There’s no excuse for parking on pavements
SIR – Francis Rutter (Letters, March 27) suggests that it is admissible for drivers to park on pavements because they have nowhere else to go.
However, the only reason that people do this is that they believe they have an absolute right to park directly outside their front doors.
Pavements are for pedestrians and should not be obstructed by motorists who are too lazy to walk from their acceptably parked cars. Peter Froggatt Dorking, Surrey
SIR – It is disingenuous of local authorities to complain about parking on pavements (report 25 March).
The Highway Code states that no parking is permitted on pavements, not only in London but elsewhere unless specifically designated. It also states that no parking is permitted on double yellow lines and within 32ft of a junction, yet all three rules are regularly ignored. All local authorities need to do is enforce the law.
Permit parking for residents, free car parking for shoppers and zero tolerance of anti-social parking are surely the way forward. Raymond Jones Modbury, Devon SIR – Under John Prescott’s administration, planning policy guidance promoted housing densities which offered a very small footprint for parking and pavements. Similar guidance also promoted parking allowances of about 1.5 vehicles per house. In recent development in my town, there are no pavements in the estates, roads are narrow and parking is chaotic.
Fining drivers for parking on pavements may seem a good idea, but we need a more consistent approach to planning that acknowledges that rural communities have inadequate public transport and the car is indispensable, and that dense development is necessary in conurbations but not in rural communities. Nigel Carter Devizes, Wiltshire
SIR – While I don’t condone pavement parking, I do wonder why it is considered a danger when a blind eye is turned to pavement cyclists.
This problem seems to be ignored by both local authorities and the police, even though cyclists are a far greater danger to pedestrians. Steve Revill Nottingham