Neighbours blocking off driveway... grrr

Lum

bryanb wrote: »

It is against the law to park accross a dropped kerb. Except your own.

Wrong.

It's only against the law if you are obstructing someone from gaining lawful access to the road. i.e. it's illegal to block someone's car on their driveway, but if the driveway is empty it's perfectly legal to block it.

Edit: Beaten to it by Strider.

jayne2011

I have called my housing association. they are sending out letters to the two concerned. They said if its not stopped by wednesday next week, when the letter should have arrived, to call them back and they will call the police and ask them to tow it out the way. She was very concerned that its blocked and could stop a fire engine getting close enough to the house.
Hopefully, a result! Thanks so much!!! I wouldn't have called them without people mentioning it. I would have thought they wouldn't be interested.
xx

The_Turner

jayne2011 wrote: »

I have called my housing association. they are sending out letters to the two concerned. They said if its not stopped by wednesday next week, when the letter should have arrived, to call them back and they will call the police and ask them to tow it out the way. She was very concerned that its blocked and could stop a fire engine getting close enough to the house.
Hopefully, a result! Thanks so much!!! I wouldn't have called them without people mentioning it. I would have thought they wouldn't be interested.
xx

If it's taxed and insured the police won't touch it.

fivetide

The_Turner wrote: »

If it's taxed and insured the police won't touch it.

If it is causing a safety issue they should. That seems to be the approach being taken.

5t.

thescouselander

rev_henry wrote: »

Parking on the pavement is only illegal in London.

Highway code
Rule 244

You MUST NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement in London, and should not do so elsewhere unless signs permit it. Parking on the pavement can obstruct and seriously inconvenience pedestrians, people in wheelchairs or with visual impairments and people with prams or pushchairs.

The highway code is not the law so I wouldn't take that as meaning it is not illegal to park on the pavement elsewhere - there could be some other legislation that applies. The police are always nicking people for parking on the pavement round here.

Lum

As has been done to death on these forums. The Highway Code uses some very specific wording.

When it states MUST or MUST NOT it is referring to a point of law and will usually cite the specific law involved.

When it states SHOULD or SHOULD NOT then it's advice is purely advisory, however failure to follow this advice can and will be used against you in civil proceedings,

For example it states in Rule 130 that you should not drive in the hatched area of a road, so if you do so to overtake someone, then the hatched area turns into a right turn lane and the person you are overtaking pulls into the side of you, this could be deemed to be your fault in the resulting insurance claim as you should not have been there, even though you have not broken any laws.

At my old place I used to park halfway on the pavement, always making sure to leave at least enough room for a double pushchair to pass easily. I never had any problem, then the neighbours daughter started parking her brand new Suzuki Swift entirely on the pavement, leaving a foot and a half either side and the local police went and had a word with her, but ignored my parking (and indeed, ignored everyone else who was parked half way on the path).

That said, there could be a bylaw in place banning it in your town/village/area/road. Next time you see a copper nicking someone for it, ask them which bylaw it is?

forgotmyname

I would have parked on the road so it causes a problem for them to park. When they approach you, Just
say you would use your driveway but inconsiderate people park in such a way you cannot get
out without difficulty.

glasgowdan

I have a van and trailer and the neighbour across the road gets home visits a lot - they have taken to parking halfway on the pavement on her side of the road instead of fully on the road as they understand I need a bit more room to access my driveway in order to run my business. I think sometimes you have to give people a bit of a chance. I know you have mentioned this to one of the neighbours, but the 'pitbull' probably isn't as bad as you think and simply keeps her guard up as people are always so quick to be harsh towards her.

Maybe!

Post up next week if there is an update.

TrickyWicky

WestonDave wrote: »

Parking on the pavement is always illegal and could be reported to the council parking enforcement team (unlikely the police will be interested as most parking enforcement is now down to councils).

No it isn't. Only in areas with no footway parking restrictions in place is it illegal. I should know, I used to be a CEO / PA for two authorities.

No footway parking restrictions will always have a yellow sign like the single yellow lines do (unless its a CPZ).

The only time the police will get involved is if your car is blocked in on your drive and you can't get onto the highway. Even then they'll try to get you to ring the council as their call centre staff still don't realise obstruction is a police issue.

CrazyRatLady_2

Got no advice but for those who said it is legal to block a drive as long as you're not blocking someone in - you may well be right, but that's not my experience. I used to live in a suburb of London with a hospital literally down the end of my road and due to the excessive parking charges people used to park down my road to save money. We'd usually get someone park across our drive a few times a week. If we saw it we'd ring the council and they always came and towed the car away even if it wasn't blocking us in.

On the other hand I also don't know if it is legal to park across your own dropped kerb - in 2007 my nan was in hospital having a replacement hip, while there she had a heart attack (died the next day as the doctors didn't notice until too late that her dentures had slipped down her throat and her brain was starved of oxygen) when my step mum got the call she drove home from work and parked over our dropped kerb. By the time we came back the car was gone - turns out the council had towed it and even when we explained the car belonged to the house, they wouldn't drop any of the fines.

The road was not residents only/permits etc.