School Traffic Parking on Private Road

Luroc

Hi @Trainerman, thank you for your response. I’ve considered this also but everybody on the road works (apart from myself and one other mum who is also on mat leave. My husbands job involves him coming and going at different (not set) times of the day. So it’s just not practical, unfortunately.

Coupon-mad

What has been your negative experience of these parking firms?

I have been posting here for some 13 years and can't begin to tell you all the reasons NEVER EVER to engage a private parking firm in a private estate. Absolutely horrific companies with poor practices and a greed mentality aimed at rewarding PCN-issuers and optimising PCN issue.

The industry was described in Parliament as rotten to the core and the Government has stepped in ('new regulation of the cowboy industry from 2022').  Did you not yet read the NEWBIES thread at the top of this forum, where I quote from MPs in 2018?

Just look at the words MPs used!

It would be unlikely to pit neighbour against neighbour as the ‘private road’ is respected outside of school drop-off/pick-up times.

Wrong.

What self ticketing does is encourage curtain twitchers and at the moment, the IPC CODE still allows incentives and bounties to be paid, due to the wishy washy way that code is worded.  So, your visitors would get ticketed by your neighbours and it's £100!

That won't be cancelled by a typical IPC firm because that's not what they do.  They only make money out of PCNs so they want more PCNs.  That's the greed mentality of ex clamper firms who offer this 'service' and your lives would be abject misery.

You and your visitors would be sued by the PPC and they add fake 'debt recovery' charges of £70 on top at the moment, and have even convinced the MHCLG to propose that is OK (appalling and MPs must never let a code through with that in).

Luroc

@Coupon-mad thank you! Very useful information. It seems absolutely bizarre to me then that the Goverment are allowing these operations to exist when in reality, the most logical thing to do would be to improve the rights of the homeowner. As I understand it, somebody could park on my actual driveway and it would be a civil matter, not criminal. Someone could set up tent in my garden and there’s nothing I could do about it. It’s insane. An Englishman’s/woman’s home is not their castle after all…

KeithP

Luroc said:

 As I understand it, somebody could park on my actual driveway and it would be a civil matter, not criminal. Someone could set up tent in my garden and there’s nothing I could do about it. It’s insane. An Englishman’s/woman’s home is not their castle after all…

Which is exactly the problem we see all over the country with 'travelling folk'.
Perhaps you can get your Member of Parliament excited about it.

MothballsWallet

Fruitcake said:

Luroc said:

@fisherjimit’s for that reason that it just wouldn’t be practical. We had several cars round on Sunday for a big family celebration and they would have all been ticketed. Our neighbours obviously also have visitors and they would be targeted too.

@Fruitcake I’m just interested to know of the experiences have had with these firms. E.g is it simply because they wouldn’t want to be charged themselves or have they had other negative experiences.

My aim is not to make money from other cash-strapped parents, times are hard enough for most people at the minute anyway. I just want people to stop parking on a road which is going to require our hard-earned money to pay for to maintain sooner rather than later if it carries on.

The private parking industry is completely unregulated at the moment. Hopefully that will change soon.
MPs in open parliament have called these parking companies rogues, scammers, and bloodsuckers. We regularly see "own space" posts on this forum where a PPC has been brought in then run riot and ticketed genuine residents, irrespective of whether the motorists own or rent their parking space.
Many end up in court. If that happens you play judge bingo. Not every resident wins their court case.


Under certain circumstances it is legal to move a vehicle if it is blocking you in on your property and preventing you from leaving to, say, go to work or a medical appointment. I believe you are permitted to cause minor damage if necessary, such as dragging the vehicle out the way or breaking a side window so you can release the handbrake.
It would depend on how confrontational you are prepared to be. I would get legal advice on this whether you need to do it or not.

Whether or not you can legally block another car in I don't know, but if was me and the property was mine, I would do it then worry about the police being called later.
You can't lock gates or bollards to prevent a vehicle from leaving unless they were already present before hand.

You could install fold down bollards at the entrance to the road or your driveway, but that won't stop selfish people parking in front of them.

I would suggest you try some or all of the following, making sure you get as many of the local residents affected as possible involved. Ten separate complaints will have more effect then one complaint with ten signatures.

Complain to your MP.

See if there is a local community bobby or PCSO who could come and talk to the motorists at the relevant times to explain the law and the consequences to them.

Get everyone in the street to write to the head teachers of the local schools and school governors explaining the problems, the legal situation, and instances of abuse.

State that if the problem is not resolved, the registration numbers of offending vehicles will be noted and the registered keeper details obtained from the DVLA.
There is a paper form that landowners can use to do this, (Form V888/3). Information about how to do this can be found here.

Request information about a vehicle or its registered keeper from DVLA - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Information about another vehicle or its registered keeper

You can ask for details of another vehicle’s registered keeper. You’ll need a ‘reasonable cause’, for example:
finding out who was responsible for an accident
tracing the registered keeper of an abandoned vehicle
tracing the registered keeper of a vehicle parked on private land
giving out parking tickets
giving out trespass charge notices

Point out that legal action for trespass may be taken against these motorists, and ask the school to warn parents who abuse your private property by parking there. Also point out that you are legally permitted to smash a window if you need to move a vehicle. (Quote any relevant law you can find)

Make a list of vehicle VRMs with dates and photographic evidence, then obtain offending vehicle keeper details and write a cease and desist letter to the registered keeper, warning them that a claim for trespass will be made against them if they continue.

If they persist, send a letter before claim. I believe the CAB has information on how to do this.

If they persist, issue a court claim. I believe there is no cost up to this point, only if you proceed with the claim.

Record video of any verbal or physical abuse and report it to the police. It is a crime. Report it to the school as well.
Whilst you may want to set up a private Facebook help group, do not share images on social media to which the public have access.

Seconded: I would be tempted to also explain to the schools that, should legal action be required, they would also be included it if they can be shown to have not done enough to assist (especially if they are state schools, therefore funded by the taxpayer).

D_P_Dance

 Someone could set up tent in my garden and there’s nothing I could do about it.

Not according to wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trespass

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injunction

I anm sure that, i you put in the hours, you can find more.

Coupon-mad

This is why the idea to put up a couple of posts where the private road starts is the easiest answer. 

The_Slithy_Tove

Coupon-mad said:

This is why the idea to put up a couple of posts where the private road starts is the easiest answer. 

I was thinking that. It's relatively cheap if all you do is string a chain between the posts, with a sign dangling from it saying "Private. No Parking." It doesn't need to lock. It will stop most people from venturing in. Though a couple of padlocks and a bunch of keys isn't too hard.

Potential downside is that people will simply park across the whole entrance to the road. But if they do that, they'd be on the public highway, so potentially something could be done. And you'll always get someone who'll be brazen enough just to remove the chain and park anyway.