Quote for a lowered kerb.

Melonade

Hi, I hope this is the right place for this but I desperately need a bit of help.

Our housing trust want to put metal fences round the front ours/everyone else's house separating the gardens from the pavements. We have a sorned car on the drive but no lowered kerb. The highways agency have quoted us £840 to lower the kerb!!!!!!!! This work is being done BEFOR xmas and we have the choice to pay it off over 12 installments. If we don't agree the car will be removed and we will be charged. The metal fence will have no gates so we will not be able to put any vehicle on the drive at all. We will lose the sorned car and probably have to scrap it now as we have nowhere else to put it.

We agreed to accept this house because the council bigged up the drive when we were looking at it. If I could afford £840 even in installments I wouldn't even be living here in the first place.

Is this an unfair quote and is there anything we can do about it?

Thanks

elsien

I know it's usually silly money - mum had a quote off the coucil just for dropping the kerb. I can't remember exactly what her's was but I think over £500. Any way of negotiating with the housing association to get them to hold off a bit longer?

ormus

may not help you in your situation but i just got a couple of local paddys (who were working on nearby roads), to do my MILs drive drop kerb.
i gave em 100 quid. they did it in their lunch break.

ive done two others myself in past houses. never told anyone and never had any problems with local councils either.

Malky

Was hit for £500 from local council to lower kerb for a double drive two years ago

FreeworldImpossible

Gateshead Council charged us £180 to drop the kerb at our house a shade over 2 years ago.

Melonade

Thanks everyone

I can't get anyone else in to do the job apart from a council approved contractor :mad: We've been offered all materiels to do the job from a friend but had to turn the offer down.

This afternoon I'd come to terms with the idea and decided to just let it go But now I've decided they can shove it.

We can't afford the lowered kerb so will lose the sorned car.
We can't park our other car outside on the (wide) pavement because it's illegal. Can't park it on the drive with no lowered kerb. We also can't park it on the road outside our house becase we live opposite a junction, making that illegal too!!

I'm ringing the housing trust tomorrow to get someone out and look at it properly and I've found out we have a local councillor's surgery this friday :T So I'll be there to shout about it if I get no joy. I'm not usually a fighter and like a quiet life but we can't afford to lose 2 cars or leave 1 to be seriously damaged by parking it miles away from the house.

Sorry for the rant Will let you's know how we get on :T

elsien

Good luck. Not got anywhere else (mate's drive or something) to leave the sorned car for a bit?

xs11ax

is the kerb so high that you cant just drive over it? i do that all the time!

another alternative.....just slap a bit of cement onto the edge of the kerb to drive your car over.

if the car realy must go then sell it rather then losing it to a scrap yard.

if it has to and has to go then dont give it to your local scrappers....i have found that the metal merchants usually give more for the metal then the scrappers would do.

Melonade

xs11ax, we already drive over the kerb and that's why they aren't happy about it... saying it's not right because it doesn't have proper access and is dangerous the pedestrians.

We asked about using cement but they said that wasn't acceptable either.

The car is very sentimental to us, it's 23 years old and has been off the road for a few years and just needs painting/restoring/engine work (my OH is a painter so that bit isn't too pricey, we just haven't been able to afford the engine work atm) He's going to try and find it a new home this week because we'd both be pretty gutted to lose her now. How sad are we getting upset about an old banger

elsien, we'd thought about that and could probably find a drive to store it. Because we can't put a time on getting the jobs done it'd be unfair and could do with a more permanent place, hopefully we'll find somewhere. But then we have no space when it's on the road... with no lowered kerb we can't access the drive. WOW this is madder than I first thought :rotfl:

elsien

Just found this - obviously costs will be different in different local authorities, but your quote does seem a bit OTT unless they're counting it as a double kerb. Perhaps your local councillor can double check the costs when you see them.
http://www.tameside.gov.uk/kerbdropping#cost

waynehayes

Birmingham council let you get quotes from a list of approved contactors. Do your local council? Ours ended up costing half what the council quoted.