Dropped trailers, local council or police?

[can't remember]

I wonder if any of you can help me out with a problem we are having at work?

Access to our warehouse is down a long, narrow service road that leads to a very wide dead end. The dead end is wide enough to allow 40' trailers to exit out of the service road, or at least it is wide enough when one of our neighbours doesn't drop trailers, on double yellows, opposite the service road.

The police say parking enforcement is the job of the local council. The local council say that as there is no tractor unit under the trailer (and thus no number plate on the trailer) it is not a parking issue it is an obstruction and therefore the police's problem. Can anyone clear this up?

Oh, I forgot to mention that the neighbour is a class one tool and talking to him, let alone reasoning with him, is impossible.

[vonhosen]

Sounds like an obstruction issue, but it not only needs to satisfy an obstruction definition but also an unnecessary definition for it to amount to an offence.

[Gavin0478]

If you are running 40' trailers can you not just ask one of the lads to hitch up to one of the trailers in the way and dump them into the neighbours land?

[OldGermanHeaps]

Is it a council unit? Tell them you are witholding rates until they sort the access?

[caelite]

Gavin0478 said:

If you are running 40' trailers can you not just ask one of the lads to hitch up to one of the trailers in the way and dump them into the neighbours land?

Was gonna say that, hell push come to shove some chain and a big SUV/Pickup should have the torque to drag a empty 40'er (about 5-7tons worth) down a flat street. Its going to damage the road & possibly the trailer as you drag the landing gear but evidently neither the council nor your neighbour cares so it should be alright.

[can't remember]

vonhosen said:

Sounds like an obstruction issue, but it not only needs to satisfy an obstruction definition but also an unnecessary definition for it to amount to an offence.

Is it an obstruction in real life? Yes. Is it unnecessary? He has two large yards the first of which is about 20m from where he drops his trailers the other is about 100m away.

I am guessing this might not be the legal answers or definitions though.

[vonhosen]

can't remember said:

vonhosen said:

Sounds like an obstruction issue, but it not only needs to satisfy an obstruction definition but also an unnecessary definition for it to amount to an offence.

Is it an obstruction in real life? Yes. Is it unnecessary? He has two large yards the first of which is about 20m from where he drops his trailers the other is about 100m away.

I am guessing this might not be the legal answers or definitions though.

Virtually anything left on the road satisfies obstruction, because it only has to reduce the available road actually be an obstruction, not render it impassable.
Whether it's unnecessary rest on it's own facts. Is it stopping people getting down the road?

[can't remember]

caelite said:

Gavin0478 said:

If you are running 40' trailers can you not just ask one of the lads to hitch up to one of the trailers in the way and dump them into the neighbours land?

Was gonna say that, hell push come to shove some chain and a big SUV/Pickup should have the torque to drag a empty 40'er (about 5-7tons worth) down a flat street. Its going to damage the road & possibly the trailer as you drag the landing gear but evidently neither the council nor your neighbour cares so it should be alright.

As someone who has previously used a forklift to end a dispute with someone using our car park to store his van I am all for this type of solution, but I have been advised that in this case it might be unwise to get in a direct confrontation as the guy is what could be described as a well connected 'local character'.

[can't remember]

vonhosen said:

can't remember said:

vonhosen said:

Sounds like an obstruction issue, but it not only needs to satisfy an obstruction definition but also an unnecessary definition for it to amount to an offence.

Is it an obstruction in real life? Yes. Is it unnecessary? He has two large yards the first of which is about 20m from where he drops his trailers the other is about 100m away.

I am guessing this might not be the legal answers or definitions though.

Virtually anything left on the road satisfies obstruction, because it only has to reduce the available road actually be an obstruction, not render it impassable.
Whether it's unnecessary rest on it's own facts. Is it stopping people getting down the road?

No. The road is a dead end leading to the neighbours' yard and our service road. The obstruction is caused by reducing the width of the road opposite our gates stopping 40 footers being able to exit through our gates.

[All that jazz]

It would be a terrible shame if the sharp edge of something you're carrying happened to catch on the curtains of the offending trailers as you were walking past.

Personally if they're blocking access or making it particularly difficult then I wouldn't give a fk how much of a "local character" he is and just move his trailer(s) to somewhere equally inconvenient for him, like across his gates. Even if you got the old bill or council involved he's still going to know it's you anyway.

[Gavin0478]

Would trailer storage be highlighted on his O licence?

[Super Slo Mo]

Ministry of transport or the local traffic commissioner or whatever they are called these days would be the best course of action.

It's contravening the terms of their O Licence so it's likely that something will get done about it.

Council and police are not really the right people to deal with it.