Private Roads and the Law
Discussion
ging84 said:
The letter of the law says nothing of the sort anyway
It forbids the use of a handheld phone while driving a motor vehicle on a road.
Parked in a layby, you are not driving, and potentially not even on a road.
How do you explain this thenIt forbids the use of a handheld phone while driving a motor vehicle on a road.
Parked in a layby, you are not driving, and potentially not even on a road.
http://www.nopenaltypoints.co.uk/legal-use-mobile-...
Years ago a friend of mine was living with a lass in a flat above a pub (it was actually the landlords daughter) he was a bricklayer and was "rained off" one friday, so came home and had a bit of a lunchtime session downstairs, before retiring upstairs for a snooze. The pub is located on a corner and the carpark is diagonal at the front and is open at both ends to either of the roads, he'd parked in the carpark but was infront of the cellar shutters. Later in the afternoon the pub got an unscheduled dray delivery which even though they were now closed they accepted because they needed it, matey is asked to move his car and goes to reverse it about 10 feet. Unfortunately as the dray lorry was in the road waiting to get in, a school run mum in her impatience decided to cut through the carpark and avoid waiting for the lorry to move, she drove straight into the side of matey as he reversed, police called, breath test and arrested.
It went to court and even though the "Public House" was closed and therefore at the time a "Private Residence" and he was effectively on his own drive, the fact that it was open to public access meant that he was prosecuted and banned for 18 months. Ironically he was also found to be at fault and the insurance claim went against him. The then bollarded one end of the carpark to prevent cut throughs, and learnt a lesson from it!
It went to court and even though the "Public House" was closed and therefore at the time a "Private Residence" and he was effectively on his own drive, the fact that it was open to public access meant that he was prosecuted and banned for 18 months. Ironically he was also found to be at fault and the insurance claim went against him. The then bollarded one end of the carpark to prevent cut throughs, and learnt a lesson from it!
We live on an originally Council Maintained Lane loop that's been there since the dawn of time. The un-surfaced lane runs about a 1.5 miles in total, through a farmyard, past our house and rejoins the 'main lane', (it's very rural Devon), after running through woodland. We've lived there for 45 years and to our knowledge the Council haven't maintained it for at least that length of time and we surfaced our section in about 1972. We have a gates at both ends of the property although these are usually open. The Lane itself effectively became a no through road in 1987 when the Hurricane brought down so many trees that it was completely buried. Visitors were very few and far between as normally any passing traffic would go around - then came the Sat-Nav visitors following instructions that claim that the road is present and open, despite not being so for 28 years! Still not sure why the maps haven't been updated in all this time? Sorry for my ramble but the question is - So when does a road cease to be a road ?
The private Tarmac driveway to my parents house is about half a mile long and is open at the end where it meets the public highway (no gates).
Since we were kids we have driven up and down it in non-road legal vehicles such as quads, dune buggies etc... And as kids we would also drive our parents cars on it.
Despite this thread being quite confusing, am I to assume we were breaking the law?
Since we were kids we have driven up and down it in non-road legal vehicles such as quads, dune buggies etc... And as kids we would also drive our parents cars on it.
Despite this thread being quite confusing, am I to assume we were breaking the law?
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