Could Sefton Council Follow Liverpool and Fine Drivers for Pavement Parking?

Could Sefton Council Follow Liverpool and Fine Drivers for Pavement Parking?

A new pavement parking crackdown in Liverpool has seen 22  drivers punished for pavement parking – with Merseyside police issuing a warning of more action to come.

The question arises as to whether the police will take similar action in Southport where literally hundreds of motorists park on Liverpool Road and Guildford Road in Birkdale every night with their cars parked entirely on the pavement. Motorists living in other streets have increasingly begun to copy them.

The issue of drivers parking on pavements and causing obstructions to people trying to get past has been the subjecto fo a recent ‘Liverpool Echo’ campaign which has called for more action to be taken against thoughtless drivers.

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/photos-show-pavement-parking-region-14720311

When the issue was brought up in the now defunct Southport Area Committee a few years ago, the local Southport Police declared that they did not see the issue as a priority.

Last week, a joint operation by Merseyside Police, Liverpool Council and the DVLA  led to punishments being doled out to 22 drivers who had parked in a way that was obstructing the pavement. Those drivers were issued with Traffic Offence Reports. Since nine of the vehicles concerned were also found to be untaxed, seven of these were thenremoved by recovery trucks.

Elderly people, pregnant women, people with prams and buggies (especially twin buggies), families and partially sighted people are amongst those who are thought to struggle the most when cars park in a way that obstructs pavements.

Merseyside Police jave made it clear that they are willing to expand their operations from the Tuebrook area where this initial work took place and will punish those offending in other areas. It is unclear whether this refers to just Liverpool or to other areas including Southport.

Sergeant Paul Meath said: “We have taken this action today because drivers who drive or park their cars on pavements place pedestrians at an increased risk of injury and worse. They show no consideration for pedestrians, children in prams, the disabled and partially sighted who are forced to walk in the road as a result of their recklessness.”

“It is a distressing fact that many pedestrians are struck by cars after being forced to walk in the road because the pavement is blocked by a parked car. And in 2016, a four year old girl was killed after being struck by a delivery vehicle which was driven onto a pavement in Neston.”

“It is an offence to drive on to a pavement and an offence to cause obstruction to other road users, including pedestrians. Vehicles causing obstruction may be issued with a fixed penalty notice and in some cases removed at the owner’s expense.

“The driver of any vehicle deemed to have caused or contributed a road traffic collision by it’s dangerous positioning risks prosecution and potentially imprisonment.”

For more information and advice to drivers on the issue of pavement parking visit the Police website:

https://www.merseyside.police.uk/advice-and-protection/policing-the-roads/pavement-parking/