3. East Herts Council ‘no power’ to tow car from disabled bay
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East Herts Council ‘no power’ to tow car from disabled bay
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Bit of an odd situation that I’m hoping experienced members can comment on.

There is a single disabled parking bay at this location in Bishop’s Stortford: https://maps.app.goo.gl/wsyzXayxBDG45dUZ7?g_st=ic

A blue BMW has been parked in this bay continuously without displaying a badge for a few months now. The council issued one PCN and have since left it alone. There was a note saying the car was ‘broken down’ on the dash at some point. The car is taxed and MOT’ed.

Since then the council seem to think they have no power to remove the car as it isn’t abandoned and defer to the police. I called them and was flat out told it is a police matter. The police do not seem that bothered either and are deferring to the council.

East Herts council has an illustrated example of removing a car blocking a disabled badge as ‘medium’ priority as part of their tow policy: https://democracy.eastherts.gov.uk/documents/s16986/Vehicle%20Removals%20ERP%20B.pdf

Any ideas how someone can force the council to enforce their own parking rules?

Local paper have written about it but so far no sign of action: https://bishopsstortfordindependent.co.uk/news/abandoned-bmw-blocks-disabled-parking-space-for-two-months-9369989/
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Re: East Herts Council ‘no power’ to tow car from disabled bay
« Reply #1 on: »
There is a power to remove after 15 minutes, the relevant power is found in regulation 5C of The Removal and Disposal of Vehicles Regulations 1986 as inserted by The Removal and Disposal of Vehicles (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2007 and as amended by regulation 6 of The Removal and Disposal of Vehicles (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2012, regulation 2 of The Removal and Disposal of Vehicles (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2021 and Article 6 of The Civil Enforcement of Moving Traffic Contraventions Designations and Miscellaneous Amendments Order 2022.

The real issue is likely to be that if the council isn't set up to exercise these powers, they won't have anyone trained in the procedures, they won't have any of the statutory paperwork that needs to be issued, or even a car pound to take the car to. Setting all of that up for the sake of a single vehicle would obviously be rather challenging.

The only way round this would be for the council to engage a contractor to remove the vehicle for them, but this would likely have to be signed-off by their legal department and could take months to arrange.

Still, if you draw these powers to their attention they can at least think about it, but I would suggest taking this up with the local councillor in the first instance, just pop your postcode into here https://www.writetothem.com/?a=council to identify who they are.
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I practice law in the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, London Tribunals, the First-tier tribunal for Scotland, and the Traffic Penalty Tribunal for Northern Ireland, but I am not a solicitor or a barrister. Notwithstanding this, I voluntarily apply the cab rank rule. I am a member of the Society of Professional McKenzie Friends, my membership number is FM193 and I abide by the SPMF service standards.

Quote from: 'Gumph' date='Thu, 19 Jan 2023 - 10:23'
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Re: East Herts Council ‘no power’ to tow car from disabled bay
« Reply #2 on: »
Thank you, that is very useful.

I have asked them to explain why they cannot enact their own vehicle removals policy- it clearly isn’t for a lack of legal power!
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