Is it illegal to park on the pavement?

What the Highway Code says

Rule 244 of the Highway Code is the starting point, and it does something unusual: it applies two different standards in one sentence.

"You MUST NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement in London or Scotland. Exceptions are allowed in limited circumstances. You should not park partially or wholly on the pavement 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."

The Highway Code uses MUST NOT only where a rule is backed by legislation, and should not where it is advice. So the same rule prohibits pavement parking in London and Scotland and merely discourages it everywhere else. That single split is the source of most of the confusion about this topic. The laws named underneath the rule are section 15 of the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1974 and Part 6 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.

London

Pavement parking has been prohibited across Greater London since section 15 of the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1974, which makes it an offence to park with one or more wheels on or over a footway. In practice the boroughs enforce it as a civil parking contravention, so it arrives as a Penalty Charge Notice through the usual process rather than as a police matter, and you can challenge it the same way as any other PCN.

It is contravention code 62, a higher-level contravention. Since 7 April 2025 the higher-level penalty on borough roads has been £160 in Band A boroughs and £140 in Band B, each halved to £80 or £70 if you pay within 14 days.

There are limited exceptions where a borough has specifically resolved to allow footway parking on a street, usually a narrow residential one, with signs and markings showing how far onto the pavement you may go. The Act also allows a short window for loading and unloading. Absent those signs, assume the prohibition applies.

Scotland

Scotland has a national ban, and it is stricter than most people expect. Section 50 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 says a person must not park a motor vehicle on a pavement, and a vehicle counts as parked on the pavement if one or more of its wheels is on any part of it. Councils began enforcing on 11 December 2023. The penalty charge is £100, reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days, and it goes up by 50% if it reaches a charge certificate.

The same Part of the Act bans double parking and parking across a dropped kerb. There are narrow exceptions for emergency services, waste collection, postal deliveries, medical staff attending urgently and business deliveries, most of them conditional on leaving at least 1.5 metres of pavement clear.

Councils can also exempt particular footways by order where the pavement is wide enough, so the ban is national in scope without being identical on every street. An exemption has to apply at all times and to all vehicles, so you will not find one that only runs at certain hours.

England outside London

There is currently no general prohibition on pavement parking in England outside London. Rule 244's "should not" is advice, and advice alone does not create a penalty.

Two things can still catch you:

Obstruction. Leaving a vehicle so that it causes an unnecessary obstruction of the highway is an offence the police can act on, wherever you are. A car that forces a wheelchair user or a pram into the carriageway is the obvious case.
A local restriction. If the pavement is covered by a yellow line, the restriction runs across the footway too, so parking on the pavement to avoid the line achieves nothing. Some councils have also made their own footway parking orders on specific streets.

This is due to change, though more slowly than the headlines suggest. In January 2026 the Department for Transport confirmed it would not impose a single national ban, and would instead let individual local transport authorities prohibit pavement parking in their own areas. Schedule 32 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026, is the power that allows that.

Read what that Schedule actually does, because it is easy to overstate. It gives the Secretary of State power to make regulations that would in turn give councils the power to impose a prohibition. It contains no ban and no penalty of its own. Those regulations have not been made, so no council in England outside London can yet prohibit pavement parking, and no penalty amount exists. Any article quoting you a specific English pavement parking fine is quoting a number nobody has set. Until the regulations are in force, rule 244's "should not" is the position outside London.

Wales and Northern Ireland

Neither has a general ban in force. In Wales a taskforce recommended change and the Welsh Government has said it supports giving councils the power to act on pavement obstruction, but nothing has been made, so the position is still the Highway Code's advice plus the obstruction and local-restriction routes above.

Northern Ireland is the same in practice. Apart from a restriction on heavy commercial vehicles, no single piece of legislation prohibits footway parking, and enforcement falls to the police as an obstruction matter. The Department for Infrastructure announced in November 2025 that it intends to legislate, with a ban on parking wholly on a pavement, on double parking, and across dropped kerbs. Note the "wholly" there: the proposal is narrower than Scotland's one-wheel test. Secondary legislation still has to be made, and no start date or penalty has been announced.

The four nations at a glance

Where	General ban?	Enforced by	Penalty
London	Yes, since 1974	Borough council, civil PCN	£160 Band A or £140 Band B, halved within 14 days
England outside London	No	Police (obstruction) or council where a local restriction applies	No pavement-specific penalty set
Scotland	Yes, enforced from 11 December 2023	Council, civil PCN	£100, £50 within 14 days
Wales	No	Police (obstruction) or council where a local restriction applies	No pavement-specific penalty set
Northern Ireland	No	Police (obstruction) or council where a local restriction applies	No pavement-specific penalty set

Pavement parking is not the same as blocking a dropped kerb

These two get merged constantly, and they are separate rules. Pavement parking is about putting wheels on the footway. A dropped kerb is the lowered section at a driveway or a pedestrian crossing point, and parking across one is a contravention in its own right in many places even where the rest of the street allows pavement parking, and even where nothing is painted on the road. If your question is really about a blocked driveway, our dropped kerb parking rules guide covers that directly. Similarly, if you are worried about the corner rather than the footway, see parking near a junction.

Check the street before you mount the kerb

Pavement parking turns on where you are and what is signed, and neither is obvious from the driver's seat. Kerbnow reads the sign and tells you in plain English what applies on the street you are standing on, including the yellow lines and bay markings that run across the footway.

Frequently asked questions

Is it illegal to park on the pavement in the UK?

It depends where you are. In London it has been prohibited since the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1974, and the Highway Code puts it as a MUST NOT. In Scotland a national ban has been enforceable since 11 December 2023. In the rest of England, and in Wales and Northern Ireland, there is no general ban: the Highway Code says you should not do it, which is advice rather than a prohibition, though you can still be dealt with for obstruction or under a local restriction.

Can you get a fine for parking on the pavement?

In London and in Scotland, yes, through the normal civil parking enforcement process. Elsewhere in England and in Wales there is no penalty for pavement parking as such, but two other routes exist: the police can act if the vehicle causes an unnecessary obstruction, and a council can ticket you if the spot is covered by its own restriction, such as a yellow line or a local pavement parking order.

What does the Highway Code say about pavement parking?

Rule 244 says you MUST NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement in London or Scotland, with exceptions allowed in limited circumstances, and that you should not do so elsewhere unless signs permit it. The switch from "MUST NOT" to "should not" is the whole point: the first is a legal prohibition backed by legislation, the second is advice. The rule also notes the problems pavement parking causes for pedestrians, people in wheelchairs or with visual impairments, and people with prams or pushchairs.

When did the Scottish pavement parking ban start?

The prohibition comes from Part 6 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, and councils began enforcing it on 11 December 2023. The penalty charge is £100, reduced to £50 if you pay within 14 days. Councils can exempt particular streets where a footway is wide enough to allow it, so the ban is national but not absolutely uniform street by street.

Is pavement parking allowed if I leave room for a pushchair?

Leaving room does not change the legal position. In London and Scotland the prohibition applies regardless of how much pavement you leave. Elsewhere, leaving a clear route does reduce the chance of an obstruction complaint, but it is not a defence in itself. If signs specifically permit pavement parking on that street, follow the markings, which usually show exactly how far onto the footway you may go.

This guide is general information about UK parking rules, not legal advice. Kerbnow is a sign-reading aid, so always check the answer against the sign in front of you.