Parking - Am I in the wrong?

[TomHD]

do I obstruct 4000-5000 cars a day, or do we prevent two people with double buggies from walking next to each other for a cars length.

 

You only encountered the one complaint because you were by your car, you have no idea how many pedestrians are obstructed or complain during the day! Cars do not belong on the pavement, it is as simple as that.

[Edutech98]

 

Went back to my car and I actually think you could get two double buggies through at the same time. The lady didn't actually have her friend with her, it was purely hypothetical that if she had her friend with her and if they both had double buggies that neither could get through at the same time. I accepted that at the time but looking at it again (and looking at the pic) I think she could.

 

Any how - I could see space was now available in the pay and display so I ended up moving it. Peace and love is restored... until tomorrow!

[StevieM]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]49580[/ATTACH]

 

Went back to my car and I actually think you could get two double buggies through at the same time. The lady didn't actually have her friend with her, it was purely hypothetical that if she had her friend with her and if they both had double buggies that neither could get through at the same time. I accepted that at the time but looking at it again (and looking at the pic) I think she could.

 

Any how - I could see space was now available in the pay and display so I ended up moving it. Peace and love is restored... until tomorrow!

 

@Edutech98 - You weren't causing an obstruction to anyone. Stop feeling guilty about 'inconveniencing' a couple of whingers.

[Edutech98]

! Cars do not belong on the pavement, it is as simple as that.

 

 

I can't actually find a clear answer if this is legally correct or not - hence one of my questions.

 

I think I'm going to go with the common sense option and if I can't park in a car park, then legally park in a position that will inconvenience what I believe to be the least amount of people in the safest manner.

 

As per the pic, if someone can't get through that space I think they have other issues to deal with.

 

Thanks for all the replies everyone!!

 

Edit - Ha thanks @StevieM that's defiantly made me feel better! Cheers bud

Edited July 5, 2018 by Edutech98

[3s-gtech]

The Highway Code is relatively clear. Legally, you MUST NOT park on the pavement in London. Elsewhere, you 'should not'. That means you won't be breaking any law, unless there are other local bylaws in place which should be clear. You must not obstruct the highway.

[StevieM]

Local authorities (in England) can make an order prohibiting parking on the pavement. If this is the case, then there will be signs which clearly point out on a particular road where parking on the pavement is specifically prohibited. The penalty for contravening this will be a fixed penalty notice.

 

Otherwise, parking a vehicle on the pavement could lead to an offence of obstruction being committed. This could result in a fixed penalty notice being issued to offending vehicles. It can also cause danger/nuisance for pedestrians and wheelchairs users.

 

If there were no signs specifically prohibiting parking on the pavement then you were fine parking as you did, as you were clearly not causing an obstruction to pedestrians (apart from those more than 6-foot wide!)

[mikeprice]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]49580[/ATTACH]

 

Went back to my car and I actually think you could get two double buggies through at the same time. The lady didn't actually have her friend with her, it was purely hypothetical that if she had her friend with her and if they both had double buggies that neither could get through at the same time. I accepted that at the time but looking at it again (and looking at the pic) I think she could.

 

Any how - I could see space was now available in the pay and display so I ended up moving it. Peace and love is restored... until tomorrow!

 

You could get a bus through there never mind a couple of buggies!!

[Edutech98]

Cheers @3s-gtech and @StevieM - that's clear enough for me!

@mikeprice - tell me about it, it wasn't until I went back that I realised how much actual space there was!

[Boredguy]

depends on the bus.

[mikeprice]

On the general topic of parking on pavements - then allowing room for prams etc - and especially the mobility scooters - then clearly you need to do that

 

However, some people are asking for a law stopping it altogether - if this happens round her several fairly busy roads will become a real problem. there are many bus routes where the bus could only just get past if the cars were all parked fully on the road. The people can't park intheir driveways - 'cos there arn't any and often they couldn't build one

so if they took the obvious route and put double yellow lines on one side on the road then people wouldn't be able to park their car at all

 

In many of the area I am thinking about this has been caused by a design concept many years ago where poor people would never have cars so there is no need to allow room for any. But now many families 'need' 2 cars (argue that as much as you like).

 

Even the fairly 'well off' estate where I live has many cars parked on the pavement due to lack of space anywhere else. On a quiet estate this is not much of a problem - no-one can really drive over 15mph anyway. However the council estate where my wife's family things are different.

[Edutech98]

Similar problem here mate. If they banned parking on the pavements and forced people to park on the road it will be an absolute nightmare. The road would literally become stand still and it would need to be double yellowed otherwise I can't see how it works. Local businesses are already complaining that there is not enough parking and its driving customers away. To get to the local shops you have to park 15-20 minutes walk away. Why bother when you can go to the retail outlets, park for free outside the shop, and go to your usual topshop, river island etc. It will be the death of local business if they did it here.

[mikeprice]

Similar problem here mate. If they banned parking on the pavements and forced people to park on the road it will be an absolute nightmare. The road would literally become stand still and it would need to be double yellowed otherwise I can't see how it works. Local businesses are already complaining that there is not enough parking and its driving customers away. To get to the local shops you have to park 15-20 minutes walk away. Why bother when you can go to the retail outlets, park for free outside the shop, and go to your usual topshop, river island etc. It will be the death of local business if they did it here.

 

Yup - only thing that has saved this town is that someone with a brain built the 'out of town' retail park on the back of the high street thus automatically providing shed loads of parking for local shops and a ready made potential passing trade.

[synaesthesia]

Cut and dry. If parking half on the path allows easier passing for emergency services (firetruck for example) and you can still get a double buggy plus more past, then it's a straight "no, you're fine".

My home street, one side all parks half on the pavement, which itself is half the width of the entire carriageway. They'd not be able to ban parking on the path unless they shrunk the paths; that'd actually be better all round as we don't have to bump up kerbs (or borrow neighbours dropped kerb).

[mikeprice]

On the subject of pavement parking - I have just been round to the mother-in-laws and I noticed that on the main through road on the estate people have given up parking half on and half off the pavement and now park totally on the pavement thus leaving room for 2 buses to pass on the road

Fortunately there is still room for a push chair to pass on teh pavement as well

[mavhc]

Not to worry, in 5 years they'll be no point dealing with the hassle of owning a car, just like no one owns a horse now. Press a button on your phone, car arrives, cheaper than owning one and better. More space as you don't need a garage, shops can be closer together as you don't need massive parking lots, etc etc

[mikeprice]

Not to worry, in 5 years they'll be no point dealing with the hassle of owning a car, just like no one owns a horse now. Press a button on your phone, car arrives, cheaper than owning one and better. More space as you don't need a garage, shops can be closer together as you don't need massive parking lots, etc etc

 

possible, sensible

 

but unlikely in that timescale I think

[LeMarchand]

Not to worry, in 5 15 years they'll be no point dealing with the hassle of owning a car, just like no one owns a horse now. Press a button on your phone, car arrives, cheaper than owning one and better. More space as you don't need a garage, shops can be closer together as you don't need massive parking lots, etc etc

 

FTFY, with a generous fix. More like 25 years.

[TechMonkey]

Cut and dry. If parking half on the path allows easier passing for emergency services (firetruck for example) and you can still get a double buggy plus more past, then it's a straight "no, you're fine".

Or the argument could be that if parking on the road would block the emergency services, park elsewhere. If there is that much room the council should be petitioned to create proper parking bays so it is clear.

 

Personally it annoys me when cars park on the pavement. It is part irrational, part annoyance at the inconsiderateness it generally involves. I know in this case there is a lot of room but normally there really isn't. I think also it is an annoyance at the greyness. You can park on the pavement unless there are local ordinances but you aren't allowed to drive on the pavement, so how does the car get there?

 

Locally I have had a car drive at me with 2 wheels on the pavement, at slow speed, while walking my son and got grief as I should have seen the car and moved. We have a mixture of cars parking with 2 wheels at various degrees of blocking on the pavement and even all 4 wheels so totally blocking the pavement. Even the lesser blocking cars force pedestrians to walking tree branches and bushes that they would otherwise be able to avoid. 99% of them are people heading to the high street who don't want to pay for parking but also don't want to walk the extra 100 meters from parking in designated road parking.

[ITGURU]

Employers do not legally have to provide parking spaces. think of how many shops there are that are on high streets with no parking directly outside.

[Achandler]

Employers are actually limited to the number of spaces they are allowed to offer, to encourage use of public transport.

 

I think the situation outside of London possibly is rather simple, and is the case in most major cities. Public transport is poor, usually you can go into the centre and out again and not across the city, think Manchester, we have a really busy inner and outer ring road, but no trains or trams that follow that route (especially the outer), clearly people need to travel that direction or there wouldn't be a motorway! Want to travel 5 miles between two big suburbs, thats 20 minutes in a car or 2 hours on public transport, which inevitably costs more.

 

People won't change to public transport unless it is as good as or better then driving, while it slower, more inconvenient and more expensive, it's a farce. But the ideas from councils is to make driving worse, limiting parking, restricting routes, without fixing the issue to start with. If public transport was good enough, then less people would drive, roads would be clearer, air pollution better and people might even cycle if the roads were emptier. However, this plan would have two issues, it takes more then a 4/5 year government cycle and costs money, so no reward for the current bunch of people in charge so they aren't interested.

 

I hope, which is not someting I thought I would, that automatic cars/ taxis becomes a thing and it seems to be the only thing that might resolve decades of poor planning.

 

Until then you can legally park on the pavements in the vast majority of areas, don't obstruct it or obstruct a dropped kerb and you are fine.