Street campers’ car-yard riles locals

“Must Sell – Leaving Friday”.  “Save a backpacker – Buy this Van”. At least the for-sale signs on the vans are more interesting than those on Parramatta Road’s auto alley.

But businesses and residents in Victoria Street, Potts Point are fed up with backpackers using the street as a camping ground and car yard.

“There were 27 vans for sale on Tuesday and there are only 65 parking spots between Orwell Street and the Station – that’s a third of the spaces gone so customers can’t park and residents can’t park,” said Angela Gallo from the Dolcetta Café.

It’s not just backpackers staying in the hostels whose cars line the street. Locals say many of them live in their cars, eating, sleeping and washing in the street.

“It’s a hygiene problem,” said Ms Gallo. “Your see people cleaning their teeth, shaving, pissing and vomiting. Some of them make friends with people staying in the hostels and sneak in to use their showers and toilets, but a lot just use the toilets in the Soho Bar or at Dov [Café] which are open to public access.”

She and her neighbours have formed an action group to pressure the authorities to solve the problem. Parking tickets don’t work as these travellers are at the end of their trip and will be long gone by the time the fine arrives.

The residents’group mounted a petiton of 1,100 signatures asking the State Government to bring in tow-away rules but got nowhere. Now they want Council to install ‘No camping overnight’ signs, and to enforce them.

“Waverley Council put them in on New Beach Road and that stopped them, but so far our Council won’t act,” said Ms Gallo.

Another idea the group has floated is to have parking meters installed, which they say has also stopped the campers elsewhere.

But don’t the backpackers spend money in the local businesses?

“No they don’t,” said Ms Gallo. These people have done their trip and have no money – they need to sell their van to get money.”

Indeed, a walk of the street revealed 21 vans, many of them obviously lived-in with young people toasting sandwiches on gas stoves, reading books or just hanging out. All were parked in one-hour zones. Most were asking around $4,500, but several had this price crossed out with a discount offered.

The problem is a perennial one but is intense at the moment as large numbers of travellers who arrived in the summer high season have done their big Australia trip and have arrived back to a smaller down-season market.

Victoria Streeters thought they had a solution some years ago when Council set up a travellers’ car exchange in nearby Kings Cross Parking Station. But that project folded and the selling moved back to Victoria Street.

“The car market faced increasing competition from alternatives for selling vehicles including the internet and press advertising,” said a City spokesperson.

“The demand for the Car Market in the Kings Cross area was seasonal and almost non-existent in the cooler months. The original operator stated that re-introducing the car market would be unviable.

“The Kings Cross car park is owned by the City of Sydney and is currently managed by Wilson Parking, who took over the car park after the market had already left.

“Council is investigating a number of options including regulatory restrictions which will be considered in consultation with the community.”

by Michael Gormly