is this legal?

skitler

custardy wrote: »

So a parked car is creating an office in the OPs street?

yes. and especially if its shaped like a wheelie bin;)

[Deleted User]

whatmichaelsays wrote: »

Surely this is classed as obstructing a public highway?

So, strictly speaking, is parking on a public highway.

qetu1357

scotsbob wrote: »

It's not illegal it's smart thinking. I bet you wished you had thought of the idea first

Smart thinking? No. More like selfish thinking............

forgotmyname

Filling it with concrete sounds like a plan. Although mixing it by hand wont be fun.

Drilling through the bottom and hammering some rebar in would be even funnier.

Although the police and council may consider it to be criminal damage.

londonTiger

Not illegal but removing his bin and just parking there might ruin relations with the neighbour.

Then again if he's doing this all the time then he's a bit of an !!!! so there's no harm done.

I certainly wouldn't remove the bin if a neighbour was reserving a space as a one off.

jaymidlands

jack_pott wrote: »

My neighbour has taken over half the street.

His garage is full of junk, and there's a car parked in front of it. The shared drive is full of sleepers, bricks, wheelbarrows etc., with another car and a skip at the end of the drive. There's a car parked on his front garden, another in front of his house, another in front of my house, and his work van across the end of the drive. I can just about get a pushbike in and out. The mower blade has got dents in it from the car parts discarded on my front lawn.

report him then to enviromental health or council over waste being disposed of on your property plus the untaxed cars and junk(I assume you meant untaxed/scrap cars.)

Aretnap

custardy wrote: »

So a parked car is creating an office in the OPs street?

Sort of, yes. IIRC the gist of the case law (can't remember the exact case) is that all parking on the highway creates an obstruction, and the only question for the court to decide is whether it's a trivial obstruction, which ought to be ignored under the de minimis principle, or whether it might actually cause inconvenience for other road users. Basically you're only right with regards to the highway is to use it to get from A to B - you have no right to store your vehicle on it once you've reached B.

If the parked car causes no actual inconvenience to another road user then it's likely to be a trivial obstruction - but in that case a wheelie bin in the same place would likely cause no actual inconvenience either. Arguably it would cause inconvenience to the person who wants to park there, but I'm not sure if you can inconvenience someone in the eyes of the law by stopping them from doing something which they're not really supposed to do in the first place.

George_Michael

Rover_Driver wrote: »

Anything that obstructs free passage along a highway is an offence - wheelie bin, parked car, etc. - s.137 Highways Act 1980.

Not quite correct.
The actual offence only occurs if someone obstructs free passage along the highway "without lawful authority or excuse."

If there is no law or restriction preventing a car from being parked on the road then surely you have lawful authority to park it there, hence no offence has been made.

Rover_Driver

What lawful authority or excuse would there be for obstructing a highway with a wheelie bin?

A parked car would only have lawful authority if there was legislation allowing it to be there, otherwise it would be an offence - the legislation has to permit the obstruction.

londonTiger

Rover_Driver wrote: »

What lawful authority or excuse would there be for obstructing a highway with a wheelie bin?

A parked car would only have lawful authority if there was legislation allowing it to be there, otherwise it would be an offence - the legislation has to permit the obstruction.

I think even the jobsworth who will come out to inspect will see the bin as not obstructing the highway. Putting a wheely bin inbetween parked cars and in the middle of the road where cars drive are two different things.