Peterborough firefighters were delayed while responding to an emergency on Friday evening due to badly parked vehicles.

A crew from Dogsthorpe Fire Station was delayed multiple times on their way to an incident due to inconsiderate parking on multiple roads in the Millfield area of the city.

Many vehicles, in particular a van, were poorly parked narrowing the road, which prevented the fire engine from travelling.

The crew was unable to proceed until they had located the owner and requested the van be moved, delaying them by around ten minutes.

A fire service spokesperson said: “Inconsiderate parking is an issue we face across the county when responding to emergencies, in particular in built up areas such as Peterborough, Cambridge, Huntingdon and Wisbech.

“There are narrow streets where vehicles park on both sides of the road which, although legal to do so, does make it much harder for a fire engine to travel along.

“Fortunately, on this occasion the incident turned out to be a false alarm, but at the time we were not to know that.

“The delay caused by the parked vehicles could have resulted in a far more serious incident escalating.

“The average fire engine needs around three metres of clearance to safely travel along a road. Please consider this when you park and if in doubt find somewhere else to leave your vehicle.”