Message to Warwickshire drivers: ‘Please don’t park on the pavement’

WHEELCHAIR and mobility scooter users are being put in danger by “thoughtless” people blocking pavements.

Former police officer Elizabeth Dixon, who runs Accessible Stratford and uses a powered wheelchair, said she often comes across vehicles left half-on and half-off pavements around the town.

Ms Dixon, who was injured in a road traffic accident while on duty, said drivers may block pavements because they’re dashing into a cafe or shop to grab a takeaway coffee or sandwich, or draw out cash from an ATM.

She said: “Everybody who parks on the pavement knows they shouldn’t, because it’s against the law. It’s a problem and it’s so wrong.”

Chapel Lane and Union Street are just some of the town’s problem spots for pavement parking.

“Parking on the pavement is often thoughtlessness – people just don’t think,” she added. “Sometimes I find myself absolutely stranded and unable to go forward or back, if there’s no room to turn around.

“And it’s not just me in my wheelchair, it could be someone with a pushchair, on a mobility scooter, or a blind person with a guide dog.

“Hopefully it’s not intentional, so perhaps reading this will make people think about the consequences a bit more.”

Last week, a Henley pensioner called out two drivers whose cars had been left half-on the pavement directly opposite each other on the town’s Station Road, blocking the pavements on both sides and making it difficult to go through them on the road.

Another resident criticised it as a “hazard”, describing it as “potentially dangerous not only to other vehicles but to pedestrians blocking their right of way… particularly for wheelchair users and mothers with pushchairs”.

Another pointed out: “People who park on pavements are people who do not respect the law, disabilities or children crossing.”

Henley resident Heather Hawkswood named Prince Harry Road as a blackspot, saying: “We more often than not have to walk in the road, due to cars being half-on the pavement.”

Another Henley resident, who asked not to be named, told the Herald: “Pavement parking has got worse over the last 12 months and not only pavement parking but parking on bends, obscuring the vision of oncoming traffic.

“Young children with their mothers walk to school along Harris Close then into Prince Harry Road and should a child walk into the road where it joins Prince Harry, any cars coming from the Warwick Road would not see them.

“It’s an accident waiting to happen.”

She also shared the sad story of a family friend who was riding his mobility scooter in Alcester and found cars parked on the pavement, blocking his way.

He moved into the road to go around them but the scooter tipped over, he fell and broke his hip and later died from complications.

She warned: “People do not realise how dangerous parking on pavements can be.”