Cars are trapped on 'illegal' driveways after council fits bollards

[robert.saunders]

Cars are trapped on 'illegal' driveways after council fits bollards in the middle of the night. Homowners woke to find their cars had been blocked in overnight by bollards.

They say council workmen erected the barriers at the end of their driveways without warning. This left them no time to move their cars onto the road.

The two councils involved argue that the drastic measure is the only way to punish those who have built driveways in their gardens without first paying for a sloped "drop" kerb to the road to be put in.

Full article

 

[A210AMG]

How do you not hear the council workers doing that??

funny though

but not the fact WE pay for it.. £600 per one ???

 

[BlackC55]

One disc cutter and the problem has gone away.

 

[television]

One disc cutter and the problem has gone away.

Ollie how could you

 

[Nibbo]

MADNESS!

If you read the article it states that it costs £600 per bollard and between £300 and £1000 to put in a drop kerb.
So in the case they are showing it has cost £1200 to block the driveway and they will not unblock it unless the homeowner spends between £300 and £1000.

Why did they not just put a dropped kerb in place which would have cost less than the bollards?

What a load of BOLLARDS.

 

[verytalldave]

If the guy in the picture can muster at least 12/14 STRONG friends, you could lift that car up over the bollards.

 

[mattc]

MADNESS!

If you read the article it states that it costs £600 per bollard and between £300 and £1000 to put in a drop kerb.
So in the case they are showing it has cost £1200 to block the driveway and they will not unblock it unless the homeowner spends between £300 and £1000.

Why did they not just put a dropped kerb in place which would have cost less than the bollards?

What a load of BOLLARDS.

joined up government thinking. yet another nail in politicians coffins

 

[fuzzer]

how about modifying the bollards so they can lift off and back on again

 

[Spinal]

MADNESS!

If you read the article it states that it costs £600 per bollard and between £300 and £1000 to put in a drop kerb.
So in the case they are showing it has cost £1200 to block the driveway and they will not unblock it unless the homeowner spends between £300 and £1000.

Why did they not just put a dropped kerb in place which would have cost less than the bollards?

What a load of BOLLARDS.

So what you're suggesting is to save money you give people who refused to pay in the first place (and got several notices and officer visits, allegedly) free drop-kerbs (which will have positive benefits on their car's suspensions too); while people who complied with the law will have paid £300-£1000 ?

Michele

 

[glojo]

MADNESS!

If you read the article it states that it costs £600 per bollard and between £300 and £1000 to put in a drop kerb.
So in the case they are showing it has cost £1200 to block the driveway and they will not unblock it unless the homeowner spends between £300 and £1000.

Why did they not just put a dropped kerb in place which would have cost less than the bollards?

What a load of BOLLARDS.

I wonder how many times the council requested home owners to comply with the legislation and I wonder what the home owners replies would be?

I never received a letter

I've only just moved in

It's not my fault

I personally find it very hard to believe that the council just turned up without any warning, without any prior notification, and just did this.

It is also very interesting that this article is wrote by the daily Mail. where are our snobbish critiques that always slag off this newspaper?

Nice story that is once more trying to influence the way we react??

Thanks for the link

John

 

[Rory]

This story was on the BBC website a month ago and it says that residents were written to.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7251333.stm

 

[Will]

I think:

1) Very strange that the council would go to this length without the warnings that they have allegedly issued first, it wouldn't make sense would it?

2) I do wonder if the price of dropped kerbs is a bit of a scam, £300-1000 seems reasonable to me, but I have heard of figures around double that (yes, £2K to put in 1/2 dozen kerb stones and re-pave or tarmac a piece of pavement 3ft x 20ft). I wonder who's brother's/uncle's/friend's company is the contracter that won the tender or contract for the dropped kerbs and what the people involved get out of it

3) Can't believe like has been said you wouldn't hear someone digging up the ground and lumping in a massive bollard with concrete in the middle of the night!

4) I suspect that the case probably is that these people thought the warnings were idle threats, very funny to see them caught at their own game. You've got to admit, if they really were cocky and thought they'd be above it all, they certainly deserved it!

Will

 

[verytalldave]

So who pays to remove these posts?

I would guess the price would be lumped in with the cost of putting in the ramp.

£2K please.

 

[Sp!ke]

I wonder if its actually legal for the council to put these posts up so close to the boundrary line without some kind of permission. (They are an eyesore)

I would have just got the angle grinder out, but then I'd have probably lowered the kerb (myself) also.

 

[Nibbo]

This story was on the BBC website a month ago and it says that residents were written to.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7251333.stm

I would assume this to be a more accurate portrayal of the events.
In which case I take back what I said earlier and say tough luck they should have complied with the requirements or stopped using the driveways.

 

[Palfrem]

Even in the light of the BBC story, I stiil think would have been cheaper, sensible and much more effective to put the drop kerb in and then invoice the homeowner for the work.

First of all it would get the cars off the (probably congested) road, contribute to visibility and pedestrian safety and raise some revenue. At the moment the poles are in danger of being cut off / dragged out of the ground.

They will need to be maintained and the council is being, rightly, portrayed as idiots.

I am sure the council would have much bigger fish to fry with their meagre resources.

Besides, is this not an infringement of human rights i.e. the peaceful enjoyment of possessions.

Would the council do the same if members of the travelling comunity had occupied land to which access was not "legal"?


I can feel a rant coming on, time to stop

Cheers
Mike

 

[Dryce]

E
Would the council do the same if members of the travelling comunity had occupied land to which access was not "legal"?

Good point.

 

[BTB 500]

Drop kerbs aren't automatically granted, they check for pipes etc. that the vehicle would be driving over and there are restrictions based on walls / hedges / etc. within a certain distance (so you don't get pedestrians mown down as people back out).

So it probably was quicker & simpler to stop them illegally driving across the footpath than assess each one properly (which is partly what you pay for when you apply - not just the digging etc.).

 

[Wezzel]

£300 - £1000 is exactly right for a dropped kerb. the reason being that the whole width of the footpath has to be dug out and reconstructed to a greater depth to withstand the extra loading. Although some people do drive and park on foopaths without problems, most of them are only designed for foot traffic and only have 100mm or so of stone sub-base beneath.

The other thing you need to take into consideration is that most local authorities require planning permission for a driveway if it is off a classified road. Many people put in drives in dangerous places (such as near a junction or crossing or on a short garden where the vehicle sticks out) without any sort of permission.

£600 is a bit steep for a bollard though.

 

[glojo]

Even in the light of the BBC story, I stiil think would have been cheaper, sensible and much more effective to put the drop kerb in and then invoice the homeowner for the work.

First of all it would get the cars off the (probably congested) road, contribute to visibility and pedestrian safety and raise some revenue. At the moment the poles are in danger of being cut off / dragged out of the ground.

They will need to be maintained and the council is being, rightly, portrayed as idiots.

I am sure the council would have much bigger fish to fry with their meagre resources.

Besides, is this not an infringement of human rights i.e. the peaceful enjoyment of possessions.

Would the council do the same if members of the travelling comunity had occupied land to which access was not "legal"?


I can feel a rant coming on, time to stop

Cheers
Mike

Are you suggesting that the folks that have ignored the many requests to install these kerbs voluntarily will automatically pay the bill when the local authority drop it on their doorstep? I'm not in agreement with the installation of bollards, I think it very childish and would have preferred to see enforcement orders.

I know when we once had this type of kerb fitted the local authority insisted that any builder we used had to have public liability insurance which was up in the silly numbers?? £2m comes to mind but this might well be wrong they definitely would not allow any Tom, **** or Harry carry out the work.

Regards
John