§ 20. Mr. Liptonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent action has been taken to reduce car-parking on pavements in Westminster.
§ Mr. RentonAs the hon. Member was informed on 16th February, special attention is paid by the police, within the limits of available manpower, to the practice of parking cars on the footway. Since 24th February this year, in the Rochester Row Sub-Division, which includes the area to which the hon. Member's earlier Question referred, 31 drivers have been reported for obstruction of the footway and dealt with by way of process or written caution; 44 vehicles have been removed; and 265 oral warnings have been given for obstruction.
§ Mr. LiptonIs the hon. and learned Gentleman aware that some of the culprits, including Ministers of the Crown, one of whom is present at the moment, continue, according to my information, to indulge in this reprehensible practice of parking cars on the footway? Will he give an assurance that there is not one law for Ministers of the Crown and another law for ordinary citizens?
§ Mr. RentonI can certainly give the assurance asked for. In our democracy, Ministers of the Crown are as much subject to the law as anyone else. It is, of course, a question for the police to decide whether or not there is obstruction of the pavement. Placing a car on the pavement is not in itself an offence, any more than is sitting on the pavement; but it is a question for the police to decide and not one upon which my right hon. Friend can make a decision.