Parking on the pavement

[mowgli]

Is it illegal to park half (or more) on the pavement on a residential estate. Noticed it alot on our estate. Looks messy, Obstructs pedestrians i.e prams, and generally is the source of many neighbourly dispute. The roads have been built impractibly narrow it has to be said. Just wondered what the legalities were, as I can remember the police coming round when I did it some years ago.

[slimjim]

I'm sure that obstructing a pedestrian right of way (a pavement) is an offence. But I doubt the police will do anything about it.

[Hammer]

I got a parking ticket for this a couple of years ago, so you are definately not allowed. And the pavement was about 10 yards wide!

[robber1]

It is definately illegal to put a tyre on the pavement. The pavement is not made to take the weight of a car, and can be cracked. Pedestrians (pushchairs and wheelchairs and the elderly) may be forced to walk on the road to avoid the obstruction and this could cause an accident,

[Doolallygirl]

I also got a parking ticket for doing this. Parking is illegal on pavements unless there is a box provided or signs letting you know that you MUST park on the pavement (four wheels or two depending on the area/sign). It is part of the Highway Code.

[WoWo]

Your better off phoning the council (ots they who would have to pay to replace the pacement) and convince them its a regular problem. They could send round a parking attendant who could slap a few tickets on them.

[Toffee]

In addition to the obstuction offence some Councils have specific bye-laws forbidding parking on footpaths and grass verges. I know mine does.

[tomd]

We have a school on our road, they are always parking on the pavement. We have contacted the police regarding this and they said it's an offence to park on the pavement. Despite this, they only turned up once at 5pm and asked where all the cars were.

[tomd]

Perhaps if you were to take photos and found repeat offenders you could post these to the police (perhaps 6 or 7 photos of the same car parked at different times), even if nothing happened it would raise awareness.

[Doolallygirl]

Yeah but nobody likes a grass and to be that obvious to go outside and take a photograph of someone else's car on an estate probably isn't the best idea!!

[Kev_UK]

Putting aside the legality of this, I will tell you my opinion of parking on pavements in practical terms. When I was walking everywhere with shopping or walking the dogs, I found the ones with juat 2 wheels on the pavement allowed enough room to pass (even with a pushchair). What annoyed me is those that parked half their car on the pavement, and in some cases their driveway was sitting empty !!!. As a driver, on some housing estates the roads are narrow so it makes it necesary to park 2 wheels on the pavement so cars can get through.. and what about the emergency services.. police, ambulance, fire engines.. they need easy access. Common sense is the order of the day and what is practical. I wonder how many people are getting cheaper car insurance by saying their cars are garaged when in fact they couldn't get their cars in their garages because they are full of kids bicycles, washing machines, freezers, etc !!!!

[Oneeyedvic]

I live in the towncentre and outside my house is a one way street where everyone can park. I do own a garage which I use if needed, however when I am getting deliveries eg the cooker, tv etc and when we were moving home, we needed to park at the front of the house as the access to the garage is too small for a van. Everytime this has happened we have had soemone complaining about how terrible it is and threatening to call the police. Its very obvious that a delivery is going on and the vehicles are never there for more than 10 minutes. The biggest complainers are women in pushchairs who ina few years time will be dropping their kids off at the creche down the road and parking on the pavement when picking them up! (sorry moan over with) My point is that yes it is a nuisance when people do block the pavements for a prolonged period but bear in mind that most new housing estates don't have garages built big enough for a car, and some people will move the vehicle within a few minutes