Yesterday. The car in the foreground is parked correctly, within the dashed white line markings. The car beyond it isn't, rendering the footway unusable for anyone with a mobility handicap. This is what happens when you allow pavement parking - there are always drivers who go beyond the markings. This is Spruce Hills Road E17, which isn't in a CPZ, and so it rarely gets a visit from parking attendants. It's a relatively wide road by local standards, and is blocked off at the Forest Road end, which means that even by the standards of this crap Council the pavement parking could be removed all down one side, without affecting vehicle access. But the highway engineers are obsessed with creating yet more legalized pavement parking, not reducing what already exists.
Below: this is what the pavement is like on the other side (I took this pic on a different day). How pavements are taken over on behalf of the 4X4 brigade.
While I was taking pictures yesterday I spotted a man on a mobility scooter. Because the pavements on both sides of Spruce Hills Road have been turned into car parks, he couldn't use them and was forced to use the road. He travelled the whole length of the street in the road and in the photo below can be seen approaching the junction with Sturge Avenue. This is the reality of the policies pursued by Bob Belam - encouraging 4X4 use and forcing disabled people unto the road. Well done Bob, yet another street where the pavements have been made impassable for people with a mobility disability.
