Van parked blocking my car in

[Deleted User]

My car is in my back yard and a van has parked outside my entrance blocking it in. The van has been there since around 11am this morning and I have never seen it before.

I will be wanting to use my car in a couple of hours time, if it still hasn't moved, what are my options?

Will police do anything if I call them?

GwylimT

Is there a dropped curb at the entrance to your garden?

Ask around to see who it belongs to, if you can't find out call the police/council.

Call your local police to have the vehicle removed, while a vehicle is allowed to block access to a drive way they are not allowed to prevent use of a vehicle.

macman

Works van-is there a phone number on it?

[Deleted User]

No dropped kerb but the law doesn't say you can't drive over a kerb to access own property. And blatantly blocking a car in doesn't make a right just because there is no dropped kerb.

No number on van either, just your stereotypical anonymous white van.

Also it has just been moved in the last 10 minutes so no need to take any action.

ukmike

No dropped kerb but the law doesn't say you can't drive over a kerb to access own property.

I think your council would beg to differ.

Retrogamer

It's an offence to block your car from joining the road, so if you call the police they should be be able to get it moved, or failing that a ticket / fine so they won't be so keen to do it again.

mgdavid

Retrogamer wrote: »

It's an offence to block your car from joining the road, so if you call the police they should be be able to get it moved, or failing that a ticket / fine so they won't be so keen to do it again.

no, only if it's a dropped kerb. See earlier post and check with your council.

GwylimT

Deleted_User wrote: »

No dropped kerb but the law doesn't say you can't drive over a kerb to access own property. And blatantly blocking a car in doesn't make a right just because there is no dropped kerb.

No number on van either, just your stereotypical anonymous white van.

Also it has just been moved in the last 10 minutes so no need to take any action.

Unfortunately as you do not have a dropped kerb both the council and police would have ignored this if the van hadn't moved. Have you attempted to have a dropped kerb done in the past?

[Deleted User]

Oh well, if the police wouldn't do anything (I don't think the council here work Sundays) I would have just had it towed by other means out the way of my access.

It is a back lane not a busy busy foot path with lots of footfall and pavement is width of one flagstone. Also if I had a dropped kerb I doubt it would stop anyone in the area from parking there.

Also what if I needed access to move a three piece suite in, would I also need a dropped kerb for that? would police refuse to do anything about the van still blocking access to the property?

GwylimT

Deleted_User wrote: »

Oh well, if the police wouldn't do anything (I don't think the council here work Sundays) I would have just had it towed by other means out the way of my access.

It is a back lane not a busy busy foot path with lots of footfall and pavement is width of one flagstone. Also if I had a dropped kerb I doubt it would stop anyone in the area from parking there.

You wouldn't be allowed to have the vehicle towed. A dropped kerb might not prevent people parking, but it would mean if they blocked you in you would be able to do something about it.

Retrogamer

mgdavid wrote: »

no, only if it's a dropped kerb. See earlier post and check with your council.

Driving over a kerb that isn't dropped is sometimes an offense. Some councils will allow it in areas with limited street width and / or parking.

Regardless if the kerb is dropped or not though, it's an offense to block a cars route to the road. I can tell you from first hand experience i've seen the police have cars moved in these scenarios where the kerb isn't dropped and there's a few dozen threads on Pistonheads Speed, Plod, Law forums section as well as the Pepipoo forums