A proposed clampdown on pavement parking has been welcomed by Brighton and Hove City Council which said that it currently lacked the power to tackle the problem properly.
The council said: “At present, it’s only illegal to park on pavements in London, with those caught being hit with a £75 fine.
“But with the problem escalating in Brighton and Hove, and the number of complaints rising, the council has thrown its weight behind the plans to force the government into action.
“The all-party Commons Transport Committee has called on the government to ban pavement parking across the UK saying it’s ‘deeply concerned about the government’s failure to act’.
“The committee has produced a damning report which includes written evidence from the council on the problems Brighton and Hove faces.
“The report states that some drivers may get confused about the different rules and regulations.”
The council’s written evidence was compiled by parking strategy and contract manager Paul Nicholls, who is also a member of the PATROL (Parking and Traffic Regulations Outside London) advisory board member.
The evidence said: “Pavement parking has been a long-running issue in Brighton and Hove which we have been unable to resolve with the enforcement powers currently available to us.
“If we’re given the powers to take enforcement action against pavement parking, we can make the rules and restrictions clear for everyone to ensure pavements aren’t blocked and pedestrians are safe.”
Councillor Anne Pissaridou, who chairs the council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee, said: “Banning drivers from parking on our pavements is something that’s very long overdue.
“People that park on our footpaths have absolutely no regard or respect for anyone but themselves.
“They think nothing of blocking the pavement which makes it both hazardous and dangerous for pedestrians but especially for people who are visually impaired, wheelchair users, people with children’s buggies and those in disabled mobility scooters.”
The council said that the London ban had been in place since 1974. But, it said, consecutive governments had failed to give the same powers to councils in any other part of the country – including Brighton and Hove.
Councillor Pissaridou added: “Despite the council receiving many complaints about these thoughtless drivers, there is nothing we can do about it.
“Now, hopefully the government will listen to the Transport Committee and give us, and every local authority in the UK, the powers to take action against these drivers.”
I learned from a traffic warden that parking across pavement/dble yellow lines was allowed five minutes.
Smallbatch Coffee’s van and a car from Sounds corner of Clarendon Rd & Goldstone Villas blocked me and trapped me in my power chair on an impassable narrow pavement this week. Totally trapped with no escape til the warden’s presence got some action!
My house is raised above the road level and has steps down to the pavement through a gap in a retaining wall at road level. I get a problem with people parking so far onto the pavement, as well as being across my steps down from the house, that I have trouble squeezing through the gap. If I do happen to see the driver and point out that they’re actually breaking a Highway Code rule, by blocking my access path, and inconveniencing pedestrians the usual response is abuse or “well I need to park”.
I fail to see what the problem is here. There are already, several perfectly serviceable laws in place to cover this, the issue is lack of enforcement.
The police don’t want to touch these cases, and the council apparently wont.
The Highways Act clearly states that cars and bicycles should not drive on the pavement, it is an offence which attracts a fine.
There is the issue of the damage caused to the pavement covered by vandalism and anti-social acts.
Anyone with half an interest in this can find plenty of Law, the real issue a complete lack of enforcement of any kind.
Make as many new laws as you like but without enforcement
Brighton and Hove Council does not lack the power to crack down on pavement parking, it lack the will and possibly the money, the issue here is not law, it is enforcement.
It is clear under the Highways Act that parking on the pavement is an offence and it attracts a fine.
Parking on the pavement damages the pavement this is an offence under the Malicious Damage Act and the Criminal Damage Act and attracts a fine.
There are many incidents, which I have personally witnessed, and can be seen daily around the city, where the vehicle is parked both on the pavement and on highway, this is obstruction, of both, and attracts a fine, frequently there is double yellow line as well, again an offence, again attracting a fine. Indeed, parking half on the pavement on a double yellow line is to commit at least five offences, it saddens me such flagrant criminality is openly accepted by the Authorities, on our streets today.
While the CPS is happy to levy, and dubiously so, the Highways act against so called hover scooters, it is notably silent on the matter where cars are concerned.
Stop hiding behind the law and confess that you don’t have either the resources, political will, or imagination to tackle this issue.
Here’s an idea, currently vouging in the Americas: ‘citizen action’ utilizing the wonderful new invention of the pocket telecommunications device with moving picture capture, possibly combined with a intertube portal on the webnetwork, wherein citizens can ‘shame’ these carriage crazed criminals, and provide evidence for the Authorities to follow upon at their leisure. Our American cousins, always ones to take things a little too far, even pay their citizens a nominal fee for providing such reports (on car engine running times), from which a retired person may find some small economic relief and improve the intellectual quality of their daily constitutional.
I’m a wheelchair user and after attending a funeral on bear road couldn’t get down on the pavement as people were parked on the pavement against the wall resulting in me getting soaked as I had to the wait for someone to help me across the road as you can’t get a wheelchair down the pavement onto the road. It’s selfish and inconsiderate to people. I’ve seen people complaining on bear road when there car has been scratched due to someone trying to get past.