https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51844446
Strange but I was under the impression it already was! When did it become okay (legal) to park on the pavement? If nothing else there used to be a rule that both nearside wheels had to be within 18 inches of the curb... In ages gone past I know of cases where people have been done for the 18" rule e.g. 'smart' cars parking perpendicular to the curb. (which I understand is very popular in Italy).
Parking on the Kerb is already illegal, as is parking on a drop kerb or next to a junction, but they have given up enforcing rules like this, there are two restaurants in the road where I live, I would love someone to go there on a weekend and put a ticket on all of the inconsiderate drivers who just don't care whose drive they block. residents regularly complain, the police say it iasnt there job, and the county council say they haven't go the resources to enforce the rules.
The street I live on is narrow. On both sides cars park with one set of wheels on the road, and one side on the pavement.
I don't drive, and do use the pavement, so such a ban would make things better for me. However, there just isn't enough room elsewhere for all the cars, so I don't think it would be very popular here. The choice would be between having half the current number of cars on the street, or just turning the street into a parking lot whether the cars parked in the middle couldn't easily get out . Either of these would be just fine with me, but I can live with the current arrangement for the convenience of those who do drive.
Best wishes,
Bob
Parking on the pavement is illegal IN LONDON! The rest of the UK it's fine unless double yellows or other no parking signs are displayed. Driving on the pavement however IS illegal everywhere although this cannot be retroactively applied to people parking on the pavement (presumably their cars levitated or teleported onto the pavement). This is a long standing bugbear of mine as I lived near a school and had to walk my child there on the road due to idiot parking. Now having moved away I have to drive there and have not once parked illegally or inconsiderately, I don;t even have to walk far so cannot fathom why people still clog a tiny road and pavement.
About time too. Mind you, I'm wondering if it will be enforced...
That's dead easy, you recruit a lot of self employed traffic wardens who will be armed with a camera and they get paid per car issued with a penalty.Originally Posted by redmonaco
I always thought it was illegal to park on the pavement.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
It is illegal. But the problem arrises where new developments have narrower streets and only one parking space and where there are terraced houses with no parking and the street is narrow. So what do people do, they park with wheels on the pavement so the rest of the road can be used. If they didn't the road would be blocked and as there are quite often no parking restrictions that wouldn't work either. So how do you stop it? Tell people they are not allowed to have a vehicle unless they can park it on their own property? Not everyone unfortunately lives in nice big houses with drives with off-road parking. So this will be interesting to enforce. I have off road parking by the way, so not a pavement parker :)
There are places where, unless your parked partially on the pavement, the emergency services wouldn't get an ambulance or a fire engine past in an emergency.
According to the radio on the way into work, Rule 244 in the hi-way code BUT, ISTR, the hi-way code isn't, necessarily, the law.
"Rule 244 of the Highway Code, which has been in place since 1974 outlines pavement parking restrictions across the country.
It states: “You MUST NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement in London, and should not do so elsewhere unless signs permit it.
“Parking on the pavement can obstruct and seriously inconvenience pedestrians, people in wheelchairs or with visual impairments and people with prams or pushchairs.”
What is key here is the use of 'should not' in the Highway Code when talking about areas outside of the Capital and 'must not' when talking about London."
So, from what I read above, you 'should NOT' park on the pavement but that doesn't mean 'must not'.
Isn't that illegal in itself?
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
the residents are so fed up with our drives being blocked that we put a sticker on their windscreen, saying please have more consideration for residents, it takes a 20 minutes to scrape off.
Then park elsewhere.
In the winter nights there is a minor Rd I walk down with the dog, and have to walk into the road and round cars that are fully blocking the footpath, just so they can park in front of their house. I hope councils enforce this if the law is made easier for them to do so
The thread title is rather misleading, as the article linked to actually says: "Parking on pavements could be banned in England to help pedestrians, the Department for Transport has said. [...] The government is to open a consultation on whether to give local authorities more parking powers."
Do you realise that in doing so you are committing the crime of criminal damage? You may not be happy with how people are parking - if it's illegal, then you should be contacting the police, not acting as vigilantes. If it's not illegal, then tough. In the meantime, if one of those motorists has a dash cam running, you or your neighbours are the one who may end up in front of the beak.
Do you think we care? it is illegal to block our driveways, trapping us, when people call the police the usual response is that they haven't got the resources to deal with it. it is caused by the patrons of two local restaurants.
We aren't dumb enough to admit it, but all of the residents are involved.
Last edited by adrianw; 12th March 2020 at 13:54.
Maybe box them in.
I was discussing this with a mate who drives a fire engine, his answer to the problem, "my appliance has big steel bumpers! guess who wins?"
Make sure you keep the registration of each car you sticker. This way you can put 2 on the second offence, 3 at the third, etc.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Sticker the windows of said restaurants? See if they can persuade their patrons? report each car as suspected drink driver?
Not convinced of that.
Other than parking, in order to get parked - you are driving on the pavement. That is another driving rule contravention.
It has become a scourge.
Now that is a good idea!
I’m not sure about it being illegal as there are areas that have been white marked to allow half on half off parking, there’s a main road near us and a few roads near Crouch End immediately spring to mind.
Where we live is split between two councils. Cars regularly park half on half off due to narrow roads. One of the councils had a purge a while back and gave everyone parked on the kerb tickets. The other council did nothing.
It’s almost like everything is done at the detriment of the driver. If people didn’t park half on half off where we are people couldn’t even go down the roads without endless hassle. You’re not going to stop people buying unnecessary massive SUV’s so common sense should prevail wherever possible.
A bit of a flippent answer. There are many towns with terraced streets where if the cars were all parked on the road it would negate an emergency vehicle from passing. You also have visitors to these streets compounding the issue. When these streets were built, cars were a scarce thing then.
Most families now have 2 cars these days.
It's even an issue on new estates where some have 3 or 4 cars.
Not illegal in many London boroughs.
At my Mum's old house the pavements were clearly marked where you could park two wheels on the pavement with road signs to that effect as shown at left below.
Cheers,
Neil.
I remember a parking issue outside my parents house in the 70’s. We lived on a leafy residential street in North London where every house had a drive and there was plenty of on street parking.
One morning my father couldn’t get the car off the drive as there was a Ford Capri parked right across our drive - with space both in front and behind. He was forced to get a taxi into central London (he didn’t do public transport and hey, it was the 70’s!) - but came home early and sat in the lounge waiting for the driver to return - which he did. Dad popped out, had what looked like polite words with the driver, and he drove away. We thought that was that - it’s worth pointing out that my Dad was a keen rugby player, well over 6 feet and a prop forward, public school etc and very well spoken and reasonable. To our amazement the guy parked across the drive again about a week later, Dad got another taxi to work and came home early. Chap turned up, Dad walked out for a polite chat (or so I thought - I must have been about 8 at the time) - and without a word punched him straight in the face, took his keys off him, opened the door, undid the hand brake, literally picked him up and put him in the drivers seat and then put his foot on the bonnet and we watched as the car rolled backwards down the hill whilst the driver, nose bleeding profusely, struggled to grab the wheel and stop the car.
Not a story for the current snowflake generation, but we never saw the car or driver ever again. I don’t even remember my dad shouting or being angry, he just warned the driver politely, driver did it again, got thumped, that was it. Not quite so straightforward in 2020, I’m sure nowadays it would be all dash cams, assault charges and ongoing Anxiety - in the 70’s it was all a bit more straightforward!
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Life on Mars.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I used to take pleasure in trying to force my kids buggy through the gaps left by cars parked on the pavement.
Sometimes it took quite a few bashes.
It is certainly not the case that parking with the 2 nearside wheels on the pavement is illegal in London. There are many places in the Northern part of London, where I live that the pavements are marked to show the areas of pavement where this is acceptable, encouraged even , by the local authority. There do seem to be signs where these arrangements are being revised, however.
The attached show an example of the arrangement https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5818...7i16384!8i8192
It can’t just be emergency vehicles, same for refuse/delivery lorries.
If insufficient parking, maybe families wouldn’t own 2 cars. No excuse to park on the pavement.
It won't affect my road as it's an older estate however there's a heck of a lot of new estates being built my way and many have very little provision for parking due to road widths and double yellow lines on the wider access roads. The community FB group I'm a member of is full of 'photos of parked cars on pathways and at junctions, most of it due to the school runs.
Im well outside of London, and the wardens have no issue ticketing cars parked partially on the pavement. Whether the tickets are valid, I cannot say, but the wardens are clearly not being advised against ticketing such cars.
This may be useful: https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q387.htm
Another piece of dickhead legislation brought on by folk who have nothing better to do...
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