BBC Morning Live expert answers if you can stop someone parking outside your home

A BBC expert has explained why you can’t just stick a road cone in front of your house to stop people parking there. On BBC Morning Live Lancaster solicitor Gary Rycroft explained just where people stand if they try to stop people from parking outside their own home.

One question he got from viewer Mary was if you have a right to park in front of your house. He told host Helen Skelton that unfortunately the law is not on your side: “If you own your house. If you rent your house, that’s great. But you don’t own or rent the road in front of your house. That is the public highway, and the clue is in the name. It’s for the public. It’s for all of us to use and to park there. Now. Sometimes there are restrictions on parking double yellow lines, of course, you can’t block people’s driveways.

Sometimes councils introduce residence parking, so that means that only the residents can park there. But that’s just reducing the cohort of people that can park there. They can park wherever they want within the residents zone, usually. So, no, you don’t own the space in front of your house. And, Mary, you can park wherever you want.”

Helen Skelton asked if people could take direct action to stop cars parking there. She said: “But following on from that can you put a cone or a wheelie bin, for instance, Outside your house, I don’t do it. But you can keep a space free?”

Gary was adamant: “No, you can’t put a wheelie bin or a cone. That is an offence under the Highways Act 1980 Section 137, you are blocking the public highway. You might be liable to a fin or a penalty charge notice or even imprisonment for blocking the public highway. I’d also like to know where’s the cone come from? Because, actually, cones are dished out by the highways agency. So you shouldn’t have a cone in the first place. So no, please. Seriously, you shouldn’t be doing that. You’re obstructing the highway.”

However he said people might be justified under one circumstance: “I’m gonna let you have one concession. If your daughter or son is getting married and they want to go to the wedding car on the morning, keep your space free in front of the cone. And that’s the one event in life that I will let you have a cone or really.”

There was also a question from Julie, who lives in a block of flats, who said neighbours keep using her parking space. Gary replied that the answer was in the lease: “Parking laws also extend, of course, to to private parking areas like flats. So we’ve been talking about the public highway flats are private areas, and they’re governed by the rules of the flats. Those rules are in the leases, so the leases are the rule book now.”

According to the RAC, it’s legal to park outside anyone's home as long as these rules are followed:

• The vehicle is taxed
• They don’t break any other traffic laws
• The vehicle isn’t parked on a footpath or pavement
• The vehicle doesn’t block a driveway
• The vehicle’s wheels aren’t over a dropped kerb