If a car is parked on the road across your driveway, report it to your council’s parking team: where the council runs parking enforcement, parking next to a dropped kerb is a contravention it can ticket. If you’re blocked in and need to get out, or nobody enforces parking where you live, call the police on 101, and 999 only in an emergency. This guide is about cars on the road outside your drive. If the car is parked on your drive itself, read our guide on whether it’s illegal to park on someone’s driveway.
Who deals with a car blocking your driveway?
The road outside your house is public highway, so a car parked across your drive is a parking matter, not trespass.
Your council
Section 86 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 says that, in a council’s enforcement area, a vehicle must not be parked on the road next to a kerb that has been lowered to help vehicles cross the pavement. Council officers can issue a penalty charge notice for it. Our guide to dropped kerb parking rules lists the exceptions.
Many councils only ticket a car across a single-house driveway when the householder asks, because an officer can’t tell whether it’s a visitor you’ve allowed. Medway Council, for example, says you need to report it each time and that it is not a rapid response service.
The police
Where a council hasn’t taken over parking enforcement, it is still a police matter. The police also deal with obstruction: under regulation 103 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, nobody may leave a vehicle standing on a road so as to cause any unnecessary obstruction of the road. Surrey County Council’s advice is that if a car stops you leaving your drive, you can call 101, and the police can trace the owner and ask them to move it, or remove it if necessary.
In London, the borough councils enforce the same rule, and some ask you to register your dropped kerb first.
What to do, step by step
Check it isn’t a quick stop. Deliveries that can’t be done another way are allowed for up to 20 minutes. A knock on a neighbour’s door often finds the driver.
Note the registration, make and colour, and the time you first saw it.
Take dated photos showing the car, the dropped kerb and how much of it the car covers. Councils differ on what counts: Medway needs at least one axle over the dropped kerb.
Check your kerb is actually dropped. Without a lowered kerb, the council usually can’t ticket the car under this rule.
Report it to your council’s parking team, by phone or online. Search your council’s website for “dropped kerb enforcement”.
Blocked in and need to leave? Call 101. The police can trace the owner and ask them to move.
Call 999 only in an emergency, for example if someone’s safety is at risk.
What you mustn’t do
Don’t damage the car. BCP Council warns that any damage to the vehicle may result in criminal prosecution.
Don’t clamp it or block it in. Section 54 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 makes it an offence to clamp a car, or to restrict its movement by any means, to stop it being moved.
Don’t have it towed yourself. Medway Council, for example, says only the police have the power to remove a vehicle.
Don’t put out cones or bins to save the space. Leaving anything on the highway that gets in the way of other road users can be an offence under section 148 of the Highways Act 1980.
How long does it take?
There’s no set response time. A council officer comes when one is free, and a ticket doesn’t mean the car is moved. If you need to get out, call the police on 101 so they can trace the owner. Penalty amounts are in our dropped kerb guide.
How to stop it happening again
Ask for an H-bar marking
Many councils will paint a white H-bar, or access protection marking, across your dropped kerb. Surrey County Council says these lines are advisory with no legal standing, but they show drivers clearly where not to park. Surrey asks for photos of cars across your kerb on two occasions, charges £53 to apply plus £125 or £168 if approved, and says it can take up to six months. Fees differ by council.
Where a parking post helps, and where it doesn’t
Let’s be straight: nothing you fit on your drive can stop someone parking on the road. The road and pavement are public highway, and you can’t put a post there. What driveway bollards do is keep the drive itself clear. If drivers are pulling onto your drive to wait, turn or park while you’re out, a lockable fold-down parking post stops it: up and locked when you’re out, folded flat when you’re home.
The DriveGuard Park is £310 fitted by expert local installers, or 3 × £103.33 interest-free with Klarna.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who do I call if someone blocks my driveway?
Call your council’s parking team first: where the council runs parking enforcement, a car parked next to your dropped kerb can be given a penalty charge notice. If you’re blocked in and need to get out, or your council doesn’t enforce parking, call the police on 101. Use 999 only in an emergency.
What counts as obstructing a driveway?
Parking on the road next to a kerb lowered to let vehicles cross the pavement, under section 86 of the Traffic Management Act 2004. Councils set the detail: Medway, for example, needs at least one axle over the dropped kerb.
Can the police tow a car that is blocking my driveway?
They can. Surrey County Council says the police can trace the owner and ask them to move it, or remove it if necessary. Medway says only the police have the power to remove a vehicle.
Is it illegal to block a driveway without a dropped kerb?
The dropped-kerb rule only applies where the kerb has been lowered, so without one the council usually can’t ticket the car under that rule. Leaving a car where it causes an unnecessary obstruction of the road is still an offence, and that’s a matter for the police.
Can I block in a car that has blocked my driveway?
No. Under section 54 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 it’s an offence to restrict the movement of someone else’s car to stop it being moved, as well as to clamp it. Report it instead.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules and fees vary by council and can change, so check with your council for your street.
Sources
The dropped-kerb rule and its exceptions: Traffic Management Act 2004, section 86.
Obstruction: Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, regulation 103.
Areas where the police still enforce parking: Department for Transport, statutory guidance on civil enforcement of parking contraventions.
Clamping and blocking a car in: Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, section 54.
Objects left on the highway: Highways Act 1980, section 148.
Reporting, one axle over the kerb, removal by the police: Medway Council, report an obstruction to a driveway.
Calling 101, H-bar markings, fees and timescale: Surrey County Council, access protection markings (H bars).
Damage warning: BCP Council, report a vehicle parked in front of your dropped kerb.
Dropped Kerb Parking Rules: Can You Park Across One?
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