Hull City Council fences off man's drive

Hull City Council has installed a barrier outside a man's home to stop him charging his electric car.

IT worker Adam Storey, 26, thought he was doing his bit for the environment when he bought his £30,000 eco-friendly Vauxhall Ampera and installed a charging point on the front of his house. The car needs to be charged for around seven hours a day.

The married father of two says that he applied for planning permission to enable him to turn his front garden into a drive, which included dropping the kerb, and that his contractor was told by the council that it had been approved.

But the council says permission hadn't actually been given, and that six neighbours complained that he was driving over the pavement to reach his house.

It has now gone to the lengths of installing a metal barrier along the pavement, to stop Mr Storey driving up.

"Hull City Council has received numerous complaints from residents about Mr Storey driving along the footway, around bollards and across the verge to access his property, causing a danger to pedestrians," a spokeswoman tells the Hull Daily Mail.

"The council has a legal duty to ensure the public highway is safe for people to use, therefore a pedestrian barrier was installed on the pavement outside of his property to prevent vehicle access."
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In order to charge his car, Mr Storey is now parking on a grass verge, with the charging cable draped across the pavement - which he believes represents more of a risk to the public.

And, he says, the new barrier is a danger in itself, and that one small child has already ridden a scooter into it and hurt his head.

Installing a barrier on the pavement does seem an extraordinary move. Even Hull City Council's own guidance on the matter warns only that dropping a kerb without permission might result in prosecution - not that it could lead to being fenced out.

More usually, a council would force the homeowner to reinstate the kerb and, possibly, take them to court.

Different councils have different rules, but most charge a fee for processing the application and also require planning permission. The work can be carried out by the council itself or by an approved contractor.

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