BS: Car blocked in on private car park

Subject: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 09:14 AM

One of my clients has a problem - her car has been blocked in by a member of the public using the centre's car park without permission, and as a result she is unable to go home.

What actions can she take to get the car legally moved out of the way?

Will AA/RAC help? Will the police bring in a tow truck if requested?
Can a private towing company be instructed to move the car out of the way, and if they want to be paid take it up with the car owner?

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 09:31 AM

In the U.S. you probably need to look around (especially UP) for any posted signs about parking. Tow trucks can operate where it is posted they can operate.

If the facility has a clear rule about who can and can't park there, then I'd guess she can have them towed. But I'm in the U.S., your mileage may vary, so to speak.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Jeri
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 09:53 AM

I think it would be a representative of the facility who would have the authority to get someone towed.

It only takes 4 or 5 strong people to move a small car. In my case*, they just turned it sideways.

*A joke. They fixed it once I'd seen it because I was their ride to work.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,999
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 10:35 AM

Let the air out of the car's tires. The owner will call for a tow.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 10:52 AM

Not meaning to offend, by any means, but why did you bring this question here? Why didn't you just talk to the attendant or manager of the car park? Or call the police? None of us can do anything to move the car, but all of them probably can.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 11:23 AM

Let the air out of the car's tires. The owner will call for a tow.
Or they may not be able to afford to immediately, and leave it there for a few days, still causing an obstruction.

Check whether all doors are locked. If not, let the handbrake off & push it somewhere else (prefereably where the police will see it & book it for illegal parking)

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Leadfingers
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 11:35 AM

We used to regularly 'Bump' cars out of the way in a Pub Car park when Non Customers just left them there blocking customers cars in !
It only takes two or three fit men !
But IF its a Private Car park , the Owners shopuld have connections

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,pierre le beau
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 11:55 AM

bump it. only takes 2. did it in paris no problem.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 01:08 PM

It got resolved 3 hours+ later when car owner returned - so that a vwery disgruntled worker could finally go home and get over her cold!!! Unfortunately, the miscreant manged to slip away without being spotted.

For info, the car park is part of a centre run by a disability charity - for use of staff and those attending activities at the centre. No parking attendants.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,999
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 01:58 PM

Report his plate number to the cops.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 02:18 PM

As far as I know (my friend had this problem a couple of times in the private car park of her flat) the Police will do nothing if it's on private property or land. If one lets the air out of the tyres, one can be arrested for criminal damage. The people to approach are the actual owners of the land in which the car park sits. There is often a notice on a post giving the authority to ring in such circumstances.
Very very annoying and selfish of the abandonner! In my friend's case (she has a sick eldely mother to attend to and needed her car urgenty) ahe waited ages for the idiot to appear and gave him an earful, only to be told to f*** off. He drove away totally uncaring.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,999
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 03:12 PM

Don't get caught letting the air out of his tires.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 03:16 PM

Telling an old woman to fuck off is simple assault.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 03:34 PM

Around these parts (and most of the parts where I've been), we tend to be more "pro-active" about dealing with this situation--a client would not have set for three hours waiting for a scofflaw to move their car.

Most places, business or residential, who have private parking areas routinely tow vehicles that are unauthorized or improperly parked. Often, there is a sign displaying the tow service number, for those who need to recover their vehicles. Before that occurred, someone likely would have run into all the adjacent offices seeking the car owner, and often concerned parties or even bystanders might improvise a way of moving the car.

In a couple neighborhoods I've lived in, a tire iron would have been used, either on the offending car or it's driver. There were signs that said, "Don't Even Think About Parking Here" and they knew...

Chalk it up to cultural differences, I guess...

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 03:51 PM

Stim, if you tried that in certain parts of urban Britain, you'd start a riot.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: frogprince
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 04:05 PM

Nigel, that might work in a world where most cars have manual transmissions. In the U.S., a stick shift is the exception. When automatic transmissions are in park, they're effectively braked at least almost as solidly as with a handbrake. It takes the ignition key to get them out of park.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 04:24 PM

Get a clamping licence (one is now necessary in the UK - too many rogues used to do it - http://www.sia.homeoffice.gov.uk/Pages/about-news.aspx?newsid=307). Clamp the fucker and charge £100 for release. Or £100 per hour. Or a windscreen sticker.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 04:58 PM

Richard:
Surely there's no such thing as a UK clamping license:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19782680

Clamping on private land has been made illegal.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 05:45 PM

My temptation would be to put an A4 adhesive label admonishing the car owner - right in the middle of the driver side - and charge £100 per cup of warm water which they would need to clean it off - after maybe 5 or 6 cups they may learn the error of their ways, or alternatively they could risk driving home with their view obscured!!

This is only a temptation - I am not advocating actually doing it!

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 07:14 PM

From the link I gave above "From October it will be an offence in England and Wales to clamp, tow or immobilise a vehicle without lawful authority."

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 07:21 PM

More info

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/news/whats_new_oct12_parking_and_wheel_clamping_on_private_land.htm

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 07:49 PM

Nigel, that might work in a world where most cars have manual transmissions.

Which is the world we live in, since this is evidently a UK incident.

What's with "two or three fit men"? Women can readily push cars, and frequently do. The trouble being if you can't get at the steering wheel there's a risk of pushing it somewhere where is caused an even bigger problem or danger.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Gurney
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 08:44 PM

Frogprince, an auto-transmission car can be moved with a garage trolly-jack, providing the ground is smooth enough.
And providing it isn't front-wheel-drive. Then it takes two trolly-jacks, and a lot of swearing. Braked both ends, you see, and the alarm goes off.

Don't you hate selfish bastards!

Perhaps you should just keep shaking the car and listening to the alarm.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,999
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 10:24 PM

Y'all need a 'stand yer ground' law.

1) Shoot the car,

2) Shoot the driver.

3) Push the damn car where ya want.

That's how it's done in Flor'da.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 10:31 PM

Thanks for posing the question SPB-C the conversation has been interesting.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 11 Jan 13 - 12:47 AM

My question is--to what degree are parking scofflaws towed in your fair land? Here, in some places at some times, there are fleets of tow trucks that descend and clear the streets.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: banjoman
Date: 11 Jan 13 - 07:18 AM

I am a disabled driver and live in a very narrow close. I am frequently bocked in by visitors to other houses parking opposite my drive way . I have had abusive language and threats when asking people to move and have reported them to the police - no action taken. I believe that the pavement is in law part of the highway and that it is an offence to obstruct the highway.
I cured one of the perpertrators when I "accidentally" put a large dent in the side of his almost new honda civic with my then old banger. I refused to accept liability and counter claimed for damage to my vehicle. All action was then dropped and He has never parked in the street again

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 11 Jan 13 - 10:08 AM

Richard, I think you are getting a little confused. Car clamping on private land has been made illegal.
As it states in your most recent link:
From 1 October you can no longer have your car clamped just because you spend too long in a car park or park where you shouldn't have.
The police, DVLA and some other organisations will still be able to clamp your car, for example if you don't pay your car tax or if your car is unroadworthy.
You can still get parking tickets on private land. A two stage appeals process has been set up to deal with parking ticket disputes. This can be used by parking companies who are members of the British Parking Association.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 11 Jan 13 - 10:17 AM

And your first link said:
Until this change comes into force, anyone undertaking vehicle immobilisation activity must ensure that they are properly licensed to do so. Holders of an SIA Vehicle Immobiliser licence that expires before this time must either:

Cease this activity on expiry of the licence; or
Renew the licence if they wish to undertake vehicle immobilisation in England and Wales until October.

i.e. a license to clamp was only a stop-gap measure until October.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 11 Jan 13 - 10:38 AM

We had an incident in Chester this week. Someone parked his car overnight in the Cathedral Car Park, and when he returned in the morning, he was surprised to find out, firstly, that his was the only car in the car park, and , two, that the pend out of the car park was in the process of being dug up to install a rising bollard. When he said that he had to be at work by 08:30, it was explained to him that the Cathedral Car Park is private, and parking is only legal to those who have paid for it, and if he wanted to return after 16:30, he should be able to remove his car.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,SPB Cooperator (on a different pc)
Date: 11 Jan 13 - 11:22 AM

Punitive measures against transgressors is one issue, but this does not necessary solve the problem of how someone who is blocked in by a transgressor can actually get home!

Yesterday, my client was feeling more and more unwell as the day went on, and was advised by her manager to go home, but she couldnt

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Peter
Date: 11 Jan 13 - 11:42 AM

From the link that Richard gave it says (I paraphrase) that it can be moved at no charge to the owner if it is causing an obstruction. So the owners can hire a tow truck to move it but are stuck with the cost.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 11 Jan 13 - 12:54 PM

If this is an ongoing problem in your "car park", make some preparations for "next time":

1. Find a towing service that will agree to remove scofflaws when
called.

2.Invest in a set of Wheel dollies so you can roll the transgressing vehicle out of the way.

3.Keep the number of a car service on hand that can drive the owner of the blocked car home.

4. Post bills in all the adjacent offices, shops, and businesses explaining where people can and cannot park.


Problem solved!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Charmion
Date: 11 Jan 13 - 01:29 PM

I would suggest erecting a key-activated gate on the parking lot and issuing keys to the rightful users, as is done in apartment buildings. Everyone else parks somewhere -- anywhere -- else.

The sick woman who needed to go home should have called a taxi. A person who is too sick to work is probably not well enough to drive, either.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 11 Jan 13 - 05:29 PM

You don't even need keys, Charmion. I pulled into the lot for a group of small offices and shops recently. There was an entry gate with a sign explaining that if you entered, in order to exit, you needed to either deposit a fee or a token from the concern you were visiting.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,999
Date: 12 Jan 13 - 12:26 AM

I do not understand you people.

I was blocked in once in such a manner. I waited about 15 minutes. Then, I backed up into the car, slowly, shoved it out the way and left. No problem.

I think many people are so civilized they will contribute to the gene pool and be the reason we die off. And that my friends is no shit.

PS I too am civilized. I didn't crack his/her windshield.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: DMcG
Date: 12 Jan 13 - 03:45 AM

Punitive measures against transgressors is one issue, but this does not necessary solve the problem of how someone who is blocked in by a transgressor can actually get home!

Agreed, but in some ways I'm more interested in the former problem, because such a transgressor is likely to do so again and again, and helpfully moving their car a short distance when a spot becomes available or paying for it to be towed at your expense only encourages them. I'm not sure 'punitive' is necessarily the right word, since it carries such a strong financial implication, but I do think it would be a good idea if we could strongly discourage people from doing this. It's not how the law is set up, but it wouldn't seem unreasonable to give penalty points on the licence for such behaviour, for example. As to working within the law, I'm not qualified to answer, but given the choice between two lawful alternatives, the one the inconveniences the offender more would be my choice.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 12 Jan 13 - 04:58 AM

Yes, but if it's on private land, no penalty points or anything else can be given by the Law. And if one shunts the vehicle out of the way and damages it, security cameras could be recording the lot and you would probably damage your own car in the process. In UK, any action by a victim involving verbal abuse, physical assault, damage etc is a crime, no matter what the nasty perpetrator has done to you by obstructing your exit. And even on private land, those actions are considered a criminal matter. It's a no-win situation. I would very much like to 'inconvenience the offender', but how?

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: jacqui.c
Date: 12 Jan 13 - 10:42 AM

I think, in this situation, I would have tried to arrange for the sick person to be taken home, either in a cab or by a co-worker and would then have blocked in the offending vehicle, leaving a polite note on the windscreen telling them where to come to get the block (another car) removed. When they turned up there would be a lecture on the unsocial behaviour they demonstrated and they would be told that they would have to kick their heels for the next two hours as I was too busy right then to leave the office (due to having to take time out to take my sick colleague home). With any luck they wouldn't park in my car park again!

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Fred McCormick
Date: 12 Jan 13 - 01:12 PM

I once worked as a traffic warden on a council car park, and selfishly parked cars were the bane of my life. Funny enough, it's always the ones who've knowingly blocked three other cars in who go off like a rocket when they're asked to move.

Then of course there's the 100% fit scumbags who park in disabled bays when they've got no right to, thus causing untold inconvenience to the genuinely disabled. By 'eck, did I love issuing illegal parking tickets to those bastards. And didn't I just relish the slanging match when they came steaming after me demanding I take the ticket back.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 12 Jan 13 - 01:50 PM

Fred,

Maybe if they are abusive, then maybe ask if they want to take of the option of being kneecapped or something which would mean that they could park there legitimately in the future. :)

Of course it would have to be an offer, not a threat.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 12 Jan 13 - 01:57 PM

Jacqui,

That thought crossed my mind, but unfortunately my car is stuck at home with a knackered clutch/gearbox cable ie an expensive repair.

Does anyone know about what help AA, RAC et al can provide, eg tow the offending vehicle out of the way a bit to create a space to get out?

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 12 Jan 13 - 04:21 PM

I have checked, to such degree as I can, and it seems that you can have an illegally parked car towed away. The tow truck driver will want to take the car to an impound lot of some sort, because that is what they do.

If you want to "tow the offending vehicle out of the way a bit to create a space to get out", you can do that yourself, either by pushing, putting dollies under the wheels, or, if the car is small enough and you have enough help, lifting and carrying it.

I, along with Bruce, am completely flummoxed by your seeming inability to act in this situation. A sick woman was inconvenienced for three hours because no one was willing to cause inconvenience to an unknown person who had no hesitation to cause inconvenience to you.

You might want to think on that.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: jacqui.c
Date: 12 Jan 13 - 05:22 PM

Guest Stim - unless one is aware of the law it can be dangerous to proceed with any sort of action in this litigious age. Even a frivolous lawsuit may need to be defended, costing time, aggravation and money.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 12 Jan 13 - 07:35 PM

Jacqui.c-When someone is taken ill, it can be dangerous not to proceed.

Not to put to fine a point on it, but there is a legal and moral duty to rescue. I would not like to discover that a loved one was left to suffer because no one could work their way around an improperly parked car.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 13 Jan 13 - 06:27 AM

What do rescue and fire services do in the event blocked access?

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 13 Jan 13 - 06:59 AM

I one saw a Fire Crew 'bumping' a badly-parked car out of the way on a side street. It was sticking out a bit and the fire engine couldn't pass through. The men bounced it up and down, pushing it along and to one side.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 13 Jan 13 - 10:18 AM

The other peope working there were myself, and a disalbed person in her 70s, and I am not in the habit of carrying dollies (whatever they are) on the bus in case they are needed.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Charmion
Date: 13 Jan 13 - 10:53 AM

All the more reason to send the sick person home in a taxi.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 13 Jan 13 - 12:38 PM

I agree Charmion, but that could work out very expensive. From Norwich city centre to our village is about £25 for example, not a small amount to someone on a budget. And they'd have to return to collect their car another day, with presumably more fare to pay. And all because of a piggy with no consideration for others.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 13 Jan 13 - 12:49 PM

I love Jacqui, and her idea.

I would have SO much fun preparing the lecture while waiting for the offender.

Dani

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: The Sandman
Date: 13 Jan 13 - 05:08 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: SPB-Cooperator - PM
Date: 10 Jan 13 - 01:08 PM

It got resolved 3 hours+ later when car owner returned - so that a vwery disgruntled worker could finally go home and get over her cold!!! Unfortunately, the miscreant manged to slip away without being spotted.

For info, the car park is part of a centre run by a disability charity - for use of staff and those attending activities at the centre. No parking attendants

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 13 Jan 13 - 07:12 PM

Re post by SPB-Cooperator on 10.1.13
At Napier University in Edinburgh (don't know if they still do it) if anyone parked where they shouldn't they did get a very big and VERY adhesive sticker stuck on their car, saying they were in the wrong place (happened to my son!) Warm water at any price would NOT take these stickers off! it took hours of scraping, risking scratching the windscreen, or industrial solvents to get the stuff off. VERY effective at stopping people parking in the same place again!

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,999
Date: 13 Jan 13 - 07:17 PM

Dani, what you would like to do could get you killed, badly beat up or otherwise abused if the guy(?) is such a wanker as to do that in the first place. I agree with your feelings but disagree with your method. What you would like to do is best left to people we pay and train to do that job: cops. I mean no offence to you; I'm simply saying it's not a good idea.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Jeri
Date: 13 Jan 13 - 08:35 PM

I think a bunch of helpful answers are mostly aimed at fantasies-- things we'd dream of doing. They mostly aren't realistic, and they certainly won't help someone who just wants to move their car.

I once had somebody make a left hand turn in front of me, in a 55 mph speed limit area. I knew I couldn't slow enough to miss her, so I stomped on the accelerator, and when I got past her, the brakes. I had a seat belt on, and so did the two kids I was driving... to visit their father in the hospital, in HIS car. There was a "U" driveway on the right, and I hit it, still slowing down. I stopped, and the other drive pulled in the driveway entrance I'd just gone into. We were all OK, and I got out of the car, and walked back to the other car, with all sorts of ides running through my head, mostly involving swearing and yelling.

Now, those of you who've been advocating venting in some form, what would you have done? I was driving someone else's children in someone else's car, and a head-on collision or a T-bone might have killed us all. The other driver was wrong.

What happened was I walked back to the driver's side of the other car, and saw an elderly woman (late 60s, maybe) drained white and shaking like a leaf. All thoughts of yelling at her disappeared. The first words out of her mouth were to apologize. She'd been looking in her rear-view mirror for some reason. I talked to her a while, and let her know we were all OK, and I said I'd stay with her for a little while. She got a bit more steady. So did I.

The point is, you can have these little fantasies, but if they make it out of your head and into real life, they won't make one damned thing better.

The person wanted to get her car out and go home. That's ALL.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Fred McCormick
Date: 14 Jan 13 - 06:26 AM

SPB-Coperator. Kneecapping isn't my style at all I'm afraid, Anyway, it would have been a sackable offence. The best approach was simply to stonewall. IE., stand there and refuse to budge whilst giving them the stock replies. "I'm not allowed to rescind a parking ticket once it's been issued". "If you feel you have a case, then you'll have to take it up with the council within the next seven days. After that, the penalty charge doubles." And just watch them getting madder and madder.

Not that I was without compassion of course. I remember booking a car which had been ilegally parked in a disabled bay. As I was leaving the car park, I was approached by a very distraught young couple. Their daughter had been taken ill and they were rushing to get to the doctor before the surgery closed, and the disabled bay was the only space left available.

I told them to take the notice to the council along with a covering letter and my Man No, and that I'd make a report out repeating what they'd told me. I never heard any more, but I sincerely hope they didn't get penalised.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 14 Jan 13 - 02:34 PM

Slight thread drift, but another of my dear friends was summoned to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital (when it used to be in the city centre) because her elderly, terribly ill husband had taken a turn for the worse and was actually dying. She drove into the car park and there wasn't a space, so she left the car on the end of a row, causing no obstruction. Just as she was locking the car, the Attendant came up and told her she couldn't park there. In a dreadful state she explained it was an emergency, her husband was about to pass away, but he actually said in a very aggressive tone "I don't care about that, you'll have to move your car!" Can you imagine? She quite rightly told him where to go and rushed into the building. her husband died fifteen minutes later. She got a ticket, but I wrote on her behalf explaining the situation and they waived the fine. Awful experience.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: The Sandman
Date: 14 Jan 13 - 05:33 PM

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Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Charmion
Date: 14 Jan 13 - 06:59 PM

Yes, Schweik -- and your point is ...?

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,999
Date: 14 Jan 13 - 07:19 PM

Geeze, I'll never double park THERE again.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: EBarnacle
Date: 15 Jan 13 - 02:31 AM

I have found that a few 10penny nails are a very effective way of discouraging this sort of slob. If she had to take transport to get where she as going, a nail angled so that each tire would puncture itself as the creep backed out would start a leak and still allow the person to leave the lot prior to deaeration. It might take a time or two but eventually the message will reach into that dim mind that their behavior was undesireable.

Let the punishment fit the crime.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Guest - Julian
Date: 15 Jan 13 - 04:24 AM

Where I used to live there is a one-way street that is a bus route - parking is permitted on one side only.

One day three cars were parked on the other side making just not quite wide enough for the bus to squeeze through. The bus driver requested that everyone on board closed their eyes whilst he drove down the street removing the wing mirrors of each of the offending vehicles.

He received a rousing cheer from everybody!

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 15 Jan 13 - 05:37 AM

'Then of course there's the 100% fit scumbags who park in disabled bays when they've got no right to, thus causing untold inconvenience to the genuinely disabled. By 'eck, did I love issuing illegal parking tickets to those bastards. And didn't I just relish the slanging match when they came steaming after me demanding I take the ticket back'.

It's always the quiet ones.....

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Charmion
Date: 15 Jan 13 - 09:05 AM

I admire parking wardens, called Grey Hornets in Ottawa for the colour of their uniforms or, by the less kind, Parking Nazis. The life of a by-law enforcement officer requires patience, kindness, and the hide of a rhinoceros -- in both English and French in this town.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 06 Feb 13 - 05:52 AM

Well, its happened again. Same car.
The charity knows who he is and where he lives,and he has been spoken to but he is not at home, so who knows wen he will be back.

This time he has blocked in one of the centre users, who attends the local deaf support group. Their meeting finished half an hour ago, and the user, who is profoundly deaf may have to just wait here most of the day, and she is very distressed.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 06 Feb 13 - 06:23 AM

Call the police.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Fossil
Date: 06 Feb 13 - 06:29 AM

No idea how long ago this was posted: my action would be to call the local news agency and local TV stations, explain the situation and see if you can set up a news-mediated confrontation with the offender when he/she returns to their car.

Also call the police - supine and useless as they tend to be in matters of this nature, the prospect of Press/TV action might get them off their butts to oversee matters and prevent things getting out of hand.

And then: name and shame! Make up posters, put them in shops local to the offender's home. Take photos, write to the local press, all that.

Or - pay a removal company to have the car moved, then immobilise it until the offender has reimbursed you for the cost of doing this. Sue them if necessary, or get an injunction preventing further trespass.

But under no circumstances take any action that's going to put you in the wrong, don't damage the vehicle or assault the driver.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 06 Feb 13 - 06:56 AM

Also call the police - supine and useless as they tend to be in matters of this nature
No need to slag-off the police.
If a car is parked on private land it is a civil matter, not a police matter.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 06 Feb 13 - 07:37 AM

But if the situation is causing distress to a person, that may make it a police matter...?

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: jacqui.c
Date: 06 Feb 13 - 07:53 AM

Talk to a solicitor - it may be possible to get an injunction against this idiot.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: MikeL2
Date: 06 Feb 13 - 09:39 AM

hi

Glad things appear to be sorted but the advice from the members who said " bump it" is sound. Used to do it almost every day when I worked in London.

I always found that their were plenty of kind volunteers to help.

It used to be a regularly done thing there. Of course if I found people in the same situation I would return the favour.

I once helped an eighty year-old lady get her bloody big Jag out so that she could get home. All on my own too!!

cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 06 Feb 13 - 09:43 AM

Oddly, I need to research this issue in the near future for a (non-paying) client who is suffering from the owners of nearby properties parking on her private forecourt so that she cannot use it and in the accessway (a no-parking right of way) to her garage, so she cannot use that either. Apparently the worst offender is the arrogant apparently Nigerian tenant of one of the owners of an adjoining property (who roundly regrets ever having let to him).

So if anyone has got any SENSIBLE suggestions about how to deter offenders IN ACCORDANCE WITH ENGLISH LAW, I will check them at the same time and may even adopt the suggestions.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 06 Feb 13 - 09:53 AM

This looks interesting - http://flashpark.co.uk/

I appreciate that there may be issues of enforceability.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Howard Jones
Date: 06 Feb 13 - 02:19 PM

According to this:

UK property law website

if it is causing an obstruction then it is a police matter. However if they decline to take action you cannot force them to do so, although threatening to go to the local press may persuade them.

Plan B is to put a tupperware lunch box underneath the car and call the Bomb Squad. They'll come and blow the car up.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,JJ
Date: 06 Feb 13 - 03:04 PM

Howard, that's a brilliant idea!

I own a couple of flats that are adjacent to the local hospital (Wythenshawe in South Manchester). Hospital staff and hospital visitors use my car park rather than the Pay & Display hospital car park.

A sign 'Residents Parking Only' has helped hugely although there are still some who push their luck. They usually find their cars are either blocked in by residents, and / or find a polite note stuck to their windscreen. It's worked quite well.

Right, time to buy some Tupperware containers!

JJ

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Penny S.
Date: 06 Feb 13 - 04:16 PM

Richard, can your client install lockable collapsible posts?

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 06 Feb 13 - 04:47 PM

Only if someone lends her the money!

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Mysha
Date: 07 Feb 13 - 07:03 AM

Hi,

Sidenote:
Objects located where they would not normally be, are usually considered lost property. I always wonder whether this applies to cars as well.

Bye
                                                                Mysha

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 07 Feb 13 - 08:25 AM

Without meaning to say "I told you so"(or not exactly, anyway), I want to point out that if you had arranged for a towing service after the first incident, you'd have been able to take care of it quickly this time. No worries, though, I have a feeling your parking scofflaw will be back.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 07 Feb 13 - 08:54 AM

How about a nice big "Private Parking Only" notice superglued to the car windscreen right in the driver's eyeline?

That may well count as vandalism, but if the cops can't prove who did it...

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 07 Feb 13 - 10:40 AM

Tell English Heritage there's a King buried there & get their digger to shift the car...

RtS
(I'll get me trowel)

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 07 Feb 13 - 11:22 AM

If someone is so inconsiderate as to park blocking someone else in, they may also be the sort of person to leave a dog suffering from the heat in the boot (US=trunk). Smash a window so you can check for that poor dog.
As you've had to smash the window you may as well let the handbrake off, and roll the car aside, whie you're at it!

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,grumpy
Date: 07 Feb 13 - 01:41 PM

We had this problem regularly at a place I once worked where neighbours from the adjacent block of flats would occupy our parking spaces, despite signs pointing out that they were reserved for employees. One of my colleagues printed off a little leaflet and stuck it under the offenders' wipers. It announced that the offending parker had just won £1,000 in a radio draw and needed to call a certain number to acquire his/her prize.

When they called the number they received an earful from said colleague telling them if they parked in our spaces again then their motors would be towed away. It worked wonders.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Penny S.
Date: 07 Feb 13 - 05:09 PM

Richard, there's someone hereabouts who wants to reserve a communal parking space for her own use, and does so by putting filled balck bin sacks in it. Any good for your client? Or cardboard boxes with bricks?
Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 08 Feb 13 - 04:47 AM

An incident was briefly reported a few days ago in which a crew arrived and painted "handicapped parking" symbols around a car parked in the previously "anybody can park here" parking space and a few minutes later a tow truck arrived and towed the "illegally parked" car (that didn't have a handicap tag).

Someone caught the entire sequence (presumedly with a phone cam) and the video was reportedly "viral" almost immediately, possibly on YouTube or on one (or several) of the tweetntwat networks.

I didn't make notes, so all I can offer as to the location is that it wasn't in a Western European country or in a "new world" region.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 08 Feb 13 - 05:02 AM

Smear a blob of dog poo on the drivers door handle.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 08 Feb 13 - 05:03 AM

Just *inside* the door handle...

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Charmion
Date: 08 Feb 13 - 07:50 AM

The handicap space incident was in Israel, I believe.

Richard needs legal measures, however.

As a former landlady, I propose a sign that says "Residents' parking only, all others will be towed at their own risk and expense". And then call the towing company and have the blasted thing removed whenever it is illegally parked on her property.

In Ottawa, the towing company gets paid by the miscreant when s/he reclaims the feloniously misparked car. I'm sure there areBritish towing firms that offer the same service.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,Peter
Date: 09 Feb 13 - 05:26 AM

IIRC under English law you can tow the car but at only at the landowner's expense.

Due to sharp practice by some commercial car park operators the law as recently been changed to "protect" motorists who leave their vehicles on somebody elses land without permission.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: Fossil
Date: 09 Feb 13 - 05:26 AM

Well, SPB? How did it pan out?

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 09 Feb 13 - 06:23 AM

"This time he has blocked in one of the centre users, who attends the local deaf support group. Their meeting finished half an hour ago, and the user, who is profoundly deaf may have to just wait here most of the day, and she is very distressed."

Until such time as effective action to deter the pest is taken, I think the centre needs to begin informing it's vulnerable visitors that there is a risk they may be stranded there for several hours when parking at the centre.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 09 Feb 13 - 07:20 AM

The miscreant hadn't turned up by the time I finished for the day, but I went for a coffee after work, and looked in on the way home and the car was gone. The centre user got a lift from another centre user in the end, but she would have had to come in the next day to retrieve her car.

We were thinking of fitting a padlock to the gate, but then staff could be constantly getting up and down to let people in and out - and the office is not staffed all the time and some groups have early morning or late evening sessions, so we would have to get loads of keys cut.

If the charity was rich, which it isn't - it is a Lola group we could consider fitting a barrier - but as the premises are leased that might not be allowed and I don't know if planning permission would be needed.

What annoys us more is that the miscreant has a small car, and he could very easily tuck it into a corner instead of parking diagonally across two cars.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: jacqui.c
Date: 09 Feb 13 - 08:40 AM

Where does this guy park his car when he's at home? I wonder if it would be possible to block him in there, just to illustrate the problems he is causing for others.

Subject: RE: BS: Car blocked in on private car park
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 09 Feb 13 - 10:04 AM

something weird has happened to my posting
If the charity was rich, which it isn't - it is a Lola group we could consider fitting a barrier

Where did that group reference come from?????? Something has changed my posting