[stormin norm]

Or are there certain times/places when it's OK to leave a wheel or two on the path?

What would happen if a pedestrian accidentally damaged an illegally parked car? Is the pedestrian responsible?

This is just hypothetical, but it's something that keeps bugging me with inconsiderate motorists

[daveindam]

It is not illegal to park on the pavement as long as it isn't a danger or obstruction. However, it is illegal to drive on a pavement (in order to park, you have to drive onto the pavement). Make from that what you will!!

From the Highway Code:


244

You MUST NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement in London, and should not do so elsewhere unless signs permit it. Parking on the pavement can obstruct and seriously inconvenience pedestrians, people in wheelchairs or with visual impairments and people with prams or pushchairs.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAn...code/DG_069860

[stormin norm]

Originally Posted by daveindam

It is not illegal to park on the pavement as long as it isn't a danger or obstruction. However, it is illegal to drive on a pavement (in order to park, you have to drive onto the pavement). Make from that what you will!!

Hmm, that sounds like a typical rule in britian - it's OK to park there, but if you drive on it you're breaking the law!

[stormin norm]

Originally Posted by Oinster

From the Highway Code:


244

You MUST NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement in London, and should not do so elsewhere unless signs permit it. Parking on the pavement can obstruct and seriously inconvenience pedestrians, people in wheelchairs or with visual impairments and people with prams or pushchairs.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAn...code/DG_069860

So it's only strictly illegal in London, but you shouldn't do it elsewhere either

They are telling me it's an inconvenience! The way some people park there's not even room to walk through, someone in a wheelchair would have no chance.

[Caxton]

If you cannot park safely with all four wheels on the road you should not be parking there. The pavement is not the road. It is very easy to understand. Pavements also were not designed to take the weight of vehicles that is why slabs are constantly being broken.

[TommyGavin76]

Originally Posted by Caxton

If you cannot park safely with all four wheels on the road you should not be parking there. The pavement is not the road. It is very easy to understand. Pavements also were not designed to take the weight of vehicles that is why slabs are constantly being broken.

That rules out virtually every suburban street. If you tried parking fully on the road near me someone would soon let you know about it.

[555]

Originally Posted by stormin norm

What would happen if a pedestrian accidentally damaged an illegally parked car? Is the pedestrian responsible?

Like if you accidentally knock their wing mirror off?

[flowerpowa]

We live in a small close, nearly everybody parks half on the pavement, half on the road but everyone has a drive and does'nt use it. grrrrrrrrrrr

[stormin norm]

Originally Posted by TommyGavin76

That rules out virtually every suburban street. If you tried parking fully on the road near me someone would soon let you know about it.

Why should people park on the pavement? The road is for cars. If people need to park over the pavement on a daily basis they shouldn't have a car imo.

OK, if you are visiting somewhere for a short while maybe it's a bit more acceptable

Originally Posted by 555

Like if you accidentally knock their wing mirror off?

something like that

Although I was actually thinking what would happen if one of my kids (or someone elses for that matter - there's enough of them round here!) accidentally ran into one of the illegally parked cars. The owners would go mad but I if they choose to park like that surely it's their problem not the childs..........

[Caxton]

Originally Posted by TommyGavin76

That rules out virtually every suburban street. If you tried parking fully on the road near me someone would soon let you know about it.

It does indeed but not having the space to park on the road safely does not entitle anyone to obstruct and park on the pavement.

Roads should not be used as a permanent car park, like many roads are. Parking on them should only be temporary. If you want a car you provide a space for one in the same way you do if you want a shed or a greenhouse.

The space outside one's couse on the public highway should be available for all to use and travel on, it is not a private car park, unless designated by the council as residents parking for which they pay an annual permit for the privilege and this would not involve parking on the pavement.

[ShiftyDundee]

Originally Posted by Caxton

It does indeed but not having the space to park on the road safely does not entitle anyone to obstruct and park on the pavement.

Roads should not be used as a permanent car park, like many roads are. Parking on them should only be temporary. If you want a car you provide a space for one in the same way you do if you want a shed or a greenhouse.

The space outside one's couse on the public highway should be available for all to use and travel on, it is not a private car park, unless designated by the council as residents parking for which they pay an annual permit for the privilege and this would not involve parking on the pavement.

What a load of tosh. So if you live in a flat, or don't have a garden you shouldn't be allowed a car? That would put a lot of these people out of work. Great idea.

I'm sure you'll find that it's perfectly legal to park on the road for as long as you like provided you're taxed and not within a restricted area.

Your idea wouldn't be quite so ludicrous if we had reliable, low cost public transport alternatives.

[stormin norm]

Originally Posted by flowerpowa

We live in a small close, nearly everybody parks half on the pavement, half on the road but everyone has a drive and does'nt use it. grrrrrrrrrrr

The problem round here is that most families have 2 or 3 cars so they do use their drives and then the pavement!

Originally Posted by ShiftyDundee

What a load of tosh. So if you live in a flat, or don't have a garden you shouldn't be allowed a car? That would put a lot of these people out of work. Great idea.

I'm sure you'll find that it's perfectly legal to park on the road for as long as you like provided you're taxed and not within a restricted area.

Your idea wouldn't be quite so ludicrous if we had reliable, low cost public transport alternatives.

Most flats have allocated parking areas so it shouldn't be a problem, and if you didn't have a garden you wouldn't go and park your garden shed on the pavement would you?
So in that way it is similar

[Caxton]

Originally Posted by ShiftyDundee

What a load of tosh. So if you live in a flat, or don't have a garden you shouldn't be allowed a car? That would put a lot of these people out of work. Great idea.

I'm sure you'll find that it's perfectly legal to park on the road for as long as you like provided you're taxed and not within a restricted area.

Your idea wouldn't be quite so ludicrous if we had reliable, low cost public transport alternatives.

It is legal to park on the road as long as it is the road and not the pavement and it is not causing an obstruction.

When buying or renting a property you choose one to suit your particular needs. If you need the use of a car you pick a property with parking facilities. Many cars are parked day in, day out, outside houses and never move just causing obstruction to other road users.

Why should a piece of the public highway be exclusive to the person who lives in a particular house and not for anyone who wishes to use it. If someone is parked there all the time this cannot be so.

[threecheeses]

Pedestrians can't park themselves on the road so cars should not park on the pavement.

As for an 'accident' happening as long as you could prove it was (or at least could have been) an accident I doubt any lawyer in the land would defend someone who had their car obstructing the pavement and the pedestrian's right of way.

[broadz]

Originally Posted by Caxton

It does indeed but not having the space to park on the road safely does not entitle anyone to obstruct and park on the pavement.

Roads should not be used as a permanent car park, like many roads are. Parking on them should only be temporary. If you want a car you provide a space for one in the same way you do if you want a shed or a greenhouse.

The space outside one's couse on the public highway should be available for all to use and travel on, it is not a private car park, unless designated by the council as residents parking for which they pay an annual permit for the privilege and this would not involve parking on the pavement.

You're talking crap.

Throughout the UK there are milions of terraced houses and flats and apartments that have no driveway, and where the only place for house owners to park their car(s) is on the road outside their house. And the council do not provide residential or offroad parking areas (paid for or not) for these house owners, because these are not council houses. They are privately owned dwellings which do not come with a designated parking area. In your little utopia don't people who live in terraced houses or flats have cars?

On almost all roads in town centres near us the council have painted lines on the road half a car's width into the road from the pavement on each side of the road - the idea being to allow a car to park half on the pavement and half on the road. This still leaves enough room in the road for two cars to pass driving in opposite directions to one another, two cars to be parked (one on either side of the road, half on the road and half on the pavement) and still leaves enough room on the pavement for at least two wheelchair widths at each side of the road. Admittedly we do have rather wide pavements - that is why the council have done what they have done.

But to claim that you shouldn't have a car if you don't have enough room on your land to park said car, so that it does not remain on a road overnight, is just naive and ignorant in the extreme.

What I do agree with you (up to a point) is the fact that you do not own the road area immediately in front of your own house. So, if you come home and somebody else is parked in the road (or half on the road half on the pavement as it is in my hometown) you don't have the right to ask the owner of the car to move it. But you also cannot expect that area of road/pavement to be permanently unobstructed either. It ain't your land, whether you own a car or not. If you do, that land isn't reserved for your car. If you don't, tough, somebody else might just want to park there.

Every car that has road tax is entitled to be on an area of public road that does not have yellow lines to indicate no stopping/parking. Nobody said that the car had to be moving.

[ShiftyDundee]

Originally Posted by stormin norm

Most flats have allocated parking areas so it shouldn't be a problem, and if you didn't have a garden you wouldn't go and park your garden shed on the pavement would you?
So in that way it is similar

Erm, no they don't. New builds maybe but our cities are full of old tenement style flats with no parking facilities whatsoever.

If I didn't have a garden it's unlikely I'd have need for a shed.

[FlyingParachute7]

Where I live the road is so narrow that if you (or any visitors) dont park on the pavement people complain as it is not possible to drive a normal sized car down the road. Luckily the pavements are v. wide and there is no problem getting down the pavements. I dont see why (as long as there is adequate space) cars cant use the edge of pavements to park on - it makes the roads wider which is better for congestion.

[5th Horseman]

Originally Posted by broadz

You're talking crap.

Throughout the UK there are milions of terraced houses and flats and apartments that have no driveway, and where the only place for house owners to park their car(s) is on the road outside their house. And the council do not provide residential or offroad parking areas (paid for or not) for these house owners, because these are not council houses. They are privately owned dwellings which do not come with a designated parking area. In your little utopia don't people who live in terraced houses or flats have cars?

On almost all roads in town centres near us the council have painted lines on the road half a car's width into the road from the pavement on each side of the road - the idea being to allow a car to park half on the pavement and half on the road. This still leaves enough room in the road for two cars to pass driving in opposite directions to one another, two cars to be parked (one on either side of the road, half on the road and half on the pavement) and still leaves enough room on the pavement for at least two wheelchair widths at each side of the road. Admittedly we do have rather wide pavements - that is why the council have done what they have done.

But to claim that you shouldn't have a car if you don't have enough room on your land to park said car, so that it does not remain on a road overnight, is just naive and ignorant in the extreme.

Built pre-1945 you could blame the Luftwaffe for not flattening them, built post-1945 blame the authorities for not making adequate provision as part of the planning requirements.

Unfortunately this problem will only get worse as local authorities try to reduce the number of cars by reducing the number of allowed parking spaces for each development.

[biggeral]

I live in West London and we have special dispensation from the council to park with 2 wheels on the pavement.

If not, I would have to park about 200 metres away from the house as although we have a driveway, our neighbours, who we are supposed to share with, monopolize it to such an extent with their 4-5 cars, that I have not parked in it since 2004.

The road is not wide enough to park the whole car in it, but the pavement is wide enough on our stretch to not cause an obstruction to pedestrians, wheelchairs etc.

[fat controller]

Originally Posted by biggeral

I live in West London and we have special dispensation from the council to park with 2 wheels on the pavement.

If not, I would have to park about 200 metres away from the house as although we have a driveway, our neighbours, who we are supposed to share with, monopolize it to such an extent with their 4-5 cars, that I have not parked in it since 2004.

The road is not wide enough to park the whole car in it, but the pavement is wide enough on our stretch to not cause an obstruction to pedestrians, wheelchairs etc.

I'm in West London too, and the street that runs down the side of our house is the same - cars can park on both sides, as long as they park half on/half off the pavement. In fact the pavement is marked out specifically, and there are signs up instructing that is the way to park.

[ForestChav]

Originally Posted by stormin norm

So it's only strictly illegal in London, but you shouldn't do it elsewhere either

Pretty much, yes.

It's always illegal in London, and outside if you do it you can only do it where signs permit you to, otherwise if it is also dangerous for example, it would be illegal.

[broadz]

Originally Posted by ForestChav

Pretty much, yes.

It's always illegal in London,

And yet the two forum members who have posted replies immediately before you (and who both live in London, not Nottingham) contradict this statement.

[fat controller]

Originally Posted by ForestChav

Pretty much, yes.

It's always illegal in London, and outside if you do it you can only do it where signs permit you to, otherwise if it is also dangerous for example, it would be illegal.

I don't understand how it can be always illegal in London, when our street is clearly marked out and signed that parking is to be half on/half off the pavement?

Perhaps they mean Central London only.

What if your driveway is on the pavement