Obstruction of Public Pavements - is it a criminal offence?

I have no idea what the local police number is - or where they are. Haven’t seen a policeman in the area in - well - years.

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Probably not a minor offence to disabled people who are forced to contend with traffic on the road in order to navigate round the pile of bricks. Those bricks should not be there.

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Good point. Most local police forces have an online report portal though. I have also just looked a number for my ex local police force, Sussex. 0800 number as well as an 01273 number. It also lists 4 stations and their opening times and locations.

West Yorkshire police do not have a great record of answering 999 calls in a timely manner. That said they post some on youtube, and you can see why needless 999 calls take up time and capacity unnecessarily. Bricks on a pavement is not amongst them but I guess that happened on a different area. :wink:
Some funny ones via this police link!

Inappropriate 999 Calls | West Yorkshire Police will

I think we all agree on this but the issue most have taken exception to is the use of the 999 service to report it.

Of course they shouldn’t be there. Most have agreed with that. It is how to get them moved that has become the issue. The advice from the govt web sites is different to what the OP wants to do and expects. Neither is wrong legally. Which gets the bricks moved hasn’t been confirmed.

Well, that is a judgement call, I suppose. I don’t think that it is clear whether 999 was the right one to call. Opinions obviously differ, and there is no clear-cut criterion. A crime was being committed. Whether in the sense that was intended by the law or not, I don’t know. The people committing the crime were, probably, present. There were several options open to the OP: Ignore it (and feel bad if later it turned out that someone was hurt, injured or killed because the pile of bricks was there). Tackle the house owner - which could have unpleasant consequences. Tackle the builders, with a higher risk of unpleasant consequences. Dial 101. Dial 999. The OP chose the latter. I think there is justification for that, but I also think that 101 might have been a good choice. Hard to say. But ignoring crime - by the public or the police - probably contributes to the general opinion amongst some members of the public that crime is often not dealt with, and that they can get away with it.

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So, we’ve had over 200 posts discussing whether the OP was right to phone 999, yet there isn’t a photo of the bricks that would enable people to gauge if the bricks on the pavement warranted a 999 call.

For all we know the location could be, a quiet residential cul de sac.

Can the OP post a photo of the bricks. @anon55098131

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The only time it would warrant 999 is if someone was throwing them at people or property🤣

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I wonder what would happen if a gang of vigilantes turned up and confiscated the pile of bricks. :grinning:

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Gosh! What an extraordinary thread! Some people on here (you know who you are :face_with_peeking_eye:) really need to lighten up. It’s not good for your mental health…

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There is only one sensible application of the law. To apply it as it stands.

And that means applying the law as it exists. Not interpreting it to suit your own personal vision of how things should work - which is what you are trying to do.

No. You are not disturbing anyone or re-defining anything. That is arrant nonsense.

Don’t be silly, the serious crime squad aided by the antiterrorism task force have removed them as they clearly represented a clear and present danger to life and limb.

.sjb

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Well indeed. The issue tends to be that car drivers who aren’t regular pedestrians simply do not get the extent that this kind of stuff is an issue.

In recovering from pneumonia and PEs today I took my first attempt at the 4/5 mile walk I was doing every morning until September. Allow me to present the first five minutes of that walk. Then try and imagine how I might feel if the next thing I come across is a pile of bricks. At that point I’m not going to give a damn whether they are there temporarily, legitimately or whatever.

You’ll have to imagine the tram stop at peak hour when it is heaving. Then try and get your push chair between the posts and the board so you can get to the tactile where the bus stops.

I should that I asked the three people responsible for the white van to move it. They happily complied and with eight free parking spaces put it straight into one of the two accessible spaces.

The extent to which pavements are obstructed is not a laughing matter. It impacts almost all users.





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Resulting from a misunderstanding or plain ignorance of how the 999 service should legitimately be used. Don’t confuse your personal feelings with facts. Whether or not you feel 999 was the right way to report it is of no consequence.

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Odd then, don’t you think, that so many people have condemned me for doing so, despite this lack of photographic evidence that would apparently enable them to make a sensible judgement?

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A point we’ve made repeatedly but the wisdom of the forum must prevail as some serious middle class values and norms are being challenged here. I get a sense that some people here would rather be on their knees dying than have someone think bad of them for ringing 999.

No-ones mind is going to be changed in any internet discussion but it is depressing to see how many people buy into narratives of needing to protect public services by asking less of them even when the data from those very services suggest that we can ask more, ask for priorities that reflect public need and simply ask people to do their jobs as defined in law and their own terms of service.

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Why would a photo make any difference?

Whilst recovering from illness I’ve largely been confined to small walks around our quiet estate. Approximately 350 detached four bed houses and several very quiet cul de sacs. I’ve every right to walk them free of obstruction when I choose as much I have a busy main road. Two days ago I counted 41 cars on pavements, 3 skips which could have been located on drives or gardens, 2 motor homes which didn’t fit driveways and a man literally building a portable scaffolding rig on the path which he then wheeled to the house.

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Many people are weak minded and simply follow the general perception propagated by various sectors of the government and press that we, as the public, should be helping the emergency services to do their jobs properly, and that ‘bothering them’ is taboo.

The reality of course is that these are all public services that should be helping and supporting the public and not whinging. They are paid to do a job and they should do it properly and if individuals in that employment feel unequal to the task then they should get a job more suited to their needs. The excuses for inadequate service don’t wash.