[Closed] Pavement parking.

Does anyone know why this is allowed?

Because cars are more important than people. How does anyone not know this?

In London its illegal unless specifically allowed.  the rest of the UK its only illegal if blocking the way or causing a problem.  Scotland is supposed to be introducing a law against pavement parking but I do not know the status

I complained to the police about one road near me where yo have to walk on the road because of cars on the pavement.  the reply I got was that access for fire engines was maintained this way so it was no issue

I may have brushed a few wing mirrors of pavement parked cars

Depends where you are. Pavement parking is illegal in London. Elsewhere it's less clear cut and is often at the discretion of the local authorities.

It's not allowed. It's just that it isn't enforced.

I'm thinking you've not been allowed to drive a carriage on the footway since 1835.

the reply I got was that access for fire engines was maintained this way so it was no issue

I used to work in local authority and was called to an issue of parking blocking a road. Fire access was raised so I asked FRS to attend. Their comment was that if needed, they'd get down. Afterwards, they would claim against the cars for damage to the appliance.

Cars have special status. I live in an area of narrow roads and terraced housing. In some parts, if cars parked on either side of the road there wouldn't be room for a vehicle to drive down the middle. So they park on the pavements. It's just normal. Wheelchair users and people with prams have to suck it up. And it's carnage on bin day.

i shared a house with a guy whose girlfriend did this when she visited. the pavement was wide enough to fit an entire car’s width, so she filled the whole thing.

when i pointed out that no pedestrian would be able to use the pavement, from the look on her face it was clear that that thought hadn’t entered her head.

We have a couple of traffic enforcers who whizz about on we scooters ticketing folks who're parked very egregiously, but it's their decision I think

It's difficult all round on narrow roads, but at least in my end, there's an unspoken rule... every one parks on one side of the road so the opposite pavement is free so prams and wheelchairs and the bin lorry can still get through.

I'm thinking of buying a pram with rusty bolts sticking out the side and checking that there' room for me to pass.

(No, I don't have any pram-age kids)

And cars keep being made wider and wider, it is going to get worse.

My little hobby is reporting the school run cars that park illegally on our street. 🙂

Outside of that I DO have a real life, honest.

It's to encourage wheelchair-users to mtfu and the occupiers of pushchairs to learn to fly.

You eventually get used to walking down the road, between two pavements full of parked cars. It used to anger me, now I just get on with things with an acceptance that pavements aren't for people. My change in attitude is only thanks to no longer having young kids, and not yet being elderly or infirm.

I don’t know why, but parking on our estate has gone downhill over the last year or so, you see parking on kerbs a bit, but it’s parking across from junctions, or next to the entry for a road that’s causing nightmares, you have cars coming out of side streets now having to blindly put their nose on the opposite side of the road due to poor parking, but nothing ever happens about it, council drive the camera can around daily but folk still park anywhere.

Personally I think it’s just laziness, people are the pavement in front of their house as an extension, some won’t even park in their drive, just abandon it on the pavement.

Cars have special status. I live in an area of narrow roads and terraced housing. In some parts, if cars parked on either side of the road there wouldn’t be room for a vehicle to drive down the middle. So they park on the pavements. It’s just normal. Wheelchair users and people with prams have to suck it up. And it’s carnage on bin day.

@doris5000 - Sounds like you live on the same road as me. Luckily the pavements are quite wide so you can still get a pram through easily, and we only park on one side of the road. If we didn't park on the pavement then it would cease to be a road, because you sure as shit couldn't get a car down it.

Just out of interest: do you have the same problem as us? Where there would be no point in having a decent car, as they constantly get clipped so that everyones car has scuffs and dents and you regularly come out to find your wing mirror hanging off?

This time next year it is banned in Scotland - as is double parking, parking at dropped kerb etc.

But yes, cars seem to have speshul status to be abandoned wherever the driver wants, and anyone else can just go whistle...

Just out of interest: do you have the same problem as us? Where there would be no point in having a decent car, as they constantly get clipped so that everyones car has scuffs and dents and you regularly come out to find your wing mirror hanging off?

Pretty much! The average car around here is, roughly, a 2010 Focus with a couple of dented panels. I haven't lost a wing mirror (yet) but that's only because I'll park a couple of streets further away in preference over parking in one of the risky spots!

I park on the pavement just outside my house, as do others. I live in a road that is about 800 metres long and there is a pavement for about 50 metres of it, the other 750 metres you have to walk in the road anyway.
Why do I do it, because if I didn't cars would not be able to get past or drive into my house or fence if they did try. It is not illegal to do so and the council have not put in place any local rulings so I will continue to do so.

Where I live the people who live on the corner have about 5 or 6 cars there regularly. They park all around the 90 degree corner. So as to not be in the way too much (!) they get as far onto the pavement as they can. So you can't get through with a pram or a wheelchair, you can barely get through on your own. So then you have to walk in the road, which is now a blind bend, and people come flying down the hill quite quickly (even though it's a heavily parked up cul-de-sac.

About 20m up the hill is a straight with ample on-road parking.

****s sake. In some ways I'm glad my kids don't play out any more.

I don’t know why, but parking on our estate has gone downhill over the last year or so

Not just parking. I've noticed a large increase in the number of drivers round my way who don't seems to understand (or care) which side of the road they should be on, especially when turning corners. E.g. yesterday - I followed a car turning left into a street roughly 90 degree corner, but rather than turning and staying on the left hand side actually turned after the centre point of the road on the right hand side. They knew where they were going - they live here! 2 mins later I'm getting out of my car and the next person turns right, into my street, but ignores the centre line and turns on the left hand corner! To be met by the other menace these days - DPD driver attempting new land sped record in streets that are clearly marked 20mph. weird

Our road is very narrow, and so there tends to be a bit of pavement parking to allow cars and vans to pass up the road. However, every now and then someone decides the pavement isn't for them and just leaves their car in the middle of the road, blocking traffic in both directions. Or parks on the very narrow part where there isn't any room for parking.

Usually its someone unloading the shopping, but apparently a couple of evenings ago the neighbourhood whatsapp was ablaze because someone had just done it all evening!

It's a shame wing mirrors are so expensive these days, isn't it?

My favourite was when I returned home to find a car parked in the entrance to our shared private driveway, blocking it entirely. The chap who owned the car came out and said "oh, it's fine, I know the people that live there!" I pointed out I lived there, and it certainly wasn't fine to me, and that he was blocking access to my house. He actually got arsey with me and punched his own car (WTF?) at being asked to move. He insisted he'd only be a few minutes longer!

I park on the pavement just outside my house...

...Why do I do it, because if I didn’t cars would not be able to get past

Wild idea, but perhaps park somewhere safer and less selfish then walk back to your house? I know, it's a pretty out there idea isn't it? I can understand why you hadn't managed to think it up for yourself.

People park directly alongside and under streetlights on a road near me because they're worried about their pride and joys.

Pedestrians just get to use the road.

My self control is not what it once was and so I make a deliberate decision to leave my house keys at home when I'm out running lest I get tempted to write the owner a sternly worded letter on their paintwork.

Best parking disasters I see are outside the church on Sunday service, there is a blue badge holder who actually parks parallel to their friends car, on the actual road 😂

This really gets on my nerves. As I don't like others doing it, I used to never do it myself. Parking on the street outside my house habitually, what I found was I was losing countless wing mirrors as my car was the one sticking out. It's a wide street so no excuse really. But with everyone parked on the pavement it allows for two lanes of fast traffic. Eventually one morning I heard an almighty noise and looked out of the window to see a big van crunched up into the side of my car. It had tried to scrape past and pushed off my wing which was snagging him so he couldn't just drive off as everyone else usually does.. The bloke was going absolutely nuts when I went down, blaming me for "parking in the middle of the road". Now I just put my wheels up on the kerb. A compromise between not having to replace a wing mirror every fortnight, and allowing prams etc past on the pavement.

It's stupid really because if everyone just parked properly. Ie, on the road, it would make it narrow enough to be one-way at a time only. Which would mean slower traffic past the houses. It's like people are parking like dicks and inconveniencing pedestrians not even for there own benefit. But just to allow others to tear past at 30+. But I suppose nobody wants to be the one 'sticking out'...

parking on the road.... pah, who buys a house without an ample driveway?!

peasants!

My little hobby is reporting the school run cars that park illegally on our street. 🙂

Outside of that I DO have a real life, honest.

I reckon by the time you've finished reporting the morning school run, it would be time to start the afternoon reports.

Depends on the street and the parking. The close behind us, if there isn't room on drives, then people will park up on the pavement on one side - always room for wheelchairs and pushchairs, always room to get past in a car. Other parts of the village, people park opposite each other and block everything

Wild idea, but perhaps park somewhere safer and less selfish then walk back to your house?

Not always as simple as it seems, and another area where a lot of car insurers (IME) need to get up to speed with the 'restrictions' that car owners face when unable to park at hoe overnight etc. We don't all live in nice places with lots of off-road parking space/wide roads, whilst trying to earn a living that unfortunately requires us to use our cars to get to and from.

Out of interest, how does one move a stationary vehicle? Without damaging it.

Just recently somebody had parked a van so obnoxiously outside my house, like six inches away from the wall so nobody could get past it. It was there for a few days and I kept looking at it out the window (getting angry on behalf of the people having to walk round it in the traffic) and dreaming of ways to move it into the middle of the road, where I hoped the council would tow it away at the owners expense.

A trolley jack under front axle and then push from the side maybe?

I live in one of the hated burbs. Pavement parking not an issue because the 1970 designers mostly seperated the pavements from the cars. Pavement at the front of the house. Road at the rear. The roads that aren't fully seperated are wide enough for cars to park without going on the pavement.

I used to take a unreasonable amount of self-righteous pleasure in scraping the pram between the pavement cars and the wall when the kids were little.

Obviously if I buy something then the rest of society must provide somewhere convenient for me to store it, cos if they don't I shall store it where I want anyway even if by doing so i deny others their basic rights.

These individuals and people who maintain 'cyclists are entitled ****s' are often one and the same.

I was surprised to learn that it's not actually illegal to park on a pavement, unless cars are blocking the pavement. I always assumed it was against some law.

I actually had some success reporting one spot to the council using FixMyStreet.com. There was a section of my commute where people had taken to parking across both a bike lane AND the pavement, completely obstructing both. A week after reporting it, the council had painted double yellows there and now no-one parks there! That may have been a coincidence I suppose.

parking on the road…. pah, who buys a house without an ample driveway?!

peasants!

Unless you actually need to drive along your drive for a while to reach the house from the road, who actually parks on their drive? Far better to park on the pavement outside and leave your drive empty.

Boils my piss. Anyone who does this needs to be sentenced to a day in a wheelchair or pushing twins aroud in a buggy.

Absolute zenith of BUT MY CAR entitlement. Where we live now is generally OK for it, but there is one twit who parks his shitey corsa 2 wheels on the pavement when he's visiting.

who actually parks on their drive?

Apart from the folks who've got a drive too short for their monster motor so its back end covers the whole pavement.

I've got to put my 40 ft motorhome somewhere you know.

Be a pity if butterfingers kept dropping No8 screws on the pavement on their way back from B&Q.

Expensive things No8s. Best ask the car-ists to check their tyres and return any they’ve accidentally made off with.

I’m sure their nicking your screws wasn’t deliberate on their part, so if they’d just like to return them no more needs to be said.

What's on the agenda for tomorrow's thread OP? The youth of today, why don't they get a haircut? Why don't policemen say 'allo, Allo, Allo, what's all this then?" anymore?

On tenterhooks here.

I'm in South London and there are streets where it's signed as allowed and appropriate. Moderately busy roads where housing has no off street parking, so pavement parking keeps traffic flowing as it can go both ways. However it annoys me massively if/when cars park to high and make it hard to pass on the pavement. The road my kids primary school is on is prime example.... Lots of parents trying to safely squeeze kids past the cars is hard enough, when one has a younger sibling in a pram and said pram doesn't fit past a car it's dangerous. I wish I had the ****s to try much harder to push my son's pram through the tight gaps before going out in the road to get past.

Apart from the folks who’ve got a drive too short for their monster motor so its back end covers the whole pavement.

Someone did that near my house recently (it was a second car trying to fit on the drive rather unsuccessfully). I found that their wipers were a good place to hang a freshly-filled dog poo bag from.

I was walking down a local road recently, on the road as there were cars parked fully on the path on each side. One of the cars pulled out, the driver looked annoyed that I was blocking the road...

I’ve got to put my 40 ft motorhome somewhere you know.

I believe that the appropriate place for that is right in front of your neighbours windows such that they can't tell if it's day or night by looking through them.
In any event it's certainly not on your own drive.

Wild idea, but perhaps park somewhere safer and less selfish then walk back to your house? I know, it’s a pretty out there idea isn’t it? I can understand why you hadn’t managed to think it up for yourself.

All the roads are narrow (rural), none have any pavement apart from a 50 metre section of pavement that the council decided to put on a small section of a narrow road which happens to be outside my house. I could park down the road alongside a hedge (where there is no pavement) but what difference do you think that would make to anyone?
I don't even walk on the pavement myself when taking dogs for a walk as after having walked a mile or two on the road why bother moving across to a bit of pavement for 50 metres.
A completely different scenario to people parking on pavements in towns clearly but seems to have missed you by.

Be a pity if butterfingers kept dropping No8 screws on the pavement on their way back from B&Q.

Problem with that is they inevitably end up on the road and in my tyre. Again. For the third time in less than 6 months.

So no ta.

All the roads are narrow (rural), none have any pavement apart from a 50 metre section of pavement that the council decided to put on a small section of a narrow road which happens to be outside my house. I could park down the road alongside a hedge (where there is no pavement) but what difference do you think that would make to anyone?

Are you saying there is absolutely nowhere within sensible walking distance of your house to park your car safely?

none have any pavement apart from a 50 metre section of pavement that the council decided to put on a small section of a narrow road

Why did they put the pavement there? Is there a bus stop? History of accidents? Part of a walk to school route? A higher concentration of homes? How have you got to the point where you justifying parking on the only bit of pavement provided?

There was an HMG consultation about banning this outside London. For whatever reason hasn’t been updated in 18 months.

Most of the WalkRide groups seem to be on it, and there is apparently an option of introducing a local byelaw. Would help if councils weren’t banned from camera enforcement mind you.

I park on a road regularly where people park on the pavement (I assume so no one takes their mirror off when passing) however I think they are only encouraging people to squeeze through hence increasing the likliehood of damage. Also on one particular day in lockdown when the street was rammed 2 of the cars (both parked on pavement got scratched, I assumed an irate parent with a buggy)

Police can ticket cars blocking pavements in England

It's happened in the village up the road from me. Local traffic cops publish activity on their Facebook page and it is shared. The people who got ticketed are pretty stupid as the road is only wide enough for one vehicle whether you are parked on the road or blocking the pavement. Its the same all the way through the village so but the pavement parking is just at one end. TBH Pavement parking is actually more likely to get you scraped if two cars try to pass at the same time

You could use this to improve the affordability of housing. If you made it illegal to park on the pavement and enforced it, the desirability of houses without off street parking would fall and they would become more affordable.

You wouldn’t be able to live there if you needed a car, but then again given the current direction of fuel prices you might want to use a bike more anyway.

This plan isn’t without flaws such as negative equity, repossessions, people complaining “but my car!” and cash rich oligarchs buying up cheap housing stock to rent it back out again.

Probably a case for an exception on certain tight roads with terraces, for example, but as a general rule, I'd like to see restrictions enforced and widened in scope.

The real solution of course is fewer cars*.
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.
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*Not mine of course.

Probably because a law to eradicate it would prove unpopular for the party bringing it in.

I report those blocking the pavement to the police, just like you would a video of dangerous driving, not sure what action gets taken but having had a wheelchair using uncle & sister in law & hearing their tales of woe certainly focused the mind. Was also one of the reasons for going down to one car, as son now has his own & means both cars stay on the drive rather than out on the road. Had a car written off at my old house because I parked on the road rather than part on the pavement like everyone else 😬

My 87 yr old father fell a couple of weeks ago trying to get past a pavement parker.  two broken fingers, multiple lacerations, wrecked confidence

there is never an excuse for pavement parking.  Its selfish and dangerous

I feel for the kids now unable to play kerby like we did 50 years ago
Or skieting and old shoe polish tin on the chalked pavement well the girls did

gwaelod

Obviously if I buy something then the rest of society must provide somewhere convenient for me to store it, cos if they don’t I shall store it where I want anyway even if by doing so i deny others their basic rights.

I got such a kicking for similar sentiments on another thread.

Should be allowed to walk up and over the car without fear of legal ramifications

Should be allowed to walk up and over the car without fear of legal ramifications

I was about to say the same. Maybe you could start a TikTok craze.

Definitely agree it's an issue but finding a solution which is acceptable to most is something of an intractable problem.
Three things that really piss me off:
- parking directly outside my house
- parking such that prams/pushchairs/mobility scooters don't have enough space to use pavement
- works vehicles parked overnight & at weekends which don't belong on residential streets.

Should be allowed to walk up and over the car without fear of legal ramifications

Some monumental cockwomble parked their car about an inch from my front door. They came back to find me lounging on the bonnet catching some rays and my bike partially squeezed in to the gap between car and front door.

When we first moved in to the house people would regularly park fully on the pavement right outside our door. Rare occurrence now. I’m assuming tales of the unhinged, angry bald man have spread locally 😀

In the netherlands if you park blocking a cycle lane every other cyclist riding past will scratch your car.  No one does it as a result

We should do the same with pavement parkers  there have been a few cars have damaged or misaligned wing mirrors after I squeezed past.  Shame there wasn't room to get thru without hitting the mirror

What I don’t understand is why people park half on the pavement and half on the road. This still blocks the road and doesn’t allow 2 cars to pass each other in opposite directions and blocks most of the pavement not allowing prams past.
Leave the car on the road and leave the pavement clear.

It’s a fair point if you own the tarmac outside your house, otherwise surely anyone can park there.

Also if the person in the works van leaves the van at work and drives home in their own vehicle, there’s still a vehicle in that space, and another journey has been taken and more fuel has been spent.

Yes, anyone can park there - I wish they wouldn't.
Works vehicles belong...at work unless they're owned by the driver and even then anything bigger than swb transit or similar is unacceptable.
Not far from me some bloke who works for Anglian Water poles up in a variety of vehicles ranging from combi van upto tipper.
Don't know why his neighbours don't kick up.

Come to Sheffield, it’s officially a competition here to see who can do the most outrageous piece of parking. There’s even a Twitter account dedicated to it https://twitter.com/parkinginsheff?s=21.

Admittedly not on a pavement but this is one of my recent favourites

https://twitter.com/sheffbicycle/status/1496423851022065668?s=21

The neighbour next to me does it as does his daughter. They’ve even started putting cones out in the road on the other side of their car to prevent other cars hitting them. Admittedly mine got hit three times in a year. I ended up parking up the road to avoid the problem but sold it in the end anyway as never drove the bloody thing.

Who Gives a .... f

https://www.sidingstudios.com/2022/03/16/who-cares/

and its a cycle path...lol.

At least they did'nt park on the doubles 😉

I think a lot of people don't see a problem with parking on the pavement because they never walk anywhere. The last couple of roads I've lived on I'd say the vast majority of people rarely, if ever, reached either end of the road under their own steam.

There was something on R4 a while back talking about this. Apparently different councils have different rules on parking on the pavement

redthunder - I believe in that situation they are still considered to be on the double yellows.  IMO one of the issues is that there is not enough parking wardens to enforce parking law

It must be Illegal to park on pavements because it’s illegal to drive on them. Unless you want to claim your car was lowered into place by a helicopter.

Yeah the lazy sods next door to me regularly drive the 900 m to the local shop.

Are you saying there is absolutely nowhere within sensible walking distance of your house to park your car safely?

Yep.

Why did they put the pavement there? Is there a bus stop? History of accidents? Part of a walk to school route? A higher concentration of homes? How have you got to the point where you justifying parking on the only bit of pavement provided?

The pavement was there when I moved in 25 years ago. Everyone parks on it due to narrow road and by parking on pavement there is more road left to drive on than if parking down the road past the pavement which is narrower/bendier - that is how I justify parking on it
A bus stop, hilarious
A walk to school - nearest school is 5 miles away
A higher concentration of homes - the houses are spread out evenly along the road as they have been for 50 years and no new builds are allowed due to conservation area

Try and get your head around the fact that it is the only bit of pavement so if walking down the road most of the time is either walking along the side of the road or on muddy verges. It is the equivalent of one of those stupid bits of cycle lane than are 5 metres long.

"It must be Illegal to park on pavements because it’s illegal to drive on them. Unless you want to claim your car was lowered into place by a helicopter."

It's illegal to block the pavement, it's illegal to drive on the pavement and it's illegal for any vehicle over 7.5 tons to be parked on the pavement (except for unloading where the pavement is not blocked and the vehicle is not left unattended).

But it's not illegal to park a car on the pavement (outside London).

Most people where I live park half on the pavements, however they still leave room to pass by. Only time it becomes an issue is when someone parks on the corner of a junction, but that's rare.

Before anyone pops round with with frozen sausages, we use the drive as we're a one-car family. But there are many round here with multiple vehicles.