not really sure if this correct forum? iam enquiring for the in-laws I Must make clear "they are not a moaning/complaining type of people"
but they have an issue with drivers parking + blocking their driveway + gate which is the access to their garden path?? meaning they have to either squeeze threw any type of gap between iron gate +vehicle!!! fair enough as the mum n law said herself "would not bother her too much if she was a spring chick" they have even compromised by booking a taxi many times rather than try + locate the owner/drivers?? asto be able to drive their car out of their driveway??
but both my inlaws are over 60 now + the ol arther is enough to cope+ deal , without falling.
now me mumnlaw is worried for her +dad nlaws health they really dont want to cause any undue fuss ...!!!! but surley they have rights?? please any advice or help ....thanks in advance x

Just checking... do they have a dropped kerb for their driveway?

If they have an official dropped kerb then they have a leg to stand on. If they've just stuck a hole in their garden wall then they don't.

Police would be interested if this was blocking their access TO the public highway but if it's just preventing them access to their drive then they wouldn't get involved.

Even with a dropped kirb gives you no right to the space outside your house its just common curtesy not to park in front of someones drive.

Traffic Management Act 2004

86 Prohibition of parking at dropped footways etc.
(1)In a special enforcement area a vehicle must not be parked on the carriageway adjacent to a footway, cycle track or verge where—.
(a)the footway, cycle track or verge has been lowered to meet the level of the carriageway for the purpose of—.
(i)assisting pedestrians crossing the carriageway,.
(ii)assisting cyclists entering or leaving the carriageway, or.
(iii)assisting vehicles entering or leaving the carriageway across the footway, cycle track or verge; or.
(b)the carriageway has, for a purpose within paragraph (a)(i) to (iii), been raised to meet the level of the footway, cycle track or verge..
This is subject to the following exceptions.
(2)The first exception is where the vehicle is parked wholly within a designated parking place or any other part of the carriageway where parking is specifically authorised..
A “designated parking place” means a parking place designated by order under section 6, 9, 32(1)(b) or 45 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (c. 27).
(3)The second exception is where the vehicle is parked outside residential premises by or with the consent (but not consent given for reward) of the occupier of the premises..
This exception does not apply in the case of a shared driveway.

I have had a ticket for this in the past even though i was not really blocking the drive, the guy could get in and out but was being fussy.

The law isnt very clear, if they cant get in then no law is broken if they cant get out then they are breaking a law, it isnt a road traffic offence though if i recall, someone please correct me if i am wrong.

Look up The Traffic Management Act 2004.

It's about as clear as mud but it's illegal to park in front of a dropped kerb when in an enforcement area with the exception of;

- When you're in a parking space
- When you're parked outside residential premises with the consent of the occupier of the premises -- as long as you're not paying for parking.
-When loading or unloading for 20 minutes or less.
-Works such as gas and water, or road works.
-It's an armed forces vehicle.

Buy a tank and you can park it over your neighbours driveway with no issues.

I think the most important thing here is whether or not an 'illegal obstruction' has occurred and this would be the case if someone parked in such a way that it was blocking access to the public highway.

Its deffo not a road traffic offence.

Dammit Phil, I took a phone call as I was typing my reply and then I pressed submit... you'd already boxed it off!

But can be classed as a criminal offence if a few different criteria are met.

yes they have a dropped kerb ,, and must mention (not sure makes a difference) they live on corner of cul-de-sac ! also makes it a danger for any body who want/need to pass the inlaws too , blocks view of any oncoming drivers...if they not looking+checking properly... ?? also positive the driveway is ease of access for a disabled driver....didn't want to mention that! really? since thats not 1st reason for this issue !!! hope you all can understand were i coming from? xx

Do they block your in-laws from leaving?

Where did you get that from?

Interesting this thread as only the other week i came across the same situation at my mums.

She lives in a cul de sac of 24 houses, the circled bit is 4 houses long so there is plenty of room to turn a car round but as for parking thats a different story. My mum has lived there for early 50 years now, so from not many people then having cars to 1 or2 in same family the cars have become more and as well people have made their fronts gardens in to drives.
As my mum lives squashed into the corner with only the width of the front gate she canmt do that so when any one goes to visit hers or have anything delivered they cant get near her house.
Its now about 90% of the 24 houses that now have drives so there is nowhere to park.
But it seems this will be a problem that will never go away as we went to the one stop shop and they put us in touch with someone who said there is nothing that can be done, so all visiters to my mums have to park at trhe top end of the cul de sac eve though she lives at the bottom end,

cheers guys 1 last thing i'd like to ask .....
who? / how? do i make a complaint or bring this issue to the attention of? maybe as a concerned joe member of public ? as my mum nlaw is bit worried over repercussions from angry we dont want any @dawn or evening any time of the day to be honest!!! xxxxx

Ask a CSO if you see them wandering down the street... They tried to charge me for obstruction when I was parked outside my house and some pillock blocked the road by parking on the opposite side but too close to me... I know it's a different situation but they seemed quite clued up...

just cannot understand , road rage and have no key in ignition !!!!! but there again my in laws are fair +understanding decent people + their neighbours who own vehicles are not problem its thier visitors or school drops or work vans left + work man could be 2 mins away or half hours walk away from were actually parked????
seriouly thinking off reverting to joey's mam "BREAD" COUPLE OF TRAFFIC CONES OUT EVERY morning...!!!

hhhm ! okay cheers

tank ? good yeah but do i need road tax ???

First, get your relatives to keep a "log" of how often this blocking happens, and the Reg number(s) of the vehicles concerned. You need to target collecting about a dozen entries in the log.

THEN I suggest you go to ::

http://www.merseyside.police.uk/index.aspx?articleid=177

And find the HQ of the police area that covers the propertry concerned. Then using the calm and civilised tone of your post on Wiki go and have a "word" with the desk guy at that HQ.

Show them the log that has been collected (and a few photos and a Google Earth map pic will help a LOT).

I had a similar problem and the nice guy in the Wallasey East (Moreton) HQ had an officer call round within a few days "just to have a look what it was all about".

Snod

The none emergency police number should be first port of call if she finds herself trapped in her own driveway.

Other than that, there's not that much you can do about it.

I'd suggest calling Phil and asking him to tow it out of the way!!

Once upon a time someone parked over an entrance to a car park belonging to a client of mine. He got lucky though because someone broke into the car and also took the handbrake off.

Strange how these things happen.

Maybe, I'm no expert in road tax, but you have just reminded me that mine runs out tomorrow... oops.

I got access to some military hardware that could be parked somewhere for a few hours...............

What's military about that...

It can fly from planet to planet whilst blasting out Blur on the stereo?

not alot alex but the british gas logo should be some clue to let you know that its not................

Was just wondering if you can leave your car in a car park without tax?

depends if its public land or not mate and if its private land it has to be SORN

Does the driveway itself have a gate? If so, how about putting one of those signs up that says driveway in constant use?

There is one fella by mine who has put a sign on his gate saying do not park opposite, his gates.

Well I make sure I park my car opposite his gate, as he has no right to put sign up saying that.

Is this a polite sign or an order type of sign ie: is there a word such as please on it

id just bump it out into the road a bit,only takes a couple of people and then report the car for obstructing the road...

it just say please, do not park opposite

yes but what right has some one got to say do not park your car opposite my house, if it was you living there and you bump my car out of the way, you would be on my camera, and you would find your self in the cells.

Ive done this before, bumped an obstructing car across a road and called police. Works, we all witnessed it being parked as so!
Dont know about a tank for ease of parking...but a Fork Truck does work, just dont look too closely under the car afterwards...not good !!

This happened to a work college.

He just moved into a new road, and with his girlfriend pregnant parked up at 11:30pm as she needed to peeeeeeeee

Anyways.
He woke up thinking his car had been stolen.
After calling the police it was found that it had been town away at about 8:30am in the morning.

We looked on google earth street view at where he had parked and etc and was he obstructing the drive way?

He was a tiny bit over, but the point was there were no cars on the drive way at 11:30pm. What seems to have happened is that the owners daughter came home at Midnight and must have got on the drive as the complaint stated the car was removed because she could not get out the drive.

He had only just moved so the reg check showed his old address and no one could knock on the door and say can you move it.

The crazy think is when we told him to ring up and as what offence had been broken NO ONE at first could say. No Reference and its states nothing under the highway code as it was not in a dangerous place. It took 2 days to get a cryptic answer about what Traffic law had been broken.

This cost him £180 for not following it up. (Cost of Recovering the Vehicle).
And by all accounts the police officer that was called to the house was the one that called the tow away, but no photographs of the offence nothing. Just his street opinion and not a Traffic police officer deciding on a Traffic Offence.

Personally i would have followed it up and fought it all the way.
But that's me.

So be warned is it a mess you want to get into?

I wonder if there were any no win no fee's solicitors that would have had a go at this.

So can someone just put a sign up on the back gate that says, Do not park opposite my gate.

People can stick their own signs up but no one has any leagal obligation to obey them. It also makes them look like silly little englanders.

Common courtesy to leave someone's drive clear - if there is another space you could park in.
I wonder if there is anything in the law about blocking in
anybody who could be on emergency callout such as a doctor etc

Well I will continue to park there, as I do not believe he has any right to stop people parking on other side of road.
He has no dropped kerb, he just cut a hole in back wall and put a set of gates in.
And ever since he told me am not allowed to park there, I now continue to do so.

Some body parked over my drive on saturday and went to watch a football match on the delph.I needed to take my car off the drive as i had to be some where and could not get out .So i rang the police gave them the reg and they told me that it is an offence to park over some one`s drive .I had to get a taxi in the end which pissed me off They came and found out who it was give them a right mouth full and they had to move it , so if any of you think it`s ok to park across a drive it really is inconvenient .I have now decided if this happens again i will use 2 cars bumper to bumper and i`ll refuse to let him out, equals

June, I would of let all his tyres down & said to him you want to park there mate then you fooking stay there now.

Hi pepper that`s right, but the little turd then knows where i live and in the middle of the night? no don`t think so, bumper to bumper and go out for the day. Maybe he can get a cab home.Joking appart it is bad manners though ,It`s not some thing i personally would do Idiots

phone the council he cant drive over the pavement unless he has a dropped kerb. they will do the work and bill him around £800 then he could justify his sign lol

Parking has been decriminalised on the Wirral so its mostly a council issue (although obstruction is still a police matter).

The ASBO team deal with persistent inconsiderate parking offenders as it is considered anti-social.

I think you need planning permission to put a new vehicular access into a property through a boundary wall.

You can pay to have a white line across an entrance - last I heard it was £80 but may be more by now.

All the above imho.

paid 56 quid for mine

yes they block inlaws from leaving !! im still trying to resolve this issue for my inlaws

i'd like to say a great bigg thankyou to you all my newly found wiki friends ... i will keep yous updated on any progress x

if people are parking over the driveway you can get in touch with street scene and pay to get a solid white line over the drive and any1 caught parking over it will get a parking fine.
i have the same trouble at the moment. incosidderant arseholes. (appologies of spelling) woman parks her car over my drive and it doesnt move all week :@ i have thought about just putting my foot down and ploughing into the car to mave her move haha

Slash tyres!!

Not sure if you're right about that. My dad is a disabled driver, and we wanted to get a disbled parking bay outside his house, but the council told us the bay would not be 'enforcable'. I suspect its the same for the white lines. Things may have changed. I don't know. But don't assume the white lines will solve the problem.

lol

How Rude is that ,she actually parked over your drive .I think hoseman is right

if you have a blue badge the line is free,