To not know why mn has an issue with parking on the pavement?

[CatchTheRainbow]

I have my driveway but the street I live in is quite long (has 3 postcodes) and there's always cars parked along the pavements.

I see it everywhere.

Who honestly has never parked on a pavement?

Why is it such an issue?

As long as people leave enough room for prams/wheelchairs to get through and it's allowed in the area, I don't see a problem with it.

The thing is many people don't.

4 times today my DH had to push my wheelchair into the road to get around cars because there wasn't enough room on the pavement.

People think they leave enough room. Reality is they often don't.

I've never parked on a pavement.

What with them being for pedestrians and all....

Where dd goes to school there are people who park half on the pavement near by. Why they can't drive a few more yards to the local park and community centre and park there I don't know. Disability excluded here obviously but car drivers often seem so lazy and afraid to actually dare walk few feet they'd rather be a pain in the arse and prevent people using the pavement rather than drive on a bit and find somewhere suitable.

KanyeWesticle, when I say "park on the pavement", I mean "put the car party on the pavement, two wheels and not all four". I believe most people mean this when they talk about parking on the pavement as four-wheel parking is discussed here as a special case.

So, walk 45 minutes or travel another way to visit your friend. You don't park on double yellows or anywhere you'll be fined elsewhere I suspect.

My son is 25, a wheelchair user with a huge Power Drive, need loads of space to drive, to get ramp out of van etc. But, in the 26 years I was around before him I never parked on the pavement. It is selfish and dangerous as previous posters have pointed out.

Legislation is being introduced in Scotland to stop this I believe. Good news.

Haven't read the whole thresh, BUT......

If you have the 'joy' of living on a Victorian street/road/whatever, you sometimes have no choice but to partly park on the kerb.

Oh I hear you say, just move house, well it isn't that simple and what do we then leave behind for the next owner??

I don't know what the answer is and neither do my local council, but all know is I don't set out to piss people off who have needs to pass safely on the path and neither do I want my car damaged by twats who can't drive properly and use every cut though available to cut 5 mins off their journey.

Because it is illeagel to park on the footway, because it is for pedestrians not for cars. Generally there isn't space to get a buggy past or a wheel chair.

Don't be so entitled and park on the road.

Many have said they park for emergency vehicles to have access but I have crewed an ambulance where we could get ambulance close but had problems getting the stretcher to them due to lack of space and chair was not suitable. So curious here do you factor this aspect when you park?

Even if a car parks just a little on the pavement, leaving enough room for pedestrians doesn't mean something else might come along (like bin day) hindering the small space left by a car.

I too live on a narrow street btw. The answer is to not park on the pavement, park further away. Not easy but doable. Unlike trying to get a wheelchair by a parked car, and not being able to, and not being able to get over the kerb, especially if it is a Power Drive, and having to go back the way you came, and perhaps not being able to get to where you are going (eg a gig you have been looking forward to, or a house party etc.)

fannyfanackapan, I am getting a distinct impression that most people on this thread live in leafy suburbs and never set foot in a Victorian industrial town full of narrow terraced streets.

Typical pavement scene near where I used to live. Both the cars and the van there are on the pavement; the road is the lighter red colour in the background. Only way past with pram that time and many many other times was walking out in the road, and it would have been even more dangerous for wheelchair users relying on dropped kerbs.

Pavements are not "for pedestrians, so long as nobody with a car needs them to park on." Pavements are for pedestrians.

Pavements are for pedestrians. Cars belong on the road not the pavement.

I've never deliberately or accidentally on purpose scratched a car though no matter how twattish their parking (I did fall off my bike into a neighbours car as a child trying to ride with no hands but that was a genuine accident)

But I have zero sympathy for people who park like twats and then get their cars scratched accidentally

Seriously? I live in a city. Most people I know who drive round here could just as easily not own a car and use public transport as it is fantastic. People drive cars for their own convenience usually (unless they're disabled). It'd be a whole lot better for the environment if people started using their legs.

To add to the post by roundthebend here is the full post on askthe.police.uk:

"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.
Note that it is an offence to drive on the pavement, yet despite the obvious inference that a parked vehicle has been driven on the pavement prior to being parked there, witnesses to the driving will probably be needed to secure a prosecution - this can be problematic.
Whilst the above information represents the general position in England and Wales, there may be regional variations to this, for example, in London there is essentially a blanket ban"

So, not necessarily illegal across the whole of England and Wales - aside from in London - no matter how many times posters say it is.

I don't as I said but I'm getting the distinct impression that some people on this thread are simply not engaging with the legitimate problems caused by parking on pavements. Not al disabled people live in leafy suburbs btw.

Again, the solution if you cannot park on the road outside your/your friend's house. Park somewhere else .

MsPavlichenko, in order to do what you ask, literally thousands of cars off multiple streets in my neighbourhood would have to park "further away". Where is this "further away" that can accommodate so many people? A farmer's field two miles away up the hill? How about all those disabled people who would have to walk two miles from their cars to their houses? If you and your son lived where I do, your car would be parked part on the pavement too.

Also, if the car blocking the way on the pavement is not near a dropped kerb I have to go back to the previous dropped kerb (in my wheelchair)!and wheel along the road until I can get back on to the pavement.

Most people who park on pavements will claim that pedestrians can still walk by easily, however this in often not the case. They might have left room enough for a person walking by, but not wheelchairs, or double buggies etc.

In fact, some of the gaps I've seen have been so narrow that they would present a challenge for a malnourished trick unicyclist.

Merrymumoftwo, where I live people tend not to park as to block entrances to houses, so getting a stretcher in an out of a house from an ambulance parked in the middle of the road is not a problem (I thought about this as I might need a stretcher myself soon).

AS a childminder , trying to get children to school with a pushchair, little one's holing onto pushchairs it is a nightmare and on bin day even worse.. And yes I frequently have to go on the road as I can't get through so I do have a very valid issue.

Also when driving my car the other day Two vans parked either side of the pavement dropping off double glazing. so blocked pavement however not enough room for my car to get through so had to take an alternative route.I don't drive a 4x4 by the way.

If I can't park where I want I have to find somewhere else .... Don't see why anyone else can't

What would happen if I was to genuinely accidentally scratch a car parked on the pavement whilst struggling with my double pram?

It's cunty to park on the pavement.
Plus it ruins your suspension.

AutumnMadness. It wouldn't be. As I posted earlier he uses an accessible van with ramp. He needs to be on the road to get in and out. His chair is huge and need lots of pavement space and lowered kerbs etc.

I don't know how far away you need to park, or whether you have to walk further or pay for parking or use public transport. That is your choice. My son has none. No, he can't use either buses or taxis before you ask.

I believe rainbow is being goady and trying to wind the vipers up.

Bloody pointless question.

MsPavlichenko, there really are wheelchair users who live in my town in narrow streets where all cars are forced to park part on the pavement. It's a shit situation, but we are not some kind of magic disability-free ghetto where, if you have a child who is disabled or suddenly become disabled yourself, you get a house provided for you in a different area with unobstructed pavements. We all just manage the best we can, often simply by not bothering with pavements at all, but with cars and pedestrians sharing the roads in a peaceful manner.

BillyButtfuck, nothing would likely happen where I live. When my son rides his bike in the street, I tell him to mind the cars. But I am also fully aware that parking my car in a street means risking scratches. It's a risk I am prepared to take in exchange for a possibility of having a car.