Car left in our road

pinkteapot

Told the police, they came round, I got told off for using AskMID under false pretences. Oops.

Tilt

So what did they say about the car?

Tilt

arcon5 wrote: »

Maybe they are local and parked it somewhere safe as they can't afford insurance or something until next pay day. I know I did this a couple of years ago, was uninsured for about 2 weeks (never drove it of course) and would be absolutely gutted if somebody had it towed when it clearly caused no problems at all to them.

End of the day if it's not insured, it should be SORNd and kept off the road. Thems the rules which apply to everyone. Even between paydays.

Mrs_Imp

I'm now concerned that someone will report my car as 'abandoned'. It's fully taxed, insured, MOTd, but hasn't been moved in months. I couldn't drive when I was 8 month pregnant, and now she has a flat battery so is still not going anywhere. It's not in anyone's way and isn't causing problems but it sounds like it would be watched closely for signs of movement

Tilt

Mrs_Imp wrote: »

I'm now concerned that someone will report my car as 'abandoned'. It's fully taxed, insured, MOTd, but hasn't been moved in months. I couldn't drive when I was 8 month pregnant, and now she has a flat battery so is still not going anywhere. It's not in anyone's way and isn't causing problems but it sounds like it would be watched closely for signs of movement

If it's parked on the road and it's fully taxed, insured, MOTd and parked legally, then you have nothing to worry about.

ilikewatch

Tilt wrote: »

If it's parked on the road and it's fully taxed, insured, MOTd and parked legally, then you have nothing to worry about.

Not strictly true, - a few years ago Lincoln City Council arranged for the removal and subsequent destruction of my legally parked, taxed, insured and MOT exempt vehicle because it had been parked up with a flat tyre for a few months and some local busybody kept complaining about it...

mad_rich

pinkteapot wrote: »

Told the police, they came round, I got told off for using AskMID under false pretences. Oops.

Sounds right to me. Out of interest, which bit of the AskMID did you use?

Unless I'm being utterly stupid it is either for checking the status of your own vehicle, where you agree:

I am entitled to the insurance information about the vehicle detailed above for one or more of the following reasons: It is either registered/ owned/ insured by me or my employer; I am permitted to drive it; I am an Insurance Broker or agent and acting on behalf of my client.

I understand it is an offence to wrongfully obtain information of this nature without any of the above reasonable causes. If I fail to provide true reasons for acquiring this information I may be committing an offence of unlawfully obtaining data contrary to section 55 of the Data protection Act 1998. I declare that the information provided will not be used for any purposes unrelated to this enquiry.

Or a £4 search for interested parties in the event of an accident, where you agree:

I confirm that I am a person or body corporate resident in a European Economic Area state claiming to be entitled to compensation in respect of any loss or injury resulting from an accident caused by or arising out of the use of the above vehicle within the last seven years. I understand that it is an offence to wrongfully obtain information of this nature without reasonable cause and if I fail to provide true reasons for requiring information I may be committing an offence of unlawfully obtaining data contrary to Section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998. I also hereby confirm that the information provided will not be used for any purposes unrelated to the purposes of this enquiry. I agree that my receipt of such information will be subject to the Terms of Use as stated on this website.

There is no facility for 'concerned citizens' to go round snooping on other people's insurance affairs, and the police were quite right to rebuke you. Perhaps we should have a detailed look at the Data Protection Act, and what penalties someone might deserve for breach of Section 55

Tilt

ilikewatch wrote: »

Not strictly true, - a few years ago Lincoln City Council arranged for the removal and subsequent destruction of my legally parked, taxed, insured and MOT exempt vehicle because it had been parked up with a flat tyre for a few months and some local busybody kept complaining about it...

I assume that you took Lincoln City Council to the cleaners then? Surely they cannot legally remove a vehicle which isn't abandoned and is legally parked, taxed and insured just because it has a flat tyre? Is there a bit more to this?

ilikewatch

Tilt wrote: »

I assume that you took Lincoln City Council to the cleaners then? Surely they cannot legally remove a vehicle which isn't abandoned and is legally parked, taxed and insured just because it has a flat tyre? Is there a bit more to this?

I was working overseas at the time, Lincoln Council obtained my details from the DVLA and sent me a letter advising me that a local busybody was concerned that the car was an eyesore and had been abandoned - the letter gave me 7 days to respond. By the time the (redirected) letter reached me abroad 3 weeks later the car was long gone. To give the council their dues they did compensate me for the vehicle without too much hassle - I doubt this would have been the case if the vehicle had been worth a reasonable amount. In fact, the only issue I had was that before they would agree to compensate me they wanted to see a copy of the current MOT, but repeatedly failed to grasp the point that the vehicle in question didn't require an MOT!

fivetide

ilikewatch wrote: »

Not strictly true, - a few years ago Lincoln City Council arranged for the removal and subsequent destruction of my legally parked, taxed, insured and MOT exempt vehicle because it had been parked up with a flat tyre for a few months and some local busybody kept complaining about it...

That also happened to a friend of mine. Except his was a 6 wheel drive former forestry truck kept in an industrial estate. Despite being road legal it was towed away (they had to arrange for a lorry recovery vehicle to come and tow it).

Being six wheel drive, the act of towing also shredded the transmission so the council got a big bill for removing a perfectly legal vehicle (albeit one that hadn't moved in a few months) because they didn't write to the owner.

As said, my local council does send out a not to say the vehicle has been reported abandoned/an environmental hazard.