Comments by Polly Green

Polly Green
Member - 12 posts

Dear Ameera,

This general answer below was provided by Dale Collins, of Osborne Clarke solicitors, when the same question was asked by another member. Dale will be back on the panel on 26 April 2004.

Your local council have a duty under the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978, to remove vehicles abandoned in the open air (including private land), and have the ability to prosecute the recorded owner for breaches.

The general procedure adopted is as follows;

If the vehicle is suspected of being abandoned and considered to be in such a condition that it should be destroyed:

- vehicle inspected

- notice attached to vehicle for 24 hours

- vehicle removed

If the vehicle is reported to be abandoned and is in intact and its condition can be described as good / fair or poor:

- owner traced through DVLA

- notice of seven days given to owner

- notice of seven days of intention to destroy fixed to vehicle

- vehicle destroyed

Vehicles that are burnt out or are hazardous threats will be removed and destroyed immediately.

If the Council removes the vehicle and has it scrapped or placed in storage, all costs will be passed onto the current keeper as registered with the DVLA.

Thus, my practical advice is for you to notify the council rather than become involved in the dirty business of notice serving and removal!

Dale Collins

0117 9174 064

dale.collins@osborneclarke.com

Polly Green
Member - 12 posts

The company appealed this decision, according to ICRE (www.lawreports.co.uk).

The appeal was dismissed.

Polly Green, Editor, Workplace Law Network

Polly Green
Member - 12 posts

The British Parking Association (BPA) and the Independent Airport Park and Ride Association have written a letter to the SIA to put forward a case for excluding the parking industry from the Private Security Industry Act 2001.

Keith Bambury (CEO, BPA) and Stephen Moss (Chairman, Independent Airport Park and Ride Association) write: "We do not believe that the legislation was introduced because of concerns about the parking industry or its employees, and do not believe that the current state of the industry warrants its inclusion. Public confidence in the people working in this industry, particularly those managing parking facilities, is high."

Polly Green, Workplace Law Network Editor

Polly Green
Member - 12 posts

Following the the conclusion of this case, the HSE has issued a warning on the importance of safe storage and control of dangerous substances.

Chris Eaton, Principal Inspector with HSE's Hazardous Installations Directorate, said: "The charges brought by HSE in this case relate to the lack of adequate arrangements at the Cleansing Services Group Ltd site for the safe storage of dangerous substances. If the company had put in place simple measures of effectively segregating different types of hazardous waste this major incident could have been avoided".

Polly Green, Editor

Polly Green
Member - 12 posts

The Workplacelaw Network is bringing out the second edition of 'Disability: Making Buildings Accessible Special Report', priced £99, at the end of this year.

The report provides a comprehensive guide to legislation and practice and reviews the impact of the DDA and its relationship with other important legislation, such as Part M of the Building Regulations. It describes in detail what adaptations need to be made to meet obligations under the DDA, and describes what might be considered ?reasonable? in achieving this.

To pre-order your copy, call 0870 777 8881.

Polly Green
Member - 12 posts

Further to this article, Daniel Barnett has informed us that the final version of ACAS's guides to sexual orientation discrimination, and to discrimination on grounds of religion/belief, have now been published.

The guides are available at:

www.acas.org.uk/publications/pdf/guide_sexualO.pdf and
www.acas.org.uk/publications/pdf/guide_religionB.pdf

Polly Green, Online Services Manager