What was claimed
It is now illegal to park on pavements in Wales.
Our verdict
False. The Welsh government is planning to give councils more power to fine problem parkers from July next year, but doesn’t plan to pursue an outright ban.
You can still park on the pavement in Wales
It’s been claimed on Facebook that it is now illegal to park on pavements in Wales.
The Welsh government plans to give local authorities more powers to “fine problem parkers”. However, this is not due to come into effect until next year. At the moment the Welsh government is not pursuing an outright ban, following the recommendations made by the Welsh Pavement Parking Taskforce in October 2020.
As for the rest of the UK, you are generally allowed to park on the pavement in England, though some cities including London and Exeter have outlawed the practice. The Scottish Parliament has voted to make it illegal but is not expected to start enforcing the law until 2023. In Northern Ireland, pavement parking is not allowed on urban clearways but there is no general ban.
Additionally, traffic authorities (usually local authorities, but the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland) can establish Traffic Regulation Orders which prohibit pavement parking in certain areas.
And sometimes, parking on the pavement may constitute obstruction of the highway, which is illegal.
Interestingly, UK-wide law dating from 1835 actually makes it illegal to drive onto the pavement but doesn’t make it illegal to park there.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because pavement parking is not outlawed in Wales, and while there are plans to give councils more powers to fine “problem parkers”, there are no plans to bring in an outright ban.