Enforcement of dropped kerbs

Those who park their vehicle alongside a dropped kerb in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole may receive a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) of £70.00.

Parking across a dropped or lowered kerb can prevent other members of the public from gaining access to the road or carriageway or from getting their vehicles in and out of their driveways.

It may also impact the safety of people:

• with lower levels of mobility
• reliant on mobility aids such as wheelchairs
• who are using a pushchair

Vehicles must not be parked adjacent to any footway, cycle track or verge that has been dropped or raised to meet the level of the carriageway.

Especially where the level of the footway, cycle track or verge has been lowered in order to assist pedestrians crossing the carriageway or assist cyclists or vehicles entering or leaving the carriageway.

Although valid Blue Badge holders are permitted to park for up to 3 hours on yellow line restrictions, where it is safe to do so and providing they are not causing an obstruction, Blue Badge holders are not permitted to park at dropped kerbs.

When a kerb is considered to be blocked

A vehicle is considered to be committing a parking contravention where any part of the vehicle is blocking any part along the full length of the dropped kerb, this includes the sloped kerb stones.

The only exceptions are where a vehicle is:

• parked in a designated parking bay
• parked outside of a residential premises by or with consent (does not apply to shared driveways, which includes driveways to buildings of multiple occupancy e.g. flats)
• being used by the emergency services
• parked for the purpose of making a delivery (20 minute max)
• parked for the purpose of certain building or maintenance works

How to report blocked access

If someone has blocked access to your driveway and you have a dropped kerb, please call our parking team on 01202 128 900.

When calling, you will be required to provide the following:

• your name/company name
• your address
• your telephone number
• details of the vehicle obstructing your driveway

This is so that we can verify that you are the owner of the house for which enforcement action is being requested.

Once the above information has been received, we will arrange for a Civil Enforcement Officer to visit the location in due course and carry out appropriate enforcement.

Do not take action yourself as any damage to the vehicle may result in criminal prosecution. Blocking the vehicle in may be classed as obstruction of a public highway.

You may wish to apply to have a white "H" marking painted in front of your dropped kerb to highlight your access.