Hundreds of drivers are being fined for leaving a vehicle in a dangerous position. This is according to a recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
The offence is covered by section 22 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. It states: ‘If a person in charge of a vehicle causes or permits the vehicle or a trailer drawn by it to remain at rest on a road in such a position or in such condition or in such circumstances as to involve a danger of injury to other persons using the road, he is guilty of an offence.’
This could include parking a car on a blind bend or next to a humpback bridge. It could also cover the act of parking a car on a pavement, causing a pedestrian to enter a busy road to get by. Parking a vehicle on a hill without using the handbrake is also covered by the minor traffic offence.
According to Motor Defence Solicitors, to be prosecuted, the authorities have to show that you:
Left the vehicle on a road; and…
That the position it was left in caused the danger of injury to other persons who were using the road.
The FOI by Select Car Leasing found that 802 motorists were charged with leaving a vehicle in a dangerous position in 2018. This was up from 209 in 2017 and just 57 in 2016. In 2019, the number dropped to 411.
Anyone caught committing the offence could be given a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) of £100 and given three points on their licence.
Crucially, you must be warned at the time of the offence of the possibility that you will be prosecuted for it. Alternatively, you or the vehicle’s registered keeper must be served with a notice of intended prosecution, or with a summons within 14 days of the offence.
‘No laughing matter’
Mark Tongue, director of Select Car Leasing, said: “There’s a big difference between being bad at parking and being recklessly careless with where you leave your vehicle. That’s what we’re dealing with here.
“We’ve all probably seen someone hogging two spaces in a supermarket car park… but these convictions are no laughing matter. We’re talking about mothers with babies in prams having to run the gauntlet of a busy dual carriageway because there’s a van blocking the pavement.
“It might be that cars are having to swerve onto the opposite side of the road because someone has parked dangerously on a blind bend. Or it could also be incidents where people are misusing the motorway hard shoulder.
“It’s uncertain whether convictions are rising in line with local police clampdowns, or because drivers’ habits are becoming poorer over time, but we’d strongly urge all road users to wise up to the dangers.”
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