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Daylight Robbery!


TheMitchells

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On 25/12/2019 at 14:34, TheMitchells said:

Have been getting some quotes for a dropped kerb for parents bungalow.  It tool over 6 months to get the permission but the council finally relented and sent us the contractors list that we can use.  Tried about 5 but most too busy as its Christmas!  however, had two quotes - £1500 + vat and £2,500 + vat!! here's the kerb - its 5 cm high and made of granite cobbles which they will re-use. 

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Is that daylight robbery or not?? 

I guess £260 of that is the council licence they have to have.  But even so, are they going to re-do the whole footpath around the bungalow?  Anyone else had a dropped kerb to give me some perspective on costs?

 

But like usual - we cannot use a local reasonable firm; we have to use someone off the Council list which seems to give them the ability to charge anything they like.

Bah Humbug!!

 

Did this for a neighbour, we just did it. Took a Sthil saw to the kerb, cut into it and hammered the pieces out, ground smooth(ish) with a diamond disc.

 

Basically it left a little ramped section, job done. 

 

Other option is just to put a piece of 2x6 against the kerb and bang it in with some 8 inch nails. 

 

No one is every going to say boo. 

 

 

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26 minutes ago, joe90 said:

Nah! Just do it, councils are too busy to notice and if the contractor looks “pro” who is going to question it . ?

Correct, we installed bollards on the pavement once to stop parking on the corner, 6 immediate neighbours all agreed to it and we also agreed to see or know nothing if ever questioned, we knew someone (friend of a neighbour) with a big white van with a yellow stripe down the side. Parked to obscure our work and wearing high vis jackets I cut a square into the pavement with a diamond disc while another neighbour broke it out and barrowed it away.

 

Concrete bollards were set into some hardcore and Postcrete which gave it the initial hold then we back filled with a barrow of concrete with black dye in the last bit to make it look more like tar - once it all went off I drizzled roofing tar into the crack. 

 

No one ever said a thing!

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8 minutes ago, markc said:

Friend of mine who does garden and building maintenance started doing his own, council came round, stopped him, and charged him to put it back, then charged again for dropping it.

Unlucky, probably some know it all reporting him.

 

I am all for a bit of DIY roadworks, as long as what is being done is done well, safely etc. I don't see why dropping some kerbs, if done well, is an issue. Given your friends trade I suspect he would have known exactly how to do it all properly and being his house he would have made sure, even more so, it was spot on. 

 

If I saw someone doing some sort of roadworks or alternations to pavements that was just going to end up in a potholed mess or dangerous I would probably speak up but not just because someone is trying to improve something that will have near enough no impact on anyone else. 

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Just now, Carrerahill said:

Unlucky, probably some know it all reporting him.

 

I am all for a bit of DIY roadworks, as long as what is being done is done well, safely etc. I don't see why dropping some kerbs, if done well, is an issue. Given your friends trade I suspect he would have known exactly how to do it all properly and being his house he would have made sure, even more so, it was spot on. 

 

If I saw someone doing some sort of roadworks or alternations to pavements that was just going to end up in a potholed mess or dangerous I would probably speak up but not just because someone is trying to improve something that will have near enough no impact on anyone else. 

Couldnt agree more, and yes we reckon it was a neighbor with a grudge who didnt like him parking the truck in his drive

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16 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Can always change the car wheels so that higher profile tyres can be fitted.

Twice I have caught a kerb (in gas stations) and had to buy new tyres.

 

235/45/17s here. Like bloody rubber bands on the these roads with all the potholes!

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When we had ours done , new left and right handed dropped kerbs were installed, existing straight kerbs were lifted and relaid at a lower level and the tarmac cut and patched to grade the pavement.

£1k. 10 years ago

 

 

 

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Friend just had a dropped curb done in Liverpool with splayed edges and it cost £1k 

the neighbour kept parking him in with various big black trucks and when he complained he would say tough Luck mate it’s not illegal. 
Needless to say when the work was done he was absolutely livid 

it’s not going to end well......  

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5 hours ago, Onoff said:

 

235/45/17s here. Like bloody rubber bands on the these roads with all the potholes!


Ha, when I moved to rural Devon I had ultra low profile tyres on wide alloys with “sport “ suspension on my motor , broke three of them and various punctures in a short time, and a broken spring. Quickly changed to a “normal” car with “normal” tyres. No problem since ?

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10 minutes ago, joe90 said:


Ha, when I moved to rural Devon I had ultra low profile tyres on wide alloys with “sport “ suspension on my motor , broke three of them and various punctures in a short time, and a broken spring. Quickly changed to a “normal” car with “normal” tyres. No problem since ?

made worse by most peole buying cheap -"black and round" --not first line tyres which have better sidewalls --but yes I do not like "drug dealer wheels " either -a new audi with 300 x30 X22 tyres bent 3 rims and they cost £750 per rim --only suitable for  very good roads 

Edited by scottishjohn
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3 hours ago, PeterW said:

It’s still not illegal to park on someone else’s drive ... let’s hope the neighbour doesn’t realise that ..! ?

The council also put a continuous straight white line on the road where the drop down curb was put in but I don’t know if this makes it illegal fir the neighbour to park there or not..... i have a feeling that the white line is just to highlight the dropped curb and does not have any legal standing to actually stop people parking there....  but I live in the middle of nowhere where the roads are just dirt tracks so what do I know.. 

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1 hour ago, Cpd said:

The council also put a continuous straight white line on the road where the drop down curb was put in but I don’t know if this makes it illegal fir the neighbour to park there or not..... i have a feeling that the white line is just to highlight the dropped curb and does not have any legal standing to actually stop people parking there....  but I live in the middle of nowhere where the roads are just dirt tracks so what do I know.. 

 

Not sure but in parts of London they are refusing applications for dropped kerbs because it means the loss of an on road parking space that everyone can use. I gather its causing issues for people who want to buy electric cars and park in the front garden for charging.

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On 11/03/2021 at 11:36, markymark said:

Found an approved contractor who will do it on the side for £400 cash which is much more appealing, does anyone think the council keeps a record of which kerbs have been dropped? I wonder if they would take legal action if they found out or just make me pay the full going rate.

 

They could make you get it done again by an "approved contractor".

 

One reason it can be expensive is because councils say that the footpath isn't strong enough to drive a car/van over and want the foundations of the path reinforced. Possibly also to protect cables or pipes under it. My guess is your contractor wouldn't do that for £400. 

 

To make it less obviously a hack job consider asking him to retarmac the full width of the path rather than just a sloping strip near the edge? 

 

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16 hours ago, joe90 said:


Ha, when I moved to rural Devon I had ultra low profile tyres on wide alloys with “sport “ suspension on my motor , broke three of them and various punctures in a short time, and a broken spring. Quickly changed to a “normal” car with “normal” tyres. No problem since ?

Got the original alloys on the e36 lovely old school with deep profile tyres non of this catching the wheel nonsense. 

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