Parking on corners of junctions

[fraggle08]

Where I work there is very few parking spaces for employees and no public transport, which results in most people parking on the road outside. Sometimes the only places left are around the junction to our small road. We are on an industrial estate so there is no through traffic but many delivery lorries etc.
I know you are not really supposed to park in places like that; but is it actually illegal?
The reason I ask is my friend got hit yesterday by a clumsy lorry whilst parked near the corner of the junction. Will her parked position affect her insurance (or the lorry drivers')?

[bob57]

first of all the lorry driver was not clumsy as it was your freind that was clumsy by parking her car there in the first place
secondly a lot of car drivers should sit in the drivers seat of a lorry that is 55ft long to understand what a lorry driver has to contend with every day not just some of the days but every day
thirdly it is an offence under the highway code to park within 15ft of a junction/corner
and yes it will affect her insurance as she was to blame for parking there in the first place
I hope I have not been to harsh on your question but when some one calls a lorry driver clumsy it irritates me but at the same time there are good drivers and bad drivers in all walks of life

[anon26]

If I remember rightly it is illegal to mark within 10 yards of a junction so technically it is your friends fault. This will probably affect her insurance as the lorry driver may be able to claim off her insurance company. And you know what insurance companies are like they will look for every little excuse not to pay out. I may be wrong though she might get lucky.

[Electrochem]

I agree to some extent with bob57, however, from what I understand, if you hit a statiionary vehicle, you are the one who is held liable for any damage.

It must be very frustration for drivers of large vehicles when they come across idiotic parking and as bob57 rightly says it goes against the Highway Code. This is what it says:

217: DO NOT park your vehicle or trailer on the road where it would endanger, inconvenience or obstruct pedestrians or other road users. For example, do not stop

near a school entrance
anywhere you would prevent access for Emergency Services
at or near a bus stop or taxi rank
on the approach to a level crossing
opposite or within 10 metres (32 feet) of a junction, except in an authorised parking space
near the brow of a hill or hump bridge
opposite a traffic island or (if this would cause an obstruction) another parked vehicle
where you would force other traffic to enter a tram lane
where the kerb has been lowered to help wheelchair users
in front of an entrance to a property
on a bend.

I have seen parents park near schools right on the junction and two a breast and an Emergency Vehicle has had to sit there with its blues on twos on waiting for some clown to come and move their car.

In essence all it comes down to is good old fashioned common sense.

[ianess]

Have to agree with Electrochem on this one.
It's virtually impossible to blame a stationary object that's in full view for being to blame for an accident.
Common sense should have stopped your friend from causing a hazard, and common sense should have made the lorry driver stop. Always assuming that as a professional driver he knows how to use his mirrors.
Let the insurance companies sort it out. That's what your friend pays them for.

[Rev Sermon]

Just a minor technical point. The highway code is an approved code of practice not a law. If you digress from it without very good reason this can be used as evidence that you are driving, or parking, unsafely but you have not automatically broken a law.

[chrising102]

anon is correct it is illegal to park within 10 yards of a junction its actually 15 yards trust me iam a driving instructor

[dollydoo]

can someone please clarify (i've read the replies) but someone keeps parking their car within about 3 feet of the corner of the entrance to a public driveway & directly opposite a bus stop. when turning left, I have to pull across the other side of the road to avoid hitting the parked car & if the bus is at the stop I have to wait for it to go - so is the car illegally parked or not??

[bob57]

Dollydoo
he/she is illegally parked according to the highway code but the highway code is not binding
best to check with the police in your area