SORN - what counts as "public road"?
- Thread starter EvilRob
- Start date
It's nobody's spot hence the problem. Quite easy to remove especially if the owner is not local.
It looks like a pretty new estate and therefore pretty new roads.
As said before they do not look as though they are in a state that means they can be adopted by the council as yet.
Adoption can take a minimum of eighteen months and often longer, especially if you are the first part of a larger estate that is not completed. Often the developer will not get the roads on the estate adopted until after completion of the whole project.
Our house is on an estate that took over 5 years to fully complete, and so the roads were all unadopted for nearly seven years from when I bought my house and moved in to when the roads were fully adopted by the local council.
Until full adoption the Council will not have anything to do with maintenance of the roads, like filling potholes or cutting grass on kerbs etc
Also for the purposes of VED and SORN, the definition of a public highway is "a road maintained at public expense".
So if a street is "Unadpoted" then by definition it is not public highway.
Therefore rules regarding SORN and cars on public highway can not be enforced.
As said before they do not look as though they are in a state that means they can be adopted by the council as yet.
Adoption can take a minimum of eighteen months and often longer, especially if you are the first part of a larger estate that is not completed. Often the developer will not get the roads on the estate adopted until after completion of the whole project.
Our house is on an estate that took over 5 years to fully complete, and so the roads were all unadopted for nearly seven years from when I bought my house and moved in to when the roads were fully adopted by the local council.
Until full adoption the Council will not have anything to do with maintenance of the roads, like filling potholes or cutting grass on kerbs etc
Also for the purposes of VED and SORN, the definition of a public highway is "a road maintained at public expense".
So if a street is "Unadpoted" then by definition it is not public highway.
Therefore rules regarding SORN and cars on public highway can not be enforced.
It's not South Shields.
The estate is about 3 years old now but not completed. Not sure how to easily check if the roads are adopteded (the council website says you can either go there in person to check or pay a £120 fee). However the council do come and pick **** up off the street so that may mean it's adopted.
I've reported to the council as well anyway.
For whoever asked, it's not in "my" spot.
The estate is about 3 years old now but not completed. Not sure how to easily check if the roads are adopteded (the council website says you can either go there in person to check or pay a £120 fee). However the council do come and pick **** up off the street so that may mean it's adopted.
I've reported to the council as well anyway.
For whoever asked, it's not in "my" spot.
We have had a car parked in a communal parking area on our street for nearly 2.5yrs, the area is public land and this has been confirmed by the council. There is no MOT or Insurance and the car is SORN'd.
The car has been reported in excess of 10 times and the Police have done **** all.
The car has been reported in excess of 10 times and the Police have done **** all.
Last edited:
Surely it's a civil matter if its not being driven and therefore under the local authority rather than the police
Associate
- Joined
- 11 Dec 2012
- Posts
- 1,684
- Location
- Bangor - Northern Ireland
It all depends on who owns the land. If the land is "Public" (owned by a government department / Council District) then reporting this to the DVA as there is an uninsured car on the road, they will clamp it and possible remove it. If its Private (Site Developer/ Private land owner) with their permission it can stay there as long as they want, or until they request for it to be removed.
This is a civil matter and the police wont get involved unless it becomes criminal ie - someone drives it uninsured.
This is a civil matter and the police wont get involved unless it becomes criminal ie - someone drives it uninsured.
Annoyingly a neighbour has parked IN THEIR SPACE??
How is it annoying?
I actually did not explain this well. It's a shared 11 space car park where each of 5 houses have a space and there are 6 visitor ones. The people in question own 2 other cars and the Clio is his brother in laws, SORN'd and broken down and has sat dormant for a year. We have 2 cars and my other neighbour has 2. There is also another house who use the car park. So as it's a shared car park it's both an eyesore and a waste of a parking space. We are fortunate that not everyone who is entitled to a space uses it so we mostly can park there but when people have visitors it's easy to see as a waste. It's only mildly irritating and I do clear the leaves and weeds etc from around it (not the weeds that grow on its windows though!). More was trying to point out that if they own the space there's nothing you can do to get it removed. I appreciate I didn't write my response at all clearly!
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 17 Nov 2003
- Posts
- 36,747
- Location
- Southampton, UK
Funny enough, who owns the land is a pretty unimportant fact in working out if it's a public road.
That area will almost certainly form part of the definition of a public road (Bryant v Marx 1932; McNeil v Dunbar 1965; Worth v Brooks 1959).
Don
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 17,154
- Location
- In a house
I guess if someone reported that they saw someone put a what looked like a firearm in the boot, it would be checked out pretty quickly
Do NOT do this, very much a waste of police time!!
I guess if someone reported that they saw someone put a what looked like a firearm in the boot, it would be checked out pretty quickly
I think they might have stuffed a lot of gear in the boot. It's sticking out at the back. Worth a check.
Not enough information to determine that from the image in my opinion. On first glance there are:
No road markings
No apparent road signage
No central white lines
Although none of the above would preclude it from being a road.
If the road pictured is part of a development/estate then it could easily be private or restricted to a special class of persons. It certainly will be if the entrances are signed as Private/No Through Road/Residents Only etc or it is a gated/barrier protected area.
Even if sign posted as Private it could be considered a road if it is used in the same manner as a road or public use is demonstrated. You would need to demonstrate that though and it would be taken on it's own merit. What that land/section of paving was used for previously could also form an important part of it's classification.
Even with relatively recent law changes ("roads to which the public have access") and case law to reference it's still not as simple as one might hope. Some stated cases and judgements only muddy the waters!
Last edited:
Although it's part of a development, none of those apply and it connects two main roads so hopefully it's considered public.
I have just noticed that it is clamped on the other side. No idea who by and how long for, but I guess that is a good thing in that some authority seems to think they have the right to get involved. Not sure how clamping a car that never moves helps, though.
Unless it's got a ticket or notice stuck to it then it's probably be clamped by the owner after they read this thread and seen the advice to bump and roll it into the road
Unless it's got a ticket or notice stuck to it then it's probably be clamped by the owner after they read this thread and seen the advice to bump and roll it into the road
Haha. Pretty difficult to tell as no idea how long it's been clamped for - it could well have had a notice that's subsequently been removed.
