Are you allowed (legally) to put letters on cars....?

Question

underneath the windscreen wiper - or is it open to accusations of damage to cars? The reason I am asking is that a local resident / vigilante by our local school, keeps putting letters on the cars, as the parents are dropping their kids off at school. The letter quotes bits of the highway code and says that people are breaking the law. I wondered if she was breaking the law herself??

Answer 1

I don't think it's illegal. if you damage the vehicle then that's illegal.

Anyway she's probably correct when she quotes the highway code. Have you ever considered that when dozens of parents are dropping off their 'little darlings' at school, a big majority of them could have walked instead of clogging up the roads and parking dangerously!

There's a couple of schools close to where i live and it's crazy! sometimes the road is completely blocked by someone who can't find a space and then they just stop the car in the middle of the road and go and get their kid/s. I saw one woman do it the other week and she lives about 3 minutes WALK from the school!!!!

This woman is probably so pi55ed off she's decided to do something about it.....good for her i say!

Answer 2

Sorry as a parent I agree with Marky!!  We walk too and from school (it actually takes longer to drive and yes we do have neighbours who drive) but there are some parents who just dont care where they park.  Across driveways, on the yellow lines, on the school driveway, one resident actually asked someone to move from across their driveway and was ignored.  My sister used to live in a school road, had someone stop right in the middle of the road to wait for their child to come out when she was asked to move she actually pulled in to my sisters drive, got out locked her car and said dont worry I know the person who lives here, as you can imagine my sisters reply was ripe.

YOu must live in the only road in the country where people dont park illegally on the school run!!!

Answer 3

It certainly constitutes littering and vandalism.

The vehicle itself is private property, and to place unwanted trash on it is littering.

His or hers ability to use their own property for its intended purpose has been hindered because someone else used his or her property illegally for a different purpose.

By rendering the vehicle unsafe and illegal to operate, the vehicle has been damaged. and that's vandalism.

Answer 4

I'd say that hanging flyers on privately owned vehicles is something that would require a city permit in most areas.  The person doing this without city approval could be charged with littering, or tampering with private property.

Answer 5

Have you considered checking the Highway Code to see if this lady has a point?

Or are you above the law when carrying children, like the people I saw yesterday tail-gating on the motorway, children standing between the front seats and signs in the rear window saying "Keep back - child on board"

Answer 6

What is worse, having a letter under your windscreen, or selish parents cloggin up the roads, polluting the enviroment and making it dangerous for children crossing the roads as parents park their cars on double yellows/white zigzags becuase their preisous cannot walk or take the bus to school due to all these muderers, thus deprivig them of any skills to deal with situations in later life.

Children should walk/bus it to school unless ansolutely necessary becuase they are so far away.

EDIT: How can you possible have decidedwhether I have children or not?

I am not a parent who thinks cloggingup roads and wrapping them up in cotton-wool until 18 is a good idea, and judging by the other answers, I am not alone either.

Answer 7

She's not breaking the law. If your car is being damaged by a piece of paper, you have bought the wrong car.

Having to negotiate daily a trail of 4x4s littering the road and pavement and parked on corners (illegally) by parents who won't let their children walk a few hundred yards, I have some sympathy with the woman in this case. She's not doing this because she's nothing better to do, she's doing it because it's genuinely damned annoying. There are times when I think that such a piece of paper ought to be taped to a half-brick.

Answer 8

In theory yes she is - if she damages your car - it is criminal damage by way of a wilful or neglectful action.

As she does not own your car - she is not allowed to touch it, in theory.

Proving it is harder. It has been used in the past and people have been found guilty and ordered to pay costs for the damage caused to cars mainly by scratches and the like.

Whether she is right or wrong to do what she is doing remains to be seen -  take it she os moaning about parking restrictions outside schools - if that is the case only the council parking attendants or police have the power to enforce AND now people and councils have what is called 'Duty of Care' - she can in fact be prosecuted for littering - £80 fine in most cases

Answer 9

she can put letters on cars, it is okay, i know how you feel every time i go to a near by restaurant i always have a note for coupons or something stupid under my wipers. I dont know why people do this. why dont they just mail them out.

Answer 10

yes he can, but if he damages the car his is liable. he can also be liable if the letters produce litter.

Answer 11

If she damages the car then she can be liable, other than that if you are not illegally parked or blocking anyones driveways then their is nothing she can do about it.  Although it can be annoying to find that the street you live in has nowhere for you to park.