Residents of a quiet cul-de-sac in Coventry have been left furious after an eight-foot, bright green parcel locker was abruptly 'plonked' right outside their doors. Homeowners on Arne Road in Walsgrave are 'up in arms' about the unwelcome arrival, which materialised on April 10.
The battery-run, solar-powered delivery point is owned by Yeep!, a specialist in parcel lockers, and has been placed half a mile from the nearest shop. Locals claim they were initially told a concrete base had been installed for a new salt box, and were outraged to then spot the 'eyesore' box just yards from their living rooms.
Residents' concerns
Lynda Congrave, 79, has lived on the street for 40 years and says the locker poses risks to local children. 'I can't believe it's right outside my living room window. It's disgusting,' she said. 'I used to be able to check in on my friend across the road by looking through her front room - now I can't see past this block. It blocks my view from this window and I'm all concerned about the young children who play around here. We have no problem with them but if cars are going to come speeding down to drop parcels in there, they're only young kids. They might run out and there could be somebody run over. We don't want that risk here.'
John and Suzanna Davies, who live just a few doors down from where the locker was erected, believe it is still yet to be used even once. John, 77, said: 'Everybody is up in arms about it, all the residents. It's on the lawn that's tended by the residents themselves. All the gardens are kept prim and proper around here and we take pride in the area. There were small parcels of land when the estate was built and a company had the rights to them. They put them up for sale and people bought them up. A chap in Kenilworth bought this land. A couple of months ago he was around scratching in the soil. When asked what he was doing, he said the council asked him to do it as they were putting a salt box there. We all thought that was a tremendous idea, we always need salt boxes. They put a concrete base in but then this great big box appeared. He's completely pulled the wool over our eyes so he could drop it in there without us knowing or getting in his way. Nobody can understand it all, it's not next to a supermarket. It's not like people can easily come and go to pick up and drop off parcels. It's in front of someone's home, blocking their front window and getting in the way. It's in a residential area, there's been no planning permission for it. It was chucked up around two weeks ago, but we don't know who intends to use it. We've not seen any use of it in that time either. There's a bingo hall around half a mile away with a supermarket and they have plenty of lockboxes there. So why do we need this one here, with nothing around it? The council came out the next day and said they'd do the best to get it moved.'
Mum-of-one Suzanna, 57, who works in admin and finance for a school, added: 'It's outrageous, we were on holiday and when we got back it was there, plonked in the middle. We all care for where we live. There are pretty flowers and we all help with the mowing, which will make it a bit hard to do. It's all resident parking only, so there's more risk of traffic and a danger to kids. Who wants to live near that?'
Council investigation
Coventry City Council confirmed that the installation is under investigation to determine whether it was erected illegally. A spokesman for the council said: 'Nothing further to say at this stage, the matter is under investigation and officers have contacted the landowner and locker company.' Yeep! was approached for comment.
