Closed petition Make it an offence to park a motor vehicle on a public footpath.

Closed on 18 January 2017

Vehicles obstructing the public footpath, are breaking the law, to enable a vehicle to park in such a way, the vehicle has driven to its position, driving on the footpath is illegal. Pedestrians on many occasions have to walk into traffic to pass these vehicles obstructing the footpath.

Section 34(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (RTA 1988) provides that anyone driving a mechanically propelled vehicle, for example a motor car, on a road that is a footpath, bridleway or restricted byway is guilty of an offence unless it can be shown that there is a private right in place for people to use the accessway to gain vehicular access to their property. The burden of proving that there is such a vehicular right of way in place rests with the defendant.