where can i legally drive

[leo23]

is there a website to tell me which BOATS i can legally use in my area?

[Terranosaurus]

Unless your county council has an online list there is no absolute guide but it is worth looking at

http://www.way-finder.co.uk/

also worth joing GLASS, Green Lane Association, they have another version of wayfinder that can be more up to date. \The problem is at the moment things are changing all the time so it is difficult/dangerous for anyone to produce any lists.

Total Off Road magazine includes routes but sometimes these are illegal by the time its hits the shelves or can be totally unsuitable when it hits the press, for instance one lane they featured recently they had obviously surveyed in summer and but printed it in the winter and the lane would be virtually impassable at the moment.

Originally Posted by leo23

is there a website to tell me which BOATS i can legally use in my area?

http://www.way-finder.co.uk/

http://www.glass-uk.org/index.php

http://www.glu.org.uk/

8) 8)

[JonathanM]

If you know what council covers the area you are lloking at, then they should be able to tell you if a route you identify is legal or not.

On an OS map, the most obvious routes that may have vehicular status are ORPA's and BOATS, if you see one of these on a map then before you drive it you should contact the local authorities rights of way department and give them grid references. That is the gold standard of checking the status, yes, time consuming, yes, frustrating when a local authority pass you from pillar to post, yes frutrating because if youdon't drive a route for a few weeks the status might have changed.

As above the status of RoW changes daily but the latest local OS Land Ranger map will give you a starting point of at least the BOAT's that you could legally drive. But it is no guarantee as a S.116/TRO can be placed on routes 'temporarily' removing vehicular access. Especially over the Winter months.

Your local council rights of way dept. will hold what they refer to as the Definitive Map. This is in very large scale and you will need to know what area you want to examine in relation to the OS Land Range. Access to view is normally by appointment only so you would need to know who to contact and then what you actually want to see/know.

As mentioned above a short cut would be to join GLASS/CRAG and then get in contact with the local rep. they should know the status of everything locally and point you in the right direction.

Sorry it isn't a straightforward answer but I'm afraid RoW never are :roll:

By the way if you pick a OS map which still has RUPP's on it then it is waaay out of date!

[andrewk]

Originally Posted by leo23

is there a website to tell me which BOATS i can legally use in my area?

If you have an Ordnance Survey Landranger map for your area, you can identify the BOATs there - or indeed by wandering around the OS 50K mapping on the Streetmap website or the Ordnance Survey's own website. Whilst OS do make mistakes from time to time (I know at least one BOAT that isn't) - they are usually very reliable. If you are in any doubt at all about whether a lane is a BOAT, you could contact the RoW officer at your Highway Authority for confirmation.

Once you have established that a route is a BOAT (Byway Open to All Traffic) then it is legal for you to drive it, providing that there is no TRO (Traffic Regulation Order) in force that restricts or suspends that right. Again, the Highway AUthority can tell you about TROs. If there is a TRO then there must be a sign on the lane for the public to see.

Cheers
Andrew

If there is a TRO then there must be a sign on the lane for the public to see

Unless it has fallen off or someone has removed it. Trying to prove afterwards that it wasn't there at the time is not something you want to be doing with a charge of criminal trespass? :wink:

[JonathanM]

Originally Posted by LouLou

Unless it has fallen off or someone has removed it. Trying to prove afterwards that it wasn't there at the time is not something you want to be doing with a charge of criminal trespass? :wink:

Wouldn't be criminal tresspass, it would be dealt with under one of the traffic regs, section 59 (I think) that means vehciles can be confiscated & crushed after 2 warnings.

[andrewk]

Originally Posted by LouLou

Unless it has fallen off or someone has removed it. Trying to prove afterwards that it wasn't there at the time is not something you want to be doing with a charge of criminal trespass? :wink:

If you drive past a TRO sign that prohibits the class of vehicle you are using, you have committed an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988. It has nothing to do with trespass.

You do not have to prove that the sign was not there. The prosecution would have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that it was there and that you drove past it. In the extremely unlikely event that you were prosecuted due to a serious bout of incompetence on the part of the police and CPS, you would have a very simple defence if the Highway Authority had spent money on replacing the sign after the date of your alleged offence.


Cheers
Andrew

[Terranosaurus]

If you wee caught in such a circumstance - drive straight to the relevant point and take as many photos as possible, preferably including shots of that days newspaper and then lodge copies with relevant authorities as soon as practical.

[JonathanM]

Some reports on Difflock etc that S59's have been applied on what is relative hearsay, so no real weight of evidence, just XXXXXX was seen on XXXX road on XXX date.

Some people are relying upon GPS trails in programmes such as memory map to prove route taken, speed driven etc, in case of any debate over access etc. I've kept the trails of routes I've driven, more for future reference than concerns about legality, but it is at the back of my mind that they could be used as a defence.

Originally Posted by JonathanM

Wouldn't be criminal tresspass, it would be dealt with under one of the traffic regs, section 59 (I think) that means vehciles can be confiscated & crushed after 2 warnings.

I stand corrected? But as far as I was aware after CroW if you trespass on private land with a vehicle it is now a criminal offence? A lot of routes cross private land and the land beneath the route is therefore private though you have a right to traverse the route by whatever means is legal for that route?

[andrewk]

Originally Posted by LouLou

I stand corrected? But as far as I was aware after CroW if you trespass on private land with a vehicle it is now a criminal offence? A lot of routes cross private land and the land beneath the route is therefore private though you have a right to traverse the route by whatever means is legal for that route?

It was a criminal offence before CRoW to drive on private land. S34(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 makes it an offence to drive anywhere other than on a road or on a road that is a footpath, bridleway or restricted byway without authorisation. The "restricted byway" bit was added after CRoW.

Cheers
Andrew

So it is not trespass but still a criminal offence?

[Terranosaurus]

Originally Posted by LouLou

So it is not trespass but still a criminal offence?

Yes, thats right, one of the offnce is "Driving other than on a road", but there are specific offences for driving on footpaths and bridleways etc.


I believe there isn't actually a law as people think of it of trespass in the UK (Scotland is different though) you have to do damage in order to be done for trespass not just be on someones property. On foot you're ok but in a vehicle they'll get you for something else instead.