Parking on an unadopted road

[Kjun]

Hi all I have a question regarding parking so this may not be the correct sub forum, please feel free to re-locate...



In short we have lived on an unadopted road for years now renting a property so there are no parking restrictions such as permits or yellow lines.



As all others have lived in the same road also for a number of years there is an informal understanding with regards to parking and most including us use traffic cones outside our houses to secure our spots and respect each other’s spaces until recently where we are experiencing persons not living in the street moving the cones to park so to avoid buying permits for the roads they actually live in.



Now I understand there is no right in law to park outside your home however have been looking into fitting collapsible bollards and as expected the council raised no objection when I contacted them as the road is not maintained by them and referred my enquiry to the Highways Agency who also advised they were not interested.



So thought great can do this without a fuss until I started to wonder regarding personal liability if for example someone tripped / fell over them and thought I’d get some advice from the knowledgeable persons on here of whether this would be a concern and if so can it be mitigated for example reflective ones, security light for night time as there is no street lighting etc.







Any thoughts about this would be greatly appreciated

[des8]

I would forget the idea, or else make sure your insurers know , approve and extend your public liability insurance to cover you.

The reason is, despite your council and highway agency response,the term unadopted road refers only to a road which does not have to be adequately maintained by the highway authority under the Highways Act 1980. A legal duty to maintain this road still exists, but it falls onto the owners of the road, which usually consists of the owners of any properties fronting that highway.

The public usually has the right to freely pass along any unadopted road, which differs from private roads, where only the owner and those with permission can use them. Furthermore, those responsible for its maintenance do not get any enhanced rights over the road, on account of their financial contribution. For example they can’t construct a gate at the road’s entrance, nor do they get any reduction in their council tax payments.

Now if you are talking about a private road the situation might be different!

[ostell]

So put up some signs offering parking for £100 per day, or part thereof, and get some sticky labels to put on windscreens. The regular parkers will soon get the idea

[Kjun]

Thanks for your response guys for clarity I was not suggesting restricting access through the road as of course emergency vehicles, delivery drivers etc would still need access merely replacing what we use now, 3 traffic cones around a foot from the pavement (what there is of one) with 3 collapsible bollards.

Struggling to see what the difference would be other than cones are moveable and the bollards wouldn’t be when raised but got me thinking would I have liability issues using cones as we do now??

[des8]

Yes you could have liability.
If you and your fellow frontagers own the road you may be able set up a residents association and regulate parking in a number of ways.
Then the association could purchase a public liability policy.

If you go it alone I would suggest you contact your home insurers and see if they would include it under the liability section