Way back in 1835, the government realised that pedestrians needed a safe place to walk free from obstructions and from vehicles. Accordingly, the 1835 Highways Act made it an offence to ride or place a vehicle on the footway. There was a bit of a glitch at the start when the police started arresting nannies pushing baby carriages but this was soon worked out and the rule was clear – cars on carriageways, people on pavements.
That was OK until there were so many cars that if they parked on the carriageway the road got blocked, so they started parking on the footway. London reacted with a specific law in 1974 and rather belatedly, and forgetting that the 1835 Act was still in force, the government gave new powers in 2004. Why stop vehicles parking on the footway; after all it speeds up traffic and reduces delays. Yes but footways are not built for cars and so it also causes millions of pounds of damage a year to pavements, grass verges and to the utility services under the footway, trips up blind people and forces moms with kids and wheelchair users to walk/wheel in traffic to get past.
It’s a little surprising, therefore, to see Councilor Tony Page of Reading attacking his council for introducing a footway parking ban. He said: “This is now evidently going to be a major cash cow for the council and we have no indication as to what policy is to be followed.”
The borough has estimated that it will issue between 2,500 and 5,000 tickets a year when the ban is introduced next year. Here’s a suggestion for you, Councilor, borrow a wheelchair from the Red Cross and spend a day trying to get round your town. Then if you are not convinced, ask your officers the annual cost of repairing footways damaged by parked cars.
Peter Guest
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