I came home and saw a car parked in my driveway. What are my rights? DEAN DUNHAM answers

When I come home after an afternoon of shopping, I always find a car parked in my driveway.

I live on a cul-de-sac near an elementary school and suspect a parent is just trying his luck.

One time I went inside to call the police, but by the time I came out it was gone. What are my rights? Can I issue a fine?

A.S.S., Winchester.

Dean Dunham replies: When someone parks on your private property without permission, this is considered a trespass, which can be either a criminal offense or a matter that can be prosecuted through the civil courts.

The law that covers trespassing is the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which says it becomes a criminal offense if the trespass involves other actions, such as causing damage or refusing to leave after being asked to do so.

With this in mind, there are two steps you should initially take if you are confronted with someone parking on your property without permission.

First, collect evidence: take photos of the car and record the time and date; and second, if you see the owner of the vehicle, politely ask them to move it, otherwise leave a polite note on the vehicle asking them to move it and not park it on your property again.

These preliminary steps are important because your next step is to report the matter to the police if the violation continues.

The police will only take note if you can prove the violation and prove that you have already asked the perpetrator to stop.

At this point I must give a word of warning. If you speak to the vehicle owner or leave a note, do not use language that could be construed as threatening or overly forceful, as this will turn the tables and land you in hot water with the police.

Also, do not take any steps that could cause damage to the vehicle. Prevention is always better than cure, so there are two more steps you can take.

You can talk to the school if you think it is a parent parking in your driveway; and you can place a ‘No Parking’ sign in a visible place, with a fine warning.

This may allow you to impose a fine and enforce payment through the courts.

Shocking switching bill from energy supplier

I have just tried to switch to a new energy supplier, but my current energy supplier has now sent me an invoice for € 1,390 and says that this must be paid first. I use a prepaid meter, so how can I owe money?

RV, via email.

As strange as it sounds, it is possible to take on debt on a prepayment meter.

This can happen if debts were incurred before the prepayment meter was installed and are then added to the meter, or if someone regularly uses the emergency credit and allows the fixed costs to accrue, but then does not top up enough to pay off the debt unload. complete.

In either case you would expect the debt to be written off immediately when you top up – so if you have £10 in debt and then top up with £20 you would expect your balance to now be £10, but I’m told that this is not always the case.

However, there is a third, more sinister reason why you may be in debt on your account, and this is where your service provider is simply wrong.

I say this all the time – for some reason most energy suppliers are very poor when it comes to administration and often make billing mistakes.

So your next step should be to ask for proof that you actually owe this debt and to specifically ask for a breakdown of the costs.

You will need to know when the alleged charges were incurred and confirm that you were not notified earlier, as these are the questions you can answer if this is simply an error by your provider.

It’s also worth noting that your provider cannot ‘back-bille’ you for use beyond 12 months.

If you cannot resolve the problem, your next step is to file a complaint with the Energy Ombudsman. Details about this can be found online.

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