Is this legal?

Question

My friends car was partly blocking someones driveway so the houseowner phoned the police.When they arrived they promptly smashed the side window and moved it, they then phoned for a tow-truck to remove it.It cost my friend £110 to get his car back.Theres no yellow lines or anything like that.Car is taxed tested and insured.It just seems a bit o.t.t.Surely they could of just contacted him.

I'm not condoning what he did,I'm just asking, Is it legal for the police to do that?

Answer 1

Technically yes they had the right to move the car as it was clear a drive way was present BUT some people just get silly about little things like that all part of life some people just haven't got anything better to do than just go running to the police straight away the minute there is a little problem!

Answer 2

In the UK, I work for the Police. the answer is. ANY vehicle parked on the highway is in effect causing an obstruction, if your friend was parked in front of someones driveway and they were not able to either enter or exit, the police could attend and if necessary issue a fixed penalty notice, then have the vehicle towed away for causing that obstruction offence. It is not common practice to cause damage to enter the vehicle, the removal company would either do a full lift (use a Hiab) lifting the car fully onto the truck. or they will do a front suspended tow which means the tow truck driver would put the rear wheels on dolly wheels and lift the front so it can be towed. The reason they do not call the owner is because...... if the driver is playing away from home, they talk to the wife/husband and ask them to move the car from high street home town, and the driver has told them they are in scotland for a meeting it would cause no end of trouble.

Answer 3

If they couldn't quickly locate the owner of the vehicle then it is perfectly appropriate for them to do what they did so that the property owner could have access to their property.

There do not need to be any yellow lines. Blocking a driveway or intersection is an offense. The tax or test status of the offending vehicle is not a factor.

Having been the beneficiary of this service from the Old Bill, normal procedure is to attempt to contact the registered keeper of the vehicle. Easy enough if the keeper is located nearby but not if the address comes up any distance away. The first time he was across the road so they rousted him (2:00 AM) to move his car. The second time it was registered to someone 2 towns over (visiting the plonk across the road as it turned out ) so they smashed a window to release the hand brake and pushed it out of the way.

Answer 4

From the discription of your letter, your not from the states. Here in the states, its illegal to block a drive, due to various local ordinances. But for the police to break the side window, not here. The police would try to get ahold of the owner, if possible. If not then a Tow company would be called, The tow company have tools to unlock the door and then tow the vehicle. Should the police here in the states break the window, then I would contact the department to replace the window. If that doesn't then I would take the officer/department to small claims court.

Answer 5

How would you like the police to have contacted your friend? Does he leave his phone number in the car? There would've been no point going to house cos he's obviously out!
It was perfectly legal and to be honest, I think it was perfectly just.
Being blocked in is no joke and imagine if the people had missed a flight because of it, or had to take a sick child to hospital.
Incidently it's not just an offence to block a drive, if you park infront of a dropped kerb, you can still have your vehicle removed. It's called uneccesary obstruction and you get a ticket for it, usually accompanied by a sticker which states AUTHORISED FOR REMOVAL. From then on, it's fair game for authorised removal services to take it.

Answer 6

Don't need any yellow lines or anything, and it doesn't matter if car is properly taxed and licensed. They don't need to contact owner of car, it was blocking a driveway. Police probably did a check on license and felt it may have been abandoned and needed to move it from blocking driveway while waiting for tow truck.

In Calif. law says if car is blocking my driveway, I don't have to find owner or or make contact, I don't even have to call Police, all I have to do is call tow truck, sign paper for driver and car is gone.

Answer 7

Did the drive have a dropped kerb,? if not then car was not parked illegally. In which case the house owner would have been driving across a pathway illegally. If there was a dropped kerb the house owner would have paid for the privilege of access and any vehicle parked would be considered an obstruction, EVEN if the houseowner parked across it.

Answer 8

Well where I live they don't do anything about that I have problems with the girl below me and some days she has so many cars that I can't even get out to go to the doctor and they don't do anything . But again the police can do anything they want and get away with it if they are a dirty police officer. They are very few left that are for real and that go by the law. Don't rock the boat to much are you will find your self in more trouble than you would ever believe.Sorry that happened to your friend.

Answer 9

It is illegal in the UK to block someones driveway if there is a car in it, but not if the driveway is empty. I am assuming that the houseowners car was in the driveway, but unless they needed to go out in their car immediately the police don't usually take such a drastic course of action.

Answer 10

They probably had to break the window so the tow truck could tow the car. Blocking a driveway can and will get you towed. You are obstructing someone from entering and exiting their own home.