Skip to main content

Bristol, UK: when a parking space is just too small

People park in the smallest of places, despite the best efforts of urban street designers and town planners to ensure an orderly arrangement of suitably spaced cars. Surly some spaces are just too small to park even the smallest car. But the city of Bristol, in southwest England, has taken no chances and has painted the double yellow ‘no parking’ lines in areas no one in their right mind could squeeze a car. Click here to see just how small the space is that authorities in Bristol have felt they need
May 8, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
People park in the smallest of places, despite the best efforts of urban street designers and town planners to ensure an orderly arrangement of suitably spaced cars.

Surly some spaces are just too small to park even the smallest car. But the city of Bristol, in southwest England, has taken no chances and has painted the double yellow ‘no parking’ lines in areas no one in their right mind could squeeze a car.

%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal Click here Visit BBC story page false http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-32589228 false false%> to see just how small the space is that authorities in Bristol have felt they need to mark out as an illegal parking area.

Bristol City Council said the lines were there to ensure vehicles did not park unsafely. However, people have been laughing at the short length of the lines. Because it is a space long enough for only a model car, why bother marking it out?

One man who is against the parking zone tweeted a picture of a toy racing car beside the short yellow double lines which he criticised as “completely over the top".

"It would be virtually impossible to park anything in the space - it's even too small for a Smart car,” he reportedly said. “It's really ludicrous and so bureaucratic and just another foul-up from the council."

A Bristol City Council spokeswoman said the lines ensure access for emergency services, as well as sanitation and delivery trucks, and allow residents enough space to get in and out of their driveways and garages.

Related Content

  • Matest Asphalt Splitter will make life easier for lab technicians
    April 19, 2013
    Materials testing firm Matest has launched an asphalt splitter at bauma. The machine breaks up asphalt specimens so that the constituent parts can be tested, a task that is often carried out by hand. “The purpose of the machine is to make the operator’s life easier,” said area manager Massiono Martorini. The splitter should also lead to greater efficiency, as breaking specimens down will take less time, and allow laboratory technicians to do other things. Matest expects to sell the splitter to laboratories
  • TRA competitions announced
    January 20, 2017
    Two TRA Visions Competitions are being launched to attract interest from transport researchers. TRA Visions 2018 invites young and senior researchers from all over Europe to submit innovative transport concepts to www.travisions.eu, which was launched last 20th December 2016. The two European-funded TRA Visions 2018 competitions - one for young researchers and the second for senior researchers - have now commenced. Young and senior researchers throughout Europe are invited to submit innovative concepts on f
  • ERF invites Polish Road Congress’ perspective on Road Markings
    May 14, 2014
    On 5 March 2014, the Polish Road Congress organised a consultation seminar on road markings standards across the EU The conference followed the publication of the latest proposal by the ERF for an EU-wide intervention and maintenance policy for road markings, commonly known as 150x150. The proposed policy illustrates the ERF’s view that road markings should have a minimum width of 150mm for all roads, and their performance should not be allowed to drop below 150mcd/lux/m² (R3) in dry weather conditions a
  • Road accident data management
    July 19, 2012
    IRF Geneva unveils a modern solution for road accident data management. This year's Intertraffic Amsterdam exhibition provided a high-profile backdrop for the launch of RADaR, a pioneering new tablet application developed to facilitate the on-site collection of precise and scientific accident data, primarily by traffic police. Introducing the application to an international audience gathered in the venue’s inaugural Smart Mobility Centre, IRF Geneva's director general, Sibylle Rupprecht, highlighted RADaR's