
As a courier, there is nothing more frustrating than to arrive at your delivery point only to find it protected by double yellow lines, patrolled by wardens who wait in readiness to slap a fixed penalty notice on your windscreen, as soon as your vehicle has come to a halt.
For business owners, yellow lines are a deterrent to their customers at a time when high street businesses are in desperate need of all the help they can get.
Councils, of course, are the main beneficiaries of such restrictions. The associated fines have become a much needed source of income, helping to offset the recent decrease in local government grants.
The official reasoning for yellow lines is that they promote free traffic flow and protect potentially dangerous parts of the road network. Most motorists, see them as being nothing more than revenue raisers.
Now, however, it seems the government might be having a re-think. They are proposing changing the rules to allow a 15-minute ‘grace’ period allowing motorists to pop into local businesses before they get hassled by the wardens. This, they argue, would help to rejuvenate our high streets and save them from further decline.
For delivery drivers, it will (space permitting), mean we can safely park close to our clients’ premises, with enough time to complete our business, without having to worry about the sudden appearance of the dreaded warden(s).
AA president Edmund King wants things to go even further and has said:
“Rather than just allow drivers to park on double yellow lines, a thorough review of the lines would be more effective. Many double lines are there for historical reasons and could be lifted.
“There is plenty of opportunity to ease back on the signs and lines in many places, giving drivers short-term waiting bays instead, so they can stop briefly to buy a paper or loaf of bread.”
Maybe, if everyone uses their ‘loaf’ we can look forward to even more changes in the future?