People who notify the police of parked cars blocking pavements and bike paths will in future be able to submit photographs as evidence of offences, a court in Bavaria has ruled.
An administrative court in Ansbach has ruled in favour of two cycling activists who had been fined €100 (£87) each for breaching data protection regulation for photographing apparently illegally parked cars and emailing the images to the police.
The Office for Data Protection Surveillance (LDA) argued that those bringing complaints against drivers over parked vehicles needed only to hand over information about the number plate together with the location and time.
But one of the people objecting to the fine said that without photographic evidence, a notification to police could easily be dismissed on the basis that it came down to one person’s word against the other’s.
The complainants were supported in their case by the organisation Environmental Action Germany (DUH).
In a statement, DUH said the ruling would set a precedent for future cases. It has urged people to actively participate in calling out drivers who park their cars where it is forbidden to do so, who often block access to paths and crossings to bike riders and pedestrians, in particular impeding pram pushers, wheelchair users and other people with disabilities.
“DUH calls for an immediate and enduring halt to the chicanery of the Bavarian authorities against afflicted citizens,” the organisation wrote. It said authorities often took the side of car drivers above those of pedestrians or cyclists.
Other environmental groups welcomed the decision and said the fact that cars had got bigger over the years, as well as a tendency for public order authorities to tolerate badly parked vehicles, had contributed to a growing problem over the past decades. They said they would be monitoring future treatment of car parking offence complaints.
The lobby group Fuss – or “Foot” – which supports pedestrians’ interests, was among several organisations to welcome the verdict. “This is good news,” the author, activist and Fuss member Katja Diehl tweeted. “It has finally become legal to save human life – thanks to everyone who has fought to get this through,” she said, in reference to pedestrians who often reported having to step off the pavement and into the road because of the positioning of parked cars.
