Amanda Martin, MP for Portsmouth North, showed their support for Guide Dog’s campaign for safer and more accessible streets at an event in Parliament.
Amanda Martin spoke with people with sight loss about the challenges anti-social pavement parking cause.
Cars parked on pavements are problem for everyone, but are particularly dangerous for people with sight loss, who can be forced to walk in the road with traffic they cannot see.
Pavement parking is already against the law in London, and similar rules are coming into force in in Scotland. The law in the rest of the country is complex and patchy.
Guide Dogs is calling for a clear law across rest of the country, to ensure that everyone can walk their streets safely. Three quarters (74%) of councillors also support Guide Dogs’ call for a new law.
Amanda Martin MP said:
“It was great to catch up with Guide Dogs UK and the lovely Sophie! Many of you have been in touch urging me to meet the team and hear about their puppy induction programmes. It was good to talk through the difficulties facing visually impaired in our city.”
Eleanor Briggs, Head of Policy, Public Affairs and Campaigns at Guide Dogs, said:
“Cars blocking pavements are a nuisance for everyone but can be dangerous for people forced into the road, especially wheelchair users, people with pushchairs and people with sight loss.
We know cars blocking the way undermines people with a vision impairments’ confidence to get out and about independently. This is why we’re calling for a clear law that would empower local councils to tackle this problem.”
