If someone is parked across those yellow 'Keep Clear' boxes and your car or boat trailer hits them...

[cupcakesinthesnow]

Should they not have to accept some responsibility for the damage caused to their car?

It happened on private land. Car parked at top of (boat) slipway on those yellow Keep Clear boxes. Boat being taken out if water and due to the cars position ie in the way, the boat trailer clipped the car.

I personally think the person parked like this has to accept some responsibiltya nd we shoud not have to pay the full damage (dented door). But where do I stand legally? Does anyone have any idea?

[EldonAve]

Just because they were parked in the wrong place doesn't give you the right to hit and damage their vehicle

[LSEE]

I think legally they may have to accept some liability because they were illegally parked: found the following on www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_world/travel/traffic_accidents.htm:

Stationary or fixed objects

If someone hits a stationary object, either on the road itself or alongside the road, they should consider the following:-

• was the object adequately marked or lit to enable the driver to see it clearly and in time to avoid it, for example, an unlit car, skip or roadworks. If not, it will be necessary to find out who was responsible for failing to do so. For example, if the object was a parked car, the responsible person is the owner. If the object was roadworks, then whoever is carrying out the roadworks is responsible, for example, the local authority, a gas, water or electricity company, or contractors doing the work on their behalf
  
• had the object been left on the road either unlawfully or in an unsafe way, for example, a car parked on a blind corner. If so, the owner of the object or vehicle may be liable
  
• have there been any similar accidents caused by the object. If so, this is evidence that the object had contributed to the accident.

[theyoungvisiter]

I would check with your insurance company and see what they advise.

My MIL clipped a car illegally parked on a blind bend. She was all for accepting responsibility, but her insurance company made her go to court to contest it. I can't remember what the outcome was, but they certainly seemed to consider it was not clear-cut at the time.

[flowerybeanbag]

I don't have any actual legal knowledge but I can't imagine someone else's bad parking means in law the person who damages their vehicle doesn't have to pay in full as they otherwise would.

Otherwise if you use that logic, wouldn't that mean every time someone was parked on a yellow line, or slightly blocking your drive or something, you could barge them out of the way safe in the knowledge that you wouldn't be fully liable?

Doesn't sound right to me, although happy to be corrected.

I speak from a bit of experience, I used to live in a house with very narrow posts at the end of the drive. I was reversing out one night and someone was parked directly opposite, I think on a yellow line iirc. I really struggled to get out but carried on reversing and in the dark failed to judge the distance correctly, damaging his Jag.

Wouldn't have occurred to me that it was anything but my own responsibility legally, although I certainly had plenty of choice words to say about his parking privately..

[flowerybeanbag]

x-posts with everyone, that's interesting, maybe there is some shared liability.

[theyoungvisiter]

I think it's all quite woolly Flowery - as you point out, the law certainly couldn't give you a free pass to duff up any car that had strayed onto a double yellow.

However equally, if a car decided to stop right in the middle of a country road, at night, across both lanes, with no lights on, then it would be perverse to say that the fault was entirely with the people who hit them.

[EldonAve]

LSEE - it was on private land

[LSEE]

Doesn't matter whether it's on private land or not, the distinction only matters for criminal, not civil, purposes and this is a civil matter. Yes you have a duty to use reasonable care to make sure you don't hit them, but if they were parked somewhere where you couldn't reasonably be expected to avoid hitting them whilst making proper use of the slipway (which I assume is the purpose of the yellow keep clear lines) then as I say they may be at least partially liable. It will come down to whether either of you took sufficient care to avoid the accident.