Alleged assault the ‘last straw’ in street parking dispute

Residents of an eastern suburbs street say the serious injury of a man in an altercation over parking is the final straw in a long-running series of hostilities in the area.

For the past 20 years, Sydneysiders have used Bundock Street in Randwick to park their caravans, trailers and boats for extended periods. There are no time limits on the street, which runs beside Defence land on one side.

Bundock Street in Randwick has long been used to store parked boats, caravans and trailers to the dismay of local residents.Credit: Louise Kennerley

But residents must contend with people using the street to store their vehicles and machinery. On January 4, a resident was rushed to hospital after asking a driver to not park their boat and trailer so close to his car. The driver allegedly became enraged at the resident’s request, got out of his car and punched the resident, who fell back and hit his head on the footpath in front of his home, suffering serious head injuries. The driver allegedly tried to flee but was detained by neighbours until emergency services arrived.

Police arrested a 61-year-old Kensington man. He was taken to Maroubra police station and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault. He was given conditional bail to appear at Waverley Local Court on Wednesday.

Randwick resident Anthony Ryan has been lobbying the council for timed parking on Bundock Street for years.Credit: Louise Kennerley

Long-term Randwick resident Anthony Ryan said there was an “increasingly antagonistic” relationship between Bundock Street residents and others who felt entitled to park there because “they’ve always been able to”.

Mr Ryan said on one occasion in 2020, a driver parked their caravan outside a resident’s house on Bundock Street for a six-month renovation. When the job was complete they left rubbish strewn across the neighbouring properties. The incident was reported to Randwick City Council but no action was taken.

Another time, Mr Ryan was approached by a resident who said he had been accosted at home by a man who had parked a boat in front of his house which had sustained damage, and concluded the damage was the resident’s fault.

Mr Ryan has become an unofficial spokesman for the street’s residents, who were irritated by the council’s “blase” attitude to the escalating parking disputes, he said.

“A resident nearly died in front of his family over a parking spot and there’s still no action,” Mr Ryan said. “What will it take?”

Bundock Street is a busy thoroughfare and the parked boats and trailers can prevent buses from passing each other. Drivers are regularly prevented from turning left at the south end of the street because of a parked boat that obstructs the turn.

Mr Ryan wants the council to introduce timed parking one day per week to reduce the number of caravans, trailers and boats left there on a semi-permanent basis. The proposal is based on parking regulations implemented on Darley Street near Centennial Park, where people would previously store boats and other big vehicles.

But Randwick City Council has repeatedly rejected that idea, saying the crash history on the street did not indicate a need for change. The council said it was reviewing the situation on Bundock Street. A meeting of the Randwick Traffic Committee is due to discuss the issue next week.

A council spokesman said: “We are very sad to hear about this [alleged] assault and our thoughts and best wishes are with the [alleged] victim and their family for a speedy recovery. Violence is never acceptable, and we trust that police are taking appropriate action.”

The council has approved plans to build a cycleway on the street that would replace the space for boat and trailer parking, but there is no time frame for when this may happen.

Local member for Coogee and a member of the Randwick Traffic Committee, Marjorie O’Neill, said the matter was “complex” and she was conducting a community parking survey to “progress the issues toward resolution”.

Mr Ryan said the council should be working towards a long-term solution, such as creating an allocated area for individuals to keep their vehicles safe without encroaching on the peace of residential streets.

Anthony Ryan on Bundock Street in Randwick.Credit: Louise Kennerley

“We’re not talking about moving cars, we’re talking about parked cars,” he said. “Crash history can’t account for scratches on cars, damaged property and increased hostility. This is a matter of public safety that is getting more explosive as time goes on.”

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