Letting air out of tyres- illegal?

rubadub

Is it an offence to let the air out of tyres? If interfering with a car in any way is then I expect putting leaflets under wipers would be illegal too. You might not be doing any actual damage to the vehicle so what would it fall under?

I have seen other threads where cars are illegally parked and people suggest letting the air out. At a church near me this van with advertising has recently started illegally parking every weekend outside on a cycletrack.

People have reported such things in the past to the gardai and nothing gets done. It is also a waste of gardai time if letting the air out would have more of an effect, and only takes a few minutes.

JayoCluxton

I heard of a bloke once who got a life sentence for letting the air out of tyres. They never actually found out how he got on the runway though!

ambro25

rubadub wrote: »

Is it an offence to let the air out of tyres? If interfering with a car in any way is then I expect putting leaflets under wipers would be illegal too. You might not be doing any actual damage to the vehicle so what would it fall under?

Dunno about leaflets under wipers. If done 'as usual', it's certainly not damaging anything. There's always the chance in a million, I suppose (that the windscreen shatters when letting go of the wiper, or the wiper gets bent or...).

Dunno about legality of it or not (I suspect 'not') of letting air out, but by letting all the air out, you would definitely be damaging the tyre, probably beyond repair - unless it's a run flat (and even then... and few of them about to this day).

Moreover, if you want people to move their car, it strikes me as rather dumb to immobilise their car - but hey, what do I know...

So that's the technical side of things taken care of, on with the legal show... :cool:

rubadub

ambro25 wrote: »

Dunno about legality of it or not (I suspect 'not') of letting air out, but by letting all the air out, you would definitely be damaging the tyre, probably beyond repair - unless it's a run flat (and even then... and few of them about to this day).

Letting some air out will not definitely damage it.

ambro25 wrote: »

Moreover, if you want people to move their car, it strikes me as rather dumb to immobilise their car - but hey, what do I know...

This van parks in the same place each week. And in other threads it is ongoing illegal parking. You "suffer" the van there for a extra length of time once or twice and then it is gone, thats the logic.

Gardai will stop people driving in bus lanes causing further disruption to the flow of traffic for the same logical reasons.

Even if it was damaged I wonder if the person would report it, the gardai asking "and where was it parked at the time" -eeeehhhhhh, I'll get me coat...

Robbo

Were the driver to have an accident due to soft tyres later on, I'm sure there would be an element of liability on the part of the deflater.

Criminally, I'm sure we could throw in damaging property under S.2 of the Criminal Damage Act. I doubt passive-agressively freeing up a cyclepath is a lawful excuse.

Finally, "you don't **** with another man's vehicle" as per V. Vega [1994] IR 432.

Victor

While in the constitution, the state does lay claim to air, you are not authorised by the state to remove it from the van owner's possession.

If in Dublin City, phone Traffic Control and make a complaint 1800 23 39 49.

Or get the clergy to ahve a word.

danjo

Putting leaflets under window wipers contravenes the Litter Act.

Our man in Havana

danjo wrote: »

Putting leaflets under window wipers contravenes the Litter Act.

Section 19, Litter pollution act 1997.

Overheal

put a leaflet on the windshield about them obstructing the path. Quote a law if it seems relevant. golden rule is only escalate something as much as the situation requires.

UrbanFox

Deflating a tyre strikes me as a bad idea for two reasons.

Firstly, it may be an offence under S113 RTA 1961. The specific offence is that of Unauthorised interference with the mechanism of vehicle. This applies in a public place.

Secondly, it may be an offence under the Criminal Damage Act 1991 as Robbo points out. Under S1 of that act to damage means ...." to destroy, deface, dismantle or, whether temporarily or otherwise, render inoperable or unfit for use or prevent or impair the operation of,..........

If you deflate the tyre(s) that looks like you have rendered the property in question inoperable.

BTW be careful to check first that the cycle track is not subject to times before you swing in to action. Look at the time plates as some cycle tracks and bus lanes are not such between certain specified hours.....

Tom Young

I think one might also be liable under NOAPA 1997 Section 12 and 13.

12 - Endangerment
13 - Endangering traffic

...that is of course of the person managed to subsequently drive afterwards, otherwise its a S.2 Criminal Damage or indeed S.113 of RTA 1961.

Mr. Presentable

Paste a message onto the driver side of the windscreen. If the clampers can paste on the car there's no issue.

Tom Young

I'd have thought that to be somewhat different, in that a driver could do serious damage to a vehicle should he attempt to drive with a clamp in place. Littering via windsheild wipers is a cited breach of the litter laws.

As you mention the clampers sign is affixed with paste, that requires boiling water to remove it.

UrbanFox

nipplenuts wrote: »

Paste a message onto the driver side of the windscreen. If the clampers can paste on the car there's no issue.

I don't know what the legal authority is under which clampers execute their functions. However, I expect that it would authorise - expressly or impliedly - the attachment of notices to a car.

Therefore, if you are not a clamper you may lack the authority to do it yourself. Curiously enough pasting on the offenders windows could also constitute criminal damage if it renders the car unuseable i.e. cannot see where he is driving.

I remember seeing a few good rows around UCD Belfield when the campus security guys used to paste stickers on illegally parked cars and the drivers used to go nuts trying to get them off the windscreen on freezing cold nights with no available water ! That was harmless fun as UCD subsequently contracted out the car parking control to independent contractors who are really sharp if you are remotely in the wrong place.

ballooba

Are bus lanes not fair game on a sunday unless they are also clearways?

Victor

UrbanFox wrote: »

I don't know what the legal authority is under which clampers execute their functions. However, I expect that it would authorise - expressly or impliedly - the attachment of notices to a car.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1998/en/si/0247.html

S.I. No. 247/1998 — Road Traffic (Immobilisation of Vehicles) Regulations, 1998

4. The prescribed form of the notice to be affixed to a vehicle to which an immobilisation device has been fitted shall be as set out in the Schedule to these Regulations, or shall be substantially to the like effect.

How does one define "affixed to a vehicle" - what if there are no point suitable for a notice to be affixed to, e.g. windscreen wipers.

Given that the clampers remove the notice, and the vehicle is incapable of being driven with the clamp affixed, the matter is perhaps moot for clampers, but real for others.

Trojan911

rubadub wrote: »

Is it an offence to let the air out of tyres?

Criminal Damage without owners consent. This is the case in the UK. I cannot see Ireland differing in law.

rubadub wrote: »

You might not be doing any actual damage to the vehicle so what would it fall under?

You are altering the apperance of the vehicle albeit only temprorary.