Blocking Driveway

Coupon-mad

martinthebandit wrote: »

IIRC some councils do enforce them and they will ticket any car that parks on them including the home owners car

I understand there has to be with a complaint from the householder first (such as enforced in Brighton & Hove).

But if in London it's different and you can get a ticket for any driveway parking or wheel on the kerb.

3v3

darkwarrior wrote: »

I'm amazed its legal to park on someone elses property...

Who said it was legal? May not fall under criminal law but surely it is covered under the civil law of "trespass"? So, if it is the same person repeatedly doing it, there would be an option to take a civil case of trespass against them?

Alternatively, look up clamping laws; perhaps you could put a nice big yellow and black notice up stating that any unauthorised parking on your driveway will be clamped and will incur a £150 charge to remove the clamp.

ab7167

Gosh, loads of suggestions. I am going to try keeping the gates shut, it would take some proper brass neck for someone to open them and then park on my drive! As it is, it's a tricky reversing manoeuvre to get in... Not just pulling onto it without thinking - you have to wait for a gap in the traffic as the nose of the car swings across both sides of the road while reversing in. I'm pretty good at it now...

If that fails, I am going to resort to blocking them in - and I never need much excuse for a glass of vino, so I may well be using that excuse! I don't feel that up until now I have been letting people walk all over me, but Madam's 90 min sojurn put my back right up. There's nipping in, which I would have probably tolerated a lot longer, it takes quite a lot to annoy me. But when I'm annoyed, I get really really cross. We'll see how it goes forth next few weeks!

Aren't they outlawing clamping?

3v3

ab7167 wrote: »

...

Aren't they outlawing clamping?

Good point

Well, that refers to "private land" e.g supermarkets; and it refers to the extortionate price of the vehicle being "towed away". I'll need to look further to see if it refers to "residential" land.

I'm not convinced that blocking them in is the route to go though. I can see a few issues with that!

NeverAgain_2

3v3 wrote: »

Who said it was legal? May not fall under criminal law but surely it is covered under the civil law of "trespass"? So, if it is the same person repeatedly doing it, there would be an option to take a civil case of trespass against them?

Alternatively, look up clamping laws; perhaps you could put a nice big yellow and black notice up stating that any unauthorised parking on your driveway will be clamped and will incur a £150 charge to remove the clamp.

It is legal to park on the OP's driveway in the sense that it is no more than a civil trespass.

The only remedy is damages in the county court.

Realistically, the OP has not suffered any damages, but say she was blocked in and missed a flight because of it, the trespasser would be liable for the cancellation charges and any other quantifiable loss suffered by the OP.

It's one of the reasons coppers are not usually interested in trespassers, they can't arrest you for it.

ab7167

3v3 wrote: »

Good point

Well, that refers to "private land" e.g supermarkets; and it refers to the extortionate price of the vehicle being "towed away". I'll need to look further to see if it refers to "residential" land.

I'm not convinced that blocking them in is the route to go though. I can see a few issues with that!

Well, I'm pretty soft, so I probably would move if asked politely - with response time proportional to politeness! I'm hoping that a small inconvenience might make them think twice. And with new neighbours due to move in, it may actually be that I have nowhere else to park if I'm going to get to school on time...

darkwarrior

Again, my only concern is the temperament of the driver and what they may do toyour car. That may just be my personal paranoia. I'm always wary of playing White Knight because its very easy for someone to be a jerk and key your car or something. In that story someone posted it worked very well though.

Sirdan

3v3 wrote: »

Good point

Well, that refers to "private land" e.g supermarkets; and it refers to the extortionate price of the vehicle being "towed away". I'll need to look further to see if it refers to "residential" land.

I'm not convinced that blocking them in is the route to go though. I can see a few issues with that!

I'll save you the time residential land is private land. Not only is clamping being outlawed so is any form of immobilization this would include blocking in.

EXCEPT that the propsed ban does not apply if

"there is express or implied consent by the driver of the vehicle to

restricting its movement by a fixed barrier, and

the barrier was present (whether or not lowered into place or otherwise

restricting movement) when the vehicle was parked."

So if you have a gate etc you CAN still clamp or block in...I expect a lot of car parks that have no barriers will suddenly get them even if they don't ever lower them ..once this is passed in law ...when is a ban not a ban .?

Pathetic piece of legislation isn't it ...lets hope there are still some amendments to come as it passes through the Lords.

patman99

I'd block them in, then when they knocked on my door, charge them £2.00 for parking.

GAILEY

We live in a small village and sometimes get a similar problem - our house is accessed down a little lane down the side of 2 buildings - and if someone parks even remotely accross the 9ft gap it causes massive problems and we are either locked in (which is a pain when I am on call - and supposed to be performing an emergency service ), out or forced to chew up the neighbours lawns to force ourselves through whatever gap might be left.
Last time it happened I was really cross - my daughter was doing a spondered swim and couldn't get there as we couldn't get out (we are quite near to the village pub - and people tend to park on the roadside rather than use their car park). Having knocked on all of the neighbours doors (in case they were visitors), been and annouced my dilema to everyone in the pub and having tried all other options I called the police - who traced the car on PNC and called upon the registered address - the young lad's father called him apparently on his mobile and he came sharpish and moved it....a bit extreme I know - but I guessed what would concern the young lad (who I'm sure was in the pub and deliberately ignored me) was the police taking an interest in him and his vehicle ....and it's tyres, MOT, general roadworthiness etc
.....it's worth a go,,,if you can get the coppers to listen