← Waiting and parking
Rule 240: Where you must not stop or park
Legal requirement — says MUST
Parking (rules 239 to 247)
You MUST NOT stop or park on
- the carriageway, an emergency area or a hard shoulder of a motorway except in an emergency (see Rules 270 and 271)
- a pedestrian crossing, including the area marked by the zig-zag lines (see Rule 191)
- a clearway (see Traffic signs)
- taxi bays as indicated by upright signs and markings
- an urban clearway within its hours of operation, except to pick up or set down passengers (see Traffic signs)
- a road marked with double white lines, even when a broken white line is on your side of the road, except to pick up or set down passengers, or to load or unload goods
- a tram or cycle lane during its period of operation
- a cycle track
- red lines, in the case of specially designated ‘red routes’, unless otherwise indicated by signs. Any vehicle may enter a bus lane to stop, load or unload where this is not prohibited (see Rule 141).
Laws MT(E&W)R regs 7 & 9 as amended by MT(E&W)(A)(E)R, MT(S)R regs 6 & 8, RTRA sects 5, 6 and 8, TSRGD schedule 7 parts 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7, schedule 9 part 6, schedule 14 parts 1 and 5
Why the capitals matter. The Highway Code writes a rule in capitals — MUST or MUST NOT — when it is backed by law, so breaking it is a criminal offence. The rules that do not use capitals are advice.
5 theory test questions on this rule
From the DVSA revision question bank. These are not the questions asked in the real theory test. Each one shows the answer, the explanation, and our own note on why every other option is not it.