Concern as parked cars block footpath

A Peat St resident sent this photo of a 4WD parked across the footpath in direct contravention of the Traffic Bylaw 2011. Photo/Supplied

People are having to walk on the road because motorists are blocking the footpath on a Wanganui street.

A concerned central city resident, who did not want to be named, wrote to the Wanganui Chronicle about the situation as he saw an older person on a mobility scooter drive on to the road to get around a car parked on a Peat St footpath.

He said it wasn't just those with mobility issues being affected.

"This would also include mothers with prams etc. The cars are completely blocking the footpaths, forcing people to have to go on to the road to get past them.

"I noticed two more cars on the same street parked the same," the man said.

Another resident said he'd had enough of the offending parkers, several of whom he photographed.

Under the Wanganui District Council's Traffic Bylaw 2011 no one is allowed to park a vehicle so that "any part of the vehicle encroaches upon any footpath".

The council said a parking officer must sight the vehicle parked on the footpath before an infringement notice is issued, and in such a case the parking officer would attempt to locate the driver of the parked vehicle and ask them to move it before an infringement notice was issued.