How freakin' much?! [Drop Kerb]

RedvGreen · 11 Feb 2014 at 10:57

Outside my new property my driveway is 50% high kerb and 50% lowered. Unfortunately the layout is like this...

____------------------____________

Whereby the raised kerb is basically occupying the middle area of the driveway. I thought this wasn't an issue at first, however, managed to thoroughly scuff the underside of my car when reversing off the drive (front of car landed on the kerb as suspension levelled off).

Quite irate I expected the council to fix this free of charge (Naive here) and looked into the kerb issue.

It appears that as a basic price, it is £140 application/planning and £1000 drop-kerb manual work.

As an extra headache, in front of the raised kerb on the pavement between my driveway and the road is a BT access panel which would appear to be higher than the slope (so would need additional recessing).

This comes back with a total cost of £140 application/planning and £3000 for the manual works.

Is there any other way to get this done?! I've received damage to my vehicle from the kerb, so isn't this classed as an accident on the public highway (just like pothole damage?)

~Divine~Wind~ · 11 Feb 2014 at 11:04

Hmm odd one.
TBH for the council to place a drop kerb so you have a drive but leave a section raised seems off. Unless of course this dropkerb was done "privately" ?

RedvGreen · 11 Feb 2014 at 11:11

~Divine~Wind~ said:
Hmm odd one.
TBH for the council to place a drop kerb so you have a drive but leave a section raised seems off. Unless of course this dropkerb was done "privately" ?

The original driveway was 1 vehicle long/wide; since then, the previous owner had the drive extended, but also slightly moved, so the single access drop-kerb was no longer full-car width.

When the driveway was done, it wasn't dropped at that point, as it should have been.

tom_e · 11 Feb 2014 at 11:19

RedvGreen said:
The original driveway was 1 vehicle long/wide; since then, the previous owner had the drive extended, but also slightly moved, so the single access drop-kerb was no longer full-car width.

When the driveway was done, it wasn't dropped at that point, as it should have been.

So it's not the councils fault then? I'm not sure why you'd expect them to help for any less than the usual fees.

~Divine~Wind~ · 11 Feb 2014 at 11:22

no, a driveway being widened is nothing to do with the council.
That was private work on your own land not public land that the council is responsible for, probably cheaper to move your driveway tbh

Nightglow · 11 Feb 2014 at 11:26

Photo please.

Doesn't surprise at all with the price, there is no set base price, each council seem to charge what they like.
But, Tameside Council, Ashton-under-Lyne, used to be excellent with there pricing & information.

http://www.tameside.gov.uk/kerbdropping#cost

Some years ago there where two house about 60mtrs apart, identical pavement, same council, both owners applied for a drop curb, one had a quote of about £900, other £1500, where is the logic.

You can't do the job your self, it has to be done by an approved contractor.

I suggest to see your councillor & see when he can do for you, might not get it for free, but may be able to reduce the price.

wnb · 11 Feb 2014 at 13:54

Planning is a fortune. Just to dig a hole in my front garden I needed planning permission which cost me £350. As my property borders the highway I now how to get an approved contractor to tarmac a foot wide bit by my new wall which is on my land that will cost £250 for permission. I never touched the road or damaged it but I have stil to aplly for permission to get the work done.

Abyss · 11 Feb 2014 at 14:27

I have come across numerous highways works challenges as a part of my job.

You could try approaching one of the contractors that are approved to do highway works for your local council and get a quote from them. What council do you come under?

You will still however need to pay the cost of either lowering or diverting the services which can create numerous headaches, I even had one instance where the services weren't installed deep enough originally and had to pay the cost of lowering these services before the dropped kerb could be amended.

mattyg · 11 Feb 2014 at 14:28

I'd just wait until some council road workers are around and give them a back hander.

Abyss · 11 Feb 2014 at 14:29

wnb said:
Planning is a fortune. Just to dig a hole in my front garden I needed planning permission which cost me £350. As my property borders the highway I now how to get an approved contractor to tarmac a foot wide bit by my new wall which is on my land that will cost £250 for permission. I never touched the road or damaged it but I have stil to aplly for permission to get the work done.

That seems high! You shouldn't normally need to pay more than £172. It does of course depend on what you applied for though!

https://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/english_application_fees.pdf

snips86x · 11 Feb 2014 at 14:44

Just make a wooden ramp!

tom_e · 11 Feb 2014 at 14:47

There's only one real option here buy a tank/4x4

Haggisman · 11 Feb 2014 at 15:26

RedvGreen said:
Is there any other way to get this done?! I've received damage to my vehicle from the kerb, so isn't this classed as an accident on the public highway (just like pothole damage?)

Actually, I believe it's illegal to drive onto your drive if there isn't a dropped kerb, as technically it's classed as driving across a footway, so I'd be wary of trying to go down that route...

tom_e · 11 Feb 2014 at 15:30

Either way they'd just laugh at you if you tried to claim as it's not their fault someone moved the drive.

Richie · 11 Feb 2014 at 18:48

Haggisman said:
Actually, I believe it's illegal to drive onto your drive if there isn't a dropped kerb, as technically it's classed as driving across a footway, so I'd be wary of trying to go down that route...

Negative.

Section 34 RTA 1988 sub-section 3:

It is not an offence under this section to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle on any land within fifteen yards of a road, being a road on which a motor vehicle may lawfully be driven, for the purpose only of parking the vehicle on that land.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/34

You can legally drive upto 15 yards over a pavement to gain access to your property in order to park your car. Nothing about drop kerbs.

Drop kerbs become a legal issue when people park across them as they are usually there for access therefore it becomes an obstruction offence

godinman · 11 Feb 2014 at 21:05

Can't you get those wedge things that go on the road by the curb so that you don't scuff the bottom of the car?

Yaayuh! · 11 Feb 2014 at 21:21

Haggisman said:
Actually, I believe it's illegal to drive onto your drive if there isn't a dropped kerb, as technically it's classed as driving across a footway, so I'd be wary of trying to go down that route...

Nope, not at all. Just like bumping the kerb etc

Haggisman · 12 Feb 2014 at 08:37

Richie said:
Negative.

Section 34 RTA 1988 sub-section 3:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/34

You can legally drive upto 15 yards over a pavement to gain access to your property in order to park your car. Nothing about drop kerbs.

Drop kerbs become a legal issue when people park across them as they are usually there for access therefore it becomes an obstruction offence

Rossi~ said:
Nope, not at all. Just like bumping the kerb etc

Fair enough - I was just going from several councils' websites which said it was illegal, but I should know by now that councils haven't a clue about anything XD

Gaspanic · 12 Feb 2014 at 09:58

We had the same problem here, a couple of bags of macadam did the trick, depending on how long you've lived there you could put it down and say it always has been there. I'm not condoning this at all, but it's a lot cheaper and may alleviate the problem.

How freakin' much?! [Drop Kerb]

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