Pavement parking
Pavements up and down the country are under threat from inconsiderate pavement parkers.
We should all be able to walk on them without worrying about vehicles blocking our way.
Take action where you live
Across the UK we need local councils to introduce bans on pavement parking.
And in London, we need authorities to enforce the ban already in place.
Meanwhile, in Scotland, we need to rally support for proposed legislation that would clamp down on irresponislbe parking.
Learn more about pavement parking by reading our frequently asked questions:
Who is responsible for enforcing pavement parking bans?
In many areas, the local council is responsible for enforcing pavement parking bans. The government encourages local councils to apply to take over parking responsibilities from the police. This is called decriminalisation, because parking offences become civil matters, rather than criminal. In other areas where the local council has not applied to take charge, the police will still be responsible for enforcement. The parking section of your council’s website should tell you the situation in your area.
Is government legislating a ban on pavement parking?
Unfortunately the government is not proposing a blanket ban on pavement parking. In London, however, a blanket ban on pavement parking does exist.
What is the situation in Scotland?
A Members’ bill was proposed in the Scottish Parliament in 2010 by Ross Finnie MSP, to give councils greater enforcement powers over pavement and dropped kerb parking. In the public consultation, 83% supported the proposal, and 30 MSPs across the 5 main parties backed legislation. Unfortunately, there wasn’t time before the end of the parliamentary term to enact legislation.
Joe Fitzpatrick MSP has now declared he will take forward legislation in this area. Find out more and support the proposed bill here.
What is the situation in London?
Pavement parking is banned throughout the 32 London boroughs, and the City of London under the Greater London (General Purposes) Act 1974. The Highway Code states; 'You MUST NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement in London'. All councils in London can and should enforce this law by issuing parking tickets to any vehicles parked on pavements, unless there is a sign there that specifically permits it.
What is Living Streets’ policy on pavement parking?
You can download our policy briefing on pavement parking.
More broadly, Living Streets calls for:
- UK Government to make pavement parking illegal throughout the UK
- Scottish Government to expand dropped kerb regulations into Scotland
- UK Government to lead a wider national “pavement education” campaign on all aspects of using our pavements – including anti-social parking and cycling
- All local authorities to decriminalise and take on the civil enforcement of parking offences
- Where police are responsible for enforcement, to take the issue more seriously and enforce all instances of pavement parking.
Sign up to post your own updates and find out what other people are talking about as part of this campaign
I live in Manchester in the area of Burnage and pavement parking is a big problem. Our road was built a long time before car ownership (our house was built in 1863) and now that many of the houses own multiple cars the streets are getting crowded. Round the corner on the main road there are areas of the pavement which used to look nice as it was a mixture of grass and pavement but due to some inconsiderate individuals some of the grassy areas had to be paved over because of constant parking on them therefore turning them to mud! There are a lot of people around here that don't bother with their drive ways and just park fully on the pavement, no doubt because it is easier to drive out to the shop 1/4 of a mile away. I would love to see some kind of enforcement as I have trouble at times taking my son out as we have to sometimes go into the road to get around these vehicles. Or perhaps there should be a limit to the number of vehicles that are owned per household as some seem to have a lot more than is necessary
I sent a portfolio of pics like this to Kent Country Council's highways department as it's a daily occurrence and we're fed up with people (mainly parents and elderly residents) using our newly laid lawn as an extension to the pavement. KCC initially tried passing the buck by disclaiming any responsibility but eventually relented, 'investigated' and told us that it "Does not meet intervention criteria". And this isn't even the worst bit of the street for this behavior!
I sent this pic to the company and out to Twitter with caption, "Lured by Betty's Baps, Dan mistakes bus stop for parking space" Company has contacted me and they are going to discipline the driver and warn others at that depot not to park on the pavement. 1-0 to @livingstreets
''Pavement Parker'' in Royal Borough of Greenwich, London.
''Pavement Parker'' in Royal Borough of Greenwich, London.
''Pavement Parker'' in Royal Borough of Greenwich, London.
Another ''Pavement Parker'' in Hutchins Road, Royal Borough of Greenwich, London. SE28 8SA.
Reply from Basingstoke & Deane Borough Councillor: "I didn’t know that Local authorities had any such power but if they do it will be the Highway Authority, HCC.
I have taken this up before with the police but they say they only have power where there is an obstruction and the person obstructed needs to be there when they record it. The main sufferers are wheelchair / mobility scooter users and they just take a different route."
I can see pavement parking creates a great deal of anger. Full pavement parking - i.e. a car totally on the pavement and causing pedestrians to step out round it is relatively rare in my (terraced) road, but it does happen and I think it is slightly on the increase. Whilst fully agreeing that this is selfish and annoying, I think we do need to try and think about this constructively.
Many times in my road my partner and I have driven around for ages in our (shared, small, elderly) car trying to find a parking space. We have never parked on the pavement. We would not do that, but I can see what makes some people do that and I think crying out for everyone to get rid of their car - yay! Problem solved! - is not going to work. I would also think that most people reading this are too intelligent to seriously think that a Daily Mail approach - simply focusing on more punishments - is a workable answer to most things. Car ownership is going up. More people who live in roads without garages now have cars, and sorry, but but we do need ours (Yes thank you, I am a non-driver and I also use the local railway station, but not always practicable.) and we wouldn't want to suggest that only people rich enough to have garages should have cars ... would we?
So - what to do? Diagonal parking bays would work in some roads. Not in ours - not enough space. What we think might work better but we cannot get our local councillors interested is marked out parking bays parallel to the road. Sure some people would ignore them, or have too large a vehicle, but where these are provided they mostly seem respected. This would avoid one very annoying problem: several cars ending up parked close together with gaps between them not big enough take any more cars. However, if they were parked more tidily then there would be more spaces. Simple painted on bays might help solve the problem. Has anyone tried it?
A quiet road in Stratford upon Avon. No major incident!