Parked in front of Driveway

bod1467

iliko wrote: »

So if that is true anyone can claim front of his house as a driveway even if it is behind the fence.

iliko

Aretnap wrote: »

And also that if you're convicted, the court could well impose a bigger fine than £30. Off the top of my head the maximum is £1000, in practice it depends on your income, but maybe a couple of hundred for someone on average income.

Interesting, why is that?

halibut2209

There's also a sign on that street which says no stopping Mon-Fri 0800-0900

PasturesNew

halibut2209 wrote: »

There's also a sign on that street which says no stopping Mon-Fri 0800-0900

That's just the parking sign for the single yellows.

Guys_Dad

RichardD1970 wrote: »

That's as maybe, but the OP isn't blocking a dropped curb or drive way and is parked, what looks to be legally if not courteously, on the public highway.

I think you are mistaken, Richard. From OP's first post

I parked my car at here as seen on picture in front of limo to drop my child to school.

Then was issue a Fixed Penalty Notice (see pics at http://imgur.com/a/6jzIC) by a community support officer who said I was blocking a driveway.

And later, in response to my post,(s)he admitted again to blocking the limo.

The CSO booked OP for blocking a driveway. As asked, is the area in question that the limo was on classified as a driveway? I am not 100% sure - looks like it to me - but the only way one can be sure is to get the court's view.

The point is that it is being used as a driveway and OP was blocking car in, and there is no dispute on that.

Dee140157

To be fair, when scrolling through google street view it does look as if the owners have decided to pave part of their front garden to give themselves a huge driveway for cars. If grass had been there the car would be legally parked. It seems unlikely to me that the house would have been built with such a wide driveway. Other parts of the estate with the same kerbing show grass etc next to it. Technically they could move one of the other cars to get the limousine onto the road.

If we could all pave our front lawn area and ban people from parking in front of the raised kerbs, it would cause a nightmare on many estates like mine!

Aretnap

iliko wrote: »

Interesting, why is that?

Basically because the fixed penalty is an opportunity to avoid court and the full penalty for the (alleged) offence.

Once upon a time all drivers accused of motoring offences (even minor ones like speeding or obstruction) were summonsed to court, where the magistrates could decide on any penalty up to the maximum one provided for by parliament. Obviously as the number of cars on the road increased that became impractical and the courts got overwhelmed with minor motoring offences, so the fixed penalty system was brought in - in return for not arguing the toss and taking up the court's time, drivers who didn't dispute their guilt were offered the chance to accept a substantially lower fine than they could expect in court. If they didn't want to accept the fixed penalty they didn't have to and they could argue the point in court instead - but it does mean that if they lose, they've lost their chance to accept the reduced penalty. So if you're going to go to court over a fixed penalty you either have to be very sure of your ground, or you have to be willing to risk a fair amount of money for the point of principle.

AoD

Converting your front garden into a car park does not automatically turn it into a drive though. The original drive way in front of the dropped kerb can clearly be seen in the photo and the kerb is clearly higher in front of the limo.

I still don't think £30 is worth a fight in a magistrates court tho!

warehouse

When I read the first post and saw the picture of your parking I thought you were in the wrong. Having looked at Google Streetview it's obvious that the kerb you parked in front of definitely isn't a dropped kerb and therefore not a driveway.

The offence on the ticket is "parked in front of a driveway", which clearly you are not.

The next step is to weigh up your chances in court versus possible cost if you lose.

keith1950

It can be discussed and conclusions they come to should be backed by a law. So if that is true anyone can claim front of his house as a driveway even if it is behind the fence.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the dropped kerb issue, only an inconsiderate person would consider blocking someone's car in !!