PEOPLE living in a Caerleon street are calling on the nearby university to review its parking policy - after students were forced to leave their cars outside residents' homes.

Since the start of the autumn term, students who live on campus at University of Wales College, Newport have not been entitled to parking spaces there. Others now face parking charges in a bid to improve the environment.

And we reported last month how students now parking in nearby College Crescent and Lodge Road blamed the university's decision for their cars being vandalised. But people living in College Crescent have stressed they are not the vandals - because their cars have been attacked too.

And they say that although they do not blame the students, their parking in the street is causing havoc.

John Clements, a resident of College Crescent, said the new policy had changed the "entire character" of surrounding roads.

He said the number of cars now parked there meant:

* Cars cannot pass ambulances picking up elderly residents of the sheltered accommodation in College Crescent;

* Bin collection on Wednesday mornings produces a long tail back of cars which cannot get past the truck;

* The restricted Lodge Road presents a danger to pedestrians and drivers;

* Inconsiderate parking by students has led to a torrent of complaints to the "already overstretched" police.

Mr Clements said: "There is too much intolerance in the world as it is, but surely the decision of the college in forcing its own students onto the local streets is unbelievably inconsiderate for them in particular and the locality in general.

"The so-called Green Transport Policy is transparent gobbledegook and the students should be allowed to park within the college campus."

Another resident, Mike Roper, said cars belonging to both himself and his wife had been vandalised by a sharp object being scraped across the paintwork.

"I don't have a problem with the students because they've been pushed off campus, but it's a great inconvenience to us," he said.

"All the college car parks are empty from Friday evening until Monday morning. We are asking the council for residents parking, but that could take months. I think the college has a social responsibility to sort this out."