People that park their cars on pavements.....

bubblesbonbon

[FONT=&quot]The RNIB have campained against parking on pavements and have published an article (In MS Word format unfortunately) that contains the following interesting passage :[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

The Town and Police Clauses Act (1847) makes it an offence to obstruct the pavement and so the police do have the power to take action where they see an offence committed.

In addition, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984) gives police officers the power to arrest any person in order to prevent an obstruction to the highway.

However, it seems that the police rarely take action against obstructions.

It could be argued that their failure to do so means that they are not complying with their duty to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people.

However, there is no real definition of obstructing the pavement so the police in each area tend to interpret it for themselves.

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]The whole article (.doc) can be downloaded from here

http://www.rnib.org.uk/getinvolved/campaign/gettingaround/Documents/cars_on_pavements.doc


By the way, I am not one of those posters that quote law references on this forum for self important pleasure, so please don't shoot the messenger
[/FONT]

JReacher1

bubblesbonbon wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]The RNIB have campained against parking on pavements and have published an article (In MS Word format unfortunately) that contains the following interesting passage :[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

The Town and Police Clauses Act (1847) makes it an offence to obstruct the pavement and so the police do have the power to take action where they see an offence committed.

In addition, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984) gives police officers the power to arrest any person in order to prevent an obstruction to the highway.

However, it seems that the police rarely take action against obstructions.

It could be argued that their failure to do so means that they are not complying with their duty to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people.

However, there is no real definition of obstructing the pavement so the police in each area tend to interpret it for themselves.

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]The whole article (.doc) can be downloaded from here

http://www.rnib.org.uk/getinvolved/campaign/gettingaround/Documents/cars_on_pavements.doc


By the way, I am not one of those posters that quote law references on this forum for self important pleasure, so please don't shoot the messenger
[/FONT]

I'm not sure how seriously the police would take a violation of an act that was created in 1847 (before cars even existed).

JReacher1

On the plus side the act has solved that pesky problem of bear baiting and !!!! fighting...

Penalty on persons keeping places for bear-baiting, !!!!-fighting, &c.

Every person who within the limits of the special Act keeps or uses or acts in the management of any house, room, pit, or other place for the purpose of fighting, baiting, or worrying any animals shall be liable to a penalty of not more than [F1level 4 on the standard scale], or, in the discretion of the justices before whom he is convicted, to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a time not exceeding one month; and the commissioners may, by order in writing, authorize the superintendent constable, with such constables as he thinks necessary, to enter any premises kept or used for any of the purposes aforesaid, and . . . F2 all persons found therein without lawful excuse, . . . F2 shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding [F3level 4 on the standard scale], and a conviction for this offence shall not exempt the owner, keeper, or manager of any such house, room, pit, or place from any penal consequence to which he is liable for the nuisance thereby occasioned.

Honey_Bear

I'm now totally used to cyclist zipping along the pavements and disabled motorized buggies zipping along the roads, although why both sets of users think what they're doing is safe is a mystery.

As for cars blocking pavements, of course they do if the driver feels they have a right to. Locally, when a couple of people started doing so on a very narrow part of the pavement, I put a note on their windscreens saying 'Please could you park elsewhere, as you are blocking the pavement.' Much to my surprise, they did.

As far as I'm concerned anyone who blocks the pavement when they have been politely asked not to deserves any damage their vehicle might receive as people use it for its proper purpose.

hollydays

Disagree in part with you honeybear

Where I live it's simply this- there is no real parking problem but there is an attitude problem. Everyone pretty much manages to find a parking spot if they have no driveway . BUT there are a number of very territorial people ( dinosaurs)
who think they own the piece of road outside there house.They seem to get worse the older they get( grumpy old men).

A list of complaints I've heard-
they park too far out( that's so they're not too near to their small gate so the postman get in).
They've parked outside my house- ( you've got a driveway, they haven't, if they parked their larger vehicle anywhere else, a fire engine couldn't get past)

Why don't they park outside their own house( they've got no roadway frontage it's an 18 the century property).


As long as a vehicle the size of a fire engine or a tesco delivery van can get past, that's the best you can do if you've nowhere else to park.
Damn those 19th century house builders for not anticipating the invention of the car..

kalaika

I think most people are happy to differentiate between someone who parks on the pavement but leaves plenty of space for buggies/wheelchairs to pass, and someone who parks on the pavement blocking it completely.

I used to visit friends on the following two roads:

http://goo.gl/maps/N0xSM
Where the pavements are very wide and parking on them still leaves plenty of space.

http://goo.gl/maps/jlF1S
Where the pavements are clearly not wide enough to park, but that doesn't stop d!ckwads from doing it anyway.

WiggyDiggyPoo

As already posted if you block the pavement it is an offence, but rarely enforced. I have sympathy for the buggy users as its bit of a !!!! take that you're forcing kids into the road.

Without active enforcement the situation won't change as not only are large amounts of existing housing stock completely lacking in parking facilities, and then what new stock that is being built seems to be lacking facilities for more than 1 car either.

aileth

There has been a new doctor's surgery built near us. To come down our road from the tram/bus, you have to walk past it and cross the entrance. There is a dropped kerb of course on the other side as you cross, and I would say maybe 80% of times I walk home from work someone is parked on the pavement across the entire dropped kerb. I don't have a pram or a wheelchair or any disability, so I just walk around the car and have to climb the kerb, but this is the only footpath so anyone with a pram or wheelchair would literally have to walk in the road, or go up the kerb onto a small grassy/muddy incline to get back on the pavement, which would be a battle in itself. It really is completely pig ignorant.

apcd2

knightstyle wrote: »

Blame the planners!!!! We live in one of 12 4 bed townhouses, at the end of a close facing a turning area so no parking there, each house has room for one car on the drive. The road is too narrow to park on so everyone goes half on the pavement leading up to the turning area. There is no other option and yellow lines everywhere else.
Why was this allowed? No visitors parking places! Built in 2006.

Of course there's another option. Don't buy such ridiculously planned properties. Only then will planners get the message.

stephen77

apcd2 wrote: »

Of course there's another option. Don't buy such ridiculously planned properties. Only then will planners get the message.

This is not the easiest thing to boycott.
Your looking for a house that's in the right location, price range, number of beds, nice garden etc. The only issue you have is that you would have to park your car so its over the kerb.
Would you honestly say. I am not interested in this house and go elsewhere? especially if the next house was like £10,000 more to buy.
For most people this is not a deal breaker in finding a house.

ITs not like boycotting coke a cola and going for Pepsi instead.
Or planners building houses with a shared toilet etc.