Just because you see blue lights does not mean you can break the law !
Well that depends on what you mean by breaking the law. It is always an offence to drive on the footpath, however you can’t be found guilty because if as I presume you are talking about the offence under Sect 34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. That offence has a legal defence which states "A person shall not be convicted of an offence under this section with respect to a vehicle if he proves to the satisfaction of the court that it was driven in contravention of this section for the purpose of saving life or extinguishing fire or meeting any other like emergency”.
Just because you see blue lights does not mean you can break the law !
You are allowed to use common sense as long as it is done safely
Its a bit like the SAFE crossing of the stop line at a set of red traffic lights to allow a blue lighter to pass - plenty of posts on that one on this site and other sites such as the advanced driving ones
I used to drive em for wigan council as a full time job. 0700-1600. Yeah they are nice hours for £240 a week. We had a job to do and if that envolved stopping at the side of the main road (which it does) then so be it, where we expected to stop? a side road 400meters further down? cant see people draggin their bins down to it. Its the nob head impatient drivers on their way to work or school drop that should have courtesy. Granted people have places to be at specific times , the same as we had to do the bins at that time in order to reduce the impact at rush hour, its just one of those jobs were if you aint done it, you wont understand WHY we place the vehicle there. Everyone does the same route to work, so knows when bin day is, so set out earlier if it bothers people that much. As landylad said “I will never ever call binmen again and I’ll be a lot more patient with them from now on. Its not an easy job to do.”
While i never condone blocking or inconsiderate driving, sometimes it has to happen for short periods of time. NOT to emergency vehicles though. Granted some idiots driving them do take the ■■■■ and i wondered myself “what the f££k are you doin!”.
Points from above taken on board, but there is a bit of give and take envolved on the road. Not all councils are the same either.
wheelyb:
I used to drive em for wigan council as a full time job. 0700-1600. Yeah they are nice hours for £240 a week. We had a job to do and if that envolved stopping at the side of the main road (which it does) then so be it, where we expected to stop? a side road 400meters further down? cant see people draggin their bins down to it. Its the nob head impatient drivers on their way to work or school drop that should have courtesy. Granted people have places to be at specific times , the same as we had to do the bins at that time in order to reduce the impact at rush hour, its just one of those jobs were if you aint done it, you wont understand WHY we place the vehicle there. Everyone does the same route to work, so knows when bin day is, so set out earlier if it bothers people that much. As landylad said “I will never ever call binmen again and I’ll be a lot more patient with them from now on. Its not an easy job to do.”
While i never condone blocking or inconsiderate driving, sometimes it has to happen for short periods of time. NOT to emergency vehicles though. Granted some idiots driving them do take the ■■■■ and i wondered myself “what the f££k are you doin!”.
Points from above taken on board, but there is a bit of give and take envolved on the road. Not all councils are the same either.
done loads of bin truck work when in London, one thing i found when reversing , along way back , and esp. if very early winter i.e. rain and dark AND, u got the really old motor on the fleet> the wheel guards project out a fair distance so my watching the loader waving me back ! stupid me< luckily, only bent the car"s mirrors back (phew !) but a valuable quick lesson, its all my responsibility >thing was , council i was with gave every driver an ACCIDENT PACK each morning, i loved that job but nerves off steel called for re abuse from drivers !
