§ Lord Greavesasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether it is acceptable to park vehicles on the public highway with the purpose of advertising them for sale; and whether the law is sufficient to prevent this practice. [HL952]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)This issue is being dealt with through clauses in the clean neighbourhoods Bill, currently being considered by a Standing Committee in another place. The aim is to prevent the activities of commercial businesses that sell vehicles on the street thus reducing parking opportunities, causing nuisance to ordinary people and significantly blighting an area
These clauses are needed because currently there is no specific law against selling cars on the street. Some local authorities tackle this through existing highways or street trading legislation but consultation has told us that this is very difficult.
In response to this, we are proposing to introduce a new offence of exposing or advertising two or more vehicles for sale on a road as part of a business; this is included in the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill. The offence will be punishable through the courts or through fixed penalty notices.