Cycle Lanes & Parking

[John Holiday]

We have been discussing the problem of vehicles parked in marked Cycle Lanes, & there is a high degree of uncertainty on what the legal implications are.
We know that in certain cases ' No Parking' is allowed,but in others,it is permitted.
Would some knowledgeable Forum User please spell out the precise legal ramifications?
Thanks.

[[XAP]Bob]

Ride a recumbent - at speed - into each vehicle in turn.

The rules *should* be the same as any other traffic lane - I suspect that "obstructing the highway" could be used...

[661-Pete]

You might want to look at earlier threads on this topic, like this one.

[kwackers]

There's been much fighting locally over parking in cycle lanes. The developers have built an 'urban village' of around 2000 properties with lots of nice green spaces and cycle lanes.
(See here: http://goo.gl/maps/1YVPz)

Basically despite the houses having parking around the back most folk are simply lazy and stick the car on the cycle path outside their houses. There have been complaints for years but the position has always been that because they're bounded by a dotted line cars are allowed to park on them.

On Tuesday there was a meeting and it seems that some form of common sense has been reached and so the council have decided to put down double yellow lines. The local rag reports that 'angry residents' were apparently outraged by the proposal.
From experience though I doubt there'll be much in the way of enforcement but at least there shouldn't be any shrugging of shoulders when complaints are made.

(This was the road I was knocked off by a bus after he became annoyed that I'd held him up whilst cycling in the road past parked cars...)

[Geriatrix]

(This was the road I was knocked off by a bus after he became annoyed that I'd held him up whilst cycling in the road past parked cars...)

You held him up not the parked cars?
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, the bus driver opinion isn't unique.

[kwackers]

(This was the road I was knocked off by a bus after he became annoyed that I'd held him up whilst cycling in the road past parked cars...)

You held him up not the parked cars?
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, the bus driver opinion isn't unique.

'fraid so. He was of the opinion that I should have stopped and waited behind the cars for him to pass before moving into the lane.

He didn't knock me off at that point btw, basically he cut me up at a bus stop (in the cycle lane) 50 yards or so further up and then shouted some abuse as I cycled past him by which time I was wound up enough to turn around and see what he was shouting (that's when he told me why he'd cut me up).

At this point I carried on my way and decided I would make a point of using the road to pass the cars instead of moving in and out of the lane. I'd gone a few yards before he started continuously sounding his horn and I lost my rag and decided to have it out with him - what I hadn't realised is just how close he was! Touched my brake and was instantly thrown over the bike.
There are lots of lessons in there (including the one that says the engine on a bus is at the back, so it sounds further away than it really is! ). The bus had recording equipment which might have explained why the insurance didn't even try to argue the toss.
I got an letter of apology although I don't know what (if any) action was taken against the driver.

[gaz]

We have been discussing the problem of vehicles parked in marked Cycle Lanes, & there is a high degree of uncertainty on what the legal implications are.
We know that in certain cases ' No Parking' is allowed,but in others,it is permitted.
Would some knowledgeable Forum User please spell out the precise legal ramifications?
Thanks.

Assuming that we are discussing a cycle lane marked on the carriageway then:

LTN 1/89 sets out the official line.

In Theory:

Mandatory Cycle Lane (solid white line), must be created by a TRO which will set out it's period of operation during which waiting (parking) is prohibited.

Advisory Cycle Lane (broken white lane), does not require a TRO. Any waiting (parking) restriction requires it's own TRO and is unrelated to the prescence of the cycle lane, e.g. double yellow lines.

If a vehicle is parked in contravention of the TRO an offence is comitted.

In practice:

Mandatory Cycle Lanes are sometimes marked without TRO's, making enforcement impossible.

Many Advisory Cycle Lanes have no parking restrictions of any kind.

If there is a TRO then you'll have a hard time getting either the police of local authority to enforce it, if they aren't already doing so.

If there is not a TRO then a parked vehicle may be "obstructing the highway", but I doubt anybody would be remotely interested.

[Pete Owens]

There's been much fighting locally over parking in cycle lanes. The developers have built an 'urban village' of around 2000 properties with lots of nice green spaces and cycle lanes.
(See here: http://goo.gl/maps/1YVPz)

I remember being invited to consultation meetings about that development when it was still the Burtonwood air base. The developers had a genuine innovative vision for an urban village at the time but the Warrington planners forced anything unconventional out of the scheme until it ended up as just another auto-centric residential suburb.

It was going to be a mixed use development, with employment as well as residential uses to reduce travel to work distances, but this was squashed. Even though that was what government guidance was advocating at the time, the local planners didn't like it and talked about conventional zoning as "mixed use within a wider area context"! There were going to be shared space squares - plazas surrounded by local shops, cafes etc with the roads coming in at the sides - but the planners didn't like that so insisted on a conventional supermarket with a car park. The whole area was to be subject to a 20mph limit, but that was stamped on - though I think they are going to impose 20mph limits but just to the culs-de-sac.

The road in the picture was initially envisaged as "single-lane-dualling" - so there wouldn't have been enough width to park there and it would have kept speeds low. But the council insisted that there was room for a bus to break down without holding up traffic so it ended up as a wide dual carriageway - with buildouts and humps to attempt to restrain speed. This was bound to end up treated as parking bays.

We were keen that the old line of Burtonwood Road would be maintained as a direct cycle route, but by the time the council insisted on strange detours to cross the roads and placed virtually impassible barriers it became useless. Our one minor success in the consultation was persuading them to drop their plans for an annular cycle lane at the roundabout on Whittle Avenue - but we couldn't persuade them to introduce a less cycle hostile junction.

[jonbott]

our local `cycle lanes` have been lost in repatching the roads...they`re a joke anyway,cars park in them all the time

[Redvee]

There is a hill I walk up, on the pavement, most nights that has a cycle lane in the usual place but tonight the cycle lane had a car parked half in it and half on the pavement. The car ended up with a rub mark from an Ortlieb pannier cause there wasn't enough space left by the driver.

[jezer]

There is a hill I walk up, on the pavement, most nights that has a cycle lane in the usual place but tonight the cycle lane had a car parked half in it and half on the pavement. The car ended up with a rub mark from an Ortlieb pannier cause there wasn't enough space left by the driver.

Oh dear, what a shame

[jonbott]

There is a hill I walk up, on the pavement, most nights that has a cycle lane in the usual place but tonight the cycle lane had a car parked half in it and half on the pavement. The car ended up with a rub mark from an Ortlieb pannier cause there wasn't enough space left by the driver.

what a pity

[Ant]

Hate to be so negative, but cycle lanes in the UK are largely pointless, in my experience at least. I always chuckle inwardly when I pass Woodrup cycles in Leeds as there always seems to be a car or van parked outside, forcing me out of the cycle lane and into the busy road...

Not that this is Woodrups fault of course,it just emphasises the car is king situation here. There are plenty of other cars parked in the cycle lanes up and down that stretch of road.

Off topic but nonetheless amusing to watch the film "Made in Dagenham" last night and see all the production workers at Ford in the '60's arriving at work on bikes which were almost certainly made in the UK. Riding on the road of course, not a cycle lane!

[jezer]

Hate to be so negative, but cycle lanes in the UK are largely pointless, in my experience at least. I always chuckle inwardly when I pass Woodrup cycles in Leeds as there always seems to be a car or van parked outside, forcing me out of the cycle lane and into the busy road...

Not that this is Woodrups fault of course,it just emphasises the car is king situation here. There are plenty of other cars parked in the cycle lanes up and down that stretch of road.

Off topic but nonetheless amusing to watch the film "Made in Dagenham" last night and see all the production workers at Ford in the '60's arriving at work on bikes which were almost certainly made in the UK. Riding on the road of course, not a cycle lane!

I remember when I was at school in the early 60's in Bath seeing workers from the Stothert and Pitt factory streaming out of work on their bikes. Of course in those days cycling was the only transport for people who couldn't afford cars. I think this image still persists to some extent, and it will take another generation for it to vanish completely. Having said that, we had a wonderful club run today, although I am now totally knackered. Well, it must have done me some good

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
The other day saw a car parked in acycle lane, on double yellows, on the pavement....................
In the sixties of course their were few cars, in my road three cars, all worked at a local newly built factory STC then ITT then STC then NORTEL then BOOKHAMS now demolished
Had a runin with the police this week, long story.................no wonder that the public do not have confidence with them, if they only realised that its the simple things that are easy to fix which would give us confidence in them again.
P.S. We wer'nt rich far from it but my dad owned a Lagonda straight six, leather and wood interiour Now you see it in TV adverts.