House of Commons Transport Committee Local authority parking enforcement Seventh Report of Session 2013–14 Volume II Additional written evidence Ordered by the House of Commons to be published 4 February, 11 March, 22 April , 8 May, 13 May, 3 June, 10 June, 17 June, 1 July, 8 July, 15 July and 9 September 2013 Published on 23 October 2013 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited The Transport Committee The Transport Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Department for Transport and its Associate Public Bodies. Current membership Mrs Louise Ellman (Labour/Co-operative, Liverpool Riverside) (Chair) Sarah Champion (Labour, Rotherham) Jim Dobbin (Labour/Co-operative, Heywood and Middleton) Karen Lumley (Conservative, Redditch) Jason McCartney (Conservative, Colne Valley) Karl McCartney (Conservative, Lincoln) Lucy Powell (Labour/Co-operative, Manchester Central) Mr Adrian Sanders (Liberal Democrat, Torbay) Iain Stewart (Conservative, Milton Keynes South) Graham Stringer (Labour, Blackley and Broughton) Martin Vickers (Conservative, Cleethorpes) The following were also members of the committee during the Parliament. Steve Baker (Conservative, Wycombe), Angie Bray (Conservative, Ealing Central and Acton), Lilian Greenwood (Labour, Nottingham South), Mr Tom Harris (Labour, Glasgow South), Julie Hilling (Labour, Bolton West), Kelvin Hopkins (Labour, Luton North), Kwasi Kwarteng (Conservative, Spelthorne), Mr John Leech (Liberal Democrat, Manchester Withington) Paul Maynard, (Conservative, Blackpool North and Cleveleys), Gavin Shuker (Labour/Co-operative, Luton South), Angela Smith (Labour, Penistone and Stocksbridge), Julian Sturdy (Conservative, York Outer) Powers The Committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the internet via www.parliament.uk. Publication The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the internet at http://www.parliament.uk/transcom. A list of Reports of the Committee in the present Parliament is at the back of this volume. The Reports of the Committee, the formal minutes relating to that report, oral evidence taken and some or all written evidence are available in a printed volume. Additional written evidence may be published on the internet only. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Mark Egan (Clerk), Farrah Bhatti (Second Clerk), Richard Jeremy (Committee Specialist), Adrian Hitchins (Senior Committee Assistant), Stewart McIlvenna (Committee Assistant) and Hannah Pearce (Media Officer) Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Transport Committee, House of Commons, 14 Tothill Street, London SW1N 9NB, The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6263; the Committee’s email address is [email protected] List of additional written evidence (published in Volume II on the Committee’s website www.parliament.uk/transcom) Page 1 Carlton Reid, Executive Editor, BikeBiz.com Ev w1 2 Mr Fraser Mitchell Ev w2 3 Bryn Buck Ev w9 4 Colin Peek Ev w11 5 Michael Fallas Ev w14 6 Phillip Morgan Ev w15 7 Traffic Penalty Tribunal Adjudicator Ev w16 8 Cheryl Kuczynski Ev w20 9 Deborah Skinner Ev w20 10 Ntina Antoniou Ev w25 11 Anthony Engel Ev w26 12 Daniel Wrightson Ev w28 13 Yossi Potas Ev w29 14 Antony Jones Ev w29 15 Dino Burbidge Ev w29 16 C A Bylos Ev w30 17 Harriet Crowe Ev w30 18 Kathryn Scorza Ev w31 19 Barry H White Ev w31 20 LTCOA Ltd Ev w32 21 Russ Hodgson Ev w35 22 Councillor David Boothroyd Ev w35 23 Notomob Ev w36 24 Martin Shaw Ev w40 25 R Leskin Ev w40 26 Paul Pearson Ev w41 27 Guide Dogs Ev w53 28 Derek Dishman Ev w55 29 David Attfield Ev w59 30 Michael Gaffney Ev w60 31 Jacky Wood Ev w60 32 Neil Smith Ev w60 33 Dominic Leggett Ev w61 34 Camden Council Ev w61, Ev w64 35 Transport for London Ev w65 36 NECTAR Ev w67 37 BVRLA Ev w70 38 Clarkes of London Ev w74 39 Gary Shaw Ev w74 40 Professor John Raine and Mrs Eileen Dunstan, University of Birmingham Ev w77 41 TNT Express Services UK & Ireland Evw 79 42 Big Brother Watch Ev w81 43 Ruth Brown Ev w83 44 Sarah Ebner Ev w83 45 Jeremy Neuberger Ev w83 46 Richard Chaumeton Ev w86 47 Peter Marriage Ev w93 48 Geoffrey Stansfield Ev w98 49 Wish Travel & Transportation Solutions Limited Ev w110 50 Ian Swan Ev w113 51 Peter Ashford Ev w115 52 Mike Stokeld Ev w123 53 Clifford Martin Ev w124 54 James de la Mare Ev w124, Ev w125, Ev w126 55 Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation Ev w127 56 Barbara Wilson Ev w129 57 Ronald Bradstreet Ev 130 58 Keith Bush Ev w130 59 Ken Davies Ev w131 60 Cheryl Lee Ev w132 61 Michael Kenney Ev w132 62 Tony Wyer Ev w134 63 Mike Macey Ev w134 List of unprinted written evidence The following memoranda have been reported to the House, but to save printing costs they have not been printed and copies have been placed in the House of Commons Library, where they may be inspected by Members. Other copies are in the Parliamentary Archives, and are available to the public for inspection. Requests for inspection should be addressed to The Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, London SW1A 0PW (tel. 020 7219 3074). Opening hours are from 9.30 am to 5.00 pm on Mondays to Fridays. James de la Mare cobber Pack: U PL: CWE1 [SO] Processed: [18-10-2013 14:57] Job: 032524 Unit: PG01 Transport Committee: Evidence Ev w1 Written evidence Written evidence from Carlton Reid, Executive Editor, BikeBiz.com (PE 01) Pavement Parking Parking on pavements is endemic in the UK yet highways—in the widest sense—are not just for cars. There’s a blanket national ban on cycling on the pavement but there’s a confusing mish-mash of conflicting laws which means there’s no equivalent national blanket ban on parking a car on the pavement. This is a ludicrous situation and one that transport ministers keep failing to tackle. While the “local authority parking enforcement” inquiry is, by definition, local perhaps reference can be made to a problem that can only be effectively tackled nationally, in partnership with local authorities? Pavements—and bike paths—are often used by cars for parking, which is dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians. Storing unused cars is a major function of British streets but in other countries this is not the case, where off-street parking is often mandated. Motorists can’t legally drive on the pavement in the UK, but a loophole means, in many localities, they won’t be charged for driving their cars onto pavements and leaving them there. Some local authorities have enacted bylaws to stop motorists parking on pavements but these are few and far between. To park on the pavement you tend to have to drive on the pavement but pavement parking is now considered so “normal” police look the other way because to enforce the law would involve charging millions of people. A research document in the House of Commons library. “Parking: pavement and on-street” talks of the “previous efforts to legislate,” efforts which have always come to naught. “Governments have in the past consulted on ways to combat pavement parking and have sought to alter the law. In 1974 Parliament provided for a national ban on pavement parking in urban areas in section 7 of the Road Traffic Act 1974 (this inserted new section 36B into the Road Traffic Act 1972). If implemented, this would have prohibited all parking on verges, central reservations and footways on ‘urban roads’. The Secretary of State could have exempted certain classes of vehicles and individual local authorities could have made Orders within their own areas to exempt from the national ban certain streets at all times or during certain periods. However, full implementation required that the ban had to be brought in by Parliamentary Order and this never occurred. Successive transport ministers argued that there were difficulties for local authorities and the police in finding the resources to carry out the necessary policing and enforcement work. In 1979 the then government decided to defer implementation indefinitely. In December 1986 the Department of Transport sought comments on a discussion paper, Pavement Parking—Curbing an Abuse. The paper looked at the reasons for pavement parking and the problems it caused. It put forward four options for tackling the problem: — more private legislation by local authorities; — more TROs by individual local authorities; — implementation of the 1974 Act’s national ban; or — amendment to the 1974 Act to permit local authorities who wished to introduce the ban to do so using the TRO procedure. In July 1988 the Transport Minister, Peter Bottomley, said he had received over 450 responses to the paper and that he would be announcing the outcome of the review ‘as soon as possible’, but nothing happened. When the 1972 Act was repealed in 1988, section 36B (the ‘national ban’ mentioned above) became, without any amendment, section 19A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the matter rested there. Regulations to put into effect the national ban were not brought forward because of the potentially enormous costs to local authorities and police of securing proper policing and enforcement of such a blanket ban. It was finally repealed by section 83 and Schedule 8 of the Road Traffic Act 1991.” Section 72 of the Highways Act 1835 is used in the current Highway Code. Rule 145 states: “You MUST NOT drive on or over a pavement, footpath or bridleway except to gain lawful access to property, or in the case of an emergency.” Since January 1999 a fixed penalty notice can be issued with the offender given a ticket with fine and points attached unless they appeal in which case it goes to court.