This is a shot from an article I have just published here: http://sydenham.org.uk/pavement-parkers/
Please read it. I think it says it all except how it can be stopped. Will someone raise the issue at next Tuesday's Sydenham Assembly?
Your support, or otherwise, plus other comments would be very welcome here.
Hear, hear. I tried to raise the issue at the Forest Hill assembly (upper Kirkdale falling under the Forest Hill ward), but we ran out of time. We did do a paperwork exercise, in which I highlighted the issues of pavement parking around The Woodman, Costcutters, etc., and because we'd run out of time, these got collected up by Paul Gale at the end. So perhaps the issue might get carried forward. Quite apart from making it very difficult to get past at times, it's also destroyed the pavement in this area, leading to trip hazards.
I 100% agree. There is NEVER any excuse for parking on a pavement and it should be stamped upon from on high.
Sometimes people say. I had to park partly on the pavement otherwise my car would have been hit. Rubbish. If your car would be hit by parking legally then you should not be parking there at all.
I saw van park on new Venner Road paved area days after it had been done. I was dumb founded that such ignorance exists in our Islands.
Good article and I completely agree that this is a problem that needs to be addressed. Good to see that there might be some willingness to take action at official level.
Perhaps it would be worth naming and shaming the businesses involved? I think we all know who the worst offenders are?
If you need some inspiration, this Twitter account https://mobile.twitter.com/BlockedPavement?p=s is taking direct action with local authorities and the Police to tackle the problem. Maybe there is scope to do something similar on Lewisham High St?
completely agree - totally illegal and should be stopped.
persons fined heavily, and maybe even points on licence, or fines for shop/company that is taking deliveries.
the footway is not constructed to the same standards in terms of traffic weight, frequency, etc - vehicles on the footway will damage it a lot quicker, and it'll have to be repaired a lot sooner.
near where I work in Hackney, there is a bus lane (7am-10am, 4pm to7pm), and a man who owns a small 'grocery' shop often has deliveries at 6pm or half 6 - right outside his shop, direcly under the signage for when the bus lane operates, and a sign say 'no loading or waiting' - it's on a corner with parking spaces a few tens of feet away on the side road. Completely lazy, and couldn't care less about the illegality, as fines are so little, and so few and far between, that he gets away with it.
I'm going to do training, as part of my job, to become a 'professional witness' which means that I'll be able to record details of offenses like this and report them to the correct place in the correct way.
hairybuddha wrote:Good article and I completely agree that this is a problem that needs to be addressed. Good to see that there might be some willingness to take action at official level.
Forgive my cynicism, but I only see policy pronouncements from an organisation, London Councils which I for one think should be streamlined to come under the GLA. What counts is resourcing enforcement officers - hence my earlier suggestion about retraining all LB Lewisham staff working on community engagement and new policy development. My suspicion is that local authorities such as Lewisham have too many staff thinking about what people would all like to happen (policy development) and then talking about it (community engagement), and not enough doing anything useful. When it comes to cutting, it is the first sort of staff who have more power and communication skills, but whose contributions are harder to assess objectively, whereas staff with objectively identifiable tasks, which can often be done more efficiently with new technologies, are in a weaker position all round. See my posting "Well done your firemen, here are you P45s"
hairybuddha wrote:Perhaps it would be worth naming and shaming the businesses involved? I think we all know who the worst offenders are?
If you need some inspiration, this Twitter account https://mobile.twitter.com/BlockedPavement?p=s is taking direct action with local authorities and the Police to tackle the problem. Maybe there is scope to do something similar on Lewisham High St?
This is all very 'Big Society', which isn't meant as a criticism as such, but for it to work, it cannot be allowed to undermine council enforcement staff further.
well, as there seems to be motorcycle traffic warden waiting everytime I park my car in a legal bay in Sydenham in case I go 1 minute over the time allowed maybe more of their time should be addressing this problem. These pavement parkers know the rules but if no one is there to enforce them what do you think they'll do? The Wardens have the power to deal with this.
Ok, I saw and photographed a big white van parked on the pavement right on the corner of the station approach by the Palace Wine corner shop...
Can I somehow submit the photos somewhere?!
Regards
Love-Sydenham
Do feel free to post incriminating pictures here - with number plate in text so its searchable when the driver does something else anti-social. Name & shame is one way since the police are not interested. Only this week I saw some walking up Sydenham Road ignoring the offenders. What on earth are they there for?
I'm sorry if this sounds a bit strong but its not just the inconvenience, it is the danger to other pavement and road users and the destruction of our new expensive slabs.
If enough people post I will collect them into a knaves gallery ...
Very Well spoken , Admin . Good idea to note the registration number in the text too .
I Look forward to members posting some culprits and I suspect we will see some "frequent flyers".
On the case of some the Zanzibar's clientele suspect more of a 5 minute video file rather than a jpeg.....
A very good afternoon
Nigel
I am afraid that a certain type of motorist will only not park on the pavement (or other illegal spots) if he or she is prevented by bollards.
Frequent patrols by enforcement would help though.
Cue bollards, Lewisham!
We need strong enforcement , CCTV always catches people in bus lanes, why not this?
We have only just gotten rid of all the higgledy piggledy mess of bollards and fences mucking up our pavements so I for one don't want our relatively open pavements ruined by obstructions. Yes I realise the offenders are a bigger one but.....
Why not a few small signs like the current parking enforcement ones...but with £1,000 fine for pavement parking. Once caught and fined, I doubt they will reoffend...
