(no subject)

[jack]

I never really thought about it, but I realised I fairly habitually see people parking on double yellow for short periods of time, and assumed it was normal and hence ok, but I _also_ assumed that it was forbidden so you should never do it. And hence, I implicitly assumed that there was some magic circumstances that everyone else knew that made it ok, but I never knew. It never occurred to me that maybe people were just wrong.

Comments

[hairyears]

There's no distinction in the letter of the law between a parked car with no-one in it, and a stationary vehicle with a driver - even if the engine is running.

However, the enforcement of the law is very different: unattended vehicles on double yellow lines get ticketed immediately, but in all other circumstances the enforcement officer (usually a traffic warden) must establish intent. That is to say: they wait 3-5 minutes for some activity that looks like loading, picking up, assisting a disabled person, or essential road-safety activities like checking the boot is properly closed.