Much to write, and much to catch up on, but FYI if you are ever in San Francisco: they give you a ticket if you turn your wheels the wrong way when parking on a hill. It seems that the correct way is:
When facing downhill, turn your wheels to the right. When facing uphill on a street with a curb, turn your wheels to the left. When facing uphill on a street with no curb, turn your wheels to the right.
Needless to say, I got that mixed up.
I presume - as a side-effect of this - one could also be ticketed for parking on the wrong side of the road?
Although it's discouraged in the UK, it's certainly not invalid to park on the right-hand side. I was very surprised to find out when I was in New Zealand that it's actually illegal to park on the right-hand side.
Since that can be confusing if you park on the left side of a one-way street, think of the rule as:
Turn your wheels *towards/into* the curb if you're pointing downhill and *away from* the curb if you're pointing uphill. If you imagine various runaway vehicle scenarios, it starts to make sense.
When in doubt, look along the street to see what the locals are doing. ;)
I would assume that parking on the wrong side of the street is verboten, but as this post suggests, I'm not an expert.
Yup, just think of it in terms of 'if my brakes fail, I want my car to come to a halt gently against the sidewalk, not career off down the hill'.
Amazing you'd get fined for doing it wrong though.