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Drivers disgusted by human waste in car park

Hannah Lucasin Hull
BBC 25-year-old Jack Lidgett is standing in the middle of a path next to a grey metal barrier and road. He is looking directly at the camera with his mouth closed. He has short blonde hair, blue eyes and air pods in his ears. He is wearing a light grey sporty style jacket with a hood and white lining down both sides of the zip. He has a short blonde beard and moustache.BBC
Jack Lidgett has found what he thought was human faeces in the George Street car park

Drivers who use a Hull city centre car park are urging the council that owns it to do more to prevent anti-social behaviour after human faeces and evidence of drug use were found.

Over the past month, human excrement has been found at the George Street car park multiple times near the doorway to the main stairwell on the fourth floor.

Hull City Council leader Mike Ross said: "Behaviour like this is unacceptable and the council condemns it strongly. My message to anyone experiencing it, or seeing it, is do report it."

The incidents come months after the reopening of the car park, which was closed to the public in April following a car fire.

Jack Lidgett, 25, said he had seen what he believed to be human faeces.

"It was there for a good few days. I could not be certain whose it was, but it was brown and stinky, I will say that."

He said he now parks on the road using a permit, because "it is safer and obviously cleaner".

"£3 a day is quite a lot for somewhere that is not the best. The best way to describe it [George Street] is dodgy," he added.

"There was a fella sleeping at the bottom of the stairs a couple of times."

An unidentifiable person is lying with their back to the camera wrapped in a white blanket on a car park stairwell. There is a white trainer shoe to the left of them. The steps are grey concrete, with white chipped paint on the exterior of the steps. The banister has a black shiny smooth handrail. The walls around it are a very pale sage colour and a window boarded up with a grey board is above the sleeping person. Below them is a window which you can see through on to the lower floors of the car park.
Homeless people have been seen sleeping in the car park stairwells

It costs £3 per 24 hours to park at George Street, with season passes available for £12.50 weekly, £50 monthly, £150 quarterly and £600 for an annual one.

On Wednesday, the BBC counted 369 cars in the car park around midday. It has a capacity of 549.

The "vast majority" of income generated by the car park goes back in to running it, Ross said.

"There are staff that patrol the car park at the moment, but the level of patrols are being examined to review a way of increasing them and more patrols taking place," he added.

"It is important that there is that on-site presence."

Drug paraphernalia on a black window interior window ledge. There is a circular plastic object which is rainbow coloured in the centre. A black box is to its left. There are what appear to be cigarette rolling papers to the left and other unknown items. Below the windowsill is a light sage brick wall, with large patches of chipped paint exposing the red brick beneath.
Drug paraphernalia was found on the fifth floor and car park users complained of the smell of cannabis

Car park user Matilda Wolfe, 25, said: "There are homeless people in there a lot. It stinks. But, they are homeless.

"The council should maybe address homeless problems before people cry about a car park. It is winter.

"I get a permit anyway, but £3 is nothing."

Phoebe Bevan, 18, and Evelyn Spencer, 18, said they use the car park because it is "cheap and nearby" their workplace. They said they had seen "vomit" there before.

"It should definitely be getting cleaned on a regular basis. There are no bins, it is always dirty, always stinks of cannabis," Spencer said. "There are needles on the balcony."

"It is really dark," Bevan said. Spencer added that they sometimes ask their male colleagues to walk them to the car park "because it is kind of scary in there".

Two 18-year-old women are standing on a street close together outside a closed comedy club, which has pink lights around the roof. They both have long dark hair. The lady on the left has some of her hair pinned back around her ears. She is wearing an oversized black fluffy coat and is smiling. The lady on the right is wearing a black oversized puffer coat with her hands in her pockets and is smiling with her mouth shut.
Evelyn Spencer (left) and Phoebe Bevan (right) say they have seen evidence of drug use in the car park

The pair were also worried about a "lack of CCTV" and Spencer said: "If something were to happen, people would know where to do it."

Claire Woodard, 52, said she no longer parks in George Street because it has a "bad rep" and is "scary".

Hull City Council works with the police and other bodies to tackle anti-social behaviour, according to Ross.

He said council car parks were reviewed about every five years and there were no plans to demolish George Street but the authority was looking at making "electrical improvements".

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