Parking - or obstructing?

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Thu 17 Mar 2016 23:47
Parking - or obstructing? - Bilboman

I'd be interested to hear the "people's verdict" on this one.
The car seems to be parked partially on the pavement in picture 1, but in a different place with a different ground surface in picture 2, so it's not completely clear. Neither photo seems to depict what most people would call a "driveway", but whatever it is, the car is substantially parked on it and, after 14 years, it has suddenly become an issue. Cast your votes now!
goo.gl/oJeRgI

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Fri 18 Mar 2016 01:01
Parking - or obstructing? - FP

The "obstructing" issue is a red herring. It looks to me as if the car has been given a parking ticket because the back of it is over a double yellow line and is therefore "parked in a restricted street"

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Fri 18 Mar 2016 06:50
Parking - or obstructing? - catsdad
We're only getting one side of the story here but I'd make a couple of points. The photo of the car with its nose hard up to the wall is not necessarily a true reflection of where it was on the day the alleged offence occurred, it might have been much more over the lines. Other cars in the background, including one that it probably shorter, are parked at an angle presumably to keep within the lines so why didn't they do the same?. The car looks younger than the time they've been there so why didn't they buy a car to fit the space when they last changed car.
If I knew the area and the full facts I might side fully with the car owner but I'm left feeling it's probably a technically correct, albeit petty, ticket.
Maybe the way to look it is to ask what you would do yourself. Personally I wouldn't have risked hanging over a yellow line knowing that any overhang is an offence. Also I know it's not what the ticket was for but I would not park over a pavement (if that's what that strip is). In the court of public opinion however I suspect I am in a minority and that most people would do exactly the same as the car owner.
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Fri 18 Mar 2016 08:25
Parking - or obstructing? - gordonbennet

In the top pic the way the car is parked means any pedestrians are going to have to walk into the road to pass, the pic doesn't really tell us if there's a pavement this side of the road, if there is then the ticket is wholly justified.

The Fiesta beyond is parked at an angle so we might assume is inside any pavement.

The second pic is possibly there to show what a nice middle class lady the innocent victim of jobsworth is..:-) sort of thing one might expect from the daily wail...not as i read any mainstream press.

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Fri 18 Mar 2016 08:37
Parking - or obstructing? - ExA35Owner

The yellow lines do not just apply to the road. They apply to the whole width of the highway including the pavement and verges, up to the boundary line of the properties next to the highway. So the isssue turns on the position of the highway's boundary. My guess would be that the boundary is at the edge of the block paving, so the rear wheels of the car are on the highway. The offence is of parking, not of obstructing, so from this photo it looks as if it's been committed. Parking at an angle as in the car behind wouldn't commit the offence, as it looks as if all of that car is within the block paved area.

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Fri 18 Mar 2016 08:47
Parking - or obstructing? - slkfanboy

>The "obstructing" issue is a red herring. It looks to me as if the car has been >given a parking ticket because the back of it is over a double yellow line and >is therefore "parked in a restricted street"

Agree. Why would anyone be stunned when clearly the parking less then ideal and pushing the bounds of the restriction on parking. It looks poss. tht parking the car parallel to the road would be a better solution for able and less able people to safely use the road

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Fri 18 Mar 2016 09:29
Parking - or obstructing? - Doc

I can't see the images because my ad blocker is obstructing the view!

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Fri 18 Mar 2016 11:44
Parking - or obstructing? - galileo

The second pic is possibly there to show what a nice middle class lady the innocent victim of jobsworth is..:-) sort of thing one might expect from the daily wail...not as i read any mainstream press.

It looks like a Golf, and a new one, couldn't possibly have bought any smaller, inferior motor, could she?

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Fri 18 Mar 2016 09:43
Parking - or obstructing? - FoxyJukebox

From the photo and reading the editorial underneath-this is an obstruction. As others have pointed out

1) Why on earth did they first buy a car that was too big to fit into their space?

2) Why didn't they manoevre the car to an angle --like the adjoining vehicle in the photo ?

3) An experienced motorist always should know that parking across footpaths/pavements is not allowed. ...when-rarely- it is allowed( eg in a few roads around the Crouch end area in N.London-there are indicated lines).

4) Sorry-but based on the article and the picture--I think the parking ticket is fair.

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Fri 18 Mar 2016 10:15
Parking - or obstructing? - catsdad
So they've admitted to doing this for 14 years. Better to keep quiet in case they are hit for nearly £180,000 bill for 14 years at £35 a day ;-)
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Fri 18 Mar 2016 10:24
Parking - or obstructing? - FoxyJukebox
So they've admitted to doing this for 14 years. Better to keep quiet in case they are hit for nearly £180,000 bill for 14 years at £35 a day ;-)

Exactly- and it would be interesting if the rear of their car was rammed/badly scraped--and insurance companies got involved and asked questions ?

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Fri 18 Mar 2016 12:00
Parking - or obstructing? - RobJP

My first thought, on looking at the picture last night, was 'obstructing'. The car appears to be blocking the pavement (which is the tarmac section next to the block paving). Therefore any pedestrians would need to step out into the road to pass. In fact, the back end of the car even appears to be protruding out onto the road.

As others have pointed out, the car further back in the picture is parked at an angle to avoid the same problem.

I've looked at it again since then, and see no reason to change my mind.

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Fri 18 Mar 2016 14:23
Parking - or obstructing? - Brit_in_Germany

The Wail had better pictures

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3495463/Couple-shocked-traffic-wardens-slapped-ticket-car-despite-parked-DRIVEWAY.html

As has been written the yellow lines apply to the whole road which includes the carriageway, pavement and verge. Time to buy a Smart.

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Fri 18 Mar 2016 14:49
Parking - or obstructing? - gordonbennet

Thanks, i think, for the link to the Wail, much better pics of the road.

Blocking the entire already narrow pavement so ticket(s) fully justified, presumably their previous car was shorter and/or was able to be parked at an angle as other cars in the street are.

Yellow lines are neither here nor there, its the path thats blocked.

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Fri 18 Mar 2016 15:25
Parking - or obstructing? - Dwight Van Driver

One needs to establish the boundary between pavement (which seems clear from Mail photo)and the boundary of the private house. The former will be road, the later not a road so Regs do not apply.

The photo shows the R's end over the pavement so it is obstructing free passage. Offence

The yellow line is Sign 1018 of which the regulation states:

"Waiting of a vehicle on a SIDE of road prohibited at any time during a period of at least 4 consecutive months"

Note carefully the wording - the pavement is still part of the road?

Book em Danno.

Edited by Dwight Van Driver on 18/03/2016 at 15:30

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Fri 18 Mar 2016 23:39
Parking - or obstructing? - Bilboman

The majority view seems to be "guilty as charged", so we'd better drag the hangman out of retirement!
George Mikes commented on the general impossibility of parking in England in his novel "How to be an Alien" written in 1946, 12 years before yellow lines were ever painted on Britain's roads.
Whenever you stop your car in the City, the West End or many other places, two or three policemen rush at you and tell you that you must not park there. Where may you park? They shrug their shoulders. There are a couple of spots on the South Coast and in a village called Minchinhampton. Three cars may park there for half an hour every other Sunday morning between 7 and 8 a.m

Edited by Bilboman on 18/03/2016 at 23:43

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Sat 19 Mar 2016 12:07
Parking - or obstructing? - dimdip

Sufficiently underoccupied to look it up on google maps. It's a very small cul-de-sac with no pavement on the other side. The photo taken last April:

s22.postimg.org/cmgbrh9oh/parking.jpg

The original SWNS piece has more info. They've apparently had the car a year and the previous one was the same length. Multicar family hence need to park parallel. They've set a piece of wood so they can reliably park right up to the wall without actually making contact.

swns.com/news/traffic-wardens-slap-ticket-on-man-c.../

It's very marginal isn't it. Although technically liable, the fact that it's a very quiet cul-de-sac means it's unlikely to inconvenience pedestrians.

Edited by dimdip on 19/03/2016 at 12:16

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Mon 21 Mar 2016 12:34
Parking - or obstructing? - gordonbennet

Yes its a pity they can't fit two cars on their now paved frontage, but one has to manage with what one has, presumably as others in the road have.

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