Highway Code rules if someone parks in front of your drive

What to do if someone parks in front of your driveway

It’s the last thing you expect to find when you return home but plenty of us will have encountered a random car blocking our drive and stopping us from getting onto it. 

Whether it’s through someone’s bad parking or just because they’re plain rude – it’s incredibly annoying. 

But is there actually anything you can do about it? Without breaking the law. 

Last year, the Government unveiled a host of new Highway Code changes designed to protect motorists when out on the road.

It placed emphasis on a “hierarchy of road users” and ensured that heavier or quicker vehicles have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger or threat they may pose to others on the road.

Rules 239 to 252 of the Highway Code deal with parking, and the advice drivers should follow to ensure they are being safe.

One rule in particular – Rule 243 – tells drivers they are not allowed to stop or park in a range of places including “in front of an entrance to a property”.

This is in addition to near a school entrance, at a bus stop or taxi rank, near the brow of a hill and where they would obstruct cyclists’ use of cycle facilities.

The only exception to this is if a driver is forced to stop or park as a result of stationary traffic.

If you can find the owner of the vehicle, the Metropolitan Police advise asking them politely to move it.

If they cannot be found, it is recommended that the aggrieved driver could leave a note on their windscreen.

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In some instances, the offending vehicle owner may not realise they have caused a problem.

If a person has blocked a driveway and is preventing them from getting their own vehicle out, the police may be able to help.

This can be reported online and would constitute as being antisocial behaviour.

Drivers should only ring 999 if the situation is getting tense, violent or they feel as if they are in immediate danger and need support straight away.

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Another rule in the Highway Code also instructs drivers not to park in front of someone’s driveway, especially in London.

Rule 244 states: “You must not park partially or wholly on the pavement in London, and should not do so elsewhere unless signs permit it. 

“Parking on the pavement can obstruct and seriously inconvenience pedestrians, people in wheelchairs or with visual impairments and people with prams or pushchairs.”

Pavement parking is illegal in London and drivers can be fined £70 if they are breaking the law.

The Highway Code, as well as the recent updates, are advisory only, so non-compliance will not result in a fine, aside from the laws which are in force, such as pavement parking in the capital.

A homeowner has no legal right to park directly outside of their property, including on the street, given that all road users have the same right to park anywhere on the public highway.

If a driver is desperate to reserve a space and uses things like cones or other obstacles to block the space, it could be viewed as an obstruction and they could be liable to prosecution.

This is unless their local authority has granted them the right to do so for certain events, like funerals.

Recently, people have used traffic cones, shopping trolleys and even wheelie bins to reserve spaces.

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