this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2024
115 points (96.7% liked)

United Kingdom

4136 readers
60 users here now

General community for news/discussion in the UK.

Less serious posts should go in !casualuk@feddit.uk or !andfinally@feddit.uk
More serious politics should go in !uk_politics@feddit.uk.

Try not to spam the same link to multiple feddit.uk communities.
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric news, and should be either a link to a reputable source, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread.

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] cashews_best_nut@lemmy.world 30 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I think it already is. It just doesn't get enforced.

[–] Zip2@feddit.uk 16 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I think it is illegal to completely obstruct a pavement to the point that wheelchairs, pushchairs etc can’t get past.

But parking your car and leaving a bit of a gap is apparently fine.

[–] AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago (2 children)

When I had driving lessons, it was taught that most people think that's the rule, and in real life it practically is the rule, but it's on the books as illegal to put your car on the pavement at all, and you'll be penalised for it during the parking parts of a driving test.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I think the specific offence is driving on the pavement, which parking obviously requires, but I could be wrong.

[–] AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

From the highway code:

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

Signs explicitly permitting it are rare.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Many of the rules in the Code are legal requirements, and if you disobey these rules you are committing a criminal offence. You may be fined, given penalty points on your licence or be disqualified from driving. In the most serious cases you may be sent to prison. Such rules are identified by the use of the words ‘MUST/MUST NOT’. In addition, the rule includes an abbreviated reference to the legislation which creates the offence. See an explanation of the abbreviations.

Although failure to comply with the other rules of the Code will not, in itself, cause a person to be prosecuted, The Highway Code may be used in evidence in any court proceedings under the Traffic Acts (see The road user and the law) to establish liability. This includes rules which use advisory wording such as ‘should/should not’ or ‘do/do not’.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/introduction

[–] Zip2@feddit.uk 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I know you’re not allowed to put an HGV on the pavement, but I thought everything else was ok.

[–] AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

From the highway code:

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

Signs explicitly permitting it are rare.

[–] theplanlessman@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Law GL(GP)A is the Greater London (General Powers) Act, it has no bearing on what happens outside of London. "Should" instructions in the Highway Code are guidance for best practice and are not enforceable in and of themselves.

[–] alibloke@feddit.uk 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] Palerider@feddit.uk 6 points 10 months ago

Because rich cunts see the fine as the parking fee...

[–] DarkThoughts@fedia.io 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

We have the same issue in Germany. :( Car drivers just get away with absolutely everything unfortunately.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It's not the rule.

So what happens is this, someone says you're allowed to park on the pavement as long as you don't obstruct the road, then someone else says no and quotes the highway code. Then you point out that the only thing you're not allowed to do is park on the payment in London, and elsewhere you should basically not do it if you can avoid it.

No one is going to get arrested for parking partially on the pavement outside of London unless you've been a complete dick about it, or if it's unnecessary. For where it's necessary as long as there's no other parking restrictions then you should be fine as long as pedestrians can get past.

The highway code is fine in principle, but the people who wrote it have never been further north than Bedford.