13 March 2008
We received a petition asking:
"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to enforce current law(s) prohibiting motor vehicles from partially or fully parking on pavements are enforced."
Details of Petition:
"As a wheelchair user, my mobility has been gradually restricted over recent years by car / van drivers parking partially (2 wheels) or all 4 wheels on pavements. This is illegal but is allowed to continue. Not only does it limit the movements of wheelchair users and visually impaired people, but poses danger to parents with prams. It can also damage pavements and limit emergency services access to houses."
Read the Government’s response
Enforcement of road traffic law is an operational matter for individual chief officers of police. They are best placed to decide on the level of priority given to traffic offences in the light of their perceived seriousness, conflicting demands on police time and resources and local circumstances.
However, the Government understands your concerns and appreciates the inconvenience and hazards that pavement parking can cause pedestrians, especially disabled and elderly people, the visually impaired and parents with pushchairs. The Highway Code makes it clear that drivers should not park, partially or wholly, on the pavement unless signs permit it.
There was an attempt to introduce legislation on pavement parking. Section 7 of the Road Traffic Act 1974 provided for a national ban on pavement parking. This was not brought into force because the majority of local authorities and the police reported that they did not have the resources to enforce it. The police could not guarantee an adequate enforcement presence and the local authorities were concerned about the administration that might be entailed in considering exemptions from a national ban. Without adequate enforcement a national ban would have been ineffective. These views were confirmed when a consultation exercise on pavement parking was conducted in 1987. As a result the relevant provision was repealed in 1991.
The Government believe that pavement parking is best tackled at local level. A local authority can use powers under section 1 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to make traffic regulation orders to prohibit pavement parking on a designated length of highway or over a wider area. This means the Council can target problem areas. A pavement parking ban would need to be appropriately signed so that drivers are aware that the restriction is in operation. Sign 637.1 of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 covers a continuous prohibition on waiting on the verge or footway. Enforcement of a ban would be a matter for the police unless the local authority has taken on decriminalised parking enforcement (DPE) powers.
Under DPE, a parked vehicle which contravenes a traffic regulation order is a civil matter and the local authority employs parking attendants who can issue penalty Charge Notices of up to £60. Income from the penalty charges is retained by the authorities in order to finance the enforcement operation. The authority is able to target enforcement effort to support their local traffic management policies and an increased level of enforcement can help reduce parking problems and improve safety.
Local authorities also use various physical measures to control parking on footways and verges which are largely self enforcing. The needs of disabled people must be taken into account by local authorities. Careful planning of physical measures is required to ensure that people with disabilities can get about safely and independently. The Institution of Highway and Transportation’s publication "Reducing Mobility Handicaps: Towards a Barrier Free Environment" provides comprehensive advice on this subject. You may also wish to contact your local council on this issue for further information.