A RETIRED soldier has called for action on parking problems which he claims aggravate his war wounds.

Gerald Northover, 68, of Diggory Crescent in Dorchester, sustained injuries to his head and spine after serving in the Far East as a warrant officer in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

Last summer, he notified Dorset County Council that residents' cars obstruct the entrance and exit to both Diggory Crescent and Everdene Road in the Thomas Hardye Gardens estate.

He asked staff at the Western Area Highways Office to consider lowering the pavement or paint double yellow lines on the road, in an effort to rectify the problem.

But Mr Northover, who says he is backed by friends and neighbours, says no response has been forthcoming from the council and said: "I wrote to the council in July 2003 and I've been given the run- around - nothing seems to have happened about it.

"I am at the end of my tether. Nobody does anything, they just keep passing the buck.

"I want to see some action - as a pensioner and council taxpayer, I feel aggrieved by the attitude that council employees have shown to me."

Mr Northover said the problem occurs because the streets in Thomas Hardye Gardens are deliberately built narrow, in a bid to clamp down on joyriding.

He said pedestrians are put in danger because motorists are forced to mount the pavement on two wheels in an effort to get past the offending parked vehicles. He claimed the jolting movement aggravates his war injuries, and added: "The streets are very narrow, just about wide enough to allow two cars to pass each other.

"Delivery trucks and council lorries, as well as fire engines, regularly drive along the pavement to access both roads.

"In doing so, they put wheelchair users, pedestrians and children in extreme danger."

The pensioner, who has sent the county council photographs to illustrate the scale of the problem, also claimed this causes damage to car wheels and tyres.

No one at the Western Area Highways Office was available to comment.