'Dangerous parking problem' near Braywick Roundabout sparks questions over authority powers

Cars ‘dumped’ within 10 metres of the busy Braywick Roundabout are a head-on crash ‘waiting to happen’, say neighbours.

Residents in The Binghams, Bray, are almost two months into what they feel is ‘a dangerous parking problem’.

Vehicles, including a van and a Mercedes, have been left at the entrance of The Binghams within 10m of the roundabout, they say – with all the appearance of having been dumped.

One resident, Joanne Phillips, described it as ‘an accident is waiting to happen’.

 “Our concern is that two cars are going to collide and have a serious head-on accident,” she said.

“If an emergency vehicle came into our street rapidly, a serious accident could happen because of the obstruction.”

But technically, the vehicles are not illegally parked, which complicates matters.

Though the Highway Code suggests drivers should not park within 10m of a junction, there is no law prohibiting it.

Police can remove a car if it’s ‘dangerously’ parked or causing an obstruction, but these powers are discretionary. Officers must judge whether the risk is serious and immediate enough to justify intervention.

Reduced visibility at a junction by itself does not automatically cross that legal threshold. Many junctions have some degree of visibility impairment from parked cars, hedges or street furniture.

Thames Valley Police (TVP) told the Advertiser that its local neighbourhood team have been to see the location of the vehicles.

They found it ‘did not meet the threshold for unlawful obstruction’ that would allow police to remove them.

“Traffic was still able to manoeuvre around the parked cars and there was no obstruction to the pavement,” said a spokesperson.

This does nothing to assuage resident fears – and they had hoped the cars might be towed if they are abandoned.

TVP says the force has run checks on the cars, but ‘cannot comment further’.

Moreover, RBWM is able to remove abandoned vehicles that have been left on council-owned land unused for a period of time.

A vehicle may be considered abandoned if it has not moved for a minimum of six weeks, appears unroadworthy, and has no number plates or is untaxed.

RBWM will attempt to contact the owner if they can identify them, and then take steps to remove the vehicle where necessary. The process can take ‘a minimum of 12 weeks.’

RBWM was asked if it was looking into these vehicles but had not provided a comment by the time of publication.

Residents remain worried and say not much has changed since first bringing the issue to the Advertiser’s attention towards the end of February.

The van and the Mercedes have been sitting on the road for about seven weeks.

Joanne said: “The police and council both keep passing the buck to each other, and absolutely nothing is being done about it.

“The whole situation is crazy.”