THE Red Lion pub has offered to bail out rail commuters faced with a £70 fine for refusing to pay to park at Goostrey station.

The Station Road pub has offered its car park to commuters, who have been parking in the road refusing to spend £3 a day to leave their vehicles in the car park.

Now, villagers plagued all day by vehicles outside their homes have posted a ‘polite notice’ asking for it to stop. One accident and a number of near misses as vehicles swerved to pass on the narrow road have been reported because of the line of cars.

The road is restricted to 30mph but a blind bend after the station bridge, on the approach to the abandoned vehicles, has created a hazard for traffic travelling between Twemlow Green and Goostrey.

Concerned residents near the station sympathise with passengers faced with paying for parking, but fear for their own safety when they drive out into the road because of cars masking the exit.

One resident fixed a copy of the notice to the driver’s window of a car, but it was ripped off and flung into a hedge.

Cheshire East Council could issue the £70 tickets for causing an unnecessary obstruction because of the nearby designated car park with available spaces if the parking is reported to the authorities.

Martin de Kretser, who lives near the station, said residents did not leave their cars on the road because of the number of accidents over the years.

“Rail users probably don’t know the risk of parking on Station Road,” he said.

“We have had a car through our hedge and a friend’s car was written off when they parked outside the house. A builder’s van parked outside a neighbour was also hit.

“The problem is the bend from the station bridge, approaching the village, is blind with high hedges obscuring the view. Although there is a 30mph limit very few cars seem to comply with it.”

He said if some of the money raised from parking were used to provide free secure cycle storage for commuters it may help to solve the parking problem.

Until free parking ended the station yard was packed with vehicles, many left by commuters from Holmes Chapel three miles away where parking fees were imposed some time ago.

Many villagers are angry because the 24-seven parking was introduced without consultation.

One called the fines ‘nonsense’, saying people are being ‘penalised for using the train and not adding to road chaos at peak times’.