Commercial Road in Swindon 'like the Wild West' for parking

And it continues to see cars and motorcycles parked either half or entirely on the pavement along its length.

In a discussion at the borough council’s Build a Better Swindon policy committee about allowing members to nominate streets for an experimental ban on parking on the footway, leader of the Conservative group Councillor Gary Sumner made a plea for a special effort to address the situation in Commercial Road, describing it as ‘the Wild West’.

The Adver visited Commercial Road a week later to see the situation.

Along the road's length at 2pm there were parked  17 cars in total, mostly wholly on the pavement, with four parked half on the road and pavement, straddling the street’s double yellow lines. There were also two motorcycles and eight motor-scooters parked on the footway.

While the double yellow lines apply to both the roadway and the pavement and making parking against the law, the situation is complicated in that many of the shops and buildings come with their own plots of land between them and the public highway.

The distinction is sometimes obvious, such as where an old bank building has been converted to flats, and the red brick of the building shows the parking space, but elsewhere it is much less obvious.

The mixture of parking next to a business or shop and half on the pavement means situations where children were seen having to walk between cars on the footway, and which would have meant great difficulty for a wheelchair user, a parent pushing a buggy anyone with a visual disability.

Cllr Sumner who weeks in an officer looking out onto the road shared a photo of a car and van parked on the footway and reiterated his call for something to be done.

He said: ”Visibility for those leaving the many side streets on Commercial Road is dangerously obstructed.

 “Pedestrians and cyclists are also at risk.

A van parked on the pavement in Commercial Road (Image: Gary Sumner)

“The point in the photo is where many pedestrians cross the road heading into Regent Circus. They have to walk into the road and peer around the van. Someone could be killed or seriously injured.”

He is not convinced by the point that some of what appears to be footway is actually land owned by the businesses.

He said: “While many shops have rear access they choose to park on the pavement. Some own a strip in front of their shops but have no legal right to cross the pavement to use it.”

But Sandro Rocha runs Brasileiro at number three, a Brazilian butcher and grocery.

He said: ”I understand when the wardens are just doing their jobs, but sometimes they need to be a little bit flexible.

“Sometimes we just need to have the car there for five minutes, but we’ve missed sales before because they’re so strict and we’ve had to move.”

Further down the road, a woman, who did not wish to be named, had parked her car half on the pavement, half on the road with the hazard lights flashing, as she popped into the Post Office.

She said: “I’m just in and out in five minutes and there’s no harm in it. There’s still plenty of room for people to get past. Its just more convenient to do this.”

Possibly ironically, a car park with some empty spaces is directly across the road from the Post Office.

While it is not illegal to park on the pavement, except where it is outlawed by a traffic order, it is illegal to park on double yellow lines, which also apply to the footway, and also to drive on the pavement.

The council will be inviting councillors to nominate areas in their wards for an experimental ban on pavement parking where there is a significant problem.