LIVES at risk from motorists parking on pavements, Burnley Police and Community Forum was told.

Coun Marion Smith said that not only were vehicles damaging the footpaths but pedestrians were also being forced to walk in the road to get round them.

"Everyone parks on pavements because the roads are too narrow. Are we in Burnley going to do something about it?'' she asked.

Superintendent Clive Fothergill said police did not ignore reported cases of vehicles causing an obstruction but to tackle the whole problem throughout the area would be a mammoth task.

"The amount of manpower to tackle a problem like that would be immense,'' he added. County Coun John Entwistle said they were victims of the car age and if police went around moving all cars parked on the footpaths there would be uproar. Although he didn't condone it, there was often nowhere else for people to park.

Mr Fothergill said that later in the year, Lancashire County Council with the help of other local authorities and the police were to launch a campaign to keep footpaths clear of obstructions such as sandwich boards and displays of goods.

That would be a good time to again raise the issue of cars being parked on pavements, he added.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.