[Closed] Removing a taxed+insured abandoned car.

My mate just went through something like this with an Audi dumped outside his house by a local idiot. It was towed away when the tax and insurance expired. Didn't seem to be anything the police could do before that.

Similar experience myself a few years back. Contacted the police and told them I thought the vehicle was abandoned. They contacted the registered owner and asked them informally if they could move it as it was annoying people. It vanished a few weeks later.

Nothing can be done if they are legally parked and taxed/insured etc.

And nothing should be done either.

How is it different from a different vehicle parking in the same spot every day/night.

Might be able to do something with environmental health or local council if they are unlicensed for waste removal but it's unlikely.

If they have flat tyres could they be removed on the grounds they aren't in a road legal safe condition?

"Nothing can be done if they are legally parked and taxed/insured etc.
And nothing should be done either.
How is it different from a different vehicle parking in the same spot every day/night."

Nobody's making a moral judgement here. This is a purely legal question.

Are they carrying hazardous waste?
Are they licensed to do so?
APF

Doesn't sound abandoned to me. Sounds parked - just like every other car at the side of the road in the UK cluttering the place up.

Having flat tyres isn't unsafe if the vehicle is parked.

Not suggesting you do this, but a guy on our street used to tax and insure his pile of junk just to annoy a neighbour, police couldn't do anything, but one night the number plates mysteriously disappeared. Couple of days later the car got towed never to be seen again....

"If they have flat tyres could they be removed on the grounds they aren't in a road legal safe condition?"

That's the kind of thing I'm wondering and my reasoning for asking the question. I doubt these vehicles are roadworthy and I doubt they'd pass and MOT. I suspect there might be all kinds of other reasons these vehicles could be towed. This thread is to explore those.

If someone left a coke can there it would be removed soon enough.

"Are they carrying hazardous waste?"

Looks to me like roofing material. Fibreglass insulation and various scrap wood. Nothing worth putting on a woodburner. 🙁

And nothing should be done either.

How is it different from a different vehicle parking in the same spot every day/night.

Well, it sounds like a way of someone avoiding paying the fee to have a skip. Makes you wonder why you can't just dump a skip anywhere you like and pretend that it's a car... 😉

sprinkle some asbestos on it and phone it in 😈

because the skip doesnt have tax mot and insurance ?

More so - do you really think that buying , taxing , moting and insuring a van is cheaper than a skip ?

if i were prime minister - no car unless you have somewhere on the road to store your litter off the street.

but that is one of many reasons why ill never be prime minister.

get it on fix my street.

We had a van like yours. The Police/Council not interestedbecause it was taxed and insured.

However, they only got interesed when all the parking offences were pointed. Such facing the wrong way, no lights at night, only slightly blocking an emergency access to the seawall, flat tyres, broken windscreen etc. Then suddenly in dissapered.

Look for every little fault and point it out.

If there is nothing, you might have to suck it up.

Post a picture of the vehicle and overall scene here for debate.

trail_rat

More so - do you really think that buying , taxing , moting and insuring a van is cheaper than a skip ?

They might be clones.

Call the council. Some councils have bye laws which allow them to issue 7 day notices on nuisance vehicles which appear to be abandoned. No response to the notice and they get towed.

"They might be clones"

well you'd need to prove it.

judging by what i see colleagues cars failing MOTs on it seems the average punter hasnt clue on what is a pass/fail on mot anyway.

trail_rat

"They might be clones"

well you'd need to prove it.

Hard to prove but easy to do. If you were an unscrupulous builder with a couple of old vans that are uneconomical repairs/mot fails stick plates from your road worthy taxed and insured vans on there and leave them. Free skip.

Abandoning vans like that might be within the letter of the law but certainly not the spirit of it.

i agree.

but equally having vehicles removed just because you dont like the look of them without proof they are doing anything wrong other than existing isnt right either.......

Would any one be batting an eye lid if it was a very nice looking range rover parked there for a couple of months while its owner was away with work?

I am with neal - if it's parked legally and taxed/insured it should be left alone.

OP the only angle I think you have is to contact the council and say its a hazard as they are storing "materials" on the street, tbh if its just building rubbish and nothing particuarly flammable or chemical I think you'll have a tough time.

"I am with neal - if it's parked legally and taxed/insured it should be left alone."

Well yes. That's why people are searching for reasons why it is *not* legally parked.

its spoiling your view is a starter for 10.

I left a note on a parked minivan outside our house once, asking the owners not to park there in future.

Nothing illegal or dangerous or anything, I just didn't like the look of the shabby old wreck. In fact I found it offensive, and unpleasing to mine eye. Proper tatty, with dents and scrapes, and bits of gaffer tape everywhere.

I've never seen it since. 🙂

trail_rat

Would any one be batting an eye lid if it was a very nice looking range rover parked there for a couple of months while its owner was away with work?

They would if it was sitting on flat tyres and filled with rubbish.

Roofing materials not being disposed of....

Corrogated sheets?

Storage of waste on the street in a non suitable container?

Looks to me like roofing material. Fibreglass insulation and various scrap wood. Nothing worth putting on a woodburner.

I'd report it to the council saying you're concerned that there may be asbestos which is exposed to anyone passing on that street.

Is the fibreglass all bagged and sealed as required by any council waste disposal facility? Even if it's not carcinogenic it's pretty nasty stuff.

Ask the council for a residents parking permit scheme, then you'll have "your" street all to yourselves.

"I left a note on a parked minivan outside our house once, asking the owners not to park there in future.

Nothing illegal or dangerous or anything, I just didn't like the look of the shabby old wreck. In fact I found it offensive, and unpleasing to mine eye. Proper tatty, with dents and scrapes, and bits of gaffer tape everywhere.

I've never seen it since. "

sounds like you live next door to my mate in pitlochry and it was my car. I was visiting - cheers for running the key down the side of my already tatty and dented car - i couldnt give a shit. Itll be back.

Ask the council for a residents parking permit scheme, then you'll have "your" street all to yourselves.

And the joy of paying for the permits....they start off free , then once the foots in the door there is an admin fee ....then its 50 quid a year etc - watched it happen in garthdee when the residents wanted it to keep the students from parking in the streets.

"Ask the council for a residents parking permit scheme, then you'll have "your" street all to yourselves."

That's been an ongoing discussion for 30 years which never goes anywhere because as many locals benefit from unrestricted parking as lose out from it. (Personally, I prefer it as it is.)

@cgg and @JV, thanks, I'll suggest trying those approaches.

Do you have a local PCSO?

It might be worth asking their view. And they might be able to do something about it.

"sounds like you live next door to my mate in pitlochry"

I don't. In fact I don't even know where Pitlochry is. 😳

"residents parking permit scheme"

Such a scheme is being mooted in our area. Met with a lot of vehement resistance by people who mostly live elsewhere. Likely to go ahead though.

I'm thinking of buying an old banger and taxing it, then use the registration to get a residents' permit (then just scrapping the car), which I can then 'rent' to someone else, thus making a tidy profit. Any thoughts on this?

They typically tie permits to registration plates. Also you may find a friendly neighbour takes exception to what you are doing acts like nimby and reports you but given your previous comment I take it that you wouldn't have a problem with that.

Anyone else picture trail rat like this? 😛
[img] [/img]

not far off it when im at work 😀

[img] [/img]

part of why im starting a new job in the new year. just filling in time right now - didnt get gardening leave 🙁

"Also you may find a friendly neighbour takes exception to what you are doing acts like nimby and reports you but given your previous comment I take it that you wouldn't have a problem with that."

😀

I suspect that most of our non car-owning neighbours would be well up for doing similar actually. Currently, we have pretty much all the street occupied by cars in the daytime, which seem to be owned by people who drive in from other places, and 'park and ride'. We'd much rather make some money from this ourselves, if we have to put up with the cars anyway. I personally don't really have a problem with cars parked outside, just not that tatty minivan. 😆

"They typically tie permits to registration plates."

Aw, boo! 😡

Back home if this happened, the offending vehicle would mysteriously move one night so that it was dangerously close to a junction. The council and/or Police would find out somehow and it would vanish a couple of days later.

All by magic.

Slightly harder with a loaded van I guess.

I'm thinking of buying an old banger and taxing it, then use the registration to get a residents' permit (then just scrapping the car), which I can then 'rent' to someone else, thus making a tidy profit. Any thoughts on this?

yes, mate of mine lives within a residents parking area. pain in the ass.

1) yes the main household ticket (which you pay for annually!) has your cars reg on it

2) visitors have a scratch off visit ticket (also paid for annually) of which there is a very limited number - unless you buy more.

its been tightened up over the years due to abuse.

i don't visit him because its a pain. 😀

Residents parking schemes are a proper PITA, I always assumed they were thrust upon areas by the council rather than desired by the residents*

*Except in areas where most don't own cars.

Not that I can't see the reason for them when there are too many cars needing a space - just really wouldn't want to live somewhere with one.

Permit parking is a bit of a tangent here. This is two or three specific vehicles being used as long term garbage storage in a street that has no other parking problems.

That garbage may be his prized possessions

One man's trash n all that 😉

"Residents permits are always (in my experience) linked to a specific car rather than address"

Sadly, in relation to my evil capitalist plans, you're probably right. 🙁

"Residents parking schemes are a proper PITA, I always assumed they were thrust upon areas by the council rather than desired by the residents*

*Except in areas where most don't own cars.

Not that I can't see the reason for them when there are too many cars needing a space - just really wouldn't want to live somewhere with one."

Car ownership is quite high per household here. Lots of residents complaining they can't park close to their houses, because of non-residents parked there. If revenue from parking permits goes towards improving local services (and paying for stuff like bike lanes etc), then I'm all for it. I'd even leave that old banger there just to have the permit. I could then use the car to store non-valuable stuff in. 😀

oh no around here its 50 quid per vehicle just to administer the scheme - goes straight into council coffers.

FWIW OP seriously if it was around my neck of the woods and it was none of the neighbours(we all know each other after all there are only 10 of us) and had been sat for a long enough to annoy folk. it would have been hooked up to the tractor and moved to somewhere safe but enough of an issue to get it towed by the police.

But it's not your vehicle, it's not actually doing any harm, so what 'right' do you think you have to have it removed?

you dont know where i live.

private road innit.

I suppose the issue is that those vans are taking up spaces that could be used by others, who actually live there?
Near to me there was a street which was filled with cars by a bloke who used to sell / strip for spares and he'd park them on his road until he sold them or moved them for stripping. I counted at least a dozen. I know he did this, because I actually bought some stuff off him, which is when the penny dropped.
I can't imagine the rest of the residents were too pleased. It seemed to reach a head when a particularly snotty note was placed on the windsceeen of one of "his" vehicles, within a week ALL of the cars just went. So I suspect the police / council got involved.
Takes the mickey.

Near to me there was a street which was filled with cars by a bloke who used to sell / strip for spares and he'd park them on his road until he sold them....

That's a different situation though, because that actually IS illegal.

Parking a taxed and insured vehicle on the road generally isn't.

"I suppose the issue is that those vans are taking up spaces that could be used by others, who actually live there?"

That's a fair point. But then, who has the 'right' to a parking space?

"private road innit."

Do you own the road? If not, surely it's the responsibility of the landowner to ensure safe/clear passage etc, no? So contact them. If they decide to do nothing, and the vehicles aren't causing any harm, then you just have to accept that.

"Near to me there was a street which was filled with cars by a bloke who used to sell / strip for spares and he'd park them on his road until he sold them or moved them for stripping."

I once lived in a street with this. Was very sad, because the bloke bought old Jaguars etc (had a lovely old Mk2), but instead of doing up one at a time, which was reasonable, he just bought more and more, until the council came and towed them all away (untaxed). Shame, because some potentially lovely old cars got crushed. 🙁

Speaking of such things; what do people think about others doing car repairs on pubic streets? Not just an emergency roadside repair, but a regular tinkering doing up an old motor type activity.

not all of it but just like the septic tank collectively we do with the addition of the council owning two shares (ex cooncil hooses).

Thats why its always full of pot holes 😀 - the residents dont mind , keeps the speed of the street down so the kids can play out safely.

what do people think about others doing car repairs on pubic streets?

So long as its not spewing oil and shit all over + is left in a safe condition if left alone. Its when you see engine oil all over street and cars left on scissor jacks at the side of the road that sets off my safety sam buttons. they dont call them jacks widow makers for nothing.

Haven't read through it all so may have missed someone else posting this... if the fuel cap were not present on any vehicle on the road then it may well provide the justification for the authorities to remove it.... just saying like 😆

Anyway no vehicle has the right to park on any highway anywhere as technically doing so is considered to be an obstruction of the highway 😀 but that would never be enforced as there are too many of the bleeders on the road, mine included!! 😯

[quote="clodhopper"]Do you own the road?Current private road, yes, a 1/29th share of it. Last private road. No, i was a tenant.
Last private road in the UK, yes. A 1/9th share........

Similar things happened on all three roads with regards to illegally/annoyingly parked cars. Both streets here "own" tractors for maintenance and service of the road. So there isn't much you can't drag out of the way. Even a fully laden box van. Street in the UK was effectively a drive for a largish farm. You can imagine how long any annoyingly parked car lasted there.

Did I buy my house off you ghostly .....your last UK set up sounds great similar to mine.

Dunno, not a huge distance from cambridge. Erm, 15 years ago we sold it i think.