An angry business owner says 'arrogant' Amazon is causing a Prime annoyance by behaving like 'God Almighty'.
Charles Sterling said Amazon DWR1 now uses the cones to block off parking spaces which do not belong to the company and are designed for everyone on the Hampton Lovett industrial estate near Droitwich.
The red and white cones started appearing over the last fortnight which he said is intended to stop anyone parking in front of Amazon's base, pushing the traffic problems elsewhere on the estate.
The business owner says Amazon acts like 'God Almighty' as they cone off the roads of the Droitwich estate and are becoming a Prime source of annoyance for other people with businesses based there, describing their actions as 'arrogant'.
A spokesperson for Amazon said: “We always strive to be a good neighbour and we’re looking into this matter.”
Wychavon District Council said it will now step up patrols of the industrial estate.
The 63-year-old owner of Sterling Power Products, which has been going over a decade, estimates around 15 parking spaces have been coned off by Amazon on Wassage Way and Kingswood Road.
This has forced Amazon's subcontracted drivers to park elsewhere, sometimes blocking the entrance to his own business, making deliveries more difficult.
"Amazon think they are God Almighty on this estate and the rest of us are made to feel like peasants," he said.
Some of the coned-off area covers double yellow lines but also blocks off legitimate parking spaces, used by staff, customers and visitors, he said.
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Mr Sterling said it was Amazon's subcontracted drivers who were then forced to find other places to park elsewhere on the estate, creating the parking issues. Drivers with the official Amazon livery were using the spaces inside the depot.
"The drivers used to park outside Amazon itself. Amazon didn't like that. They want their road clear. It's all about them. Sometimes their car park is empty. They don't want the subcontractors on their own car park or in front of their premises.
"This affects the lorries coming to their front entrance which is the same problem everyone else on the estate has. Our entrance gets blocked by these subcontractors all the time. We have even had them parking in our car park. We have to get them to move off the double yellow lines to get our lorries in and out," he said.
He says the issue is particularly bad between 8am and 9am. He says if nothing is done he will personally remove the cones himself and make sure his vans are parked in the spaces outside Amazon as 'a last resort'.
He added: "Now they have coned off legitimate spaces - that's free parking for everyone. The police don't enforce the double yellow lines. I have told them if they enforce the double yellows there is no problem for anybody. Amazon has no right to go out and throw cones all over the place. It's actually litter. They have just pushed their parking problems onto everyone else."
Mr Sterling, who employs around 15 people at the business, has complained to Amazon in person which he compared to 'talking to a brick wall' and to the Department for Transport and West Mercia Police.
"It's a legal requirement any business must have sufficient parking on their premises," he said.
He says the drivers may be subcontractors but remain Amazon's responsibility.
A spokesperson for Wychavon District Council said: "We do already patrol this area and will be increasing the frequency of our patrols in response to this feedback."
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