On the morning of 31 August 2011 a major fire broke out on Hazelbank Terrace in the "Shandon colonies" of Edinburgh. Although no-one was seriously hurt the loss of property and possessions is hard to imagine. The fire service arrived swiftly and made a major effort to tackle the blaze but were, apparently, hampered by the sheer number of cars and the way some were parked. This is a wake-up call for parking problems in the Colonies. The problems of parking are, if anything, worse the further one goes into the streets. The next time, the consequences may be fatal alongside further traumatic loss of home and possessions. We believe that: 1. All car owners need to take greater responsibility for not double-parking, parking on pavements or in other ways that hinders access to emergency vehicles. 2. The police should be much more consistent and rigorous about taking action on irresponsible parking. 3. The City Council needs to rethink parking plans for the wider Shandon area which would result in even more cars being displaced into the Colonies to park. 4. The City Council should work with residents to come up with plans that better manage the number of cars or other vehicles that can be safely parked in the Colonies area.