North Bridge area in Bonn Parking not allowed in all cases
Graurheindorf · The parking area under the North Bridge in Bonn is popular, with larger vehicles such as campers, trailers and the vans of a car rental company regularly parking there. But not every vehicle is allowed to be left there.
The unmanned parking area under the North Bridge is a popular place to park, even for larger vehicles. During a spot check on Monday afternoon, more than ten vans from a car rental company, two motorhomes, several Sprinters and VW buses, a few trailers and a concrete mixer were parked there. But who is actually allowed to stand in the area and for how long? This was the subject of the most recent meeting of the Bonn District Council.
A citizen had complained in a motion that mobile homes, trailers and even lorries were parked under the North Bridge. The citizen wrote that the public order office seemed to be overtaxed in consistently prosecuting the offences. In addition, the area is littered.
"The city's public order department is aware of the conditions under the North Bridge," the city said in a statement. For this reason, the city's public order service and traffic control regularly check the area several times a week. Parking violators are consistently warned, but permanent monitoring is not feasible in terms of personnel, the administration explained further. "Furthermore, towing measures can only be carried out according to the principle of proportionality and are not possible in the area of the North Bridge in the vast majority of cases," the statement said. Bulky waste is removed by Bonnorange if it is noticed during inspections or complaints are received.
Sascha Hessenbruch, department head of the city's public order service, emphasised in the meeting of the district council that the North Bridge was behind other hotspots. Since January, only 25 traffic offences have been recorded there. According to Hessenbruch, cars are allowed to stand on the area as long as they want, trailers have to be moved every fortnight.
"The question is always: was the trailer moved or not?" said Hessenbruch. To find out, two employees of the city's regulatory service checked the valve level of the trailer tyres. However, it is enough to move the trailer back and forth once: "That is a problem, but we can only really prevent it where it is prohibited," said the administrative employee.
Action against mobile homes difficult, according to the public order office
"I read out that the Ordnungsamt often has its hands tied," said Bettina Fischer-Starcke (CDU), and asked about regulations for parking of car rentals and mobile homes. Car rental companies are allowed to park their vehicles in public spaces as long as they are registered, said Hessenbruch. Motorhomes, on the other hand, are a difficult issue, he said. According to Bonn's street regulations, parking "vehicles with living facilities or caravans" outside approved tent or camping sites is a misdemeanour punishable by a fine of up to 1,000 euros.
According to Hessenbruch, however, it is not entirely clear what a vehicle with living quarters is. The city's public order service therefore limits itself to enforcement in places where the parking of mobile homes causes problems. "But under the North Bridge it is not perceived as a problem," Hessenbruch said.
"You can see that we urgently need to move forward with the parking concept," Karin Langer of Volt commented. Rolf Beu (Greens) referred to other examples such as trailers with advertising in public spaces. To prevent this, he said, the legislator must intervene.
Original text: Christine Ludewig / Translation: Mareike Graepel
