Russell Taylor's hand-painted yellow lines on Holloway Rd. He says commuters parking on both sides of the street are putting residents and motorists at risk.

Russell Taylor has a confession to make: he's been breaking the law for the past 20 years.

His crime is painting yellow lines along his narrow and winding Wellington street in a one-man crusade to stop cars parking either side of it.

"I'm doing it for public safety because the council won't do anything," he said.

VIRGINIA FALLON/STUFF Holloway Rd residents say they are concerned that emergency vehicles cannot always get through when cars are parked either side of the narrow, winding road.

Taylor has lived in Holloway Rd, in Aro Valley, since he first rolled up in his Kombi van in the 1970s, and said he had seen plenty of accidents and near-misses on the street.

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Emergency vehicles often struggled to get up the street, and recently a fire engine had to tow cars out of its way so it could attend a house fire, he said.

VIRGINIA FALLON/STUFF A handful of driveways have had lines painted over them,

He painted his first yellow lines 20 years ago, repainted them a decade later, and planned to continue doing so until Wellington City Council puts up parking signs of its own.

"Signs or lines or judder bars is what's needed."

Wellington City Council confirmed on Monday it was aware of the road markings, and that a fire engine had had difficulty getting to a fire in the street because of the number of parked cars.

VIRGINIA FALLON/STUFF Taylor says he has been painting the lines on the road for the past 20 years - and intends to carry on doing so until Wellington City Council puts up parking signs of its own.

Spokesman Richard MacLean pointed out it was illegal to install "fake traffic devices", such as Taylor's homemade yellow lines. Traffic staff were aware of the markings, and inspected them last week.

"We are currently arranging a site meeting with residents and councillors for next week, hopefully to discuss."

The illegal markings would be removed, after a letter drop to residents, and the council would begin formal consultation on "No Stopping" restrictions later this year.

"Suffice to say that, yes, we're aware of problems and complaints about parking in Holloway Road – and that the Fire Service had trouble getting to a house fire there in the past year because of parked vehicles."

MacLean said nobody at the council could recall anyone being prosecuted for painting informal road markings, "and given the glorious and healthy history of civic activism in Holloway Rd, we would rather not pick an unnecessary fight with the locals".

Fellow residents agreed parking was a problem on the street, and blamed commuters who parked there and caught the bus into the city.

One said her neighbour had to put cones over her driveway to prevent commuters' cars from blocking it.

She was, however, surprised to see yellow lines painted over her own driveway, given she didn't have a car, she said.

Another said he had seen emergency services struggling to get their vehicles between the cars parked either side of the road.

His car had lost a wing mirror when it was parked. "It was a little thing, but it still cost me $200."

Wellington Free Ambulance shift manager Mark Osborne said Holloway Rd was a tight squeeze, and cars parked on both sides made it more so.

"Wellington Free Ambulance can still get the ambulance through with cars parked on both sides of the road, but it becomes a problem when there is a car coming the other way, because there is no room to pass."