Neighbour blocking my driveway with dropped kerb

Coupon-mad

Grumpy_chap said:

AIUI, the rules about parking over dropped kerbs are rather unusual in that if someone parks over the dropped kerb while you are parked there, then that is causing an obstruction and can be a Police matter.  However, if they park over the dropped kerb while there is nothing there to be blocked in, then it is permitted to park over the dropped kerb. How that works if the car is "inside" the dropped kerb, so could be blocked in, but in the garage so not visible I do not know.

Except if the Council operates their enforcement as a Special Enforcement Area, which some outside London do (AFAIK all of London is) and they can then use the contravention ''Parked in a special enforcement area adjacent to a dropped footway''.

Sounds like you should also be asking the Council to paint a Disabled Bay on the road adjacent to your dropped kerb.  It wouldn't be yours alone but if the neighbours don't have a BB they can't block or use that bay.

Half_way

The local police in the area that i am currently holed up in, have something called a "Safer Neighbourhood team" (SNT) with a facebook page to go along with it and one of their things at the moment seems to be ticketing cars parked acrooss junctions/dropped kerbs/ adjacent to solid white lines in the centre of the road and so on, as well as plenty of selfies of PCSOs enjoying take away hot chocolates and cakes from cafes

Grumpy_chap

Coupon-mad said:

Grumpy_chap said:

AIUI, the rules about parking over dropped kerbs are rather unusual in that if someone parks over the dropped kerb while you are parked there, then that is causing an obstruction and can be a Police matter.  However, if they park over the dropped kerb while there is nothing there to be blocked in, then it is permitted to park over the dropped kerb. How that works if the car is "inside" the dropped kerb, so could be blocked in, but in the garage so not visible I do not know.

Except if the Council operates their enforcement as a Special Enforcement Area, which some outside London do (AFAIK all of London is) and they can then use the contravention ''Parked in a special enforcement area adjacent to a dropped footway''.

Sounds like you should also be asking the Council to paint a Disabled Bay on the road adjacent to your dropped kerb.  It wouldn't be yours alone but if the neighbours don't have a BB they can't block or use that bay.

I have never heard of a Special Enforcement Area and I live within a London Borough.
The information I gave about the odd rule of whether or not you are blocking a vehicle in but not out as to whether it constitutes obstruction was direct from the local PLG (Police Liaison Group) where the Police and Cllrs together answer questions from residents.
What is enforced where we live is blocking a ramp in the footway to allow crossing by wheelchairs and mobility scooters, but that type of ramp was differentiated by the PLG from a vehicle crossover.  My LA protect this as they see it as a disability issue.  I wonder whether that is the type of dropped footway referred to in the special enforcement area?

Coupon-mad

Obstruction is an offence that the Police deal with so that's why your PLG talked about that.

I'm not talking about obstruction, I mean code 27 from the Local Authorities' list of decriminalised parking contraventions.  It could be that your borough isn't a Special Enforcement area, but most London Boroughs are.    This is the description from the LondonCouncils CEO Handbook:

CODE: 27
Penalty charge level: Higher

Code description:
Parked in a special enforcement area adjacent to a footway, cycle track or verge lowered to meet the level of the carriageway.

Code contravention: The contravention occurs when a vehicle waits on the carriageway, adjacent to the footway where the footway, cycle track or verge has been lowered to meet the level of the carriageway. Extra information to be recorded:
• A diagram of the parking position. A photograph is desirable.
Loading/unloading allowed: Yes
Observation period: Yes
Exemptions: ADEIJKLNOP
Exemptions also include:
• A vehicle that is parked wholly within a designated parking place or any other part of the carriageway where parking is specifically authorised
• A vehicle parked outside a residential premises by or with the consent of the occupier of the premises (but not in the case of a shared driveway).
Notes:
Enforcements can only take place where the carriageway has been lowered for the purpose of:
• assisting pedestrians across the carriageway
• assisting cyclists entering and leaving the carriageway
• assisting vehicles entering and leaving the carriageway
Suffixes: j = camera enforcement o = Blue Badge holder

Grumpy_chap

Thanks - clear from the last line that the special enforcement area would include vehicle crossovers.

Coupon-mad

It certainly does.  

Christmas1234

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply.

I will contact the local Authority Today. Macmillan also mentioned a disabled parking bay but thought that could be rejected as I have off road parking so I guess I need to make the point that it’s useless when I can’t use it. Will update once I have a response and Thank you all so much again 

Undervalued

Coupon-mad said:

Obstruction is an offence that the Police deal with so that's why your PLG talked about that.

I'm not talking about obstruction, I mean code 27 from the Local Authorities' list of decriminalised parking contraventions.  It could be that your borough isn't a Special Enforcement area, but most London Boroughs are.    This is the description from the LondonCouncils CEO Handbook:

CODE: 27
Penalty charge level: Higher

Code description:
Parked in a special enforcement area adjacent to a footway, cycle track or verge lowered to meet the level of the carriageway.

Code contravention: The contravention occurs when a vehicle waits on the carriageway, adjacent to the footway where the footway, cycle track or verge has been lowered to meet the level of the carriageway. Extra information to be recorded:
• A diagram of the parking position. A photograph is desirable.
Loading/unloading allowed: Yes
Observation period: Yes
Exemptions: ADEIJKLNOP
Exemptions also include:
• A vehicle that is parked wholly within a designated parking place or any other part of the carriageway where parking is specifically authorised
• A vehicle parked outside a residential premises by or with the consent of the occupier of the premises (but not in the case of a shared driveway).
Notes:
Enforcements can only take place where the carriageway has been lowered for the purpose of:
• assisting pedestrians across the carriageway
• assisting cyclists entering and leaving the carriageway
• assisting vehicles entering and leaving the carriageway
Suffixes: j = camera enforcement o = Blue Badge holder

In the city where I live, the point I have highlighted is cited as the reason a civil enforcement officer is not allowed to deal with vehicles overhanging a dropped kerb. They do not have the power to make enquires about who is complaining and whether anybody else at that address may have given permission. So, the council insists, it needs the powers of a constable. The police will, in theory at least, attend if you are unable to get out of your drive but it is a very low priority. They will not attend if you are prevented from getting in.

The only exception to the above is if an Access Protection Marker (H Mark) has been painted by the council. If it has then the civil enforcement officer is allowed to ticket any vehicle even slightly intruding into the Access Protection Marker. I know some people on here dispute the legality of that but out council has been ticketing such offenders for several years. They generally attend within 15 mins of a phone call to the council.

theoretica

I have seen a disabled bay marked across a dropped curb - it doesn't take away a space anyone else should be parking in so might be easy to make a case for - but I think the council charge for putting them in. It does make the ticketing straightforward.

Coupon-mad

theoretica said:

I have seen a disabled bay marked across a dropped curb - it doesn't take away a space anyone else should be parking in so might be easy to make a case for - but I think the council charge for putting them in. It does make the ticketing straightforward.

That is a daft thing for the Council to do because accessible bays are for any disabled person; the homeowner doesn't own it.  So the householder could find their driveway blocked by a perfectly legit driver with a Blue Badge who has gone shopping.

There is no contravention of wheels on an H bar; the CEO could only ticket if there was a more than de minimis overhang of the actual dropped kerb.  Or maybe, the Council you are describing knows the CEOs are getting it wrong and don't care because people get scared and wrongly pay anyway!