The perils of pavement parking for Guide Dog users

The perils of pavement parking affecting Guide Dog users were highlighted at a Christmas event in Parliament attended by Local MP Justin Madders.

Mr Madders, MP for Ellesmere Port and Bromborough, was among those who showed their support for Guide Dog’s campaign for safer and more accessible streets.  Also at the occasion were Sir Stephen Timms MP, Minister for Social Security and Mobility, and Guide Dogs’ chief executive Andrew Lennox.

Mr Madders, himself a former shadow health minister, spoke with people with sight loss about the challenges that anti-social pavement parking cause. Among them was ‘Helen’, a guide dog owner and volunteer, who spoke about her own experience of pavement parking and how it affects her.

The meeting was told cars parked on pavements are a problem for everyone, but are particularly dangerous for people with sight loss who can be forced to walk in the road with traffic they cannot see.

Pavement parking is already against the law in London, and similar rules are coming into force in Scotland. The law in the rest of the country is complex and patchy.

Guide Dogs is calling for a clear law across the rest of the country to ensure that everyone can walk their streets safely. Three quarters (74 per cent) of councillors also support Guide Dogs’ call for a new law.

Eleanor Briggs, Head of Policy, Public Affairs and Campaigns at Guide Dogs, said: 

“Cars blocking pavements are a nuisance for everyone but can be dangerous for people forced into the road, especially wheelchair users, people with pushchairs and people with sight loss.

“We know cars blocking the way undermines people with a vision impairments’ confidence to get out and about independently. This is why we’re calling for a clear law that would empower local councils to tackle this problem.”