Illegal parking can be dangerous, particularly when Trumpton or Ambo want to get up the road but cant. It also can force pedestrians into the road, can obstruct a drivers view of pedestrians and other road users. Problem is, give people an inch and they inevitably start taking a mile. It should be ruthlessly enforced, and should be regarded every bit as seriously as speeding etc - if you can't control something as basic and fundamental as depositing a vehicle in a safe and lawful manner, then you really shouldn't be entrusted to do anything else with it.
Yeah ok, there are extreme cases where you could argue that illegal parking encourages dangerous behaviour but this is the exception rather than the rule. Even then this argument is, in my opinion, a bit like when someone I know told me that slow, elderly drivers are a dangerous menace as they force others to do risky overtakes! The burden of responsibility for avoiding crashes is surely on those doing the driving? If someone has selfishly plopped down something you can't see past then slow down to pass it.
I fully agree that parking should be more heavily enforced and surely, since it generates revenue, the only reason it isn't is public backlash? I've no time for people whining about those mean old traffic wardens. I can't agree that it is as serious as speeding etc. though. Fines are appropriate.
I'm just back from a medical centre where the usually wide open and easy entrance junction has been reduced to give-and-take around a blind corner by some idiot parking their tinted-windows works van half on the pavement right by it. Surely you can appreciate how that's dangerous? Tow the van and ban the driver IMO!
I can't comment on that specific van and I'm sure a lot of work vans are parked in a needlessly selfish manner (ie. not moving after having unloaded). However I can't see how certain jobs could get done without some traffic disruption. Sometimes people need to move very heavy things that you cannot realistically carry any significant distance. If it needs to go to somewhere with yellow lines then what do you do?
Case in point: I once helped to move a reception desk/unit from my workshop into a luton van. The thing was bloody massive and weighed over half a ton. It took 6 of us with 2 pump trucks and a manual fork lift over an hour to maneuver it over the pavement and into the van. All the while we were blocking half of a narrow, relatively high traffic road. No yellow lines so nothing illegal about it but it could easily have been more disruptive than if it was somewhere with yellow lines. What else could we reasonably have done?