“Another 5 minutes and they could have lost their lives…”

When he saw his house in Pelekas in flames with his parents inside, the son panicked. He could see the fire engines trying to approach, but they were stuck at the bend in the village square because of the illegally parked cars.

The fire started at 8pm on Thursday night in the boiler room of the house. Oil started to leak and the flames spread quickly. The son, who reported the incident to Enimerosi, said that when he reached his family home, the shutters on the first floor were already on fire. “If the fire engines had taken even another five minutes to get there, two people’s lives would have been in serious danger”. Fortunately, two of the three fire engines managed to get past the obstacles and were able to get the fire under control. It was completely extinguished by midnight.

The son told us that the situation at the bend in Pelekas has gone too far – even the bus doesn’t go right to the top now. The habit of ‘I’ll park wherever I want’ has unfortunately become a part of our everyday life, but it can prove fatal when every minute counts in saving a person’s life. And if the traffic police can’t control illegal parking, then why can’t people control their own anti-social behaviour?