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?

I've just parked 2 wheels up on the pavement outside my house as everyone with a car does. There's plenty of space on the pavement and the road is still two full lanes wide. Where I live is streets and streets of Victorian / Edwardian terraces. Everyone parks just up on the pavement, parking on the road would be worse.

As I said, if it is as spacious as you're making out, if this becomes law you should have no problem applying and getting a parking bay marked over some of the pavement outside your house.

The majority of times I have seen people do this however, this is not the case. If there isn't enough space on the road for you to park and an emergency vehicle to pass, and parking on the pavement means it is difficult for wheelchair users, you should not be parking there. I'd assume this was common sense.

I’m not sure why I clicked this thread as I knew it’d just involve a chorus of “well yes I know what I’m doing is wrong but as I have no choice, all of you wanting to use this space for what it’s designed for will just have to get to fuck. So what if you have to walk into the path of incoming vehicles? I have no choice but to behave badly.”

I had always thought this was a country wide thing, but now I realise it is just London.

However, pavement parking is allowed on loads of streets in London - it's just that it's always marked.

I am happy to ban it

I live in a wide ish (on main roads) pavement new build estate where almost everyone has some form of off-road parking (spaces dependent on house size so 1 or 2 bed house 1 car, 3 bed house 2 spaces) everyone has either a driveway or a specially built parking area at the back of the houses where the gardens are.

Despite this even in the middle of the day I can hardly get my own car down the road around any corners and they have had to put bollards and shrubs in to stop some pavement parking. My cul de sac doesn’t have wide pavements and I have been walking the dog down the middle of the road because the cars are so far over I would be walking in bushes

I don’t see why there can’t be lines on slightly wider pavements so parking can happen in some areas

I've lived in two houses that had marked pavement parking. It really isn't an issue. It's just a question of applying some paint to mark out how far onto the pavement parking is allowed. All pavements and roads have to be maintained anyway.

Like many people have already said (and this seems to be being ignored) many people bought their houses before there was a parking issue. Parking has become more problematic in recent years and cars have gotten bigger. So those who live on narrow streets can't 'just' park on a different street and walk. Those different streets are full. Where I live, our town has disk parking in all carparks meaning you have to display your disk when you park which indicates the time you arrived and you have a max 3 hours. This is enforced all the time and cars are constantly being fined. I got caught as I was unloading my shopping into my boot, even though I had my disk but just forgot to display it, I even showed it to the warden and he still ticketed me. So it's not like people can park in the town centre and walk.
Both DH and I work in different cities and if I were to rely on public transport I would be late every day for everything as there isn't a bus that can get me to work on time.

Yes banning pavement parking sounds like a simple solution, I've had so many issues from ignorant parking and having to take my tiny DS onto roads in his massive pram toting his oxygen tanks, but it isn't the answer. The answer is to improve our travel networks so people are less reliant on cars.

I live in a stupidy narrow street and if we didn’t park with two weels on the pavement nobody would be able to use the road at all.

Not our fault the road is no longer fit for purpose but unfortunately it’s an old village with narrow streets.

It's already illegal in London and I hope the proposal goes through to make it illegal everywhere.

I live in a London borough with roads so narrow, you have to park on the pavement.

The council have marked out white bays on them that the car has to fit into.

WorraLiberty

Me too.

I live on a street with lots of pavement parking. It's a very narrow, old street. Buggies can just about fit but wheelchairs would probably have a hard time (a parallel street is much wider so someone would be able to get through). This is of course a big issue. However, and I'm sure it's been answered but I can't seem to view the whole thread, where should these people park? Other streets are similarly narrow and the only car park has a 3 hour limit so it works during the week but come the weekend when people aren't at work, there just isn't an alternative. Only thing I can think of is a multistorey car park?

Or should be just knock down all the beautiful old houses and live on estates?

Yes banning pavement parking sounds like a simple solution, {.......}, but it isn't the answer. The answer is to improve our travel networks so people are less reliant on cars.

This ^

I sat/passed my driving test in the mid-seventies. If my memory serves me correctly, when you were doing the 3 point turn manoeuvre - if the vehicle even touched the kerb - that was an automatic fail from the Examiner.
I've seen some dreadful, selfish, lazy, inconsiderate and unnecessary pavement parking - thoroughly deserving of fines and penalty points.

"I live in a city full of Victorian terraced streets it is the only way to park"

And I live near one.

"Park elsewhere and walk.

Again, what if "elsewhere" doesn't exist? In a lot of towns it's not a case of not wanting to park in the next road, it's a case of every single street is the same. So, again, where do you want people to go? "

I live near a northern town with rows of terraced houses with no parking anywhere near them.

The local fire service has specifically asked people not to park their cars in the streets because their fire engines can't get past, so there is no choice but to park partly on the pavement. If we had better public transport then they wouldn't need cars, but this isn't London.

It isn't ideal, but many people can't afford to buy houses with off road parking, so I don't know what the solution is.

"Rent spaces from local companies that have private car parks, rent spaces in supermarket car parks that are not needed 24/7, rent empty spaces on driveways. Petition more actual parking spaces."

That sounds like a good idea - where these places exist. Unfortunately there aren't any near the houses I am thinking of.

I live in London zone 3 and have a train station quite literally around the corner from my house. People drive to our road, park their car (for free) and then go to work on the train.

Residents can’t often park their cars because there is no space, but also emergency vehicles and transport for the elderly cannot get down the road because there are parked cars on both sides of the road.

I’m a childminder and I’m often walking about with a couple of under 5s and I panic because cyclists and motorists often use the pavements as the road is gridlocked.

We have recently had a consultation to put in permit parking and cycle lanes, because it isn’t safe for pedestrians at the minute. It really angers me.

@Otterseatpuffinsdontthey What does doing a 3 point turn on a driving test have to do with parking on the pavement? You're clutching at straws there.

If the wheels of the vehicle touched the kerb, the interpretation was that you were not in control of the vehicle - too near the pavement, far less parking on it.
No straws clutched.

But we are allowed to park on the pavement here. The council has painted boxes and everything so clearly our wheels are allowed to touch the pavement.

Seems to be countless variations with Councils the length and breadth of the U.K..
Councils don't always get things "right".
Perhaps they should read that well known publication "The Highway Code".
Also, perhaps they should refer to a few dictionaries for the definition of "pavement".

But they've done it because the pavements are wide and the road narrow. Surely that makes the most sense?

That's why some of us are saying a blanket ban is ridiculous. Councils should make the decision on a case by case basis according to needs and road and pavement types.

So who designed/constructed the wide pavements and narrow road?

Well I have no idea. Whoever built the houses back in the 50s. I guess cars were smaller, less people had them and the houses have garages (though they are too narrow and the road to the garages doesn't have enough room to get modern cars into them, hence why they are parked in the street).

I completely understand your frustration OP, I really do. But the problem is there's just no bloody space. Our country is very overcrowded and our roads are mostly old and far too narrow for modern day purposes. This is the real issue - not the pavement parkers. Really we just need bigger roads and less people using them.

Don't know what we can do about any of this though...

I work as a carer. Part of my job is to take people in wheelchairs out for lunch/shopping/fresh air etc. Alone it takes me two minutes to get from the resident's flat to town. With a wheelchair or a person with limited vision it takes me twenty minutes because I have to walk a different way due to two or three side streets that have cars parked on the narrow pavements. That's 40 minutes of someone's one hour call gone before they've even stepped foot inside the café. It's not safe to walk residents down the middle of the road nor am I insured to do so. I have to take reasonable steps to keep them safe. Plus once the wheelchair is off the pavement we need to stay in the road until we find a dropped kerb which isn't until we reach the town. We'd be stuck in the road the entire way.

YANBU.

No-one needs to park their car within x minutes of their house. If you can't fit your car on the road and leave the road safe to use then either don't have a car like the millions of non-drivers who navigate life without a problem every day or park elsewhere and walk.

I don't think a blanket ban is the best idea as some areas aren't suited to it.
My parents live on a street where the driveways are staggered. If any visitor parks "properly" outside one of the houses, the opposing neighbours cannot exit their drive.
If cars park with two wheels on the pavement is wide enough to still allow pedestrians but the extra few feet of road allows driveway access.