This is a little-known rule of the Highway Code, but one that can save you a second-class fixed fine. Jean-Baptiste Le Dall, lawyer specializing in road law, explains it in detail.
The devil is in the details of the Highway Code. This is what we might say when we take a closer look at the rules governing parking. One detail caught the attention of the JDN: it allows you to avoid a second class fine.
To avoid this fine, you must understand one aspect of the Highway Code: the dichotomy between parking and stopping. Because yes, stopping and parking do not have the same legal definition at all. “The distinction is based in particular on the fact that the stop must remain brief and that the driver must be able to justify the reason. In practice, this requires remaining close to the vehicle,” underlines Jean-Baptiste Le Dall, lawyer specializing in road law. Conversely, parking means parking and leaving your car, generally for a few hours or overnight.
This opposition is important to master because “on a daily basis, we can quite have a situation where parking is prohibited but where stopping remains authorized”, notes the lawyer. Concretely, certain zones prohibit parking while tolerating a short stop. This is particularly the case for delivery places.
Indeed, parking your car in the middle of the day in a delivery place can be perfectly legal, if the municipality authorizes it (this is the case in Paris and Marseille, for example). Today, the rules on delivery areas are established by local authorities. Municipalities can adapt locations and rules on a case-by-case basis according to the needs of traffic and public space.
And contrary to popular belief, “the principle of delivery is not reserved for a particular category of vehicles”, indicates Jean-Baptiste Le Dall. A delivery place is intended for loading or unloading activity. “An individual can make a delivery perfectly. There is therefore no need to use a utility or professional vehicle to load or unload something.”
For example, a family may return from vacation and unload their suitcases at a delivery location. “The only limit to the exercise is that we have to prove that we are unloading. If the police come by while we are on the 5th floor with the suitcases and the car still in the delivery area, we will have to prove that we were indeed unloading, and that can become complicated.”
To prove that you were in the process of unloading your vehicle, and therefore avoid a 35 euro fine, the driver can attest to his good faith using witnesses. “It can also rely on visible elements, such as boxes near the vehicle or the presence of a person on site who can confirm that unloading is in progress. In this case, the use of the delivery space is perfectly justified.”
The idea that it is professional vehicles which have the exclusivity of delivery places is so established in France that it happens that “certain utility vehicles squat in these places thinking of being authorized there solely because of their nature. However, legally, it is not the type of vehicle that counts but the reality of the loading or unloading operation”.
But the rules around delivery areas could soon change. A document published in January 2026 by the Ministry of Ecological Transition calls for changing the status of this regulation. Objective: to create “goods zones” benefiting from a new status, which would notably allow communities to modify the rates of fines.
