When is it ok to park on the pavement?

After living in poor, 'uncivilized' countries for the past three years, I have to admit I’m thoroughly enjoying being in a rich and developed one again - for the timebeing at least!

It’s great to be close to family and friends again (the blighters refused to put their lives on hold whilst I was away).  I’m loving the cultural opportunities – theatre, cinema, galleries, watching (and playing) football.

Major benefits also include the absence of landmines, border wars, rampant corruption, poor people with no medical care, and peasants with backbreaking, heartbreaking struggles through the mud.

There are little mercies too: snuggling under a duvet beats sweating under a mozzie net. Cycling over a twig is more relaxing knowing it's not a snake.  Drinking water from the tap. Chocolate and cheese.  Electricity and internet.  Freedom from being pointed out and laughed at (well, less often).  Dammit, we even have pavements and public toilets!

Perhaps one of the biggest pleasures is transport.  The UK has (much improved) trains, whereas there are none in Cambodia, or indeed Rwanda where I was before.  Busses and taxis here are modern, frequent and safe.  Occasionally there are even wonderful things called cycle lanes!

In contrast, Cambodia has developed a transport problem.  In the absence of public transport, cars have sadly become a status symbol.  You must be rich to have one; you don’t get rich by being nice; so cars aren’t driven nicely (might is right, and if you own a car you’re a big man and perfectly entitled to drive like one).  When not hogging the roads, they block the way for others.  In a previous post I complained that “only tossers of the highest order park cars on pavements; sadly, Phnom Penh has multitudes of major culprits. Oh for some traffic wardens!”

Of course back in the UK we’re far too civilized for that kind of behavour, right? 

Sadly not.  There are many upsides of being back, but witnessing the inconsiderate behaviour of car owners who park on pavements is not one of them.  And this is not just an occasional selfish thug – in my new ‘hood of East Oxford it is widespread to the point of being normalized. 

The Highway Code is clear: “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” (section 244).

The problem is that people are not obeying the rules – and the authorities (police and councils) are not enforcing them.

So here’s the deal.  If you choose to drive (here it’s a real choice – plenty of busses, great cycling country, easy to walk for most), then it’s your responsibility to park your car legally and responsibly. 

If there is not enough room on the road directly in front of your house without, say, preventing a fire engine or bin van from getting through, then you need to find somewhere else to park.  What you are not entitled to do is park on the pavement instead.  If you do you are breaking the Highway Code, and you are behaving like a selfish tosser. 

As I say, we are fortunate here to have such civilized amenities as pavements and public toilets.

So answer me this:  if I visit a public convenience, I have just as much right as anyone to do my business in one of the loos - agreed?  But if all the cubicles are already being used, what should I do?  Should I wait, or go elsewhere – or do I put my ease and expediency above the needs and rights of everyone else, and just shit the sink?