Fork lifting a car...my car!

DingleBerry

DingleBerry

DingleBerry

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Cloud Cuckoo Land
I live on a marina and because they haven't the forethought or planning to designate parking spaces they often find that peoples cars are in their way. Their usual solution is to put the offending car on a fork lift without their permission or a little as a phone call and move it somewhere else.

Is there any law against this. As far as I'm concerned my cars aren't designed to be put on a fork lift how ever careful they are (which isn't something they are known for). They certainly don't know the path of my brake lines in enough detail to be sure they aren't going to damage them. I'm quite happy to contact HSE if it comes to it but it would be good to know if there is some specific law.

My guess is that traffic law won't apply as it is private land which the public do not have normal access to. But surely they still have a duty of care towards me and my property.

They moved a friend of mines (freshly bought) metro yesterday and dented the sills. He's not overly pleased.

Any thoughts?
 
I would suggest you need to look into the specifics of your lease, but I can't imagine their is a specific clause that states they can do this.
 
they have done this a few times on our place with no damage, although normally its company cars and export sales guys who leave them in the way for weeks at a time
 
I've read the contract from cover to cover previously and it doesn't mention the moving of cars with a forklift. I can be very confident of this (even if I hadn't read it) because its a standard contract which covers all of british water ways marinas the VAST majority (if not every single other one) will either have a designated car park or no forklift/crane.

They have permission to move my boat but the chances of damage from that are practically nill.

I know my car has been on the forklift before but I can't prove it and there was no damage.

I'm confident if they ever put my MGB on the forklift there would be extensive damage to the running gear, exhaust, braking system, and potentially terminal damage to the chassis (depending on how much rust I don't know about).
 
Sone said:
they have done this a few times on our place with no damage, although normally its company cars and export sales guys who leave them in the way for weeks at a time
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The difference is that mine is MY car and I am a paying customer. And they HAVE damaged a car. Not only that but it only takes one slip and the brake lines are damaged.
 
DingleBerry said:
The difference is that mine is MY car and I am a paying customer. And they HAVE damaged a car. Not only that but it only takes one slip and the brake lines are damaged.
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Not only that, but the subframe of the car isn't designed to take the whole weight of the engine etc at any point other than the jacking points.
 
You mentioned it's a British Waterways marina. I'd give British Water Ways head ofice a phone call. There is no way this can be an approved practice, and I expect their health and safety department will have a field day.

If that doesn't do it might be worth giving a local rag a call, just imagine what would happen if they dropped a car on someone.
 
Am I allowed to suggest you don't park there?

They are not allowed to damage your vehicle but they are allowed to move it if it is in the way. There will be no clause in any contract that says they can move your car with a fork lift, you cannot have illegal clauses in contracts and even if there was it is not enforceable.

If there is no designated parking area then wherever you park your car could be deemed to be an obstruction but they would have a duty of care to attempt to contact you or move it in a reasonable fashion even if they passed that charge on to you.

Btw IANAL :D
 
i've seen damage caused to the underside of a car that was lifted by a forklift (in a salvage yard)
the brake lines were all squashed.
the bad thing is that it was not very noticeable damage unless you looked carefully, and it was only picked up when we tried to mot the car, but it could have been dangerous.

so if they forklift someones car they could damage their brakelines without them knowing about it then the owner could be driving around in a dangerous car without knowing it.

i would say it was a major safety issue.

rob
 
the problem with forklifting a car is that every car is different underneath and while some would be ok, some would be wrecked if you tried it.
i don't think anywhere would be able to have a policy of lifting cars this way to move them.
 
DingleBerry said:
I have to....I live there.

The guy who's metro was dented has given head office a call and they didn't sound best pleased so hopefully it won't happen again. If it does there will be hell to pay. I think I would be forced to have a safety check performed at their expense.
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So you park your car in a parking area and they move it? Are you parking somewhere dodgy or do they just like moving cars for a laugh? :| sounds weird

Im thinking of our local marina in Eastbourne and trying to think of a place where they would have to move cars that were parked in a proper place but I cant think of one :\ Either the car would have to be parked somewhere daft or the people with the forklift would have to go out of their way to find a car.
 
I've always wanted to pick up a car with my FLT, or drive th forks through the side of it (thats the sadistic person in me).

Its amazing what these truck can lift, i picked up the trailer from a lorry last week that came off the back of a unit :D
 
I would first obtain some proof of this forkilifting of cars, it seems totally unbelievable that this kind of activity goes on. Once you have proof (photographs and a diary of this activity should suffice) then write an open letter to the other residents, the management company (British Waterways is it?) and to the people that are doing the damage.

Clearly outline your concerns and include photos of damage done and say that it's completely unacceptable for this to continue.
I would then also include some solutions for the problem, for example:
- All parked cars to have a notice that states where the owner is along with a phone number
- Outline plans to create some permanent marked out parking bays

Hopefully this will kick-start the other residents into contributing, and will hopefully get British Waterways off their back-sides.
Make sure the letter is professional and concise, and I would suggest that you finish it off by stating that you will be contacting them in 28 days to listen to their proposals.
If they haven't done anything by then, I would suggest writing another letter stating your intentions to contact the press and police about the matter, but hopefully it won't come to that.
 
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Phil W said:
I've always wanted to pick up a car with my FLT, or drive th forks through the side of it (thats the sadistic person in me).

Its amazing what these truck can lift, i picked up the trailer from a lorry last week that came off the back of a unit :D
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Oh dear, thats a driving re-assesment for some unlucky soul! (was'nt me)!
 
Phil W said:
I've always wanted to pick up a car with my FLT, or drive th forks through the side of it (thats the sadistic person in me).

Its amazing what these truck can lift, i picked up the trailer from a lorry last week that came off the back of a unit :D
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hehe i've had to do that before now... as well as lifting another CB truck up that was stuck and shunting it.
 
helpimcrap said:
happens a fair bit in our yards, mainly foreigners to be honest. i guess they either have a different fifth wheel/pin setup or they are simply not trained to check it before actually pulling off lol.
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They are "professional" drivers, checking that the 5th wheel pin is correctly engaged is akin to a car driver checking he's got his seatbelt on.

Considering its only a small pin that holds upto 30ton of trailer in place, only a fool would'nt check & double check.

That said, I've backed under a few trailers in the past to have them fall off again, despite multiple checks!
 
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