Discover Hertford Online Forum

Does anyone else wonder why the two large white vans full of what can only be described as "rubbish" are allowed to park all day and night on New Street? These vans have been there for as long as I have lived in Hertford (12 years now) and the driving seats are stacked up with more "rubbish" to the point where the vans obviously cannot be driven safely. They cause numerous problems for passing traffic, and are often joined by one or more trailers (also full of rubbish). Why haven't the police/local Council done anything about them?

This has been discussed before, The vehicle’s in question have the necessary documentation for them to be Legal and to be parked where the owner wishes. Yes they are an eye sore but there is nothing that can be done.

I may be wrong

Its New Road not New Street.

If only the old forum was still available it would be possible for people to look for old discussions or for others to refer them! In the Goldings thread a few weeks ago Mack E Avelly made some interesting comments suggesting that this could have been done without too much effort.

As to the vans, yes they are an eyesore and I think a bit selfish to other road users/people who wish to park but they are, as far as I know, legally parked?

Razor wrote:If only the old forum was still available it would be possible for people to look for old discussions or for others to refer them! In the Goldings thread a few weeks ago Mack E Avelly made some interesting comments suggesting that this could have been done without too much effort.

This off-topic but I can't let this pass without comment. It's very easy to be on the outside looking in and make comments about how an organisation or facility is run, without knowing all the facts. I've spent 15 years of my life building up and maintaining this website and the forum, and retiring the old forum was not a decision that was taken lightly. There were many reasons for doing so, not all of them technical. Whilst it might be "falling off a log" to migrate the database to MySQL there is no direct migration path from the old Snitz software to phpBB3. Providing access to the old database would have required software to be written specifically for the purpose. Maintaining this site takes time and costs money, yet it is provided as a free service. I'm sorry if our limited resources means that some people are dissatisfied with Discover Hertford but I try my best to keep the site running with what I have available. The alternative is to close it down, and I dare some would find the time to criticise me for that too!

Any further discussion should be in a new thread.

This could be the first thread to go bad and get locked (by crippling irony) for going off topic...

Being picky it New Road............................but aside from that when there have been vans there in the past that have no longer been legal they have been towed away. They are then replaced quite quickly by others. It has been on going for years and it seems little can be done.

The Police and Hertfordshire Highways have powers to deal with these vans and associated junk under S.137 of the Highways Act 1980 "S137 Penalty for wilful obstruction.E+W.(1)If a person, without lawful authority or excuse, in any way wilfully obstructs the free passage along a highway he is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding [F1level 3 on the standard scale]."

Just because the vehicles may have insurance, MOT etc, does not mean they have lawful authority to obstruct the free passage along a highway. It would be up to a Court to determine whether they have an "excuse". I would suggest that if it were to be determined that the person placing these items on the highway had an excuse then anyone could deposit an old sofa, gas cooker, fridge or washing machine on the road or pavement (which, incidentally is classed as part of the highway) with impunity. With a General Election looming it might be worth contacting our local MP, Mark Prisk, who might actually be persuaded to do something to encourage the authorities to take action to rid the locality of this eyesore.

I would have thought (and as discussed on the "old" forum) that rather than use the Highways Act (it being difficult to determine a parked vehicle, however long it's been there, is an obstruction) one might consider finding out how this person manages to ply his trade from his private premises and what licences/insurances he has to so do?

As also previously mentioned they are his livelihood and though unsightly cause little other offence and we are, to a some extent, acclimated to to their presence. Some years back a funeral of a senior policeman caused some officers to exercise a bit of authority and they all got towed away. They were all back within the week....

Technically all vehicles parked on a highway are causing an obstruction. The common law definition of a Highway states that 'A highway is a way over which there exists a public right of passage, that is to say a right for all Her Majesty's subjects at all seasons of the year freely and at their will to pass and repass without let or hindrance' Note that it does not say that you can park or deposit all manner of junk at your will. The fact that the contents of the vans and trailers are the guy's living are neither here nor there. He is committing an offence. No 'ifs', 'buts' or 'maybes'

Rubbish!

"Technically" an offence has been committed but it means nothing without enforcement.

To quote this parliamentary briefing document (and without even getting into the discussion about what an obstruction is)...

http://www.parliament.uk/Templates/Brie ... id=SN01170

"There is no national prohibition against on-street or ‘pavement’ parking except in relation to heavy commercial vehicles."....

"Some pavement parking will be seen as causing an obstruction and can be dealt with by the police or traffic wardens. However, most enforcement will be by local authorities who have assumed control for decriminalised/civil parking enforcement under Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004. As part of this process they can designate ‘Special Parking Areas’ (SPAs) in which vehicles parked on street or on the pavement can be ticketed for contravening parking regulations (e.g. parking on a yellow line), rather than for causing an obstruction.1 Some local authorities, i.e. Exeter, took their own Private Act powers to ban pavement parking within their areas"....

.."If therefore it can be shown that a vehicle is illegally parked, causing an obstruction or is abandoned, the local authority and the police may remove it under this legislation. It should be pointed out, however, that they do not have to remove a vehicle in any of these three cases, merely that they may do so"...