S1719

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SOUTHPORT

24 April 2019

Vol 26 l Issue 17

INSIDE THIS WEEK:

CELEBRATING

25 YEARS

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Animal charity slams resort shar pei breeder

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TOWN ENJOYS EASTER BREAK SUNNY SIDE UP! Day trippers flock to resort to bask in record-breaking holiday weekend.. but motorists get hot under the collar in Ainsdale!

Day-trippers enjoy an ice cream on Nevill Street

HIGH Street gloom gave way to an Easter boon over the holiday weekend when visitors flocked to the resort in their thousands to enjoy record-breaking temperatures. One of the hottest Easter weekends recorded brought day trippers by the bucket-load to Southport, with many seaside traders basking in bumper profits. According to the Met Office, it was the hottest Easter Monday on record with temperatures spiking at 23c in the town. The feel-good factor even spread to the town featuring on Saturday’s national BBC TV news programmes with a reporter sent to cover the blistering hot weather direct from Southport beach! In Ainsdale traffic was so heavy over the Easter weekend that access to the beach was cut off, leaving hundreds of cars in gridlock and hourslong queues. Many complained that parking tickets were

Cars parked on the Coastal Road in Ainsdale over the holiday weekend

Report by Danielle Thompson being handed out ‘like Easter eggs’ to desperate motorists searching for somewhere to park up. Other visitors to Ainsdale beach complained of ‘disgusting’ toilet facilities and over-flowing rubbish bins not emptied by council workers. One angry dad told the Champion: “We paid £5 to park - for that price you’d think they (the council) would spend some of the proceeds on keeping the loos clean and regularly emptying the bins. “Has no-one at the council any pride in how our beaches look to visitors?” There were also complaints that the cost of an ice cream on Ainsdale beach had doubled from £2 to £4 over the weekend. Ainsdale-based Champion reader Duncan Snell

said: “The coast road was blocked and in gridlock and cars were parked on every available space, including pavements and double yellow lines. “Just what were visitors supposed to do? They had driven perhaps 40 miles to enjoy themselves and were confronted with hardly any options as to where to park. It was absolutely crazy. “In the middle of all this mayhem were two very active traffic wardens giving out red Penalty Notices as though they were distributing free chocolate Easter eggs. I wondered how these visitors would feel when they returned to their vehicles. Welcome to Ainsdale, welcome to Southport and Sefton. Please visit us again! “Which moron in Sefton HQ thought that closing the beach on the warmest and busiest weekend we have had for some time, was a great idea? Continued on page 5

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