I have a fire hydrant outside my driveway to the left so I park away from hydrant on the same side of road as my house but on the right. We have a new neighbour who lives directly opposite me and parks outside her property which because of the narrow road, is right next to the fire hydrant and obstructs my driveway if i wish to drive out to the left. With her car parked where it is and mine parked (legally) to the right and on my side of the road, the fire brigade, dustmen etc would not be able to drive down our road. The recycling men arrived today and I was obliged to move my car which was legally parked as she did not answer her door. I phoned the council who told me it was not their problem and i then phoned the fire brigade who said that unless she parks directly over the fire hydrant and it causes the fire brigade to be obstructed, there is nothing I can do and even if she parked over the hydrant or the brigade could not get down the road, it would be the police at the time who would be left to deal with it. My question is "why do we have to wait for an emergency situation before anything is done?. Surely it would be common sense to deal with the situation BEFORE an emergency by making it law that NOONE can park within 4metres in any direction of the fire hydrant at any time (indicated with no parking lines) so that the fire brigade has access to the hydrant at all times and anyone parking within this area would be fined (and lose points on their licence) so that everyone is discouraged from parking on, near, around the fire hydrants. Everyone in the neighbourhood would then be safer and I would be able to get out of my driveway in both directions and all services would then have access up and down our road. It seems to me that the law as it stands is pointless, as noone wants to take responsibility until an emergency occurs - which I believe is TOO LATE! ps I live with this stalemate situation every day.
