Anyone who obstructs emergency workers could face a fine of up to £5,000 under rules being introduced from today.

The new offences means that anyone who gets in the way of an emergency worker responding to emergency situations can now be prosecuted and fined up to £5,000.

Homeowners squabbling over on-street parking on small roads often leads to inconsiderate parking that blocks access by fire and ambulance crews. While the new regulations are aimed at direct obstruction it’s likely that refusal to move the offending vehicle(s) or repeat offences could lead to prosecution.

Home Office Minister Gerry Sutcliffe said: "The government is committed to ensuring the safety of those serving their communities. Too often emergency workers are unable to get to incidents as quickly as they should due to a minority of people obstructing their rescue efforts.”

"This seriously impacts on both the emergency workers' ability to do their jobs effectively and, even more worryingly, on those who require an emergency response. In some instances a delay of just a couple of minutes can have terrible consequences.”

"Such behaviour will not be tolerated, and deliberate attempts to obstruct or prevent emergency workers, or anyone assisting them, from doing their very difficult jobs, will face a stiff penalty."

The emergency workers covered by this new offence are fire-fighters, ambulance workers, people transporting blood, organs or equipment on behalf of the NHS, coastguards and lifeboat crews.

Blocking of passage is increasingly becoming a problem as more buy-to-let properties are rented to large vehicle drivers living further from their workplace as they move up the housing ladder. Often these properties in village locations have restricted access yet are increasingly being blocked by lorries, vans, removal vehicles and pick-up trucks.