My father in law has been fined for parking on his drive without having a dropped kerb. The Council said he was passing over a public thoroughfare but you have to do that even if you have a dropped kerb.
It is correct but inasmuch as he is passing over a footway not a "public thoroughfare".
S.184 The Highways Act 1980 makes it an offence to drive a vehicle across a footway or verge where there is no proper vehicle crossover (dropped kerb).
By paying to have the dropped kerb done, the local authority are in effect granting you the right to pass over the footpath. And the benefit is that it then becomes an offence for someone else to park across the driveway - some councils mark the roads across such driveways with single white lines to remind drivers of this.
Time to get the chequebook out, perhaps.
Just out of interest on this topic, and I suppose it would be better asked in the Law section, where there's a dropped kerb with access to a private drive, who has priority on the pavement, the pedestrian or the motorist crossing the pavement?
The pedestrian has the right of way at all times, even whilst crossing a road to get to the other side. A few motorists would do good to remember this, especially at zebra crossings when a pedestrian has a foot on the crossing.