PARKING on pavements could land motorists with a £70 fine if considered changes to traffic laws go ahead.

The Department for Transport is considering a review of current legislation in an effort to stop drivers blocking pedestrians’ access to pavements.

If approved, the new rules would allow local councils to make it illegal to park on the kerb unless explicit permission has been granted.

London drivers have been prohibited from parking on pavements for decades and similar restrictions could be rolled out nationwide.

Alan Fletcher, former chairman of Swindon Guide Dogs, was fully in favour of the possible fine.

He said: “That’s brilliant, that’s the sort of thing we want - something that will stop people parking on pavements.

“This would benefit a lot of people, not just people with guide dogs but also mums and dads with pushchairs and people with wheelchairs who wouldn’t be able to get past.

“I’ve walked around Stratton many times and my guide dog has taken me to the kerb to move around the car which has been parked on the pavement.

“We then have to walk around the obstacle by going into the road, which is a danger to both of us.

“I’ve even had some cars put all four of their wheels on the pavements, blocking the way entirely.

“The only caveat to this change is I wonder how it’ll be enforced.”

The idea has cross-party support from local councillors.

Labour councillor Jim Robbins said: “It’s something we are looking at with interest in the Labour group.

“This is a real problem in parts of Swindon and it would be good to have enforcement powers to do something about it but some parts of Swindon are really badly designed and in these areas, it would cause further problems.

“If everyone in North Swindon started parking on the roads, emergency vehicles would not be able to drive through. This would have to be done sensitively and selectively."

Liberal Democrat Cllr Stan Pajak said: "I'm very supportive of this, I totally agree with it, there are a lot of people with mobility scooters and pushchairs who have to go out into the road to get around these cars, that's incredibly dangerous.

"I would prefer it to go across all roads but in truth, we would have to designate roads where it would come into effect.

"Swindon also has a problem with people parking on grass verges and destroying them."

Conservative Cllr Alan Bishop aid:"People always park up on the pavements and grass verges around St Michael's Avenue, it blocks the way and makes it a muddy mess, there's not much grass left there, it's awful.

"It's also been a problem near the Highworth Hotel, people with pushchairs can't get past and have to go into the road.

"After putting up with it for years, I put polite notices under windscreens and this reduced the number of cars on the avenue from nine to two, but a fine would be better.

"That's what I'm waiting for, to make pavement parking illegal."