WTF - 'For Sale' signs now illegal?

[supraman2954]

Is this a wind up?

I was out just a few moments ago and saw a car for sale (with a valid tax disk displayed), legally parked on the road; nothing unusual there. However, stuck on the passenger window was an A4 size, luminous orange notice. I was so incensed by what it said; I just had to get a picture:





Are we now not allowed to put 'for sale' posters in our own cars? How far reaching is this ruling?
What about liveried vans and buses advertising goods and services, are these illegal too?
What about garage forecourts with the large, high signs showing the cost of its petrol, must these be hidden from view?
What about houses with ‘for sale’ signs, must these be taken down?
Why not go all the way and ban shops from displaying their goods through their windows?

…and officers of the council are actually going to investigate why there is a for sale sign in the car? When will this petty bureaucratic madness end?

I hate this fking country

......................................................................

grrrr, cheap Geocities crap. the page reached it's data transfer limit, apologies to those who can't see the picture. Here is what was on it:

Portsmouthcitycouncilnotice said:

Portsmouth City Council (miscellaneous Provisions) act 1982 NOTICE It is an offence to offer or expose any article including motor vehicles for sale in the street Under schedule 4 of the above act authorised officers of the council and police constables can prosecute individuals operating in this trade WARNING This is now under investigation Please direct enquiries regarding this notice to blah blah blah......

>>> Edited by supraman2954 on Wednesday 25th August 19:07

>>> Edited by supraman2954 on Wednesday 25th August 19:24

[ATG]

Petty officialdom gone beserk

[cdp]

I would be interested in knowing if it were a small trader who used the street as his forecourt (and stopping residents from parking) before getting to annoyed.

On the other hand if it's just an ordinary person trying to sell a car - rage ahead

[james_j]

Maybe yet another new public sector job created. They've got to do something to justify their job (paid out of our enourmous tax burden).

[Dwight VanDriver]

It seems obvious that the Local Council have had complaints of this type of Street Trading - the selling or exposing or offering for sale of any article with various permitted execptions, motor cars not included, for them to apply the prohibition as at Schedule 4 of the Act.

If Council haven't adopted this power then Ok to advertise.

Can be a bloody nuisance in cities and ask any Met Officers about Hot Dog Traders (illegal) round Buck House.

DVD

[Streetcop]

The real pains in the arse are the home owner car dealers....

3 or 4 cars outside and one across the road on the grass verge...all with the prices in big numbers on the sun visor...

They cause the complaints and then all and sundry suffer..

Street

[supraman2954]

Dwight VanDriver said:

.....Can be a bloody nuisance in cities and ask any Met Officers about Hot Dog Traders (illegal) round Buck House. DVD

DVD, hot dog trailers are one thing, my placing of a 'for sale' poster in my own car, even though it is parked in it's usual spot, is quite another. Wouldn't you agree?

[edc]

Streetcop said:

The real pains in the arse are the home owner car dealers.... 3 or 4 cars outside and one across the road on the grass verge...all with the prices in big numbers on the sun visor... They cause the complaints and then all and sundry suffer.. Street

Not quite the same but a house near here was prevented from running a minicab op - noise, cars etc were some of the complaints.

[towman]

Ther was a thing on Radio 4 a few weeks about this. It is definately targetted at the "rogue traders" who are flogging motors using a kerbside forecourt. R4 documentary was about Scarborough, where many legitimate dealers (who pay tax, rates etc) were unable to compete with the unlicenced dealers. Never thought I`d sympathise with a trader!

R4 said if you can prove you have owned the vehicle for a while (V5), you will not have a problem.

Steve

[DJFish]

There's a guy locally that sells c.£500 cars from a layby down the road, he's always out polishing like mad!
These powers are ok if people like him start to cause a problem but there should be guidelines for their use, otherwise they could be taken too far.
Mind you, said trader drives a Merc SL55 so you can't feel too sorry for him!

[lanciachris]

So this is a portsmouth only thing eh?

[sadako]

Didnt know you were down my area supraman ^_^ Truth be said i havnt seen a rogue trader car forecourt in pompey

[wanty1974]

See... told you so (check the other thread about For Sale signs in cars)!

South Wales Police & local councils are clamping down on this heavily. They won't go after Joe Bloggs trying to sell his pride and joy with a sign in the window, but they will clamp/tow away/prosecute 'layby traders' who store cars on roundabouts or laybys where it can be deemed a distraction to passing motorists.

There have been a number of high-profile prosecutions (and we're beginning to get our roundabouts back!)

[supraman2954]

sadako said:

Didnt know you were down my area supraman ^_^

hehe, maybe see you around?

sadako said:

Truth be said i havnt seen a rogue trader car forecourt in pompey

I agree. I've been living on this road for two years, there is rarely a car for sale on parked on it. It also is the only car for sale in the street. AFAIK, there has never been any problem with traders in the area.

I'll try to see if I can find out more.

[SpaceCowboy]

Hiya,

I'm pretty sure it's illegal to sell a motor vehicle on the public highway without a licence from the relevant local authority to do so.

If the car was parked on your own driveway or private property then, in my humble opinion, you should be fine.

[edc]

SpaceCowboy said:

Hiya, I'm pretty sure it's illegal to sell a motor vehicle on the public highway without a licence from the relevant local authority to do so. If the car was parked on your own driveway or private property then, in my humble opinion, you should be fine.

But if you are running a home business from a residential property you run into problems with 'change of use' or something like that. That's part of the reason the minicab company I referred to above was closed down.

[sadako]

supraman2954 said:

sadako said: Didnt know you were down my area supraman ^_^ hehe, maybe see you around?

Sure i'm mostly seen on tow to copnor bridge these days to get my old green rover going again. Not much longer and i'll have a nice MR2 with a bit of luck

[SpaceCowboy]

Edc,

wouldn't that depend on the content of the deeds of the individual property concerned?

[Heebee]

I think it's important that councils have this power, so long as they don't abuse it.

It's a common trick in the industry to try and flog cars as private sales. This is very dodgy, and often done to avoid consumer law, and the provision of a warranty.

There are quite a few of these individuals around where I live, and I'm sure a lot of them are trade-ins that the dealers don't want to get burned by.

[edc]

SpaceCowboy said:

Edc, wouldn't that depend on the content of the deeds of the individual property concerned?

Probably, I'm not entirely sure tbh.

The gist of what I understand is that if a property is for residential use only then business operations such as car sales or minicabbing can mean that the property is no longer in use as a residence and that the business would have to apply for a change of use or something worded to that effect. Mot of these closures I've seen seem to stem from complaints from neighbours etc.