Pavement Parking

Could our PCSO advise as to the legality of cars parking on pavements. The village pavements are increasingly used as car parks, often for large heavy cars , thus contributing significantly to the wear and tear , and causing obstructions. The usual reason is pure laziness by the driver and lack of care for others. Ryleys Lane, Heyes Lane , Clifton St , London Rd all suffer.

Have a look a this link from the Highway code, see no.244
244
You MUST NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement in London, and should not do so elsewhere unless signs permit it. Parking on the pavement can obstruct and seriously inconvenience pedestrians, people in wheelchairs or with visual impairments and people with prams or pushchairs.
[Law GL(GP)A sect 15]

It is really annoying that the Police do not enforce this rule.  My wife and I have terrible trouble pushing the pram around with so many cars parked on pavements.  Yet if I scratched a car trying to get passed I’d soon be in trouble.
Motorists complain enough about the roads being for cars, well listen up, pavements are for pedestrians, keep off!

Parking on the pavement alongside the double yellow lines is totally out of control on Clifton Street with pedestrians having to walk around the vehicles on the road. This is particularly dangerous for people pushing prams and people with small children . The problem is further compounded by vehicles turning round and exiting the one way street the wrong way.
This is an accident waiting to happen . Why do the council and the police seem to just turn a blind eye.

The pavement parking is not just a problem in the village. I frequently walk down Macclesfield Rd past the Edge and unto Trafford Rd. There very often numerous cars and vans parked on the pavements . I am particially sighted & find it very unnerving negotiating these obstacles.In some cases the vehicles are completely on the pavement & there is no alternative but to go out into the road. This is particularly dangerous on Macclesfield Road coming down the Hill with the traffic behind you travelling at very high speeds

Despite two people, to my knowledge, being killed crossing London Road: Alderley Flowers van is frequently: parked half on the pavement and half on double yellow lines; close to a crossing; close to ‘A’ boards. The pavement is virtually impassable, and is impassable for people in wheelchairs, and double buggies. It’s also virtually impossible to get a wheelchair/double buggy between Fosters chip shop and the bollards.

On the estate around Wood Gardens the parking is even worse than in the centre of the village. It’s a mess, tens of cars parked fully on the pavement blocking pram/pushchair/wheelchair passage such that many resort to using the road. The Council and Cheshire Peaks and Plains have an outdated policy of resisting conversion of front gardens into parking, if this was changed to actively encourage this it would help massively. The estate was designed before cars became the norm and now it needs to catch up. In reality every one of the house owners who block the pavement are breaking the law, including CP&P tenants, which brings into question CP&P’s ethical responsibility to ensure adequate parking is available for their tenants.

About 2 years ago, when parking on the pavement opposite Ryleys School was common practice, my two daughters (one in a buggy) and wife almost got run over by a lorry whilst trying to circumnavigate a car parked on the pavement.

The schools initial response was disappointing, along the lines of “We’ve written to the parents but there is not really much more we can do. It’s not our responsibility”. This is despite having a warden outside the school at drop off and pick-up time.

The Council were beyond useless, suggesting that I could apply for a sign to be put up. Apparently parking on the pavement is outside a traffic warden’s jurisdiction and the PCSO at best said “if I’ve got time I could give a warning to repeat offenders I see”. The sad moral of the story was that if you want free parking, without fear of getting a fine, park on the pavement.

The solution was for me to spend several days trawling up and down the road having a ‘quiet’ word with anyone who decided to park on the pavement. Whether this then coincided with pressure from the school, I’m not sure.