My neighbour some years ago paid our local council to provide a concrete ramp from the road to her rear garden intending to replace the fence with a gate and park her car off road. She never did this, but the ramp is still there.
Her son in law parked his van on the concrete ramp prior to taking his family to Australia for a year, having completed a SORN notice and intending to return and continue his carpentry business using the van.
DVLA clamped the van and after three days seized it, forcing entry by breaking the drivers door window. The driver removing the van told me it was being removed at the request of the DVLA.
His family are trying to retrieve the van which has been accumulating a £12 per day storage fee.
Is the concrete ramp part of the road, if it is why are ramps not marked with yellow or red lines when in a restricted road. The stock answer by police to any vehicle obstructing these ramps is "they are private property and we have no powers.So who is right the police or DVLA.
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The ramps I have come across constructed to provide a new entrance to a property are very small and merely replace the kerb to enable a vehicle to drive up. They are clearly part of the road, planning permission is (in theory) needed to construct the entrance, and the council charges for the work done.
This ramp seems to be a bigger affair, if it is possible to park a vehicle entirely on it. I should have thought the house deeds would mark the boundary of the property; it is hard to believe that so large an area could have been left vague as to who owns it.
If it turns out that the ramp is the private property of your neighbour, then the vehicle owner surely has a right of action for return of stolen property.
It sounds like a solicitor's job to me.
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I would agree with Cliff Pope. If the ramp is part of the pavement then it will be regarded as part of the highway (normally council maintained).
If the ramp has been extended, as you seem to infer, onto the property area itself, then I would assume it is on private land and an SORN has correctly been acquired.
The only reason I can think of for the vehicle's removal is if it was causing an obstruction to pedestrians.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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A better desciption of the area would maybe help?
Round here, there are a number of roads where there is the road, a grassed area, the footpath and then the property boundary. The council places dropkerbs and concrete access over the grass (the grass approx 15 foot wide). The whole area from the road to the property boundary is classed as the highway - to the cost of many who parked untaxed (SORN'd??) cars on the grass bits.
Martin
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This will almost certainly need reference to deeds if it is being claimed that the ramp is on private land if it is not within her boundary fence. Only occasionally does the householder own land outside their boundary but fronting the highway and this would be marked in the deeds for the property.
The normal situation is that the public highway is deemed to be from the curtilage (boundary) of the property on one side of the road to the curtilage on the other side including all pavements, verges and road surfaces. I found this out the hard way some years ago when I received a FPN for parking on double yellows even though I was 15 feet from the road and parked on my friends runway which extended over a large grass verge before crossing the pavement into his property. I tried to appeal the FPN but had the fact that a traffic order extends from the centre of the highway to the nearest boundary and covers all pavements and verges pointed out to me in graphic Act, Section and Sub-Section by a very polite but firm appeals officer.
Cockle
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I have had dealings with a number of similar issues where DVLA have
spirited untaxed vehicles away. Whilst I agree with the principle behind it there are legal issues. As previously stated on this site there is a significant difference between a Road Traffic Act road and a road for purposes of excise licence purposes.
Such seizures are usually in consultation with the appropriate Highway Authority where a joint decision is made by both agencies.
If in any doubt the HA won't agree, they rely on digital mapping identifing where(excise licence) roads are maintained by public expense. The vehicles are photographed in situ prior to removal. DVLA are contacted by the contractors on every occasion before a seizure for the ok to remove.
Mistakes are made (like everything in life)and it may be worth questionning it.
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By the way she must live in a nice no crime area, these are usually seized on the day to avoid theft and arson!
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If this were me then I might have considered investigating the issue a little bit and establishing exactly what the status of the ramp was before parking my SORNed vehicle on it and leaving the country for a year!
Asking for trouble by just assuming it'd be ok.
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I would appeal but think you are on a sticky wicket.
Being a law abiding sort I have only ever received three parking tickets in thirty odd years of driving and one was almost identical to the circumstances described.
I parked well off the road ( double yellows ) on the concreted entrance road to a warehouse which had been demolished.The gates to where the factory had been were padlocked and I was not causing any obstruction.
I was ticketed by a warden and as I was within a quarter mile of the local police station I queried it with the desk sergeant who gave the same explanation as received by Cockle , ie the highway stretches over the full width from property boundary to boundary, verges and entrance road included. I paid up.
I did get away with another ticket where I had crossed the pavement to park on waste ground along with around fifty others.
Once again I queried with the local desk sergeantwho was very helpful.
He pointed out that as at the time the ticket was issued I could prove that I was miles away and that no proof was available of my having actually driven over the pavement I should appeal.
The ticket was cancelled.
Good Luck.
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