What can we do if blocked in or out?

Grassman · Jun 7, 2021

Following on from the thread about the farmer who "moved" a car out of his drive with a telehandler just what can we do if blocked in or out of our land or on a road blocked by poor parking?
In an ideal world police would come out and sort the situation very quickly but in the real world they just havn't the manpower.
So what can we legally do?

milkloss · Jun 9, 2021

Grassman said:
However if that's the case then the car owner has no claim against us If we block the car in! So looks like keeping a couple of heavy objects handy and block the car 8n and charge them a fee to move them

i don't think blocking someone in is legal either.

thesilentone · Jun 9, 2021

Opportunity for the equipment supply Companies. A pair of "badly parked car removal forks"

Goweresque · Jun 9, 2021

I reckon a L shaped steel frame that slides onto the pallet tines, with plenty of smallish car tyres bolted to the horizontal section and a couple of larger ones on the vertical section would allow you to lift and shift a car without doing too much damage.

Turnip · Jun 9, 2021

milkloss said:
i don't think blocking someone in is legal either.

Think you are right but it would be a civil matter as long as you don't block the public highway. Additionally if you can justify that the items needed to be placed there then good luck to whoever was blocked in. For instance a couple of ton bags of manure/compost (fertilizer is prob too expensive) are needed to re-invigorate the soil in that field/paddock.

Cowcorn · Jun 9, 2021

betweenthelines said:
Lots of posts refer to causing "damage" when shifting a car, but surely it's down to the owner of the car to prove how the damage occurred?

If a car sustains minor damage-say bent body panels or bumpers when being pushed by a bale on a handler, how can the car owner PROVE by whom or how the damage happened? Even if he calls the police, what would/could they do if the farmer just denies moving the car? Farmer just has to say something like "Well I saw some teenagers messing about a while ago"

Back in the early ninties i was sowing for a man down a lane beside a large town .
He was plauged with people constantly parking in his gateways and heading off to walk the dog or whatever .
Anyway that day a mercedes estate pulled in and parked in the opengateway and two middle aged women departed with several dogs .
The farmer who i was sowing for went purple with rage as the field was nearly done and he wanted to move the plough to the next field
It was the era of seed in 50 kg paper sacks so he grabbed a bunch of empties shoved them under the car and threw a match to them.
The car went up like a bombfire , he then rang the police to report that " hooligans had burnt a car on the lane and come quick " .
The fire brigade were there in minutes but the car was burnt out .
The police were giving grief to the car owner for leaving her car in a high risk area despite her protests that she " always parks there " .
Not in any way condoning his actions but push people hard enough and often enough and the will hit back .

Dry Rot · Jun 10, 2021

milkloss said:
i don't think blocking someone in is legal either.

This might be relevant (have fun!

):

Interference With Goods Lecture Notes

The action for trespass to goods, trespass de bonis asportatis, affords a remedy where there has been a direct interference with goods in the claimant’s possession at the time of the trespass, whether that be by taking the goods from him or damaging the goods without removing them.

www.lawteacher.net

warksfarmer · Jun 10, 2021

Wipe dog s**t on all their door handles. They won’t come back. It works a treat.

Exfarmer · Jun 10, 2021

warksfarmer said:
Wipe dog s**t on all their door handles. They won’t come back. It works a treat.

plenty freely available , hanging on a tree near you!

Tomr10 · Jun 10, 2021

B'o'B said:
That is my understanding also but according to the Police in link @Turnip put up

https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q528.htm

"Private land
It is a criminal offence to clamp/block/tow away a vehicle on private land without lawful authority. Lawful authority to immobilise or move a vehicle is restricted to a number of organisation such as the police, DVLA and local authorities."

Does it depend on if your the owner of the land, does this refer to a 3rd party ?

Dry Rot · Jun 10, 2021

Tomr10 said:
Does it depend on if your the owner of the land, does this refer to a 3rd party ?

The link is at my post above. Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977. I would imagine that's what makes it a criminal offence. Of course, it is up to the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether a prosceution is in the public interest.

Highland Mule · Jun 10, 2021

Dry Rot said:
The link is at my post above. Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977. I would imagine that's what makes it a criminal offence. Of course, it is up to the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether a prosceution is in the public interest.

Doesn’t tort require a duty of care in favour of the wronged party? I can’t see what duty a landowner would have against someone fly tipping a car on their land. Or have I missed something?

Exfarmer · Jun 10, 2021

Please don’t confuse , Scottish and English/Welsh law!

Highland Mule · Jun 10, 2021

Exfarmer said:
Please don’t confuse , Scottish and English/Welsh law!

Fairly certain that Tort is quite universal.

Henarar · Jun 11, 2021

Old Tup said:
One I heard of...not so easy now with plastic trays under the engine.....slightly slacken the sump plug...just cracked off tight.....
Be a few good few miles before things grind to a halt.

You may think that but I know someone had the sump pug fall out and the oil didn't come out till they stopped the car.
I worked out why, can you ?

pgk · Jun 11, 2021

milkloss said:
i don't think blocking someone in is legal either.

But it is obviously a civil matter!

som farmer · Jun 11, 2021

civil law is very different to 'normal' law, and in many cases takes precedent over it. Several s/mkts, shop chains, are using it on shoplifters, basically, it actually gets to court, and does not give tiny smacks, as a result. Pretty sure the police detest it, a bonus ? We were involved in a gypo camp removal, done under civil law, friend had a field taken 'over', if you act within the 48hrs, basically meant we could physically remove them, police were horrified, read us the riot act, called in the 'riot squad', mini bus loads, but they could not legally stop us, and field was emptied, voluntarily by the travellers, immediately. Not sure it's suitable for general use, but it does give a right of redress that normal doesn't.

HatsOff · Jun 11, 2021

som farmer said:
civil law is very different to 'normal' law, and in many cases takes precedent over it. Several s/mkts, shop chains, are using it on shoplifters, basically, it actually gets to court, and does not give tiny smacks, as a result. Pretty sure the police detest it, a bonus ? We were involved in a gypo camp removal, done under civil law, friend had a field taken 'over', if you act within the 48hrs, basically meant we could physically remove them, police were horrified, read us the riot act, called in the 'riot squad', mini bus loads, but they could not legally stop us, and field was emptied, voluntarily by the travellers, immediately. Not sure it's suitable for general use, but it does give a right of redress that normal doesn't.

Do you mean Common Law?

There is a common law right to your own land, but taking on the eviction yourself isn't without risks.

som farmer · Jun 11, 2021

HatsOff said:
Do you mean Common Law?

There is a common law right to your own land, but taking on the eviction yourself isn't without risks.

pretty certain civil law, they might be the same, but l don't think so. And in that case, there were aprox 60 farmers, and machines to assist. Police attitude to them being there, was so what, they will move on sometime. Police reaction to seeing us lot, was to read us the riot act, and call in the riot squad, and extra officers, they were forced to admit it was legal, they could not stop us, but, please don't do it, which was ignored, and there was no trouble.

X344chap · Jun 13, 2021

Highland Mule said:
Fairly certain that Tort is quite universal.

Nope - its Delict in Scotland.

Al R · Jun 13, 2021

Had a local woman park across 2 gates today at 9.30am (I could see from a long way away), it was tight for a campervan to get through, I know the woman and knew she’d gone to the beach on the farm here. 22:15pm she has come onto the farm yard here to turn around and head home

Also had 4 other idiots park at the end of the farm lane, a lorry wouldn’t have got in and neither would mowers!

What can we do if blocked in or out?

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0 %

Up to 25%

25-50%

50-75%

75-100%

100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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