Parking within lines - definition (1 Viewer)

[Dorwyn]

Most probably this subject has previously been covered. I've seen it mentioned by those wonderful parking authorities that you have to park within the lines, not overhanging the next bay or you would have to pay for that bay too, and I'm sure that this would be interpreted by different wardens in different ways, according to how officious they are. Is it sufficient to have the wheels within the lines, or should every little piece of metalwork fit within.

You see so many cars parking badly, well over the lines, especially those 4x4 Chelsea tractor things. I normally park with the back overhanging the grass if poss and as my van is just under 6m, this often avoids the issue, but you can't do it all the time. I've even had (well oversized people!) complaining when I was parked all within the lines, as they can't open their door. I was tempted to suggest they slim a little, but I do not like to be rude. I just thought it. As the MH is our only vehicle, and there are so many height barriers, this is a real issue.

 

[two]

I think it's common practice for a warden to photograph the 'evidence' and that would be a wheel over a line.

 

[sewinlynne2]

Watch out for the grass police! Not only will they give you a ticket for shading the turf-they'll tell everyone about it too.
I once got a PCN (parking charge notice-not to be confused with a proper parking ticket) on a council owned excuse for a car park for 'not parking within the bay.' I couldn't as there was a huge, rusting American hulk of a 4 x 4 taking up not only the whole of the bay it was in but a good 1 foot of mine-the only bay available in the entire place at the time. My other 2 wheels were on a grass verge. Of course when we got back to the car, not only was the rusty hulk gone and a pcn stuck on my screen but most of the other cars had gone too. The ensuing photo I took hardly helped me prove my case. I wrote to the thieves, sorry company, explaining the situation and they didn't bother replying. Six months later I got a phone call from them saying they were going to take me to court unless I paid 100 quids! You can imagine my reply! No? I told them to F++K O+F and haven't heard from them since.(2002.) Only moral is, if you do happen to have to park somewhere or in a way that you are compromised etc. and its not at your fault, then take a snap or two of how it is-it may help you out later-or do what I did! Your choice!

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[Dorwyn]

Never heard of a PCN, but I try and avoid things like that like the plague!

 

[Bart]

this will be affecting us soon as we have got rid of our car , and soon my work van will be gone , leaving us only with our MH which is 7 mtrs , our town has some car parks without height barriers , but i will need to buy 2 tickets as i WILL need 2 bays

 

[sewinlynne2]

this will be affecting us soon as we have got rid of our car , and soon my work van will be gone , leaving us only with our MH which is 7 mtrs , our town has some car parks without height barriers , but i will need to buy 2 tickets as i WILL need 2 bays

OR possibly FOUR tickets! Your average car parking space will NOT accommodate a 7m moho length or sideways.

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[Madcaravanner]

When we get our motorhome it will become my vehicle and then my road tax exempt status will be transferred to the motorhome and my motability car will be returned and it then will mean that I will have the right to use disabled parking spaces but probably won't as most may be wide enough but nowhere near long enough

also afaik when you park it is the wheels that must be in the limits defined for the parking area

 

[movan]

I have just had to pay a fine in somerset as not 'parked within the bay'. My bike rack was over the bay at the back. The car park was empty barring about 3 ohher vehicles and housed well over 100.

 

[Dorwyn]

I have just had to pay a fine in somerset as not 'parked within the bay'. My bike rack was over the bay at the back. The car park was empty barring about 3 ohher vehicles and housed well over 100.

Whereabouts in Somerset?

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[Yorick]

This is how the Rozzers do it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-38102904

 

[Abacist]

Mis

I have just had to pay a fine in somerset as not 'parked within the bay'. My bike rack was over the bay at the back. The car park was empty barring about 3 ohher vehicles and housed well over 100.

Miserable barstewards!

As suggested I would take photos and let the magistrates decide on the reasonableness or otherwise!

 

[GJH]

Unfortunately this is another matter which is not straightforward. Some councils require that the whole of the vehicle is within the bay lines whilst others only require that the wheels are within the lines and don't mind that some part of the bodywork hands over the line. Having said that, even in the first case, the rear of the vehicle hanging over a grass (not footpath) area is allowed so long as it doesn't create a hazard. In addition, some councils will allow the use of multiple bays but in most cases require the purchase and display of a ticket for each bay.

The reasons for the rules are twofold. Firstly there is the hazard element - if a vehicle is overhanging a footpath it might cause an obstruction to pedestrians and if it is poking out of the front of the bay it may cause difficulty for other drivers in the "roadways". Secondly there is the factor of maximising use of the available bays, not just from the point of view of income but also to minimise frustration to other drivers who find they can not park because others have been inconsiderate.

The reason why restrictions are enforced no matter how busy the car park is that usage varies so much. As posts above show, a full car park when one leaves the vehicle can become an empty one when one returns and vice versa. The parking officer (unless on scene at the time of parking) simply doesn't know why parking over a line occurred.

As far as possible I have tried to indicate on my web site what the rules are if they are not stated on the council's own web site. However, the safest approach is to assume that one must park the whole of the vehicle within the bay lines unless one has checked and found that the rules are more relaxed.

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[movan]

Whereabouts in Somerset?

Street

 

[Dorwyn]

Street

Mendip Council. You should be able to appeal. Or is it a private company? If so no chance, they just want the cash and the scalps. Not sure about Mendip either. They're looking for more cash

 

[two]

Space seems so tight these days, there ought to be a minimum width for car parking. Even in a car, it can be difficult to get in and out of the spaces provided.

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[Sabino]

Maybe things will begin to get better.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/lond...trend-sparks-spike-in-accidents-a3400516.html

 

[Billggski]

Look up the rulings on "de minimas" with concern to minor parking transgressions.
The law is not interested in trivial matters that do not affect anybody else.

 

[gus-lopez]

This is how the Rozzers do it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-38102904

& his blokes had the nerve to complain !

Space seems so tight these days, there ought to be a minimum width for car parking. Even in a car, it can be difficult to get in and out of the spaces provided.

There is for on road parking.

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[Silver-Fox]

When I had a T5 as a works van I had no choice but to stable white lines in supermarket car parks as you couldn't get out of the van otherwise.

I once had an interesting conversation with a supervisor regarding parking on pavements.
He informed me as the pavement was part of the highway you could park on it providing it last reasonable room to walk past the vehicle. he wouldn't commit to how much room.

Interestingly London is the only place you can be prosecuted for parking on the path, unless restrictions are covered by yellow lines.

You can however be prosecuted by the Police for driving over the kerb line either on or off the path but it has to be observed.

Or so i have been told or read, I am happy to be corrected re the above

 

[GWAYGWAY]

I have just had to pay a fine in somerset as not 'parked within the bay'. My bike rack was over the bay at the back. The car park was empty barring about 3 ohher vehicles and housed well over 100.

I would have said what, sewinlynne2, said to them, there is no definition of a car park space including the airspace over it how high does it go 50 foot or more

 

[ambulancekidd]

You see so many cars parking badly, well over the lines, especially those 4x4 Chelsea tractor things. I normally park with the back overhanging the grass if poss and as my van is just under 6m, this often avoids the issue, but you can't do it all the time. I've even had (well oversized people!) complaining when I was parked all within the lines, as they can't open their door. I was tempted to suggest they slim a little, but I do not like to be rude.

I'm a little bit confused by the OP. Firstly he sets about owners of "Chelsea tractors" & this term has always confused me. How on earth can the drive system of a vehicle be relevant to parking bays? The standard UK parking bay was designed for cars like the Ford Anglia (braking distance uses this outdated yardstick too) & this type of car has absolutely no bearing on the size of today's modern cars. Councils are well aware of this & in my humble opinion, it suits them to use these undersized bays as a cash cow. The biggest problem seems to be the width of modern cars. One of the smallest "town" cars is a 4x4, I'm referring to the Fiat Panda 4x4. I think this proves the point about drive systems?
Its all too easy to be rude about the kind of cars any of us choose to drive. After all, can we really pontificate when our choice of vehicle is a motorhome? Me thinks we're all on shaky ground there? Its very difficult to argue that we NEED to drive something so large. Surely we could buy a puddle jumper & use hotels for our holidays or weekends away (crash helmets at the ready for that comment, but I'm only trying to play devils advocate)?
I've spent a lot of my life living on farms & we also live at nearly 1000ft above sea level so it snow here, a lot. That's & the need to tow large trailers is my excuse for preferring 4x4s & even when I haven't owned a 4x4 I prefer larger cars. This is based firstly on my being "a well oversized' (6ft 2in square lol) person & 30yrs ambulance paramedic work taught me that the majority of fatalities occur in smaller cars, Corsa's being the multiple fatality car of choice. Now do you see how easy it is to offend or be "rude" to people when its utterly un-necessary?
It'd be better if we tried to get along with our neighbours & try walking a mile in their shoes. Now if you still can't see their point of view, your a mile away from the person who annoys you & you still have their shoes!

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[GJH]

Space seems so tight these days, there ought to be a minimum width for car parking. Even in a car, it can be difficult to get in and out of the spaces provided.

The standard UK parking bay was designed for cars like the Ford Anglia (braking distance uses this outdated yardstick too) & this type of car has absolutely no bearing on the size of today's modern cars. Councils are well aware of this & in my humble opinion, it suits them to use these undersized bays as a cash cow. The biggest problem seems to be the width of modern cars.

There are design standards, which are revised from time to time. I think the last time was 1999 (so well after the time of the Ford Anglia and nothing to do with councils using parking bay sizes as a cash cow). The space problem has two main causes - the fact that cars have become larger over time and the fact that some drivers, of even small cars, haven't a clue how to park properly. On top of that, many car parks were designed and built in the 1960s and 1970s and it is not only the bay sizes but the roadways and the entrances and exits which were designed without benefit of a crystal ball as to how vehicle sizes were to increase. That all combines to make redesign difficult in many cases - and that is without taking into consideration the fact that the foundations were only built to withstand regular use by vehicles of 2 tonnes maximum weight.

Councils may be well aware of car sizes getting larger but does anyone seriously expect them to redesign the bay layout every couple of years just because some drivers want to use larger cars? Who is going to pay for such work? There would soon be a mass whinge if parking charges were increased to do so.

 

[Larby]

There was a piece on our local news recently covering such a topic. They said there was no fixed size of a bay other than an arbitrary 2.4m x 4.8m. I was told this once when I asked a line painting contractor in a car-park

 

[GJH]

There was a piece on our local news recently covering such a topic. They said there was no fixed size of a bay other than an arbitrary 2.4m x 4.8m. I was told this once when I asked a line painting contractor in a car-park

The size comes from guidelines. Googling <car park bay size> brings up a number of documents on council web sites. The first is a PDF document from Fife council with a summary saying

The size of the standard car in the UK is approximately 4.75 metres by 1.8 metres. Allowing suitable clearances all round right-angled car parking bays should be 4.8 metres by 2.5 metres where a manoeuvring width of 6.5 metres is available.

Looking further, that is based on the Scottish Government document Link Removed published in 2005.
I've seen similar documents for England & Wales and for Northern Ireland in the past but haven't time to search for them now.

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[Abacist]

We have seen some good examples of supermarket car parks in Spain and our authorities could learn some lessons from them!

 

[Larby]

Banning their use?
Sorry, couldn't resist it

 

[movan]

Mendip Council. You should be able to appeal. Or is it a private company? If so no chance, they just want the cash and the scalps. Not sure about Mendip either. They're looking for more cash

I did appeal but to no avail.

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[John & Joan]

Like Graham I have contacted every local authority on these matters. Beware that some authorities do not allow the purchase of more than one ticket per vehicle. In some where trailers are allowed the trailer must be disconnected from the tow vehicle and a separate ticket displayed on it. In others the trailer must remain attached and two tickets purchased and displayed. Some are specific as to the location where the ticket must be displayed. if double tickets are allowed some say side by side in the windscreen, others say one ticket must be displayed in each bay used. One even states the amount of body overhang permitted in mm over the line. So remember you also need a plumb line and ruler when parking! There has been recent discussions in the press about this subject and about the need to increase bay sizes.

 

[gus-lopez]

The size comes from guidelines. Googling <car park bay size> brings up a number of documents on council web sites. The first is a PDF document from Fife council with a summary saying
Looking further, that is based on the Scottish Government document Link Removed published in 2005.
I've seen similar documents for England & Wales and for Northern Ireland in the past but haven't time to search for them now.

Which leaves you with a 350mm gap either side , leaving out next doors space . 1' which is all but impossible to get out.

Like Graham I have contacted every local authority on these matters. Beware that some authorities do not allow the purchase of more than one ticket per vehicle. In some where trailers are allowed the trailer must be disconnected from the tow vehicle and a separate ticket displayed on it. In others the trailer must remain attached and two tickets purchased and displayed. Some are specific as to the location where the ticket must be displayed. if double tickets are allowed some say side by side in the windscreen, others say one ticket must be displayed in each bay used. One even states the amount of body overhang permitted in mm over the line. So remember you also need a plumb line and ruler when parking! There has been recent discussions in the press about this subject and about the need to increase bay sizes.

With nonsensical regs; like that it isn't any wonder that people lose interest & can't be bothered.

 

[Jaws]

Maybe things will begin to get better.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/lond...trend-sparks-spike-in-accidents-a3400516.html

Had to grin when I read that article..
Not the main content or context but at the name of the organisation mentioned:

Motor industry analysts Jato say nearly one in three new cars sold in the UK is now an SUV, with demand up by more than 40 per cent in the year to February.

Jato.. a common acronym for Jet Assisted Take Off !!

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