A police sergeant is backing a victim of crime in demanding the council improve security in a dingy car park notorious for break-ins.
Officer Graham Edwards says there is always fresh broken glass in the dimly-lit Perivale Station pay-and-display, which connects Aintree Road and Horsenden Lane South.
Accountancy student Farah Karim learned the hard way about the car park's dangers when thugs smashed the window of her vehicle and ripped up her dashboard to reach her radio.
She lives near the station and had gone shopping in central London at about 3pm on Saturday, October 11. She returned at 8pm to discover about £800 worth of damage had been done to her car.
The 22-year-old, who attends, Thames Valley University, said: "You think if you pay for parking then it will be secure.
"People know there are no cameras and the lighting is so bad, I didn't even have any valuables on show.
"There's always fresh glass on the ground, people are getting broken into all the time. Something needs to be done."
Perivale Safer Neighbourhood Team Sergeant Edwards agrees. He said: "It's obvious that better lighting is needed, it's pretty poor, especially as the nights are drawing in.
"It wouldn't take much to make people feel safer. It's not just the safety of your vehicle but for people's own personal safety as they walk to their cars.
"There's a relatively small number of crimes reported compared to what I think are actually being committed.
"People's first priority is to get their car fixed, but I would urge people to also report incidents to us. We can then gather intelligence and use the information to push for improvements like this that we need."
An Ealing Council spokeswoman said: "Community safety is a top priority for the council.
"One of our community safety officers is visiting the car park this week, with the police, to determine what steps can be taken to improve security and make people feel safer."
