Cul-De-Sac

[VladD]

Morning all.

Got a minor problem and was wondering if anyone knows the legalities.

I live at the end of a Cul-De-Sac. There are 4 houses, including mine, whose drives enter the road at the very end, in the "turning circle". One of the owners has a caravan on his drive and a various points has a trailer and up to three cars knocking about. Rather than park the various cars further down the road, he tends to just park off the end of his drive. This makes it very difficult for anyone to come up and turn round and equally for us to turn round when leaving or returning to the house.

Though there are no yellow lines, is he beaking any law by parking there or is he just being inconsiderate and we'll have to live with it.

Thanks.

[hedders]

If you complain, tyhe council will probably screw up all your lives by putting yellow lines, and parking restrictions in place.

This is what happened in the little cul de sac i lived in when someone complained about something. We went from no parking issues and free parking to having to pay to have parking issues.

[XMG5]

Is the vehicle actually on the road or is it on his drive and merely overhangs part of the road?

Is the road maintained at public expense or is it a private road?

[VladD]

Some times half on and half off and sometimes fully off. It is not a private road.

[gridgway]

surely you can't have a vehicle on the pavement? ie overhanging from the end of the drive.
Graham

[VladD]

There is no pavement. The drive goes straight on to the road for the end houses.

[XMG5]

You have two courses of action. Obstructing the public road is an offence which can be dealt with by the police, if they deem it serious enough - unlikely so they'd probably suggest the second course of action....point out the problem to the culprit and ask if it possible to park his vehicle(s) further up his drive to prevent the overhang.

Unfortunatley the honest truth is you'll probably have to live with it. My personal experience of similar inconsiderate parking is that the offender usually has no common sense to go with their measure of inconsideration, consequently THEY don't see the problem they cause.

Whether you say anything is determined by how much use you think it'll be for you and whether the culprit is likely to respond positively to your approach.

[J1mmyD]

Yes, he's being an inconsiderate w****r but he's also obstructing the public highway.

S 137 Highways Act, 1980:

If a person without lawful authority or excuse in any way wilfully obstructs the free passage along a highway, they are guilty of an offence.

First things first ... knock on the door and ask him to move it so you can get out/park more considerately in order to allow easier access.

If this gets you nowhere, a quick call to the local BiB might be called for.

(Are these cars stopping you getting to/from your property? Causing a hazard? Just an annoyance?)

[VladD]

He's not blocking access to anything, he's just making it very difficult to turn around at the end of the road.

I guess if it's not illegal for him to park there, then I'll just leave it. Don't want to sour relationships in a friendly close.

Thanks for the advice.

[wackydo]

So, no chance to have a friendly chat to him about it then ????

[bigdods]

Check your house deeds. I live in a cul-de-sac which is a public road BUT we all have a covenant in our deeds which specifies we may not keep a caravan, boat or commercial vehicle on our drive or parked on or partially on the roadway at any time.

[wolf1]

wackydo said:

So, no chance to have a friendly chat to him about it then ????

I'm with him ^^^^^^ Better to have a friendly word than establish a neighbours from hell situation and then have to declare it when you eventually sell your house

[fangio]

If you are talking about a 'hammerhead', this is a turning point and AFAIK should not be obstructed in law. It's so the emergency services can turn round and so large vehicles do not reverse on to a major road.

[flemke]

Situations such as this one are why tyre valves were invented. Go for it.

[VladD]

The only problem with a friendly chat is that it may be intended as friendly, but it could still be taken badly. Some people get very defensive and that's how neigbour problems start.

I'll check the deeds and maybe have a quiet chat with the local BiBs to see if they have an opinion.

[oldie]

Some councils put restrictions on vehicles that can be parked on drives using dropped kerbs - might be worth a look at what can be parked and a quiet word with the local council to chat with tis bloke might solve your probs.

[BliarOut]

VladD said:

The only problem with a friendly chat is that it may be intended as friendly, but it could still be taken badly. Some people get very defensive and that's how neigbour problems start. I'll check the deeds and maybe have a quiet chat with the local BiBs to see if they have an opinion.

Talking to the police will definitely rub someone up the wrong way. Ask most people nicely and I'm sure they'll understand... Start having a sneaky word about them to the police behind their back and you'll probably make an enemy for life.

If the conversation is going badly apologise, restate your good intentions and start again. Diplomacy is a dying art