A club manager says he may have to consider closing off its car park if Islanders continue to abuse it.

Dave Smith, who runs Sheerness East Working Men’s Club, Halfway, said he has reached his wits’ end with the problem.

He says all sorts of people use the private land from parents on the school run, residents, Kent Highways repair teams, the NHS, funeral directors and church-goers and there is often litter strewn everywhere.

There has recently been a fly-tipping problem.

It is regularly used by coach companies to pick up and drop off and he has even had cars left there for sale.

Due to the amount of traffic, the Queenborough Road site is crumbling and full of pot-holes.

Although the 59-year-old is happy the community use it, he said it needs to be respected and thinks Kent County Council should contribute towards the £50,000 repair cost.

Mr Smith said he feels let down by the authorities as he revealed he also had to fork out thousands of pounds to fix a fence which runs along an alley used by school children.

He said: “The council don’t contribute anything to the upkeep. It would be nice if they came and repaired it if they want to continue using it as a school car park.

“If we shut it off someone would get run over and it would be chaos.

“The last thing we want is someone to get injured and I don’t want a child getting run over on my conscience.

“But if this continues we will have to consider shutting it off for safety reasons.”

Mr Smith reckons between 60 and 100 cars use it every day.

He said: “Everyone thinks it’s public. They are taking it for granted. We are trying to be part of the community but we ask that people understand it’s a private car park and respect it as they would their own drive and we are asking for a bit of assistance from the powers that be.”

A KCC spokesman said the council is more than happy for the club to contact it to discuss the issue further and see if there’s anything that can be done.