A BLACKBURN councillor has called on drivers to ‘end their ignorance’ after bin collections were aband-oned because of badly-parked cars.

Coun Salim Sidat said he had personally had to guard an alleyway off Queen’s Park Road to prevent cars from blocking access to bins.

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The Audley councillor called a residents’ meeting last night in an attempt to solve the problem, which has led to a rubbish pile-up in the ginnel between Pringle Street and Ripon Street.

He has also called for Blackburn with Darwen Council to paint double yellow lines at the trouble spot to prevent motorists from parking there.

A public meeting at Audley Sports and Community Centre was held to discuss the issue.

Coun Sidat said: “People park there for so long, the bin collectors can’t get in and out. It’s a difficult issue because there is nothing to stop parking there, but people don’t seem to realise that sometimes the bins aren’t being collected.

“Every morning when there is a collection, I have had to stand and beg people not to park there. It’s very annoying.

“For the people who live there, it’s not their fault, but they seem to be the ones getting punished.”

The ginnel in question falls into Queen’s Park ward while Queen’s Park Road and Pringle Street straddle the ward boundary between Queen’s Park and Audley.

Coun Sidat said he had made Blackburn with Darwen Council aware of the problem and had applied for a Traffic Regulation Order to pro-hibit parking in the area.

He added: “I have to consider everyone in the area.

“There are businesses nearby so I don’t want to stop parking on the street altogether, but this has been going on for too long now.

“Hopefully the meeting will solve the problem. Getting a parking order might take months, but we need a solution to this now, whether that means getting some signage or a banner or whatever.”