Visitors to Huddersfield town centre may have occasionally wandered off the pedestrian bustle of New Street, through the roofed walkway of Buxton Way and emerged on Albion Street.
Walk left past a couple more shops and just before coming to Huddersfield Ring Road the path is often obstructed by police vehicles parked outside the police station.
Town centre visitors may find this slightly strange, particularly as there are double yellow lines on this side of Albion Street.
But it is actually perfectly fine - for a number of reasons.
Police parking on double yellow lines in Kirklees
Firstly, all marked police vehicles are allowed to park on double yellow lines during operations or when they are on standby.
Kirklees Council confirmed the vans and cars parked outside Huddersfield Police Station on Albion Street are considered 'on standby' and therefore the double yellow lines point is moot.
Parking on the pavement
Secondly, all vehicles - not just police vehicles - are allowed to park fully on the pavement where appropriate.
London is the only place where there is a blanket ban on pavement parking. This has been the case since 1974 when rule 244 of the Highway Code stated that drivers, "MUST NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement in London and should not do so elsewhere unless signs permit it."
The key words to not here being, "must not" and "should not".
West Yorkshire Police are the ones who enforce pavement parking restrictions and can issue a fixed penalty notice to any motorists seen to be causing an unnecessary obstruction on the pavement.
Parking drama
While the law is a bit of a grey area here, the police generally work to the rule that it is not a problem as long as there is space for a wheelchair or pushchair to pass on the pavement side.
If this is the case on Albion Street, then the police are keeping to their own standards.
Parking wholly on the pavement next to double yellow lines
As a side note, Kirklees Council say they consider any vehicle parked with all four wheels on the pavement, where the road is marked with double yellow lines, to be parked on double yellow lines.
The driver would be facing the same fine they would get if they were wholly or partially parked on the road.
