The council won't let you sell your own car

Medway Council are at it again. In a week in which I thought the bullying autocrats at Sandwell Council were going to be the focus of my ire, Medway have sprung from nowhere to be Britain's most overbearing authority.

Their other misdemeanours are chronicled here, but the latest one probably takes the biscuit.

Medway Council's Environment Enforcement team have forbidden anyone to place a 'for sale' sign on their own car and park it outside their own house, on their street.

As the Kent Chronicle explains:

Trainee plumber Pete Dolling stuck no more than a sheet of paper inside his windscreen advertising his R-reg Ford Escort outside his mum's house in Hempstead.

Soon after, he got a notice slapped on the window from the council's Environment Enforcement Team telling him he had to get their permission to sell his car and then shift it within week four weeks, or risk having it forcibly removed.

The notice said: "The vehicle to which this notice is attached is being offered for sale without consent from Medway Council."

The notice demanded Pete, 32, wrote to the council to prove ownership of the car, that he was not a trader and that it was not causing a nuisance where it was parked, otherwise it would be removed and he would be charged for the cost.

That's right, Pete should have written to the council to ask if he could sell his car. But since when did councils have any sort of jurisdiction over the sale of private property?

If they really wanted to establish he wasn't a trader (although - as a commenter on the Kent website points out - in order to be done as a trader he would have to be advertising in "two or more motor vehicles parked within 500 metres of each other") then they could simply leave a note asking him to call and confirm.

But no, they would rather threaten, demand foreknowledge, and finally give a time limit before they send one of their jobsworths round to tow his car.

The hand-written note in the back window is officially banned.

By Dylan Sharpe

Comments

[GBN]

I've just thought how Medway council could save some money!!

Axe the position of "Complete Idiot" that they seem to be employing there. Gotta be worth £20k+ off the council's bill ;-)

[Pete]

If the car is legally parked and is then "removed", surely he could have the council for theft

[Redacted]

Breathtaking idiocy.

I would write a longer comment but I have to call my local council and ask for permission to cook supper.

[Winston Smith]

Presumption of innocence revoked by Medway council on at least three counts.

The owner of the vehicle does not have to prove anything. He is innocent until found guilty by a jury of his peers.

Time we kicked these council spongers out and regained control of our own country.

Stop paying taxes now!

6079SmithW

[SadButMadLad]

So are Medway council going to trawl through Autotrader* and find all the other people selling their cars whilst they are parked on the public highway? Cause that's exactly the same thing in terms of the law.

* Other vehicle marketplace publications and websites exist

[Slacker]

I'd have written to them, but only to tell them to f**k off.

The easiest way around this? Simply put a note in the car saying "This car is not for sale, please don't ring this number if you're interested in buying it".

[Angry Exile]

As used by local councils as far apart as Barnet and Adelaide. The world's bloody full of 'em.

[Purlieu]

I believe he's not "innocent until found guilty" rather he's "innocent unless found guilty"

[Peter Cook]

Bunch of tossers

[Elaine]

I've just found your website through SPIKED.

I am an American and cannot believe how you poor folks have allowed yourselves to be herded around like diseased cattle.

You must have permission from some council to sell your own car? Unbelievable!

Yes I know the USA is about 10 years behind the UK in idiocy but hopefully, with our Commie president being exposed for what he is, more people are waking up so we won't end up like you.

[The Fyrdman]

To Elaine, USA.

Yes, we have riculous bureaucrats like this. But then again, we don't have jay walking laws. Being punished for crossing an empty street at an unapproved place seems far more petty, draconian and authoritarian to me. And at least this is the council trying to get away with bullshit, that can be fought. But jay-walking is an actual offense, and it's culturally established now. Try fight that shit.

[colin]

The car belongs to DVLA - Pete Dolling is just the registered keeper so they can do what they like. Whatever you "register" with the government becomes theirs - including your kids actually. So really you should send your parking tickets to DVLA - think I will try it if I get another ticket one day.

[Taobao in English]

* be happy together is good enough. I am not asking for things that I could never get.