Police, Above the bloody law!! nobs. Options

[motormad]

I was driving home from a friends unit tonight at approximately 10:45pm and I saw a Police Mitsubishi Pick up (think it was an L200 - the registration plate was 0U10 BGW or BWL or something like that) turn RIGHT out of BP on London Road, which we all know is a NO RIGHT TURN.

Yet I get told off for parking in a car park peacefully with my friends. I have no respect for police officers when they have no respect for the laws they are supposed to uphold!!

[spartacus]

It may be a private piece of land but it has public right of way so I do not see any difference.

I know I can get extra points for pedantry here, so here goes..... There is no 'public right of way' or 'right of access' into the BP garage (other garages and fuel suppliers are available and the same argument applies). It's 'private land over which the owners allow access'. Subtle but important difference. (You could still be prosecuted for trespass for instance if they closed it off for some reason)

There's another business access onto London Road within viewing distance of the BP garage which could equally have a turning sign at the entrance (which would have the same 'legality'). Opposite The Skylings there's the entrance/exit from D&J Cole Joinery. If you wanted to turn right out of there you'd present no more of/the same problem than at the garage. You'd be turning across two lanes of traffic on the busy A4 and both are on private land.

The difference is that D&J Cole has been there for years and had no planning officers imposing restrictions on them, but the garage would have had to go through current planning application approval when it was rebuilt and that perhaps dictated that an advisory turning sign should go up.

[Strafin]

I know I can get extra points for pedantry here, so here goes..... There is no 'public right of way' or 'right of access' into the BP garage (other garages and fuel suppliers are available and the same argument applies). It's 'private land over which the owners allow access'. Subtle but important difference. (You could still be prosecuted for trespass for instance if they closed it off for some reason.

So we can get as drunk as we like and do handbrake turns on the forecourt?

[Exhausted]

So we can get as drunk as we like and do handbrake turns on the forecourt?

Not really, the forecourt allows public access so you are in fact liable to arrest if you provide, on the forecourt, a breath sample which is over the limit. Your vehicle is also required to comply with the law with tax, mot and insurance.
Doing donuts is another matter but I'm sure that there will be something that will render it an offence.

[motormad]

Not really, the forecourt allows public access so you are in fact liable to arrest if you provide, on the forecourt, a breath sample which is over the limit. Your vehicle is also required to comply with the law with tax, mot and insurance.
Doing donuts is another matter but I'm sure that there will be something that will render it an offence.

So what you're saying is that, basically, the same laws of the "road" apply to "private" land that has public access... eg a petrol station forecourt.
I am not so sure that BP is classed as private land either..... like a footpath to someone's house... implied right of access..

[Exhausted]

So what you're saying is that, basically, the same laws of the "road" apply to "private" land that has public access... eg a petrol station forecourt.
I am not so sure that BP is classed as private land either..... like a footpath to someone's house... implied right of access..

Pretty much yes. If the public have access. But, and I know that you are hoping that this will make your no right turn sign legal, any signs on that land will only have a legal status if they have been the subject of a traffic regulation order. There are signs on the pumps in some fuel stations telling you to not use your mobile. They also are unenforceable in law.

The land around the BP station has an owner. I'm not sure who, but it isn't common land. If the owner decides to close down the station and develop it for some other purpose, he/she/they have a perfect right to do so. They can also, as their right, exclude the public from whatever they chose to put there. It may be some rich dude who wants to have a private garden alongside the A4 close to his favourite pub.