Norfolk Police have doubled down on an approach that has seen them assist motorists illegally using a pedestrianised street in Norwich by moving – and in one case prosecuting – pedestrians seeking to prevent this.
The police force argues that 'finite resource’ prevents it from taking action against motorists illegally using Exchange Street in Norwich, despite large-scale non-compliance.
According to his own blog post, cyclist and campaigner Harry Mach was arrested last October and subsequently prosecuted for obstructing the highway and a public order offence after deliberately standing as a ‘human bollard’, blocking a car that was driving up the street.
Mr Mach claims that the obstruction offence was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service after a magistrate asked the prosecution to clarify the status of the street.
The public order offence was also subsequently dropped. Norfolk Police did not dispute this or explain why the obstruction charge was dropped.
A Police spokesperson pointed out that Exchange Street, while pedestrianised, remains a highway and that ‘members of the public do not have the power to stop vehicles in this instance and there are many exemptions when vehicles can use the route’.
Mr Mach has pointed out that the offence is defined as obstructing the highway without lawful excuse.
He also claimed that the car driver, who was also seen on CCTV to have driven her car at him, was not prosecuted. Norfolk police did not dispute this or explain why no prosecution had taken place.
In another case last November, police officers moved female pedestrian Lucy Hall from Exchange Street, waving through drivers using the street illegally instead of taking action against them.
Then a PO pushes Lucy to side of the road, where she fell to the ground, before waving through a line of cars, encouraging them all to drive right through the pedestrian zone. Which *should* attract a £50 fine - from the police!?? Go figure. @NorwichCycling @NorfolkCC pic.twitter.com/UM1D979yLg
— Car-Free Norwich (@CarFreeNorwich) November 6, 2022
A Norfolk Constabulary spokeswoman said: ‘We know there’s been problems at Exchange Street with drivers not complying with the pedestrian zone. Since its introduction, some enforcement has been carried out.
‘However, given the scale of non-compliance we considered education and signage to be important factors in helping solve which (sic), which couldn’t be through enforcement alone. After raising our concerns with the county council, additional signage was put in place.'
The spokeswoman added: ‘Road safety and casualty reduction is an important issue for us. We look to focus our finite resource in those locations that present the most risk.’
She told Highways that officers routinely patrol the area and give words of advice or direct cars to turn around, adding: 'The words of advice tends to have the desired effect, so fines have been limited.'
A freedom of information release showed that between November last year and the start of February two tickets had been issued for 'driving in a pedestrianised area' and failing 'to comply with an indication given by a traffic sign' in relation to Exchange Street.
It has been reported that the council put traffic marshalls in place for a few weeks at the end of last year.
The council told Highways that restrictions on Exchange Street restrictions aim to make it safer and easier to get around on foot or by bike.
They were first introduced in 2020, initially under a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order, but in January 2022 amended proposals were approved following a public consultation and introduced under an experimental order running until May this year.
It said additional signage was introduced in December 2022 to reinforce the traffic restrictions
The council added that it is actively monitoring the scheme and carrying out traffic monitoring to identify what further measures could be deployed to discourage illegal vehicle movements on Exchange Street.
It said it has already obtained civil enforcement powers to install cameras for moving traffic offences at seven locations across the county. This does not include Exchange Street while it is under an experimental order, although this will be reviewed if the restrictions are made permanent.
