I live in on a main road in a busy suburb of London and for the past year we have parked our car in the space in front of our house, where is fits comfortably.
We rent the house, and it does not have a dropped kerb. Before moving in, we questionned this and the landlord stated it was not an issue. A quick scan down the road confirms this as there are a handul of houses in a similar position.
Last week a councel representative came to visit us, saying they had received a complaint and it was illegal to cross the raised kerb and we can no longer park in front of our house. If we want to in the future we need to apply to drop the kerb otherwise we will face penalty/prosecution.
I am keen to understand the legal position on what seems a very minor offence, and one that is clearly happening a lot in the area.
The side streets in the area are always full, so I am keen to continue parking in front of the house, as the landlord will not pay to drop the kerb, however I wonder what risk I am running by continuing.
I am not sure if any of my neighbours have received similar complaints, but they are all still parking in front of their houses.
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> it was illegal to cross the raised kerb and we can no longer park in front of our house. If we want to in the future we need to apply to drop the kerb otherwise we will face penalty/prosecution.
It is indeed illegal to cross the pavement.
If your landlord will not pay for a dropped kerb, then you could apply for the convenience.
A dropped kerb, when registered with the council, will ensure no one parks across it.
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What offence did they say you would face penalty/prosecution for exactly?
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As for parking in front of the house - this is not an issue as it is a main road - there is no parking along it.
As for penalty/prosecution not sure - as my wife received the visit - i am keen to establish this fact as it will have a impact on whether i continue to park in front of the house of not!
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www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article...2
It's a street where villagers have parked in their driveways without a problem for more than half a century.
But then someone from the local council discovered the kerbs did not comply with the small print of the 1980 Highways Act.
So the residents were sent a letter ordering them to stop using their drives - or face a fine of up to £1,000.
Someone round here who persistently parked on their front garden, but was never caught driving over the kerb found a large bollard (or was it a street light) right in the way one day.
Edited by martint123 on 30/01/2010 at 21:22
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Don't know about the legal side but on a similar road near here only some of the houses with cars in the front garden had dropped kerbs. Then Kingston Council came along and put bollards along the edge of the pavement in front of those houses without dropped kerbs.
This was a few years ago but I remember seeing cars trapped in gardens. Now some of the bollards appear to have been cut off at ground level so I assume there is some battle of wills with the council.
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Its a reflection of the broken society that we live in that a council will incur expenditure to provide inconvenience (bollards) when the resource could be used to increase convenience (dropped kerb).
We had this when the road we lived in had a CPZ imposed upon it, we were one of a few houses in the road to have a small drive way (dropped kerb) so we used to park across our own drive way inconveniencing no one. What did the council do? - put a yellow line across our driveway reducing the parking capacity of the road beyond the effect of the marked bays.
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Woodster said:
What offence did they say you would face penalty/prosecution for exactly?
If any person shall wilfully ride upon any footpath by the side of a road set aside for the use of foot passengers then
Offence
and prohibited by Section 72 of the Highway Act 1835, amended by Section 85(1) of the Local Government Act 1888. This is punishable by a fixed penalty notice of £30 under Section 51 and Schedule 3 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. or if taken to Court £1000 fine
It remains a footpath IMHO until such time as dropped kerb installed which will create a lawful access to premises
dvd
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From previous threads on this subject I'm sure one of our more knowledgable members also pointed out that it can cause damage to the pavement and any underground "services" (gas, water, etc) by driving across them as they are often not built to take the weight of a vehicle.
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DVD, thanks, I've been awaiting the opportunity to make my point. Installing a dropped kerb does not alter the footpath itself, and therefore this offence remains when you drive across the footpath. Non?
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Depending on the construction of the footway the council may dig out and reinforce the footway to take vehicular loading.
Also when my footway crossing was built a couple of years ago the approval included a condition limiting use to vehicles not exceeding 2 tonnes. I do not know how and if this condition is ever enforced but a skip lorry left quite a mess in my neighbours footway.
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www.rbwm.gov.uk/web/sdop_dropped_kerbs_crossings.h...m
"Firstly, pavements are designed and constructed for pedestrian use. Persistent driving over or parking on a pavement may cause hazardous potholes or may damage underground cables and pipes, which can be dangerous and costly to repair. Secondly, it is an offence to drive a vehicle over a pavement or verge which is not part of a properly constructed vehicle crossing, and The Council has powers under the Highways Act 1980 to serve a Notice on offenders and recover all reasonable costs for building a vehicle crossing.
It is against the law for a vehicle to cross a footway other than via a properly constructed crossing."
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Surely if there's no dropped kerb there's no driveway? Of course you can park there, in fact I parked a spare car of mine over a (non dropped kerb) "driveway" deliberately for a week blocking the house owner's car in after they threatened my parents during a petty parking argument (it was either that or I clump 'em) the police turned up and rightly told them to get lost although they said I should act in a "neighbourly" fashion and left, the neighbours eventually swallowed their pride and knocked on my parents door apologising asking them to phone me so I can go round and move my car.
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......... I parked a spare car of mine over a (non dropped kerb) "driveway" deliberately for a week blocking the house owner's car in after they threatened my parents during a petty parking argument (it was either that or I clump 'em) the police turned up and rightly told them to get lost although they said I should act in a "neighbourly" fashion ............
Didn't the police suggest "civilised" as well as "neighbourly"?
;-)
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