Last night I was feeling pleased with myself for finding a parking space on the street and avoiding car park rip-off. Then SWMBO pointed out a yellow "H" on the (cut-off) lamppost next to where I parked. I had to leave the space as I wasn't sure if I could legally park there, or if this is just an American rule. I've often found no spaces on this particular stretch.
Is it illegal and has anyone actually been ticketed for this? And if so, what is the rule for the size of gap that needs to be left? A car's length? A fire engine's length?
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Mattster
Boycott shoddy build and reliability.
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That reminds me of the Marx Bros sketch in The Big Store, when Harpo carries a spare hydrant around. He puts it down next to a car that is just parking, then tells the handy policeman. Policeman tells motorist to move his car, Harpo removes his hydrant and parks there instead.
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It reminds me of the film (Backdraft, I think) where the fireman smashes the windows of the car parked next to the hydrant so that he can pass his hosepipe through.
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The H sign is there to tell the Fire Brigade that the Hydrant is nearby, there will be a surface-cover in the pavement marked FH.
You can park on the road next to these.
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>You can park on the road next to these.< ..or perhaps not if the car is on top of the hydrant? The sign should indicate how far in front of it the hydrant is.
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"...the fireman smashes the windows of the car parked next to the hydrant so that he can pass his hosepipe through."
Like this?
www.bmwworld.com/driving/signs/bmws.htm
I've been told, by a fire officer, that if you park on top of a hydrant cover in the UK and the Fire Brigade need access to it in a hurry, they'll drag the car aside with the appliance, and will put a chain through the windows if required. The insurance doesn't cover the damage. It could be a yarn, but they'd have no options in some circumstances.
There must be something in the Highway Code about this (assuming it is true) but I've never checked.
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There is no law that says you can not park on top of a fire hydrant. If you do park on top of one then we will move the car if it is needed, either pushing it off or by using little trolleys we put under the wheels and jacking the wheels of the ground. The hydrant plate tells us diameter of the water main (top figure) and distance to hydrant from plate(bottom figure).
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its obstruction, plenty of laws on obstruction
seen cars parked so as to narrow down the only entrance to a street with fire in progress pushed aside by fire engine, would do the same in their place
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I remember years ago in our last house some people had double parked. We couldn't get through in a Mondeo so had to come in at the other end but that afternoon, there was a fire in one of the houses (some idiot had attempted DIY roof repairs with a blow torch ) which required 2 appliances. Sadly, I missed what happaned but got told my my neighbour that the appliance just drove to the back of one the cars and pushed it away. Sure enouugh, the back the car the next day was crumpled slightly...
.....it never doubled parked from then on!
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Adam
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"...the back the car the next day was crumpled slightly..."
That must have been an unpleasant surprise for him, when he returned from repairing the roof.
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I have never heared of these little trolley things. Are they an invention of your brigades' workshops?
What happens more often than hydrants being obstructed is poor/inconsiderate parking of cars making it difficult or impossible to get the machine down a street.
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You can get the wheel trolleys from motorsport suppliers such as Demon Tweeks, they are used to maneuover racing cars around in pit garages and the like.
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A true story I heard concerned some open-plan houses with no front fences that all had nice front lawns and their own drives but they parked their cars on the road. On a fire call one day the engine drove across all their lawns and left deep ruts. The leading fireman's response to the irate householders who accosted him was, I don't have time to go knocking on doors when there is a fire. You park on your drives and I will use the road.
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There was a fire at a Glasgow hospital during the war when an engine was driven over a lawn; not so cleverly, because it bogged down. Someone (my old man I think) had the idea of calling upon the American army, camped just across the main road. They turned up with much enthusiasm and a vast 6x6 truck, anchored it very firmly on hard stand, across a drive, and winched the engine out by main force. The result was trenches rather than ruts, and the gardener almost weeping. I can testify to that episode because I saw it.
(The conflagration was of accumulated birds' nests in a ventilator!)
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