Road signs UK: 'No return' car parking sign explained to confused drivers in viral TikTok video

Any driver or learner driver will know that there’s many different signs to get used to when driving on UK roads. From no stop signs to triangle signs to warn of a hazard ahead, there are many different shapes, colours and symbols to get used to.

But one road sign that has been baffling motorists isn’t one which gives an instruction of what to do when you are driving. It’s one giving details of what you need to do when you have parked your car at the side of the road and left it - the no return parking sign.

This sign, which is often seen on streets up in towns, villages and cities up and down the country, has left people scratching their heads - so much so that one TikToker has decided to create a simple video to explain the meaning of this common sign, and it’s gone viral.

The TikTok account @theorytestpractice, which has over 900,000 thousands followers, has made a video clearly explaining the sign, which has more than three million views at the time of writing, but the number is continuing to grow. It also has more than 60,000 likes and more than 1,300 comments.

Parking sign confusion

The no return parking sign usually states ‘no return within one hour' or a similar amount of time. In the video, a person is standing in front of one such sign which reads: "Mon-Sat 9.30am to 5pm. 1 hour. No return within 2 hours".

They explain the sign as follows: "Between Monday and Saturday, half past 9 until five o'clock I can park here for one hour. But I'm not allowed to then drive away again and come back to these spaces for another two hours."

TikTokers have praised the account for explaining the road sign. One asked: “Am I the only one who never understood 'no return within' until now?”. The content creator replied: “You’re definitely not the only one.” One person admitted: “I thought it meant I could only drive there and had to get a bus home as it’s no return if I’m later than 2 hours.” Another added: “I thought it meant they take your car off you after 2 hours.”

Some people, however, remained perplexed by the rules of the sign. One asked: “But what if, you park for a hour whilst out with your partner and then your partner drives off and parks again. Is it the car or the person?”. The content creator had not responded to this question at the time of writing.