How much damage does towing a car that's in "Park" or in gear do?

[Hedge]

Mate who is a truck driver got blocked in by people illegally parking. It was a narrow road and by the time he needed to leave there was no way to squeeze through.

So he called the police, the police told him to drive through it anyway, my mate was like, you know I cannot do that without hitting the cars, the officer said, just drive through.

Apparently he was as careful as he could be but a few wing mirrors and no doubt a scrape or two later, and never heard anything of it again.

I remember taking a delivery in an old job when I was younger and the driver, who was the nicest bloke ever was unloading. A lady parked her car on the path/road ahead of him and walked off, he politely told her it he was leaving shortly and she isn't really allowed to park there.

She then basically told him to f off and went shopping. I later watched as he slowly and cautiously drove his lorry through the gap that was left. He was successful and made it to the other side unscathed..

Then he casually stopped the lorry, got out. Walked over to her car and volleyed her wing mirror off with his steel toed boot.

 

[Scania]

Mate who is a truck driver got blocked in by people illegally parking. It was a narrow road and by the time he needed to leave there was no way to squeeze through.

So he called the police, the police told him to drive through it anyway, my mate was like, you know I cannot do that without hitting the cars, the officer said, just drive through.

Apparently he was as careful as he could be but a few wing mirrors and no doubt a scrape or two later, and never heard anything of it again.

I've been in a similar position , under police guidance told to move anyway and my trailer did quite a bit of damage to about 6 cars, never heard a thing about it afterwards.

 

[bazzabear]

I mean they didn't move it very quickly, but still the tyres were skipping a fair bit, I doubt it did the car any good.

As much as it looks worse, I would assume that the wheels not turning at all, and just skipping / skidding along the road is probably better for the car. No damage to the transmission if it never gets forced to move.

 

[Alibaba99]

Towing an auto with the driven wheels on the ground can do a substantial amount of damage, obviously depending on how far the vehicle is moved.

The lubrication system for most auto-boxes is driven by the input shaft and if the engine isn't running there is no oil flow through the box. Modern cars that can coast are different as their boxes have a different oil system and pump.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

Need jack dollies for this

 

[Freefaller]

So I guess nothing hugely bad was done but sounds like a grey area. Those cars still haven't moved I guess they're away.

 

[Dis86]

possibly a huge amount of damage, sounds illegal to do that to other peoples property. The cars may have been SORN and legally allowed to be there as long as they did not drive the cars.

You do get SORN literally states in its title that they can't be on the road?

 

[dave28]

You do get SORN literally states in its title that they can't be on the road?

Well I thought it meant not driven on the road, I would bet that is not enforced much. Police have better things to do than to check if every SORN car are in the right place.

 

[tom_e]

Well I thought it meant not driven on the road, I would bet that is not enforced much. Police have better things to do than to check if every SORN car are in the right place.

DVLA are quite hot on it if people start reporting it or they're in the area doing checks as it's easy money

 

[LuckyBenski]

Well I thought it meant not driven on the road, I would bet that is not enforced much. Police have better things to do than to check if every SORN car are in the right place.

It's pretty simple for ANPR to pick them up though.

 

[Alibaba99]

Well I thought it meant not driven on the road, I would bet that is not enforced much. Police have better things to do than to check if every SORN car are in the right place.

They will just drive a camera vehicle down the roads which will ping any vehicles parked without VED, MOT or insurance.

 

[Rroff]

I remember taking a delivery in an old job when I was younger and the driver, who was the nicest bloke ever was unloading. A lady parked her car on the path/road ahead of him and walked off, he politely told her it he was leaving shortly and she isn't really allowed to park there.

She then basically told him to f off and went shopping. I later watched as he slowly and cautiously drove his lorry through the gap that was left. He was successful and made it to the other side unscathed..

Then he casually stopped the lorry, got out. Walked over to her car and volleyed her wing mirror off with his steel toed boot.

No one is going to be inspecting your boot for a scratch back at the yard and suspending authority to drive until an investigation is done

 

[Freefaller]

DVLA are quite hot on it if people start reporting it or they're in the area doing checks as it's easy money

Our sleepy town wouldn't get many visits to be fair! A lot of vehicles tend to be used on farms and so on.

 

[Rroff]

I've only ever once seen a actual DVLA van doing the rounds, though the police, etc. sometimes drive around the trading estate at work obviously checking plates.

Was quite a weird one with the DVLA van as they had blue strip lights on it, but not like emergency services just static strips, and they stopped blocking in a car in work's car park (not a colleague's car AFAIK) and turned those lights on and sat there until a tow truck arrived.

 

[Haggisman]

Hope you got the details of the company moving the cars.

AFAIK it isn't actually illegal to move a parked car a short distance

There's no way that's legal, surely? You're saying I could go and move my neighbour's car if I decide I want their parking spot?

I've only ever once seen a actual DVLA van doing the rounds, though the police, etc. sometimes drive around the trading estate at work obviously checking plates.

Was quite a weird one with the DVLA van as they had blue strip lights on it, but not like emergency services just static strips, and they stopped blocking in a car in work's car park (not a colleague's car AFAIK) and turned those lights on and sat there until a tow truck arrived.

There's a house I pass on the way to drop off the kids at school which was gradually growing more and more cars parked outside (basically taking up all the parking on the road), obviously a dealer operating out of home. Drove past a few months ago and almost every car had a big yellow DVLA untaxed sticker on the windscreen .

 

[grudas]

auto in park being towed with drive wheels on ground is not great at all. They need to be in neutral or often with the wheels lifted. If it was skipping then I guess the trans “fork” was holding the wheels from spinning and may be bent/damaged.

Different with manual left out of gear and only on handbrake. Less damage other than tires or maybe stretched cables?!

 

[adam cool dude]

If the thing he is towing is large enough it will need a movement order. This has nothing to do with the haulage company. They only request it but the council/police will then send a route for them to take and which way they have to go. If they have failed to make adequate arrangements for the route to be clear then the bill is on the council/police.

Although judging by your comments and the type of load most likely never had any of that!

 

[Dis86]

auto in park being towed with drive wheels on ground is not great at all. They need to be in neutral or often with the wheels lifted. If it was skipping then I guess the trans “fork” was holding the wheels from spinning and may be bent/damaged.

Different with manual left out of gear and only on handbrake. Less damage other than tires or maybe stretched cables?!

Exactly this. With auto's, if park is engaged there tends to be mechanical interference locking the gearbox out. It's not held by friction.

 

[Rroff]

auto in park being towed with drive wheels on ground is not great at all. They need to be in neutral or often with the wheels lifted. If it was skipping then I guess the trans “fork” was holding the wheels from spinning and may be bent/damaged.

Depends a bit on the type of auto as well - but from some Googling it seems in neutral you can only drag them around 100-200m before the lack of lubrication starts to cause damage, if properly in park the parking pawl is designed to robustly hold the vehicle in place so as long as the the wheels are skidding on the surface rather than putting any significant force on it, everything should be OK but if significant force is put on it i.e. due to the wheels coming up against some resistance then it will do a ton of damage.

 

[Begbie]

Mate who is a truck driver got blocked in by people illegally parking. It was a narrow road and by the time he needed to leave there was no way to squeeze through.

So he called the police, the police told him to drive through it anyway, my mate was like, you know I cannot do that without hitting the cars, the officer said, just drive through.

Apparently he was as careful as he could be but a few wing mirrors and no doubt a scrape or two later, and never heard anything of it again.

Police aren't always right though...

A copper asked me for permission to drive though a no entry once, I gave him permission - I wasn't in the position to do so, he then got a dressing down by someone else half way through the road.

I made an exit.

So I'm not sure how legally clear you are if the police give you permission?