A woman has said her pleas to move large containers that block parking spaces outside her home have “fallen on deaf ears”.

Patrizia de Rosa has lived on Grahame Park estate in Colindale for more than 30 years – but has recently found that there is often “no space to park” behind her home.

She told this paper that “one or two” containers used by workmen, who she believed to be Barnet Council contractors, have covered a few parking spaces for many years.

But, according to Ms de Rosa, at the start of this year more containers were placed in the area, blocking “six or seven” spaces.

Barnet Council has now said that the containers belong to Cadent, a gas distribution network, which is "undertaking essential gas works".

Ms de Rosa said: “They can’t really tell us when they’re going to go. It’s not just containers, they’ve also got some machinery that they store there.”

The long-time Grahame Park resident claimed she had asked Barnet Council if there could be a reduction in the parking charge as the current situation was “unfair”.

She said: “That’s fallen on deaf ears. We’re practically told - 'well there’s nothing that we can do'.

“This is not on that we’re paying for a service that we’re not getting.”

Ms de Rosa claimed that trying to find a space for her car in the evenings can be difficult, forcing her to park further away from her home.

She said: “We have an estate which is very poorly-lit. It does raise the safety issue as well… [for] a woman on their own, for instance.

“You’re walking through an estate – it’s going to get dark at 4pm soon.”

Ms de Rosa said that if a reduction in the parking charge was not possible, then the council should move the containers onto other areas of the estate, such as in the nearby park.

A Barnet Council spokesperson said: “We recognise that parking spaces have been temporarily reduced on Grahame Park due to contractors being onsite.

"The containers in question belong to Cadent who are undertaking essential gas works. The works are not related to the regeneration of the estate and are not being carried out on behalf of the Council.

“We have spoken to Cadent, and they have agreed to move the containers from the parking area to a disused garage area.

"This will give back the parking spaces for residents’ use and we anticipate this to happen by the end of next week.

“We want to thank residents for their understanding while we have been resolving this issue.”