A Crime to Work on/Repair your own car ?
Discussion
Was busy fitting my bodylift this weekend, when out of nowhere comes some jobsworth community warden character, telling me that my insured T&T car cannot stay here ( outside my fking own home ) and that he's going to have to put me forward for prosecution as its illegal to repair a car at the roadside due to some act of 2005
mins later a whole vanload of the muppets turn up stopping in the street beside my car and blocking traffic all the way up to the top of the road.
by now im pretty irate as the body of my car is suspended on 3 jacks, and the old metal is slowly starting to buckle and sag, which is NOT good!
They finally directly ask me what im doing, as up until now they have just assumed im repairing the car.
i tell them im "upgrading it" all i receive back are stupid non-understanding blank looks
i tell them, the car is still drivable, and the only reason its in bits is because im "cleaning" EVERYTHING, to protect it for the coming winter from rust.
so i am NOT repairing a car at the roadside under your stupid act, so sod off and leave me be.
after this they left, but wtf..
the way i see this, is if you get a puncture at the roadside, and you begin to struggle to change the tyre by yourself, a jobsworth community warden can basically fine/prosicute you for repairing a car at the roadside.
how do i complain?
who do i complain to?
mins later a whole vanload of the muppets turn up stopping in the street beside my car and blocking traffic all the way up to the top of the road.
by now im pretty irate as the body of my car is suspended on 3 jacks, and the old metal is slowly starting to buckle and sag, which is NOT good!
They finally directly ask me what im doing, as up until now they have just assumed im repairing the car.
i tell them im "upgrading it" all i receive back are stupid non-understanding blank looks
i tell them, the car is still drivable, and the only reason its in bits is because im "cleaning" EVERYTHING, to protect it for the coming winter from rust.
so i am NOT repairing a car at the roadside under your stupid act, so sod off and leave me be.
after this they left, but wtf..
the way i see this, is if you get a puncture at the roadside, and you begin to struggle to change the tyre by yourself, a jobsworth community warden can basically fine/prosicute you for repairing a car at the roadside.
how do i complain?
who do i complain to?
SystemParanoia said:
Was busy fitting my bodylift this weekend, when out of nowhere comes some jobsworth community warden character, telling me that my insured T&T car cannot stay here ( outside my fking own home ) and that he's going to have to put me forward for prosecution as its illegal to repair a car at the roadside due to some act of 2005
mins later a whole vanload of the muppets turn up stopping in the street beside my car and blocking traffic all the way up to the top of the road.
by now im pretty irate as the body of my car is suspended on 3 jacks, and the old metal is slowly starting to buckle and sag, which is NOT good!
They finally directly ask me what im doing, as up until now they have just assumed im repairing the car.
i tell them im "upgrading it" all i receive back are stupid non-understanding blank looks
i tell them, the car is still drivable, and the only reason its in bits is because im "cleaning" EVERYTHING, to protect it for the coming winter from rust.
so i am NOT repairing a car at the roadside under your stupid act, so sod off and leave me be.
after this they left, but wtf..
the way i see this, is if you get a puncture at the roadside, and you begin to struggle to change the tyre by yourself, a jobsworth community warden can basically fine/prosicute you for repairing a car at the roadside.
how do i complain?
who do i complain to?
Crazy stuff. Send a letter to your local MP? mins later a whole vanload of the muppets turn up stopping in the street beside my car and blocking traffic all the way up to the top of the road.
by now im pretty irate as the body of my car is suspended on 3 jacks, and the old metal is slowly starting to buckle and sag, which is NOT good!
They finally directly ask me what im doing, as up until now they have just assumed im repairing the car.
i tell them im "upgrading it" all i receive back are stupid non-understanding blank looks
i tell them, the car is still drivable, and the only reason its in bits is because im "cleaning" EVERYTHING, to protect it for the coming winter from rust.
so i am NOT repairing a car at the roadside under your stupid act, so sod off and leave me be.
after this they left, but wtf..
the way i see this, is if you get a puncture at the roadside, and you begin to struggle to change the tyre by yourself, a jobsworth community warden can basically fine/prosicute you for repairing a car at the roadside.
how do i complain?
who do i complain to?
!I was vaguely aware of this but never thought it was a problem as I would never chose to work on a car on the road.
Based on what I read in the link I would say what you were doing was maintainance therefore applicable. He could have bothered you to check you weren't getting paid or if you were causing a nuisance: tools over the road impeding traffic pedestrian flow?
There are always two sides but I suspect the guy just wanted to flex his muscles a bit. I would let it slide TBH. Just remember the act for future reference so you can tell them, politely and calmly, you know and 'get lost' as I'm not doing anything wrong.
Based on what I read in the link I would say what you were doing was maintainance therefore applicable. He could have bothered you to check you weren't getting paid or if you were causing a nuisance: tools over the road impeding traffic pedestrian flow?
There are always two sides but I suspect the guy just wanted to flex his muscles a bit. I would let it slide TBH. Just remember the act for future reference so you can tell them, politely and calmly, you know and 'get lost' as I'm not doing anything wrong.
Edited by Buzz word on Monday 27th September 10:03
well i had an airline running across the pavement, but all my sockets were on my property on the other side of the wall.
all weekend i pretty much constantly had about 10 bikes upside down getting serviced next to me as well, as i allow the local kids on the street to use my tools on their bikes whenever im out tinkering with the car, i taught the older ones how, and now they show the younger ones, once they realise im out, they attack!
so its not like anyone was getting pissed off, as they are all the neighbours kids.. everybody's a winner!
Hope this sets the scene
also its a side road not a main road, and the kids came from pretty much every house on the street over the wkend.
all weekend i pretty much constantly had about 10 bikes upside down getting serviced next to me as well, as i allow the local kids on the street to use my tools on their bikes whenever im out tinkering with the car, i taught the older ones how, and now they show the younger ones, once they realise im out, they attack!
so its not like anyone was getting pissed off, as they are all the neighbours kids.. everybody's a winner!
Hope this sets the scene
also its a side road not a main road, and the kids came from pretty much every house on the street over the wkend.
AbarthChris said:
Bloody jobsworth muppets
Surely you're not suggesting that sort of mindset might apply to a traffic warden? 
I got done for loading a van on a single yellow while moving house a couple of years back. The reason? Instead of leaving the van in the road and obstructing the traffic, which she conceeded would have been perfectly legal, I put two wheels onto the pavement to let the other cars past while I load. This is a very wide stretch of pavement with plenty of room for wheelchairs, buggies etc. to get past (there's even a 'pavement parking' area 50 yards up the road, but it was full at the time) but the letter of the law said it was only legal to load there if I brought North London to a hlat for 10 minutes.
Coincidentally she was the spitting image - in looks and behaviour - of the traffic warden in Little Miss Jocelyn.
Love this bit:
Government busybodies said:
There are two exceptions. The first is where a person proves he was not repairing the vehicle in the course of a business (subsection (3)(a)).
So you now have to prove your innocence rather than it being assumed and them having to prove guilt. Nice WreckedGecko said:
It does mention "restricted works" what ever those may be,
Googled it;Repairs, servicing or improvement to car not as a direct result of a breakdown that is being resolved in a timely manner.
So basically service your car by the side of the road and someone complains your in for a £100 fine or you can plead your innocence in court and risk a fine of upto £2500. Sounds like a letter to your local MP and newspaper.
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