Portsmouth council threatens to destroy parked caravans
Caravans parked by roads in Portsmouth could now be removed and destroyed by the City Council
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Wednesday, 14, Dec 2011 12:13
by Tom Lowenstein
Caravan owners in Portsmouth face having their caravan removed and destroyed by the City Council if they leave their tourers parked by the side of the road.
In a bid to ease parking congestion in the city, Portsmouth City Council have decided that non-motorised vehicles left on roads for extended periods of times should be classed as an unreasonable use of the public highway, Portsmouth.co.uk reported.
As a result, some 50 caravans, horseboxes, trailers and boats have been identified by the council and will now find notices issued to them demanding their removal within four weeks.
If the vehicles are not removed within that time the council will take them away and they will be destroyed after two weeks in council possession.
Supporting the decision, councillor Frank Jonas told the newspaper that he had experience of the problem in his own ward.
"It is a good idea. At the moment there is nothing to stop me just parking my caravan outside your house indefinitely.
"This will hopefully free up some much-needed parking spaces."
In a statement explaining the policy, the council says that providing it has followed the correct procedure it will not be responsible for reimbursing owners if their caravan is destroyed.