If your car broke down outside a person’s house...

[NameChangedForThisFeb21]

And you knew for certain it was causing an obstruction for a wheelchair user...

How long would you take to arrange to have it recovered?

For me it would be pretty much immediate, a couple of hours at most. In a similar situation as a student I took out RAC cover over the phone and immediately rang them to ask them to help, no problem.

This has happened on my brother in law’s street to one of his neighbours (four days and counting, parked half on the pavement, the car owner spoke to the homeowner and was aware disabled access was needed) and I’m just wondering at which point you’d consider it a bit strange to not arrange to have it moved...

I can’t imagine leaving it for days but I’m wondering if I’m in alternate universe territory here or not.

Maybe they can't afford to?

Otherwise, I can't think of any reason to be that inconsiderate!

Maybe they can't afford to move it? They might not have roadside cover.

I'd report it as abandoned.

@Sunny4876

I'd report it as abandoned.

But it's not!

I assume its taxed and insured

I think you can’t report a vehicle as abandoned for 15 days and it has to be untaxed etc. It’s not abandoned so no one will be reporting it I don’t think - why would you? BIL assumed neighbour had visitors when he saw him struggling across the road and was told the story and was told a mechanic was coming to collect it.

My breakdown cover is only £7 a month and I was covered the day I took it out but maybe not everyone knows that’s possible.

If it's half of the pavement and that isn't allowed on that road then surely it can be reported to the council/police as causing an obstruction and illegal parking

Could they push it out of the way, just along the road a little to unblock the path?

The person whose car broke down could push it forward so it did nothing impede access for the disabled home owner- is this something that you can report to your local council as it sounds like it's on a dropped kerb or "inconsiderately parked impeding access"? IANAL but it isn't cricket really is it?

If legally parked I would leave it until convenient.

The person has buggered off and never been back and seemingly wasn’t someone who lived on the street. They spoke to the person whose house it is as they’d noticed they were disabled and said they car would be getting picked up by a mechanic apparently. I’m not sure if BIL would be comfortable pushing someone else’s car away. I’ve got a feeling it’s not a dropped kerb either, will check next time I’m there (doing school run for my DNs). I’m sure it will all sort itself out in time, just feel sorry for the disabled person who is struggling to get around it.

And I just didn’t know if this was typical of your car breaks down that a lot of people would leave it for a few days.

Is it parked in front of a driveway or part on and off the pavement?

Local council website says it needs to be there for 15 days, untaxed and uninsured before they get involved.

@Outbutnotoutout

Is it parked in front of a driveway or part on and off the pavement?

Car takes up half the width of the pavement and is very slightly over the drive (only maybe 5 inches).

Please don’t ask me to draw a diagram...my arm is currently in a sling lol.

If it was my car I would have attempted to push it out the way. If I physically couldn't I'd have arranged people to do so. If it was my drive blocked I would have towed it out the way.

However, it's on the pavement so it is the councils responsibility to deal with it. Much as I think it's disgraceful they've left it there, if the pavement was being dug up or relaid - whatever, then the disabled person would have to go a different route. Absolutely not agreeing with it but that's the case.

I'd rope in a local rugby team to pick it up and move it.

I'm assuming that the handbrake is on thus making it difficult to push out the way? (Of course you could wriggle underneath and cut the cable- the inconsiderate kn*b is going to have a garage bill anyway.)

@User0ne

I'd rope in a local rugby team to pick it up and move it.

I'm assuming that the handbrake is on thus making it difficult to push out the way? (Of course you could wriggle underneath and cut the cable- the inconsiderate kn*b is going to have a garage bill anyway.)

Lol, I like the idea of a load of rugby players being there!

I’m not sure as only glanced at it briefly when doing school pick up/drop off but I’m imagining the handbrake is on, yeah.

I just find it strange that they’d leave it this long without getting it picked up, especially knowing that it’s causing so much trouble for the disabled homeowner. I get stressed being without my car for even a day when it’s getting MOTd lol! Four days and it’s not even in the garage yet and I’d be fed up getting busses etc. Especially during the pandemic!

Have you contacted the council to ask what to do in these specific circumstances? Not just looked at their website but called.

@ThreeFeetTall

Have you contacted the council to ask what to do in these specific circumstances? Not just looked at their website but called.

Not me because I don’t live there so don’t know all the details but BIL (whose neighbours it is who’ve had the car dumped outside their door) has and they said that they wouldn’t get involved until it was 15 days and untaxed/uninsured.

Sorry should say BIL checked it out somehow and the car is fully taxed/insured/MOTd. Anyway, I’m sure they wouldn’t want to be without their car too long so hopefully will be back for it soon. I just thought most people would want their car taken to the garage the same day if possible. Apparently it’s still there tonight. Maybe they will have it collected at the weekend. Or maybe they are waiting till payday.

I've left a car over a weekend after a breakdown once, with permission and not in anyone's way. That's because the garage wasnt open until the Monday and I needed to check they could fix it, you only get one journey with the breakdown service.

Four days during the week - no. Entitled Britain.

Just to update this, my BIL told me this afternoon that someone on the street managed to make contact with the car owner and she said she is coming back for it “when the part arrives and her husband has time to fix it”.

Hopefully it won’t take a long time!

Is it genuinely, definitely blocking someone from coming and going? If so of course they should move it, but I'm wondering if it is just that the homeowner doesn't like it there.

@TheYearOfSmallThings

Is it genuinely, definitely blocking someone from coming and going? If so of course they should move it, but I'm wondering if it is just that the homeowner doesn't like it there.

It’s not a full blockage but it is causing an obstruction for a wheelchair user and preventing the homeowners own wheelchair accessible vehicle from being able to be parked on the same side of the the road as their house. So they have to wheel the chair off the road and across the street to get in and out for appointments etc. The street is quite busy with cars whizzing round the corner who might not see a chair getting pushed (by an older, quite slowed down person) until it’s too late. So the chair would need to get pushed to the end of the road (or up a hill) to get to a safe place to cross.

And the car is also half on the pavement, I struggled with a pushchair and two older kids (my nieces and nephew) getting past it tonight so I’d imagine it’s harder when it’s a full grown adult’s chair.

It’s not fully blocked and it will get moved, it’s just really inconsiderate, especially as the person apparently was told beforehand about the wheelchair access being needed.