were not enough, some pedestrians choose to cross the road at that point instead of walking to the controlled crossing just a few metres away.

The reward for successfully negotiating these hazards is a bumpy ride along George Street, the surface of which is in the disgraceful condition that is all too common in this district.

For these reasons, I avoid the Ridings as much as possible, preferring to take my custom elsewhere, where the parking is free and the exit is hazard-free.

Eric Cudworth

Beechwood Grove, Horbury