Page 21 - (DK Eyewitness) Back Roads Travel Guide - Great Britain

Driving in Great Britain 19

Above left Traditional signpost and brown tourist sign in the Avon Valley Above right Old stone cottages in West Witton, Yorkshire Dales

DIRECTORY
independent witnesses. It’s also a garages such as NCP; these may be
good idea to take photographs of the more expensive, but you don’t have ROAD CONDITIONS
vehicles and the accident scene. to worry about the time as you pay
for your stay when you leave. Met Office
0370 900 0100; www.metoffice.gov.uk
Parking It is often possible to park on
Finding a place to park is one of the the street, but read the signs along the Highways Agency
0300 123 5000;
most frustrating aspects of driving in pavement carefully. Many streets have www.highways.gov.uk/traffic
Great Britain. Parking is prohibited at residents’ parking only, with visitors
all times on a double yellow line. A restricted to particular hours and/or AA Roadwatch
84322 (“The AA”) (from mobile phones);
single yellow line means no parking parking vouchers – if you are visiting 0906 888 4322 (from landlines);
during business hours – these will someone who lives there, they may www.theaa.com/traffic-news
be displayed on a sign nearby. Signs have a voucher for you. Others are BREAKDOWN AND ACCIDENT
with a red “P” in a circle crossed by pay-and-display, with the meter PROCEDURE
a diagonal line also indicate a no- somewhere along the pavement.
parking zone. A red line is a clearway In many rural towns and villages, Automobile Association (AA)
08457 887 766; www.theaa.com
and you cannot stop at all. Don’t be there is little room for parking in
tempted to flout the rules and park the centre, but there are car parks, Royal Automobile Club (RAC)
illegally, even for a few minutes. usually free, at the edge of town. In 0800 197 7815; www.rac.co.uk
Traffic wardens are eager to write the countryside, be sure not to block
expensive tickets. Wheel-clamping farmers’ gates or private roads if you
and towing companies are even are walking or exploring. On single-
more predatory and expensive. lane roads, never park in passing
Park in designated car parks, which places as this is a traffic hazard.
will be indicated by a blue sign with
a white “P”. These are often pay-and- Maps
display – obtain a ticket from a Free tourist maps are widely available,
nearby machine and display it on but they are seldom useful for back- Below far left Farmer’s sign reminding drivers
your windscreen (windshield). Disc roads driving. It’s well worth buying to close the gate through grazing land near Oban,
parking is another system used in an up-to-date road atlas for more Scotland Below left Prices outside a petrol station
many towns, whereby you must buy detailed coverage. There are several in Birmingham Below centre Narrow country
a scratch card from nearby shops good ones published by Michelin, road between Cirencester and Chedworth in
and scratch off the date and time the AA, and A–Z. Buy them at petrol Gloucestershire Below right Horse riders on a
before displaying it in your car. stations, bookshops, newsagents quiet lane flanked by hedgerows near Lower
In larger cities there are parking and tourist information centres. Slaughter in the Cotswolds

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