Neighbours parking on pavements and overgrown hedges (photo)

[applesauce1]

I walk into town every day with my baby in his pushchair. Every day, I am met with this obstacle. One neighbour has this tree growing so low and wide that it would hit my baby in the face while in his pushchair, so I can't duck under. Possibly the same neighbour or their NDN has the white car, who always parks on the pavement. In the photo, they've left a generous amount of path compared to usual. Most of the time the car is much further onto the pavement than it is on the road.

The house over the road often has vans in who, without fail, park on the pavement. Usually, my best route is to either go around the van on the neighbours garden, or walk in the road.

I have a feeling people do this because it is a bus route. If people park legally, the bus driver just leans on their horn until someone comes and moves the car onto the pavement.

So my AIBU is, who should I be annoyed with? What would you do? Should I be annoyed at all? I can usually get a quite chance to push my baby in the road, but people drive very fast and often on the wrong side of the road (due to parked cars) on this estate, so I always feel vulnerable doing that.

If it becomes illegal to park on a pavement, that would mean whole areas where no one could own a car.

Even better. Greener living and all!

Yeh great, especially for disabled people, who don’t use electric wheelchairs. Ffs myopic comments.

The best solution would be to allow pavement parking on one side.

@jennymanara - But the needs of car owners do not trample other peoples needs either.

If a road cannot allow people to use pavement and have cars parked (maybe limit parking to one side of the road, as is common), then the road is not suitable for car owners.

The current situation of people being prevented from making their way down a pavement because of cars being parked there is ridiculous.

I live in a street of fairly typical London terraces - our road is the exception to the general by being wide enough to park normally on either side. Other streets have either had one side double yellow lined or have had marked pavement parking - marks are front back and side, so you can park about 1/3 of the width of the car on, leaving enough space for emergency vehicles to pass and enough pavement room to let wheelchairs and buggies past. The local council are very hot on enforcing cutting back overhanging greenery and the Neighbourhood policing team ticket errant parkers.

That photo shows a selfish parker, OP - maybe they are oblivious to the problem on the pavement but someone should let them know.

And to the ‘why not just go around ? ‘ quite a worrying thing for the elderly or less mobile to walk out around in traffic, tricky with a wheelchair if there aren’t dropped kerbs, not what a parent would want for a child just learning to travel independently etc etc.

I’m parked two streets away at the moment because there’s isn’t enough parking for everyone who wants it anywhere around here due to the restrictions and it was a pain having to carry my work stuff and shopping back to the house , but better that than pedestrians having to dodge into the road or a fire engine unable to get through the streets.

Limiting cars to one per household would help.

Also....... the ban applies across London. The transport in some of the outer edges of some boroughs is really crap, but the ban still applies there, the streets are still pretty narrow, but areas and people cope.

How do you think that would work then - if people don't have a driveway or a car park, where are they supposed to park?

On the road like normal people. It's not the pavement or nothing. Do you drive along the pavement? So why would you drive up onto it when you want to park?

(and before anyone comes back to say the road is too narrow to park on.... if that is the case, park on an adjacent road which isn't too narrow to park on).

I just don’t understand this. If the road is too narrow to park on the street and allow emergency vehicles then the road shouldn’t have any parking. In the cases where pavement is exceptionally wide, official parking spaces could be created and marked. Yes that means some streets end up with no parking. Such is life.

I always park my car on the pavement outside my house. If I parked on the road emergency vehicles wouldn't get passed.
I do always check there is plenty of room for prams and wheelchairs to get passed though which I thought was a law?
Don't see why we need a blanket ban just because a few people aren't considerate enough. Councils round here have been known to walk the streets with a wheelchair to check they culd get by. That was back when they actually had some money though!

The council should ban parking from one side, which would help people to walk on one pavement, and cars parking without blocking the traffic.

At the moment, cars will either block the pavement or the road, neither solution are helpful. A one-way road on top would make it even easier.

The problem is that there are just too many cars. The sooner the government bring in a one house, one car policy the better.

The car in the picture, they should get a fine for parking like that, repeat offence, car impounded or sold.

Really have little sympathy for these inconsiderate car users.

@Sashkin And if there is no adjacent roads you can park on? If you live in a large estate of terraced victorian housing with narrow streets?
Basically I would have to walk about 1.5 miles away. Park up on the street there, and then use my car to get to work.

@LoudBatPerson Not sure you understand crappy public transport

I’m in central London and the ban works as the police and traffic wardens monitor roads and if necessary have vehicles towed away.

For people who don’t have wide enough roads to park on the road and not the pavement, they have to find another road to park on.

@jennymanara - Not sure you understand that people need to use pavement to get around.

@Mummyoflittledragon I was being sarcastic, because Jenny clearly thinks her needs to park on the pavement trump the safety of the disabled and children.

I don't buy that there isn't safe road parking a short 10/15 minute walk away in most cases.

Pavements on my street are actually wider when counted together than the actual road for cars.
Fine, bring on ban, but then I expect council to redo the pavements and road to make road wider. Or give us a bit of a pavement so we can all have drives😁

Well maybe the nationwide wide ban (if it does come into force) will be a catalyst for more investment into public transport outside of London

😂😂😂 Can you really imagine gov and councils do something like that? So far we are losing buses.

@Eliza9919 Of course I can push my pushchair, but it is one of the heaviest (Silver Cross Wave) and so is difficult to manoeuvre quickly up and down kerbs when there is a car suddenly speeding around the corner towards you. I sustained lasting birth injuries (not foreseen) and would not have chosen such a heavy piece of kit had I known I'd encounter an issue requiring me to run uphill in the road with it.

@purplepoops Yes there is parking further away I could use, but it is about 25-30 minutes walk away. The fact that you don't believe me does not change the facts.

If you have a smartphone there is a useful app called 'fixmystreet'. You can use it to send reports to your local council, including photographs, of things like trees/bushes obstructing the pavement. Additionally it can be used to report street lamps not working, potholes, blocked road drains etc. I have used it with varying success in the past so it might be worth trying for this problem, the photo of the overgrowth could include the badly parked vehicle with explanatory comments added.

Vehicles belong on the road, not the footpath.

I live in a densely populated part of my town where there isn't enough room for people to park so I understand the problem.

I wish instead of building flats on every corner councils would/could afford to/be made to create more carparking areas.

I wish householders with garages could be encouraged/forced to actually use them for cars instead of storage or an extra room. I see posts on here where people think the idea of using your garage to park your car is laughable. Of course it would also help if builders were forced to build garages big enough for cars.

Wheelchairs and pushchairs should not be forced onto the road.

Pavements on my street are actually wider when counted together than the actual road for cars.
Fine, bring on the ban, but then I expect the council to redo the pavements and road to make the road wider. Or give us a bit of a pavement so we can all have drives

In many London areas, this is solved by zones which have marked parking areas on pavements. If the pavement is wide enough a certain area will be marked off that allows whole or partial parking on the pavement, but the markings ensure enough room is left for wheelchairs to use the pavement still.

@purplepoops
Oh ok. Didn’t get that one. do now

So then walk?

I don't see why you still think that your convenience trumps the safety of pedestrians.