CYCLISTS have backed a councillor’s call for double yellow lines to be painted along the length of Donnington Bridge Road in Oxford.

Drivers parking their cars in the cycle lane between Donnington Bridge and Iffley Road are rendering it useless, they say.

Cyclists have a segregated cycle lane on the bridge, but then have to navigate a line of vehicles on the road.

City and county councillor John Tanner, who cycles along the road regularly, said he will contact council officers about the idea.

Cyclist Cecilia Fry, an accountant who lives in Stanley Road, East Oxford, backed the call for double yellow lines.

Ms Fry, who regularly cycles along Donnington Bridge Road, said: “There is a problem with parked cars there very often.

“You have this beautiful segregated lane on the bridge but after that people are parking their cars.

“There is a lack of continuity.”

She said: “Double yellow lines would solve the problem if they were enforced.”

For Mr Tanner it would be the completion of the campaign he started when he first became a city councillor 20 years ago, which saw the cycle lanes created on the bridge.

He said: “I get a lot of complaints about cars parking in the cycle lane.

“As soon as they get over the bridge going north, you hit parked cars.

“I am going to press the county council to consult people who live on the road about putting in double yellow lines.

“It is going to be controversial but I think it is the right thing to do. Roads are for cars and bikes, not for people to park in.”

Simon Hunt, chairman of Oxford cycling campaign group Cyclox, also backed double yellow lines.

He said: “The parked cars deflect cyclists into the main stream of the carriageway. Any line of parked cars is potentially a hazard because of the ‘car-dooring’ effect, the worry that someone is going to spring open their door on you.”

County council spokesman Paul Smith said officers would consider the idea when they were approached by Mr Tanner.

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