Parking Motorbikes on Pavement

Hank_Scorpio

I work in town. Our offices are part of an apartment block. Our company was heavily involved in the development and plan of our offices. There are two doors. One for the apartments, and one for our offices. There are units under all the building. There's a food place, then there's an empty unit, our entrance, entrance to the apartments and a newsagents.

I am currently parking my motorbike outside the empty retail unit, 3 doors down from the apartment.

Today I was confronted by someone from the apartments that insisted that I wasn't allowed to park there. I couldn't believe what they were saying. I was shocked. They insisted that I was ruining the pavement. That the pavement was for pedestrians. And that people had complained about the motorbike and there had been queries to owned it.

I told them to getter a letter from the apartment management and send it in. If they insist that I can't park my bike there then I won't. He agreed.

But what I want to know is, can I park on the pavement? Is there any law that says I can't, despite what the management say. I know they run the building, but do they have any rights to the pavement that I'm parked on?

I have to say, on more than one occassion the Gardai have been outside when I got on my bike and went home. Not on any occassion did they stop me for being on the pavement.

What do you think about the situation?

skelliser

as long as your not causing an obstruction i think its fine, id say this person is just a busy-body with alot of time on there hands

paulm17781

Hank_Scorpio wrote: »

I have to say, on more than one occassion the Gardai have been outside when I got on my bike and went home. Not on any occassion did they stop me for being on the pavement.

Gardai not enforcing traffic laws! What next? :rolleyes:

I've no idea of the answer to your question. I'd assume management have no power over the pavement. I could be completely wrong though.

Do you consider the bike is an obstruction on the foot path?

Hank_Scorpio

Absolutely not. The pavement is about 10 feet wide. And I park it as close to the building as possible.

Plus I might add that I've been parking there since April. Never once had I heard anyone complain. There's a buzzer on our door and a simple ring it and ask would have sorted it out in 2 seconds. But nobody has.

I really don't know where I stand on this but it cause a bit of argy bargy with the management of the building. My managers in our offices told me it was fine to park there.

Tomas_V

Parking on a footpath is illegal.

Hank_Scorpio

Even for motorbikes? I've never seen a motorbike parked in a carpark space?

egan007

It's Illegal to park a Motorbike in an Allocated car parking space in Dublin
You have to park it somewhere.
An unobstructing place on the path is the only other place.

Davidth88

Ok, consider this.. a blind person walks along and hits your bike, or a child is playing and runs into it and it falls on them .

Like parking a car up on the pavement it's selfish. If it's illegal I have no idea but it should be.

There should of course be bike parking areas in the town , are the Motorcycle lobby groups not doing their job/being listened to ?

We have a guy who parks his bike outside our building on a manhole everyday ( bacause I imagine he thinks this is not obstruting the path ) , I look foward to the day that Eircom need access to the man hole and kick his bike over TBH. I even caught a guy parking his bike right outside the doors ( an emergency exit ), I asked him to move it.

fitzyshea

This is one of my per peeves this and bicycles locked to railings all over the palce. Firstly I have seen many a motorbike parked in a car park spot. Itd rives me mad everytime I see a bike locked to railings and lampposts in town. In the last few years there have been loads of bike racks put up in town. O'Connel st use to be a bike park then they did it up, now its going back that way! Maybe Im just easily annoyed.

Why cant you park in the staff car park or bike park?

Hank_Scorpio

Don't have a staff car park. The management of the builiding only allocated parking spots to directors of our company. So they can park in the underground, but we're not allowed to, the rest of the spaces are for the residents of the apartments.

It's not an easy one, I want my bike to be safe. Hence I have it outside the door where I can monitor it. I'll park it somewhere else, once it's a safe somewhere.

Ste.phen

Clearly there aren't enough allocated spots for bikes and motorbikes, the car people lobby rather more effectively it seems.

Davidth88

So where do the other staff with cars park ?

Do they park on the pavement outside ?

There should of course be proper parking facilities for bikes, but that I am afraid another arguement.

Traffic

Maybe ask the management company if you can access the car park and park it there, it would be in a secure place and out of the way

corktina

check out the residents car park....find a slot thats empty during the day....knock on their door...do a deal to park there whilst they are at work....

Hotblack Desiato

Davidth88 wrote: »

Ok, consider this.. a blind person walks along and hits your bike, or a child is playing and runs into it and it falls on them .

Riiiight but bicycles are allowed to park legally on footpaths if racks/posts are provided, I suppose Mr. Blind Man can see them, and bicycles never fall over, yes?

Like parking a car up on the pavement it's selfish. If it's illegal I have no idea but it should be.

It's only selfish if causing an obstruction. Motorcyclists are usually very careful not to cause an obstruction as someone knocking into / reversing into their bike and damaging it (and invariably doing a runner :rolleyes: ) is the very last thing they want to happen.

The Gardai generally don't (unless causing an obstruction) enforce the laws against parking a motorcycle on the footpath. Which is the bloody least they can do, as the laws against vandalising or stealing a motorbike are very rarely enforced either. A bike parked where it cannot be seen (i.e. where you can't see it, as nobody else gives a toss) is very vulnerable.

There should of course be bike parking areas in the town , are the Motorcycle lobby groups not doing their job/being listened to ?

It is very hard to be listened to when you make up ~2% of vehicles :rolleyes:
The UK are light years ahead of us in parking provision (and bus lane access) as they recognise that motorcycles make a real difference to city congestion.

We have a guy who parks his bike outside our building on a manhole everyday ( bacause I imagine he thinks this is not obstruting the path ) , I look foward to the day that Eircom need access to the man hole and kick his bike over TBH.

Lovely attitude. I have seen cars parked blocking roadworks from starting, which were signed in advance, would it be ok to crush these cars?

Victor

It is illegal to park any vehicle on the footpath, including bicycles. The footpath is hte are primarily intended for pedestrians, so bicycle parking at bicycle ranks on footpaths is legal.

Parking up against a building is likely to raise complaints as motorised vehicles are a fire risk.

If your employer built the building, tell them they are bad planners.

Solution? Ask your employer are there any odd spaces in the car park that you can use.

ninja900 wrote: »

Riiiight but bicycles are allowed to park legally on footpaths if racks/posts are provided, I suppose Mr. Blind Man can see them, and bicycles never fall over, yes?

Blind people tend to be rather conscious of fixed street furniture, like bicycle racks and know to avoid the area around them.

Stark

egan007 wrote: »

It's Illegal to park a Motorbike in an Allocated car parking space in Dublin

That's a crappy law. Surely if you pay for the spot, you should be allowed park whatever you want in it.

Victor

Stark wrote: »

That's a crappy law. Surely if you pay for the spot, you should be allowed park whatever you want in it.

Where are you going to put the Pay & Display ticket to prove you have paid?

Hank_Scorpio

Victor, I said that our Management was heavily involved with the planning of our offices, not the building, just the area that concerned us. We're not architects.

Besides, it seems to have come to light from the security guard that guards the building that there are two people in the whole building who complain constantly about stuff. Whenever someone has a party, if a picture is crooked on a wall. It appears that these two have nothing better to do than make other peoples lives worrying.

Isn't there people like that everywhere though? Just two people out to cause trouble for whatever reason.

I'm not too worried about the situation anymore. If it's only two people complaining then there is no way I'm going to park somewhere else. It's not in the way, it's not a fire hazard, bikes don't spontaneously combust.

What's this about it's illegal to park a bicycle on the footpath when there are bike racks available? I don't understand that?

bk

Hank_Scorpio wrote: »

Besides, it seems to have come to light from the security guard that guards the building that there are two people in the whole building who complain constantly about stuff. Whenever someone has a party, if a picture is crooked on a wall. It appears that these two have nothing better to do than make other peoples lives worrying.

However I wonder for the two people who complain, are there many other people who quietly suffer.

Irish people tend not to complain a lot, they usually don't want to create a fuss, even if something is bothering or annoying them.

In my apartment building I tend to be the person who raises issues with the management company. Many of my neighbours pass on their issues to me (just talking to them in the hall way, etc.) and then I pass them on to the management company to get sorted.

Once I was away on holidays for two weeks, when I returned I found the lift out, talking to my neighbour it turned out that it wasn't working for almost the last two weeks. I contacted the management company and they told me that no one had contacted them to tell them that the lift wasn't working. Next day a repair man was out to fix the lift.

Many people are paying outrageous management fee's, is it really so hard to accept that many people want to keep the place they live in peaceful, tidy and safe?

Now I'm not saying anything about your bike, I'm just making the point that the people who have paid an awful lot of money to live in a place, certainly have the right to complain about things and have them looked after.

Davidth88

Lovely attitude. I have seen cars parked blocking roadworks from starting, which were signed in advance, would it be ok to crush these cars?

Simple answer YES. If a car is causing an obstruction tow it away do whatever ( don't clamp it because that makes no sense at all )

and bicycles never fall over, yes?

Ok I push-bike falls on a 3 year old , what do you get ... a scratch , a heavy ( 900cc )motorcycle falls on a 3year old...... get my drift ?

You are obviously a responisble m/c rider , but to be honest there are a lot out there that are not responsible , they tear up through the middle of traffic , yesterday for example I was doing 80kph in a solid line of traffic on the N4 and a m/c went past in the bus lane , he must have been doing at least 120kph ( dust flying up , my car actually shook ).

Borzoi

Hank_Scorpio wrote: »

So they can park in the underground, but we're not allowed to, the rest of the spaces are for the residents of the apartments.

It's not an easy one, I want my bike to be safe. Hence I have it outside the door where I can monitor it. I'll park it somewhere else, once it's a safe somewhere.

I've never yet seen an undergroud car park that's so well designed that there isn't a few spaces too small for a car, yet large enough for a a motorbike. Have you checked?

Hotblack Desiato

bk wrote: »

However I wonder for the two people who complain, are there many other people who quietly suffer.

Please tell me how the OP is causing these people to 'suffer' ?

Irish people tend not to complain a lot, they usually don't want to create a fuss, even if something is bothering or annoying them.

True, but that doesn't justify people complaining for the sake of causing trouble.

Hotblack Desiato

Davidth88 wrote: »

Simple answer YES. If a car is causing an obstruction tow it away do whatever ( don't clamp it because that makes no sense at all )

Towing a car away doesn't damage it, yet you said that "kicking a bike over" is justified. Nice.

Ok I push-bike falls on a 3 year old , what do you get ... a scratch , a heavy ( 900cc )motorcycle falls on a 3year old...... get my drift ?

Please explain to me how a 3 year old is supposed to knock over a 200kg motorbike?
A bigger kid could manage it, but not by just climbing on it, they'd have to pretty much be deliberately pulling it over. The street isn't a playground where young kids can roam unsupervised, there are enough hazards around including traffic. Picking on motorbikes in this situation is really just ridiculous.

You are obviously a responisble m/c rider , but to be honest there are a lot out there that are not responsible , they tear up through the middle of traffic , yesterday for example I was doing 80kph in a solid line of traffic on the N4 and a m/c went past in the bus lane , he must have been doing at least 120kph ( dust flying up , my car actually shook ).

Ah, here we go :rolleyes: This is the reason the Motorbikes forum was set up, any discussion at all on the Motors forum between motorcyclists turned into a flame-fest. If you want me to tell you about the stupid things car drivers have done to me, we'd need its own thread if not its own forum. Please don't stereotype people, yes there are a few idiots on bikes (Darwin weeds them out sooner or later though) but there are also plenty of idiot pedestrians, cyclists and car drivers.

Hank_Scorpio

We got a lovely email from the Dublin Docklands this morning stating that if the bike was parked there in future that they would bill me for the cleaning of the pavement. I would wait for a rainy day to be honest. But nonetheless we have agreed that outside the building is not on and that we are now allowed to use the underground carpark.

That said, it's a hoo-haa over **** all and it's pissed me right off. Aparently we were in the wrong, but little or no reason to report the ****ing thing.

Arggh... ok so that's sorted. Basicaly Dublin Docklands owns the footpath and they don't want bikes parking there. Simple, but annoying as ****.

Hotblack Desiato

Hank_Scorpio wrote: »

We got a lovely email from the Dublin Docklands this morning stating that if the bike was parked there in future that they would bill me for the cleaning of the pavement.

That's the same bull**** reason given for banning parking of motorbikes in the O'Connell St median. Times have moved on and we're not all on BSAs and Royal OilEnfields any more. I have a modern British bike and it doesn't leave a drop behind it They should be far more worried about the ar*eholes who drop chewing gum all over the place.

bk

ninja900 wrote: »

Please tell me how the OP is causing these people to 'suffer' ?

As I mentioned at the bottom of my post I wasn't commenting on the issue of the motorbike, rather I was commenting that just because only 2 people make a lot of complaints to the management company, doesn't mean they are busy bodies or wrong and that it doesn't mean that a lot of their other neighbors aren't also bothered by the same things.

MrPudding

Stark wrote: »

That's a crappy law. Surely if you pay for the spot, you should be allowed park whatever you want in it.

I parked my bike on the pavement near a shopping centre in Milton keynes. The traffic warden came over and told me that, while he had no problem with me doing what I did, I was entitled to park my bike, free of charge, in any parking space (except disabled spaces, of course, in any of the towns carparks.

Very cool. I still try to park without taking up a space but it is nice to see a policy where bikes coem off better.

MrP

AlekSmart

Mr Pudding....a question if you pleaase...

What zactly is a "Traffic Warden"......

MrPudding

AlekSmart wrote: »

Mr Pudding....a question if you pleaase...

What zactly is a "Traffic Warden"......

I am not sure if you are taking the piss, so I will assume that, as unlikely as it seems, you are not:

http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/news_info/info/recognising/recog5.htm

MrP

vektarman

egan007 wrote: »

It's Illegal to park a Motorbike in an Allocated car parking space in Dublin
QUOTE]

You learn something new every day, can you post a link please.

Victor

vektarman wrote: »

egan007 wrote: »

It's Illegal to park a Motorbike in an Allocated car parking space in Dublin

You learn something new every day, can you post a link please.

Bye-law 13 here: http://www.dublincity.ie/Images/Parking%20Bye-Laws%202007_tcm35-54641.pdf

vektarman

Thanks.