To think pavement parking should be banned

[HoustonBess]

There's a government inquiry into pavement parking, you can submit comments here

www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/transport-committee/inquiries/parliament-2017/pavement-parking-17-19/

I absolutely hate pavement parking - it's someone thinking their car not being scratched is more important than me and DD's lives. I live in an area of terraced streets and especially on bin days, you basically can't go out with a pram because it's so bad.

Anyone else want to comment for the inquiry? Maybe mumsnet could submit something on behalf of lots of people?

@adaline
I'm not ranting at anyone. I'm making general observations about people who park on pavements. I haven't singled anyone out

@Bianca
The car and where someone parks it is not the pedestrians problem. They have the car and so it is their responsibility to find a legal way of parking it. It's no good having a car if you can't stay within the law

But you are insisting that people organise and run their lives based on your life, routine and the place that you live.

You seem to not be able to comprehend that in some places transport is rubbish or that people simply do not have the time.

Long gone are the days where mums stayed at home, kids went to the school up the road and every house was within walking distance of a butchers, bakers, and greengrocer.

Sorry, I was away pressuring my employer to provide free transport to and from work in between enrolling for my CBT with the £500 I found behind the sofa .

@LittleChristmasMouse

No, it's more about the law and people who seem to think they are above it

The only thing I can see working is when a house on the street is up for redevelopment turn it into an overkill car park for that street.
In reality I can't see it working though.
As for one of the new estates by me went to visit my friend. Had to park about 2 streets away as despite all these lovely new houses not 1 of them had drives.
They all have tiny postage stamp pieces of grass known as a front garden. Pavements that don't look wide enough to be classed as pavements and the roads which were barely wide enough to get 2 cars down were covered In cars parkedall over it.

In that situation all it's about is money.

Flaxmeadow

The law here says park on the pavement. Put your wheels in this box.

How is that being above the law? That is complying with the law.

The car and where someone parks it is not the pedestrians problem. They have the car and so it is their responsibility to find a legal way of parking it. It's no good having a car if you can't stay within the law

As I said above I can absolutely guarantee that no pedestrian will ever want to use what they’ve might assume is pavement outside my house. So if I - once in a blue moon - park on it I am inconveniencing literally nobody.

It's against the law to cause an obstruction with a vehicle. Also pedestrians always have the 'right of way', one of the oldest rules in the Highway Code.

If people want to park in a designated area fair enough, they are within the law. But if you are parked illegally, and in fact dangerously in some cases, don't expect any sympathy when you obstruct a right of way. Don't expect that your car will go unscratched by buggies, shopping bags and so on. Don't think it wont be reported because eventually it will.
It's a problem near where I live and people don't want it due to safety reasons and who can blame them. There is even a group of parents, along with a school, who are trying to bring in traffic warden to resolve the situation. It isn't just at school pick up time either but also 5 to 9 office workers, who seem to think the streets around here are their free car park.

Flaxmeadow

I assume you’re speaking generally rather than replying to me

Yes generally JaquesHamner

@Flaxmeadow but parking with two wheels on the pavement is not illegal if you're not obstructing pedestrians from passing by. Like in my example, I know, for a fact that wheelchair users and prams could fit down the gap between my car and the wall. They could fit down with another adult walking next to them so absolutely no need to go scratching cars (like some PPs have said they do) just because it dared touch the pavement. The paths here are wide enough to do this. So why should it be banned?

Long gone are the days where mums stayed at home, kids went to the school up the road and every house was within walking distance of a butchers, bakers, and greengrocer.

Actually, we do need to go back to shopping, working, etc in our local community. We cannot go on, buying more and more cars, building roads all over the countryside, and destroying our natural environment forever - global warming and climate change will see an end to it and us, if we don’t attempt to return to Sustainable Development!

Where we live if you just park on the road you're risking your wing mirrors to the local idiots who tear up and down the streets and wouldn't think twice to leave no details!.

MontStMichel

Great sentiments but that is not going to happen without a massive amount of government spending to provide local employment, encourage shops back to neighbourhoods (which will be far more expensive to shop in and so require higher wages from the "local" jobs). It is just not going to happen.

Which pp has said they scratch cars?

I've said I've not done so. Yet.
But that if I had no other route (bearing in mind no dropped kerb means I'm literally stuck- an 80kg power chair won't negotiate kerbs at all) and it was get past or miss a doctors appointment or be late picking primary aged dd up from school then I'd have to get through.

If that meant the car gets scratched so be it.

I've not done so yet and have gone to great lengths not to scratch them, but it's bloody close at times.

The times I see it there is no need, BMW's or Mercs with all 4 wheels on the pavement outside the off licence because they're not prepared to walk 100ft.

@Biancadelrioisback

I scratched a few cars. It was either do that or walk on country road with a 40mph speed limit. I literally scraped my pushchair down the wall and also down the cars, so there wasn't any give left on either side. There was no room to walk down because the cars parked too closely and I am not taking my pushchair onto a road used as a rat run. There is signage all along that road and double yellow lines so absolutely no one should have parked there, but on a Sunday the church folk don't give a damn about the roads or the other pedestrians. They just park up as far onto the pavement as they like, so I scratched several cars. Don't care!

They just park up as far onto the pavement as they like, so I scratched several cars. Don't care!

If people park like arseholes and people can’t get past then scratching is just the price they pay.

We had idiots a few streets over scratching commuters' cars for leaving them outside their houses.

I can well imagine should a ban on pavement parking come in there will be idiots who do the same.

Where I am has wide pavements that are Hal tarmac to park on. Otherwise there would be no way to park on the streets round here, and no parking for a good half mile at least. It’s unreasonable for new estates but Victorian terraces don’t lend themselves well to parking

JacquesHammer, well that's completely different from what I did and also not the issue being discussed on the thread which is pavement parking blocking the pavement. Nothing to do with people just irrationally annoyed at a car legally outside their house.

But you are insisting that people organise and run their lives based on your life, routine and the place that you live

No we are insisting that drivers keep their wheels off the FOOTways.

There are so many complaints on here about cyclists on pavements. Who really are not much of a problem at all. Cars or vans on pavements are a very big problem. Especially the ones who park on a pavement, on double yellow lines - saw that yesterday evening. Was a BMW. Their drivers do like conforming to a stereotype don't they?

parking with two wheels on the pavement is not illegal

Driving on the pavement is illegal and by definition if you are parked on the pavement, you have driven on it.

and also not the issue being discussed on the thread which is pavement parking blocking the pavement

Actually it is pertinent for me for reasons I’ve gone into several times.

The other thing I'd like to make illegal is parking on the wrong side of the road. It is illegal in other countries.

Outside schools and churches seem to be the worst offending areas.