Petition - Parking in loading and unloading bays whilst collecting goods for takeaway deliveries in Fareham

Thank you for sending in the petition regarding the use of loading and unloading bays in Fareham.

The County Council’s parking team have reviewed your request and looked at this against the needs of all road users in the locations you describe.

As you are aware, Fareham has a limited number of loading bays which are proven to be very busy especially in the town centre locations. Allowing food delivery drivers to park in said bays for longer periods than the parking restrictions provide for, would create an inconvenience for many users and even have the potential to make the location dangerous for other vehicles and pedestrians. Our parking team have recently received several complaints regarding the parking in the area at Westbury Manor, Fareham, close to the loading bay near the McDonalds. We must therefore consider all road users when making decisions regarding existing parking restrictions.

A fundamental part of the role of a Civil Enforcement Officer is to uphold the traffic regulations in a fair and consistent way to maintain traffic flow and road safety, and this is particularly important in the busy areas of the town centre where traffic flow is higher. The standard observation period for a vehicle in a loading bay is 10 minutes and this cannot be changed due to the above reasons.

Whist I appreciate that the act of loading/unloading may take longer than the observation time, if a Penalty Charge Notice is issued and sufficient documentation is supplied to the County Council, we may consider this in mitigation.

Yours sincerely

Councillor Rob Humby
Deputy Leader
Executive Member for Economy, Transport and Environment