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

  • VIDEO: Wrong way down a Chinese motorway
    April 19, 2016
    It takes courage to drive down the wrong side of a motorway and a lot of nerve. But this driver in China appears to have both in large quantities as he heads off on his journey. Apparently, his passenger is his equal when it comes to sangfroid. He even appears in camera shot with a big smile on his face. Luckily no crash took place. However, the video stops just before the taxi arrives at something in the road. Was it a road block? If that driving experience wasn’t too unsettling for anyone, then c
  • VIDEO: Heavy-footed driver in Budapest sends his LaFerrari spinning
    November 6, 2015
    Oops! Just a little too much pressure on the accelerator sent this €1 million (US$1.1 million) sports car spinning off onto a side trip into a couple parked cars in Budapest. He quickly decided to remove the registration plates and cover the vehicle. So what exactly did the poor man crash? LaFerrari is a limited production hybrid consisting of petrol engine and KERS, kinetic energy recovery system, as used in Formula One cars. It was unveiled at the 2013 Geneva Auto Show and around 500 of the less than
  • High court drama expected at Highways UK event, NEC, Birmingham
    November 7, 2016
    What happens when a highways services employee is prosecuted for failing to follow established safety procedures? How would a courtroom drama unfold for the accused and the employer?
  • Track stand tactics take top honours
    January 5, 2015
    Cyclists and vehicle drivers may have their differences on the road but they can, nonetheless, admire each other’s skills. The ability of an articulated truck driver to back up while threading his lengthy vehicle through a narrow passage is often admired by cyclists. Drivers, too, can admire the ability of a cyclist at a stop light to balance his bicycle while stationary, without taking his or her feet off the pedals, a feat called the track stand.