Private(questionable) land, threat of clamping.

afonja

Evening everyone,

I live on a very busy road, and park my car next to the house(on the road). Today, due to the football match, all parking spaces were taken, and I parked my car on the opposite side, next to the office building. There are no parking signs what so ever, so I thought that won't be a problem. Couple of hours later a guy knocked on my door, and when I opened he, in a very bad tone, almost threatening, said that it is a private land and if I park there one more time he will make sure that my car will be clamped.

I didn't know that clamping is illegal on a private land now(apart from exceptions), so I apologised and moved my car, at the same time feeling really bad about his behavior and confused whether it is a private land.

Now I found information regarding clamping, but I cannot see anywhere to confirm my guess that without clear and legal parking signs he cannot do anything to my car. Am I right? If so and link will be of a reputable source, tomorrow I would print out those facts and smack them on his face.

Any advice appreciated.

Hot_Bring

Unless it is council land he can't do ANYTHING to your car apart from stick a ticket or note on it. He can't legally block it in nor can he legally clamp it.

That said - it doesn't mean you should park there without permission ( morally ).

afonja

Hot Bring,

I totally appreciate it, but it is hard to tell whether it is private land or not, as there are NO signs at all, just as I stated in my original post

Hot_Bring

Well council land would generally be well signposted. I'd suggest it is private land and there is nothing he can do about it ( you still shouldn't park there ! ).

esmerobbo

He or nobody else can clamp it or block it, but if there is a gate or a barrier he could lock it in. Best to find out who owns the land, we once had a row of offices near me who thought the land in front of their building was their car park, turned out is was public highway.

However if they do own the land then they are entitled to ask you to move it, politely would be nice though!

afonja

I parked there once, and have no intent to park there anymore. But I also think I have done nothing wrong and his tone plus threats really !!!!ed me off.

Thanks for your help guys.

Redx

its also worth noting that if they are not inviting the public to park there , there may not be any signs

there are no signs on my private driveway but that doesnt allow any member of the public to park there, they would be trespassing !

as mentioned above, it is likely to be private land so you should not be on there in the first place, irrespective of whether or not there are any parking spaces on the public road outside or near your house !

there is no right of parking on a public road outside your house , so although I agree its inconvenient, you should park sensibly somewhere else where you can do so without problems like this occurring

so whilst the clamping threat may not be enforceable, do you really want to have a notice of trespass or worse still some unforeseen "harm" come to your car, its tyres etc ?

I wouldnt

so although it was a nasty encounter I would not be parking there again

afonja

Redx,

The road I live on is one of the main roads almost in the centre of Norwich. We have a right to park on the public road outside my house, and I regularly pay council for that, so please, as a landowner, don't take it too close to heart.

Redx

so this is the first time you mentioned having a residents parking permit

either way, you dont pay for or have the right to park on that private office car park, so dont take that to heart either

if they had underhandedly "keyed" your car and placed tacks under your tyres its likely that you would have received the "message", but at the moment it appears you are upset by the guys words and tone of voice, so best to learn the lesson and move on, cheaper that way

regards

afonja

Oh, I wouldn't advice to deliver me the message your way... You know, I live just across the road and will have plenty of time for "replies"

Also I mentioned, that as soon as he informed me I apologised and moved my car and now just trying to get the facts right to make an informal decision.

My disliking of this bloke's attitude seems to be touching your landowner's 'soul' too hard(are you in the same boat?), so I would kindly ask you to avoid any further replies to this topic.

Thank you for your input.

Redx

its not "my way", I am just pointing out that it would not have been in your interests had he taken "other steps" instead of the ones he took

and no I dont have a problem like this and am also not used to these "residents permits" that you alluded to, hence I thought the road outside your abode was similar to those near me where we do not have the right to park outside our front door but most people seem to think that they do

that is all I meant

as I have a private driveway, my car is almost always on it and not on any public road

clearly you have different parking issues than me (I dont have any issues at all), but I do know its not wise to annoy others by parking on private land, especially if its not signed