Criminal damage? Railway.

Elsewhere

We have a big garden, the bottom part is a small wood and beyond this the far boundary adjoins Swanage Steam Railway - about 150m of fence.

A few years ago we were away for a couple of days and returned to find the Railway had decided to clean up the sides of the track - they had cut back foliage within our garden to about 6 feet on our side of the boundary fence. Obviously they had entered our garden to do so, yet there had been no contact with us at all, let alone notice, or permission granted. We contacted the railway to ask why they did this and got some waffle about they thought they had permission, sorry, a mistake etc. (nb, woodland opposite us other side of the track is National Trust, so I took this as a genuine mistake as I assume they had asked NT)

So- in the last two days they have done more work without bothering to ask my permission - I went to the bottom of the garden to see how the bluebells were doing - and discovered they have replaced their fence. While I am happy they have done so, once again they have entered my garden completely without my permission - or knowledge! This time they have dug out undergrowth on my side of the boundary, and cut down shrubs and trees, including at least two fairly mature trees whose trunk diameters were about 12 inches. The trees haven't been trimmed back so they don't overhang the boundary, they have been felled to within a few inches from the ground, completely within my property. This could not have been done by leaning over the fence. Apart from a log about a metre long, there is no sign of any of the wood.

Is this criminal damage and theft? Can I involve the police or is this a civil matter?

If the Railway had bothered to speak to me and ask permission I would probably have been happy to let them carry out the work I expect - though I would have wanted to inspect and discuss the trees mentioned above. But they didn't, and this is the second time this has occurred.

I don't want compensation - what can compensate for a tree that has probably taken 60 years to grow? But I do want them to understand that they can't ride roughshod over their neighbours and get away with it. Maybe a vist from the police, or the manager getting a caution for vandalism would do the trick and stop them doing it again?

So, would the police laugh at me, or is there some ancient railway law that lets Swanage Railway destroy people's gardens... or do you think I have a chance of making someone squirm for the damage they have done?

cjb02

if they have come in to your property and clearly gone past a boundary fence and then cut down a tree and then removed wood/logs that was not over hanging their property then I would suggest criminal damage and in the first instance I would contact your local police service and take it from there. the police would not laugh at you.

This might be a case of some of the "staff" gathering wood for their log burners when they shouldn’t be.

Leif

Yes, criminal damage and theft of wood. I doubt a visit from plod would worry them, I would press charges and expect some form of compensation, it is after all your garden they have trashed. If it is a steam railway, the workers were probably volunteers, and as cjb02 says, a tree is a god send to someone with a wood burning stove so it could well be one or two saw a chance to get free wood. Wood costs an absolute fortune.

valk_scot

Have you checked your property deeds re the boundary line of your property? I can't help but suspect that the railway are acting as if the boundary is within your garden and if so, it would be a good idea to check exactly where it really is.

Also, check whether your deeds say anything about a reserved right of access through your property for essential maintenance to the line and line side. One of my neighbours has a right of access to my garden so he can do essential work to the rear of his house, he usually does ask me out of courtesy if he's going to do this but he doesn't actually have too. Or there may be some sort of covenant or local bylaw allowing the railway line to do this, you need to get a solicitor to check this sort of thing usually.

Once you're 100% sure on all this, I'd send a solicitors letter detailing your complaints re damage and which also gives them formal notice that they must request your permission in writing 14 days before the time they would like access, detailing the work they need to carry out and some sort of assurance as to being responsible for making good any unavoidable damage, for instance if they have to take down a bit of fence again.

But check your facts first. If the land that is now your garden once belonged to the railway it's very possible they still hold some sort of access rights to it. Make sure of what's what before you go in with guns blazing.

tim_n

Garden creep is quite common on the railway (I used to work for network rail) and often the bottom boundary fence can 'move' onto railway land. If the railway doesn't notice (I think about 7 years, similar if not the same to squatters rights) it does become the property of the landowner assuming it has been fenced.

It is a requirement by law that the railway maintain their boundary fence to disallow public access to a running line. It is possible to replace a fence without going onto your property, so it's suprising that they have accessed your land and replaced their fence with so much destruction. They should not be cutting down anything within your boundary.

As for the conspiracy theorists on log burners - I can assure you that first and foremost it would be considered theft to take logs from a site without permission. That's not to say it doesn't happen, but do you have any idea how many trees are felled on the network every year? You don't need to access neighbouring properties. During 2011 we cleared a section of railway about 500m long. We only took about 1/3 of the trees on the site, we had 6 large lorry loads to remove, all of which NR has to pay for disposal of.

Maintenance will fell trees that are an immediate threat to the running railway, this is scored by a specialist and would only happen in an emergency. It is quite rare. If your tree fell into that category, they would have to show that they have made every effort to contact you - I don't believe you'd have a choice, but there should be records.

Either which way, complain to the railway.

Has your fence line moved in the last 7 years? How close is your boundary to the running rails? If more than 3-4m I would get very sniffy. If it's within 4-6ft less so as the roots may be damaging the track.

I hope they've not affected the enjoyment of your garden - it does sound like you've got a big garden, quite jealous even if there is a railway at the bottom - a steam railway must be fairly pretty!

cyclonebri1

You don't need advice from the bar room barristers here, you do need serious legal advice, take it to your solicitor, they have broken the rules, the key will be "what exactly are your damages"


They have taken a liberty, twice from what you say.:mad::mad:

So,
the flip side is, I'm a steam railway nut, I know how they work.
They are are full off enthusiastic but sometimes uninformed and unpaid volunteers,

Maybe they didn't know the issues.

I can think of much worse things to have at the bottom of my garden, you really should considider the other option. ;):eek: