A van has been parked at the corner of our cul-de-sac for five months.
All my neighbours and visitors have to drive on the wrong side of the road to get around it, which is annoying and potentially dangerous.
The owner used to live in a nearby village, but word is, he has moved to France.
What can we do to get this removed?
G.W., Oakham, Rutland
A reader is trying to get an abandoned van removed from their cul-de-sac after its owner moved to France
Dean Dunham replies: This is more common than you might think, but the good news is you have several routes to get the van removed.
Your first port of call is to check if the van is taxed, insured and has a valid MOT.
To do this, go to the Gov.uk website and run the registration through the free vehicle enquiry service. It will tell you instantly if it is taxed and has a valid MOT.
If both are up to date, then the owner is legally entitled to park it on any public road where there are no parking restrictions.
If either has lapsed, you can report it to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). Untaxed vehicles on a public road can be clamped, impounded and ultimately scrapped, usually within weeks.
If the above steps do not help, contact your local council and ask them to investigate whether it is an abandoned vehicle.
Make sure you explain the circumstances, including how long the vehicle has been left unattended and why you believe the owner has now left the country.
Councils have powers under the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 to remove vehicles that appear abandoned after serving notice.
If the van is causing a genuine obstruction or danger, you can also report it to the police on 101 as a highway obstruction.
Finally, check whether your road has any parking restrictions you may have overlooked. Agreeing with your neighbours to report the issue together carries more weight than a single complaint.
Can’t get a refund for botched boiler repair
Our heating oil boiler broke so we got a local engineer out to fix it. The first time, he changed a few parts, but it broke again within days.
We called him out a total of four more times, and each time the boiler still wasn’t fixed. We then got someone else who told us it needed a deep clean.
He did this and it now works perfectly. Now the first engineer is demanding £642, which is a lot of money considering he didn’t actually fix the boiler. Do we have to pay?
Name and address supplied
Dean Dunham replies: In short, no – at least not the full amount. Your legal protection here comes from the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which says any service provided by a trader must be carried out with reasonable care and skill.
If it is not, you are entitled to a repeat performance at no extra cost, or a price reduction, which can be up to 100 per cent in serious cases.
A second engineer diagnosed the real problem in one visit, and your boiler has worked perfectly since.
This is powerful evidence that the first engineer failed to meet the required standard. He had five attempts and didn’t identify a basic issue, while charging for parts that weren’t needed.
Write to him formally, by email or recorded delivery, stating that you are rejecting his invoice under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 because the service was not carried out with reasonable care and skill.
Set out the timeline, mention the second engineer’s diagnosis, and offer what you genuinely think is fair: possibly nothing, or a small contribution toward his first call-out only.
Keep all receipts, messages and the second engineer’s invoice. If he threatens court action, don’t panic.
He will need to prove his work was competent, which, based on these facts, will be very difficult.
