Thread: Park close to the kerb

I could be wrong here, but our council is now looking to see if you park more than 50mm away from the kerb, I kid you not. On wednesday my wife saw council "officials" measuring the distance from my car wheels to the kerb. Yes on that occasion I'll come clean and say my wheels were about 10cm away as I had difficulty squeezing my car into a small space. Normally I'm tucked close to the kerb. I guarantee my car was not an obstruction.

As a total cynic when it comes to councils and people at the top on fat salaries and fat pensions, (20% of your council tax goes to fund fat cats pensions) I bet this is simply another money making opportunity.

Grrrrrr!

Out of curousity, how much has your councail tax increased this year ... tape measures can be pretty darn expensive! The more I hear of this, the more I wish I could afford to retire to sunnier climes

I think you might need to check your measurements. 10 cm is 4" or about a tyre width. 50mm is 5 cm or 2".

Your council officials are also in the wrong - it matters not a jot how far your tyres are from the kerb - the widest part of your vehicle will be the door mirrors.

If they are saying that it is the distance between tyre and kerb, then at these ridiculous distances the door mirror will overhang the pavement and it is, I believe, an offence to obstruct the pavement with a motor vehicle.

Its how far your wheels are. This is law and its a disgrace.

I know a gent who has a permit for parking outside his house in a London Borough. The only problem is that his van's wheels go over the white line in his bay, thus meaning he gets a parking ticket everysingle day. He now owes over £10k to the council.

Originally Posted by PizzaMaker

Its how far your wheels are. This is law and its a disgrace.

What law?

In my borough if your car wheel touch's the white line in the parking bay they will slap on a ticket. My car is a 4x4 and in some streets the bays are smaller than other streets. My alloys are now only good for grateing cheese as I've scraped them that many times along the cirb to keep within the white lines. In some street I will not park my car as I can't get within the white lines

The legal dimensions of parking bays are here. If they do not conform, then they are unenforceable. Note that normally a parking bay width is 2700mm but that this may be reduced to 1800mm where the road is narrow. In such cases, if your vehicle is wider that 1800mm, then you may not park there.