Parking rights outside shops

Rachels1979

My boyfriend lives in a flat above a row of shops. There's restricted parking on the road but there's parking in front of the shops which is also in front of the entrance to the flats.

A new tenant has taken over one of the shops and originally put signs up telling people not to park there during business hours and if anyone did they called all the flats on the intercom to tell the owner to move it. They have now blocked access to the space with an advertising a-frame and a traffic cone. Probably defeating the object slightly as noone, including customers can now park there! The other shops don't have this, just a polite notice asking people not to block their entrance.

Does anyone know if they are allowed to do this?

Thanks
Rachel

SHIPSHAPE

Rachels1979 wrote: »

My boyfriend lives in a flat above a row of shops. There's restricted parking on the road but there's parking in front of the shops which is also in front of the entrance to the flats.

A new tenant has taken over one of the shops and originally put signs up telling people not to park there during business hours and if anyone did they called all the flats on the intercom to tell the owner to move it. They have now blocked access to the space with an advertising a-frame and a traffic cone. Probably defeating the object slightly as noone, including customers can now park there! The other shops don't have this, just a polite notice asking people not to block their entrance.

Does anyone know if they are allowed to do this?

Thanks
Rachel

It's a bit difficult to comment as it would be much better to view the area personally to assess any parking restrictions, road signs, road markings etc.

However, what I would say is that the shop owner, by what you say, is placing his own personal property (A frame) onto a public highway and that this itself may be unlawful.

peter_the_piper

I would imagine it depends on whether the land came as part of the lease agreement. If it does then its up to him what he does with this "property".

Rachels1979

Thanks both, not quite as straight forward as I'd hoped then! I guess there's no way of knowing what's in his lease so I think he'll just have to live with it... and hope that all the other shops don't follow suit!

peter_the_piper

Assuming the shops are as normal, I could understand the tenant not wanting non customers taking up space for business. It sounds as if they have tried to keep the space clear but have not succeeded, so this is their only way. A bit heavy handed but if the flat tenants did not leave it clear, well, its to be expected. Got to be better then getting the clampers in.

diable

How restricted is the parking as some people can be pedantic and believe the space outside their own property is theres?

I would double check with the local authority and if the shop owner is in the wrong then I would shove the traffic cone somewhere that he would need help in retrieving and where the sun doesn't shine.

vikingaero

I own and let out a commercial property in a parade of shops with parking at the front and rear. The deeds state that parking at the front is for the shop owners and their customers only. The tenants of the flats are to park at the rear. I can see that this would have been the sensible arrangement. This arrangement probably would have been in place when the whole parade was owned by one entity. However over the years ownership has fragmented. In reality it's a bit of a free for all now and no-one really minds.

Rachels1979

It's on a main road. There's restricted parking out the front on the road but I don't know exactly, something like no parking between 7am and 10am, then there's the pavement and then an area for parking, not set out as actual spaces though. There's no parking out the back.

I wasn't sure if it was like parking outside your house, noone can actually stop anyone from parking there but I guess it's not that clear cut.

Thinking about it some proposed traffic changes came from the council a while ago, they were on a map that showed the whole street and showed the areas of restricted parking on the road but it didn't say anything about the parking outside the shop.

I wouldn't have parked there after he put the request up not to anyway, it's just bugged us that they've now stopped anyone parking there at all!

paddedjohn

If its restricted parking 7am-10am then park your car there after 10 and tell the shopkeeper to go whistle.

peter_the_piper

Can we just be clear what we are talking about here. In the first post I read that he parked on what was the frontage of the shop, not the road. Do you now mean that the parking is on the road and that the shopkeeper is putting an A board and cones on the road?

Rachels1979

Sorry! Didn't realise how confusing I had made this!

The parking that he's blocking is the frontage outside his shop, there is also parking on the road that is restricted between 7am and 10am so we can't park there over night. The info my boyfriend got from the council stated those restrictions but didn't state any for parking on the frontage.

Thanks for all your help everyone.