What's the difference between the "no stopping" sign and the "no waiting" sign in the UK?

Question

In the UK, what's the difference between the "no stopping" sign (round sign with a blue background, a red border and a red cross in the middle) and the "no waiting" sign (round sign with a blue background, a red border and a red diagonal stripe) ? In other words, what is meant by "stopping" and "waiting" ?

Answer 1

In the USA, "no waiting" means a driver may not be in the car, waiting to pick someone up, like a taxi driver, or a friend, like we sometimes want to do at a train or bus station, or airport.  The reason they not want people "waiting" to pick someone else up, is the congestion when you have a bunch of people waiting at the same place.

When there is no waiting allowed, there is still stopping allowed.  That is like when a bus or a taxi stops for a moment to let people on or off, then it goes on its way.

No stopping is when you not even allowed to do that.

Answer 2

What you refer to as the "No Waiting" sign is actually "No Parking or Waiting".

"Parking", legally speaking, means where the vehicle is stopped and not in use. "Not in use" is an important phrase, as you'll see.

"Waiting" is almost the same thing, except the driver is in the car. So the car is "in use" - it's being used to sit in. That's why the "No Parking" sign also means "No Waiting".

Now, suppose you stop the car to pick up or set down a passenger. The car is "in use" (to load or unload a passenger), so you can do that where it says "No Parking or Waiting" - you're doing neither. The same applies if (say) you're delivering or collecting an object that's too heavy to carry - again, the car is "in use".

But if the sign says "No Stopping", it means just that - you can't stop. So, picking up your passenger would be an offence.

Also, be aware that there are other signs in existence that prevent you from "loading or unloading" - so you might think you're OK picking up your heavy object at a "No Parking" sign, but you're contravening the "No Loading" sign.

And just to make it a little more complicated, some "No Loading" signs only apply to lorries, not cars (the sign will say so).