Can you leave a caravan parked up on the side of the road?

[24YearsAtTheTapEnd]

With no car attached or number plate?

There appears to be an argument between a family and the council (and possibly my neighbours).

A family a few streets away don't have a drive and bought a caravan last summer. It's parked next to our house. I couldn't give a crap, I can't see it but it does piss DH off and he says the other neighbours are annoyed too because it takes up a much needed parking space.

Anyway, it had a notice stuck on it saying it would be towed if it isn't gone within a day.

The family put a notice up saying it isn't abandoned and any issues then call this number XXXXX

Does anyone know who is in the right here?

Within 7 days.

Not a day

Did you google?

This says check with your council

www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q629.htm

Legal or not it sounds very selfish.

If they live a few streets away why are they parking on your street and not their own?

Don’t know if it’s legal or not, but I’m with your DH would find it annoying. They really need to pay to store it somewhere.

Also you say they live a few streets away, yet it’s next to your house? Why is it not parked outside their house, on their street?

Yeah I did Google it, and that told me it was fine.

Which doesn't make sense if the council is putting notices on it?

@TroysMammy

If they live a few streets away why are they parking on your street and not their own?

There isn't anywhere on their street that they can put it. It's a weird street, it doesn't have any paths.

Well it is selfish if it takes up a space someone could use. Really you should rent a space- where it is also looked after with catching if u have a motor home or caravan.We had one years ago and put ours in a caravan sales place who had pitches that you paid a one off fee to every year and they would look after it for u.That’s what you are supposed to do. Also holiday parks sometimes have storage facilities for them.

Which doesn't make sense if the council is putting notices on it?

This might be because it doesn't have plates on.

Worth checking your house deeds - there's a covenant on ours saying you can't park a caravan outside your house.

It's illegal, to have a caravan or trailer parked on a public road it needs to be attached to a vehicle. The council will remove it once the notice runs out.

I think this is an issue you just watch from the sidelines. The council want it moved on, the owner is a few streets away, you're not bothered.

Ah that link gave me more answers than I managed to get!

Nice find, thank you.

Whether it is legal or not, it is incredibly fucking selfish of them. I would be raging if someone parked and left a caravan outside my house. There are plenty of facilities that provide caravan storage. I would be putting storage details on their caravan and saying it either goes there or it gets towed.

I wondered this as last year someone left a massive boat on a trailer outside our house. I never found an answer but would have been happy to have it towed as there is only parking for a few cars anyway

No you cannot park a caravan on the road!😀can you imagine the implications at seaside resorts?beauty spots?

No, most people that own caravans without a drive, pay to store them somewhere. I think that is what they will need to do, they won’t be able to keep it on the street. They must know surely, probably just hoping they would get away with it.

@KarmaStar

No you cannot park a caravan on the road!😀can you imagine the implications at seaside resorts?beauty spots?

According to that link, you can.

I was always under the impression that an unattached trailer was not allowed to be parked on the public road. If it is legal, what's to stop you from 'parking' anything on the road - a shipping container for example? I know you can have a skip parked on the road outside your house for a limited time, but permission has to be sought for this. Is it just the fact that it has wheels and can use the road, when attached to a legal vehicle?

Does this mean that anybody could buy themselves a cheap low-loader trailer of the vehicle recovery kind, leave it permanently parked outside their house and then drive their car up on to it, so as to bag themselves a perpetual private space on the public road?

We have a caravan, but we have a decent-sized drive to keep it on. If we didn't have a drive, we would either pay to keep it in storage or just consider it incompatible with our circumstances and not have one.

Keeping one on the road is selfish in the extreme. They will block out people's light and are, on average, approaching the length of two average cars, as well as being wider. Moreover, I'm guessing that the kind of people who assume the right to do this will also be the sort to assume the subsequent right to be able to get their vehicle in front of it to hitch it up whenever they like, and could get nasty if a neighbour legally parks their car in front of the draw bar, preventing them from moving their caravan; thus effectively expecting to have three potential parking spaces reserved for their own use - even when their car is parked elsewhere, in a fourth space.

Caravans are wonderful things, but they need to be kept in an appropriate place when not en route.

Does it have lights? Highway Code Rule 250.

As this thread is 3 years old I assume it has been resolved by now!

Would love OP to return and tell us!

Just put a few to collector notice on. It will cease to be an issue.