Stones on the verges

icanshootwell · Jun 7, 2018

Met a truck and trailer in a lane yesterday, i was on a tractor with baler, i reversed back, but the tractor wheels were going on top of these stone that someone had placed on the verge outside there property. As i am aware, i am sure this area belongs to the highways, Its not the 1st time this has happened to me.
People all over the UK seem to want to protect this area next to the road.

and call it theirs because they mow it.

My question is, if i was in a car and met someone in the lane and by trying to avoid them i write of my vehicle on one of these stones (normally painted in white), can i claim of the property owner.

TripleSix · Jun 7, 2018

Report them to the council as obstructions.

Say you damaged your vehicle on them in the dark...

Werzle · Jun 7, 2018

I always warn anybody working for me to keep off the verges, nothing worse than seeing one squashed out or rutted because a numpty trailer jockey couldnt be bothered to hang back and let someone by. It keeps the locals on my side too which makes life alot easier. Its one of my gripes along with drivers who dont trim behind field gates when trimming and or trim wire fencing, muckspreaders who plaster fences/hedges or leave headlands with no muck because they havent learnt to cut revs and bed speed and mower men who leave 1/4 acre in every corner uncut . Any of the above on a regular basis and your gone.

ollie989898 · Jun 7, 2018

TripleSix said:
Report them to the council as obstructions.

Say you damaged your vehicle on them in the dark...

This has happened in our village. If you damage your car, you claim from the council who will then claim off the property owner who put them there.

As others have said the highways belong to the highways department.

Pond digger · Jun 7, 2018

ollie989898 said:
This has happened in our village. If you damage your car, you claim from the council who will then claim off the property owner who put them there.

As others have said the highways belong to the highways department.

^^^This, but as mentioned, it’s best not to make a mess of the verges. They do look better when there well kept, and better still, it’s at no cost to the taxpayer.

Jackov Altraids · Jun 7, 2018

Those who put rocks on verges are liable for any damage caused by their presence.
Furthermore, they should not be within a certain distance of the edge of a road.
[About 18 inches I think]

I agree entirely that verges should not be driven on unless absolutely necessary but putting rocks beside the road creates unnecessary danger while implying it should be fine to drive on any other verge.

Pond digger · Jun 7, 2018

Jackov Altraids said:
Those who put rocks on verges are liable for any damage caused by their presence.
Furthermore, they should not be within a certain distance of the edge of a road.
[About 18 inches I think]

I agree entirely that verges should not be driven on unless absolutely necessary but putting rocks beside the road creates unnecessary danger while implying it should be fine to drive on any other verge.

The verge is likely to be part of the highway, in which case, nothing should be placed on it which prevents access/use.

Grassman · Jun 7, 2018

It is not necessarily so that the verge belongs to the highway.
I have the paperwork to show it's my land right up to the surfaced road in one case. Also many country lanes are just a right of way over private land.

simmy_bull · Jun 7, 2018

There’s also another thread running about taking pride in where you live...........

suffolksmallholder · Jun 7, 2018

I asked my local council about this many years ago. Any stone/post or similar obstruction had to be 1.0 metre in from the verge else the 'owner' of said obstruction 'could' be liable. Note the 'could'!
SS

Courier · Jun 7, 2018

And when there's no verge and one of the wing mirrors needs to be folded in to prevent both catching on the tall dry stone walls ?

7610 super q · Jun 7, 2018

' fraid to disagree. I mow the verge at the bottom of the garden. Used to belong ( and still does IMO ) to the farmyard.
I haven't put stones up yet, but seriously thinking about it. Why should my neatly manicured lawn be run over by dick heids. Passing places 50 yards in either direction anyway.
If the lanes are too narrow for the amount of traffic, don't f**king use um.

Designed for horse and carts, not f**king motorways.

f**king, f**king.

organicguy · Jun 7, 2018

Werzle said:
I always warn anybody working for me to keep off the verges, nothing worse than seeing one squashed out or rutted because a numpty trailer jockey couldnt be bothered to hang back and let someone by. It keeps the locals on my side too which makes life alot easier. Its one of my gripes along with drivers who dont trim behind field gates when trimming and or trim wire fencing, muckspreaders who plaster fences/hedges or leave headlands with no muck because they havent learnt to cut revs and bed speed and mower men who leave 1/4 acre in every corner uncut . Any of the above on a regular basis and your gone.

You must be the same age as me!

Lofty1984 · Jun 7, 2018

Werzle said:
I always warn anybody working for me to keep off the verges, nothing worse than seeing one squashed out or rutted because a numpty trailer jockey couldnt be bothered to hang back and let someone by. It keeps the locals on my side too which makes life alot easier. Its one of my gripes along with drivers who dont trim behind field gates when trimming and or trim wire fencing, muckspreaders who plaster fences/hedges or leave headlands with no muck because they havent learnt to cut revs and bed speed and mower men who leave 1/4 acre in every corner uncut . Any of the above on a regular basis and your gone.

Bet your a dream to work for

Exfarmer · Jun 7, 2018

The highway is a set width and you should never place obstructions with in this width. Many highways are actually at their max width so the verge is not actuall highway, thanks to road widening filling of ditches etc.
We had an instance where the road was widened so far we lost crop off my land.
In Dereham an irate landowner took the highways to court for somethinng similar and eventually was awarded something like £350K mainly legal costs for the damage.
However anyone placing rocks where there was reasonable chance it may cause damage even, on his own land, could be sued if they were not obvious, say covered in long vegetation. This would be particularly the case for an innocent walker tripping over such stone. While getting out of the way of a car.

Werzle · Jun 7, 2018

Lofty1984 said:
Bet your a dream to work for

I always pay the bills on time so i want the job done correctly with minimal hassle .

Yorkshire Square · Jun 7, 2018

7610 super q said:
' fraid to disagree. I mow the verge at the bottom of the garden. Used to belong ( and still does IMO ) to the farmyard.
I haven't put stones up yet, but seriously thinking about it. Why should my neatly manicured lawn be run over by dick heids. Passing places 50 yards in either direction anyway.
If the lanes are too narrow for the amount of traffic, don't fudgeing use um.

Designed for horse and carts, not fudgeing motorways.

fudgeing, fudgeing.

Too right. There's a lot of folk who need to buy substantially smaller cars based on their driving ability (or lack of)...

Cab-over Pete · Jun 7, 2018

I was always lead to believe that part of the verge verge belongs to the council. The width used to be one yard from the edge of the tarmac and was the reason why verge trimmers used to cut with 3ft heads.
As far as I was told, after metric became the norm, the width is now one metre so most trimmers now use a 4ft head.

Or in Solihull MBC they haven’t bothered at all yet, whereas Warwickshire have done most of it twice already.

Bury the Trash · Jun 7, 2018

Cosmetic mowing of verges other than for obvious visabilty/road safety in places, is a waste of fossil fuels.

You often see them on their rideons ...

let the ~~docks and black~~ wild grasses and flowers grow

Henarar · Jun 7, 2018

snow plough comes in handy to put the bloody things in the ditch/hedge out the way
I bet those that put obstructions like stones along the verge have never driven on a verge anywhere else because if they did that would make them bloody great hypocrites
when someone gets hurt on a bike or motorbike by hitting these stones that stupid people put out then they may regret putting them there but most likely not knowing how some folk think

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