Should Parking on Pavement be Illegal?

[bad company]

I think parking on pavements is illegal in London but not elsewhere. It’s a bit of a bug bear of mine particularly in the village where I lived until recently.

I can’t see how it’s fair to force wheelchair users and young children into the road.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czrxdzymwjro

[Zigster]

Yes.
The government did a consultation about it a couple of years ago but have since sat on the results.
Pavement parking is endemic where I live (another small village). People seem to do it by default now even when there are more appropriate parking spaces right by it, or where parking on the pavement makes no difference to the flow of traffic.
Selfish gits, the lot of them.

[rlw]

When I lived in London - up to 2018 - the street where we lived was specifically marked up for pavement parking on both sides of the road. Presumably it was deemed wide enough for wheelchairs. Without that facility, the street would have been an obstacle course of cars, for cars.

Has this sort of thing now been banned?

[Countdown]

Most of the pavements where this seems to happen are knackered (sunken tarmac, holes, paving stones cracked).

Absolutely it needs banning.

[RazerSauber]

I don't think it should be illegal since it could create traffic flow problems when emergency services need to get through but there should be some consideration given as to how much space they leave and fines given out if they're forcing people to step onto the road. Likewise, people with huge overhanging bushes should also be told more frequently to keep them within the property lines to avoid contributing to the same problem.

[MitchT]

RazerSauber said:

Likewise, people with huge overhanging bushes should also be told more frequently to keep them within the property lines to avoid contributing to the same problem.

Indeed. A house I walk past sometimes has overhanging bushes which rob the pavement of a good 2 foot and then one of the cars that lives there is on the pavement too, despite the fact that the road is more than wide enough for it not to be.

[Evanivitch]

Yes. The damage it does to the pavement, and the issues it causes for pedestrians. If you want to park a car, park it on the road.

[W124Bob]

There is a street at the back of me with a school where the pavement is almost 4 meters wide, part paved and tree lined. The road it's self is just 2 car widths and about 40 houses end to end. Rarely used by anybody except residents and a couple of school deliveries a week. If those residents who park under the trees on the pavement are forced to find alternatives that will add about 12 cars to the neighbouring crowded street, they cause no problem and there has never been any complaints in the 30 years I've lived nearby.

[steveo3002]

in a ideal world yes , but only if we can backtrack and ban all the homes built with inadequate parking that force such behaviour

honestly theres simply no where for all the cars to go

[Simpo Two]

bad company said:

I think parking on pavements is illegal in London but not elsewhere. It’s a bit of a bug bear of mine particularly in the village where I lived until recently.

I can’t see how it’s fair to force wheelchair users and young children into the road.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czrxdzymwjro

Or the cars don't park on the pavement and block the road instead. Think of all those emergency vehicles needing access.

And children are small, they can sneak through the gap...

Agree about prams and wheelchairs, but there's not enough space for everyone so we'll have to muddle along.

[MitchT]

steveo3002 said:

in a ideal world yes , but only if we can backtrack and ban all the homes built with inadequate parking that force such behaviour

honestly theres simply no where for all the cars to go

Got to agree with this. Currently looking for a house with the OH and the parking provision is utterly lousy in most cases. In the case of many newer built houses, parking for only one car and nowhere for visitors at all.

[rdjohn]

It is already an offence, that is rarely enforced.

The highway is defined as being between the back of footway to the opposite back of footway and so obstructing the footway is as big an offence as obstructing the carriageway.

Some drivers would clearly prefer pram pushers or wheelchair users to step into the carriageway to save them the effort of parking and walking some little distance.

[Pica-Pica]

steveo3002 said:

in a ideal world yes , but only if we can backtrack and ban all the homes built with inadequate parking that force such behaviour

honestly theres simply no where for all the cars to go

As a Parish Councillor we always objected to planning permission for all houses with inadequate parking, poor turning space, etc., but Town Councils had the final say.
Also, we asked our local officer, who attended our meetings, about pavement parking. He said that had to be an actual case of obstruction to proceed. In the video, this seems to be the case.

Edited by Pica-Pica on Tuesday 16th April 09:53

[dundarach]

Yes

[Zetec-S]

MitchT said:

RazerSauber said:

Likewise, people with huge overhanging bushes should also be told more frequently to keep them within the property lines to avoid contributing to the same problem.

Indeed. A house I walk past sometimes has overhanging bushes which rob the pavement of a good 2 foot and then one of the cars that lives there is on the pavement too, despite the fact that the road is more than wide enough for it not to be.

Yep, a bugbear of mine. It seems no-one in the country has a clue when it comes to planting a hedge, they seem to think it should be planted right next to the boundary and then just let it grow 2 foot over the pavement. Makes me want to get one of those hedge trimmers farmers use and cut everything right back to the boundary

[aproctor1]

Is a nice idea, but practically it's difficult to police and manage.

The reality is, a Lincolnshire hamlet is very different to Northampton town centre, I think that a more practical approach is needed, with people actually dealing with obstructions, rather than just issuing tickets for minor infractions.

[0ddball]

It should have been enforced a long time ago. I don't think it would be feasible now. Considering the amount of roads lined both sides, with space for one car down the middle, there would be literally thousands of cars in every town with nowhere to park causing even more chaos.

[C5_Steve]

bad company said:

I think parking on pavements is illegal in London but not elsewhere. It’s a bit of a bug bear of mine particularly in the village where I lived until recently.

I can’t see how it’s fair to force wheelchair users and young children into the road.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czrxdzymwjro

The rules just need to be enforced more. Perhaps they should look to use a version of whatever certain police forces are doing now where you can send in dash cam footage of drivers and the police will use it as evidence. Snap a pavement parker, send it in and they'll fine them through the post.

(Yes, they should resource the parking enforcement themselves rather than asking for a network of grasses. But we all know the councils don't have the money and people blocking pavements are selfish tts anyway.)

[surveyor]

Would be nice.

Where I live we have nice wide grass verges, which are mostly mud...

People also complain about the speed of traffic. Lets park on the road and slow it down!

I ended up in a couple of arguments over Network Rail vans that would park on the grass outside our house, and prevent safe vision of the road when I was pulling out. I eventually won that row!

[E63eeeeee...]

It would cause absolute chaos around us and in many parts of the country if it was banned overnight. Surprising how many PHers are in favour of reducing suburban roads to one lane of traffic, which is what you'd see a lot of. If there was a massive programme to turn wide pavements into sanctioned parking spaces before any ban came in, that would solve it but who's going to pay for that?

A more proportionate response might be to explicitly ban parking in a way that leaves less than 1m of clear footpath, which would address the genuinely anti-social parking without restricting traffic unnecessarily.