The practice is illegal under Land Transport (Road user) Rule 2004 section 6.14, the rule stating "A driver or person in charge of a vehicle must not stop, stand, or park the vehicle on a footpath or on a cycle path".
Council roading asset manager Murray Hasler said parking had become a big issue in Gore.
"We’re getting an increasing problem with people parking on footpaths or partly over footpaths, particularly near driveways.
"It is an illegal thing to do, both nationally and we reinforce it also in our local roading bylaw," he said.
Mr Hasler said although the practice might seem harmless, it could have serious consequences.
"It has some pretty significant impacts on our footpath users, and particularly those disabled users, including sight-impaired people.
"Someone is walking along, who might be totally blind, suddenly confronted by a vehicle on a footpath they may use frequently, can get quite a shock and become injured.
"Mobility scooters are another impacted group of people.
"They’re forced to go over the kerb, and often there is no drop kerb or crossing for them to go over.
Some incidents had been reported to the council where scooter drivers forced to cross a kerb had been tipped on to the road, some of which had led to broken bones.
Mr Hasler said it was not just the disabled, but also children who could be affected as another vulnerable group.
"If they’re confronted by this situation on their way to school or elsewhere, they have to go out back of the vehicle.
"I don’t know of any injuries but there have possibly been close calls," he said.
Mr Hasler said it was important to get people aware of the issue and amend the behaviour of those parking across a footpath.
"What we want to do is fire a shot across the bow to these people.
"They may not even realise they’re causing these issues for footpath users.
"So we’re looking to point out to those behaving in this way there are reasons, real reasons, why it is illegal to park across a footpath."
As the problem had got out of hand, the council would start to punish those breaking the law by imposing infringement fees.
"At this stage we haven’t issued any infringement notices, but following this, we will be taking a harder line and looking out for these situations.
The infringement fee was $70.
"We would prefer not to issue any and for people to modify their behaviour," he said.
Mr Hasler said the council would issue notices based on evidence and track record, rather than punishing those parking quickly while picking somebody up.
"We do need to make sure any evidence we are basing an infringement notice on is accurate.
"We have to be certain.
‘It may be, if we get a report, we’ll go have a look, come back a half hour later, but it’s something we want to get rid of.
"Vehicles parked overnight, or for long periods, probably over half an hour, they would be the ones we would be targeting," he said.
