Parking on pavement - Illegal or not??????

[Squaredy]

We have been chatting at work today about pavement parking, as it is in the news that it may be made illegal in more parts of the UK. 

 

I thought it already was......!  Our street had a clamp down on it about four years ago and my next-door neighbour had a fixed penalty notice as well as several other neighbours.

 

However, it seems the law is not at all clear.  In London it is illegal currently - that is nice and simple.  Also the local authority has the right to make it illegal in an area or a road, in which case they must display signs stating this (there are no such signs in my road).  So what about the rest of us?

 

I have been looking into it and found this https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q387.htm and the RAC website basically says exactly the same.  My neighbour was certainly not obstructing the road, indeed by parking partly on the pavement he was leaving the road clear for any large vehicle that needs to pass.  Could he have been issued the fixed penalty notice for obstructing the pavement?  It is a wide pavement (2 metres or so) but he may have largely blocked the tarmac part and left the grass verge free.

 

If it is the case that you can be fined for blocking the pavement then it is pretty much the case that it is already illegal to park on the pavement.  Or could it be that the police officer who issued the fixed penalty notices had no right to do so?

 

By the way, the street I live in works just fine because everyone who has no drive (or has too many vehicles for their drive) parks partly on the pavement.  If all the vehicles parked on the road, then the road would get blocked as there are no yellow lines and so presumably people would park on both sides.

 

Arbtalk seems remarkably good at clearing up these mis-understandings so please help me understand!

[nepia]

I thought pavement parking was illegal full stop unless it has been designated as legal by the LA/Highways etc.  Hence you sometimes see a solid white line down the pavement demarcating parking/non-parking areas.

 

But what do I know?! ?  Your text seems to infer that it is not necessarily an offence.

 

I often think that two wheels on the footway should be allowed on at least one side of a road for just the reasons outlined.

[Gary Prentice]

10 minutes ago, nepia said:

I often think that two wheels on the footway should be allowed on at least one side of a road for just the reasons outlined.

I agree with that. Everyone on our road parks half on the pavement, otherwise they'd only be parking on one side of the road because it is so narrow. 

 

[agrimog]

where i live, the pavements are privately owned, the council has no saw in the matter, and as private property the police cannot stop you parking on your own property

[Rough Hewn]

15 years ago in Brighton, a good friend asked a traffic warden the same question.
(Outside a gym where the pavement is 20 feet wide and always 4-6 cars parked on it)
The reply was: as long as you are not blocking the pavement i.e. 1meter clear pathway.
But that was a traffic warden.

[dan494]

5 minutes ago, Rough Hewn said:

15 years ago in Brighton, a good friend asked a traffic warden the same question.
(Outside a gym where the pavement is 20 feet wide and always 4-6 cars parked on it)
The reply was: as long as you are not blocking the pavement i.e. 1meter clear pathway.
But that was a traffic warden.

I don't trust that lot as far as i can throw them, used to live on a road with a 2 hour parking limit which ended at 6pm. Got home one day about 3pm and just before 5pm went down to move my car and spotted the warden next to it, explain I live there and will move. No bother he says, just leave it there as I live there. Next morning come out, ticket on it half hour after I spoke with him ?? 

[nepia]

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/legal/parking-on-the-pavement/

 

Seems there is a difference between Londinium and the rest of the world, explaining my understanding that pavement parking is illegal per se:  it is in London, not elsewhere and I didn't know of the difference.

[aspenarb]

When I was a gobby teenager I got endorsements on my license for parking on the pavement. I was unloading my van outside my house and plod asked me how my van got on the pavement, I told him I drove it there ( plus a few other things  )  and I  was duly knicked for driving a vehicle on a public footpath. Plod back then used to deliver a summons by hand and when they turned up they also parked on the pavement outside my house, shame camera phones were not around in those days.

 

Bob

[Squaredy]

1 hour ago, aspenarb said:

When I was a gobby teenager I got endorsements on my license for parking on the pavement. I was unloading my van outside my house and plod asked me how my van got on the pavement, I told him I drove it there ( plus a few other things  )  and I  was duly knicked for driving a vehicle on a public footpath. Plod back then used to deliver a summons by hand and when they turned up they also parked on the pavement outside my house, shame camera phones were not around in those days.

 

Bob

That is very interesting.  As you say it is illegal to drive on the pavement but not apparently to park on it (outside London).  So in theory the police could nick you for driving on the pavement to park on it.  Funnily enough the police national database states that securing a conviction for driving on the pavement is likely to be problematic due to the need to secure witnesses.  So it sounds like you were a bit unlucky to be fined for this!

 

For my part if I am ever issued with a fine for parking on the pavement I will contest it and quote advice like this from the RAC website:

 

If you are parking along a narrow road, where parking wholly on the road would stop other cars, and particularly emergency vehicles, from getting through, then it is a sensible option to park partially on a pavement, providing there are no parking restrictions and providing you are not blocking a wheelchair user or pram from using the pavement.

 

Why do we make everything so complicated in this country?!

[headgroundsman]

As a wheelchair user I wish there were clearly marked places where people can park and where they cannot. It is so accepted that people will park on the pavement to keep the road open that no one ever thinks if it would then block access to wheelchairs and pushchairs