Pavement parking is making streets in the UK “increasingly hostile,” leaving some people with “no safe place to walk,” Guide Dogs UK says. The charity is calling on Wales to follow both Scotland and London in banning it, citing a YouGov poll of 615 councillors showing that almost three in four supported doing so.
Cardiff has delayed its planned ban on pavement parking in 2023, but the Welsh transport secretary says that he is “committed to making streets safer and more accessible.”
Electric vehicles, says Andrew Gordon from Guide Dogs UK, were exacerbating the problem. “When I’m trying to work out if it is safe to step out around a car it’s almost impossible to hear the car anyway so you literally have to take a chance,” she said.
Wales’ government says is preparing to give more power to fine those who park on the pavement £70 in 2023. But that was delayed following the 20mph speed limit for urban areas and the pressure it put councils under.
Gordon said that she was “disappointed” that ministers haven’t returned to the issue as the charity helped to develop guidance for local authorities.
“Sadly that has not progressed, and in the meantime the situation on our pavements becomes increasingly hostile for blind and partially sighted people with the presence of e-scooters becoming a particular problem,” she said. “Very often there is no safe place to walk.”
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