Mobile tyre fitting
in Waterways.

A fitter at your car
in Waterways.

The awkward part of a Waterways call is usually not the tyre but the address. It is the sort of name that means more to residents than to a satnav, so the full postcode and the house or block number are what get a van to the door. The trouble itself is usually ordinary: pressure lost overnight, a screw in the tread from a run along the Banbury Road, or a wheel scuffed on a kerb at one of the tighter turns. Once the fitter knows the size and where the car sits, it gets sorted on the spot.

Drives, bays and car parks.

An allocated space with room on the failed wheel's side is the ideal, and most jobs here end in one. A visitor bay does the same if it is free. If the courtyard is too tight, the access road outside is workable provided nobody's entrance ends up blocked by the car. Public parking in this pocket is thin, so for a car that still drives, a run out to one of the retail parks or to a pay and display bay in North Oxford is the sensible move.

Parking in a place like this is usually allocated rather than public, which changes what a fitter needs to know. An allocated space causes no problem when it is yours, and a visitor bay is fine when the management company is relaxed about a van standing there for the length of a job. What nobody should do is assume a shared parking court has room for a van beside the car; if it does not, the car gets rolled out to the access road instead. The rest of Oxford is close, with the Woodstock Road and the Banbury Road a few turns away and Marston Ferry Road not much further. For a car that drives, Seacourt Retail Park and Botley Road Retail Park sit on the other side of the city with proper customer bays.