Who has the right to park in your street?

I WAS interested to see the photograph of wheelie bins being used to deter vehicles parking in a street in Manchester (Mail). I live near Darent Valley Hospital, which charges doctors and nurses to use its car parks. Consequently, they park for free in the nearby housing estate, sometimes for more than 12 hours. Unfortunately, this can cause friction with residents. For a while, the local council got involved, but seems to have lost interest. When residents placed wheelie bins and cones in the road to stop people parking, the police soon arrived and told them obstructing the highway was an offence and the bins must be removed.

C. T. TAYLOR, Dartford, Kent. RESIDENTS in Manchester decided that only they should be allowed to park in ‘their’ road and so they obstructed it with wheelie bins. The same thing happened in Southampton, and the council threatened to issue penalty notices, and so they should. The roads are owned by ‘the public’; householders have no more right to park in front of their house than any other member of the public. Many councils have elected to have residents only parking zones, where locals can pay to have rights to park in their own area, but not always in front of their own home. If you want your own parking space, you have to buy a house with a drive or garage. In Tokyo, if you want to buy a car, you have to provide evidence that you have a private place to park it because the roads are full. We should make it a part of planning consent that developers provide adequate parking. And those residents in Manchester should give a little thought to hospital visitors.

Name and address supplied.