Stranger parks motor cycle in front of my gate and accuses me of scratching it after I move it

Can you damage someone else's property if it's blocking your access? Nope you can't..

Can you act to remove the obstruction assuming the most reasonable steps have been taken? Yes of course.

Can they say you damaged their stuff? Yes, also.

In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, can they force you to pay restitution..... They can try.

Question for you is, did you do something unreasonable that legitimately could have caused the damage? And did they, or any evidentiary source, see you do it?

If yes to the first only, you have a moral issue, of to the second only, you may have to go through the legal hoops to show them, if yes to both, you may have a legal issue..

Well technically yes, as you couldn't handle it, so you "should" have reasonably expected that it moving it was a risk. You would probably have a defence to argue re access etc... But they would certainly have a case to take you to court.

Now if no one saw you trying to move it and they couldn't prove that you did it.......

You don't need any recourse.

Throw any solicitors letter in the bin. It's not a court order.

Sounds very coincidental to me. Parks in front of your gate and shows up just when you move it claiming you scratched it. Seems like a shake up to me. I'd take my chance in court.

Was the bike parked on a footpath? Blocking the pedestrian gate? For one residence or a shared access route?

If it was on a footpath, as you say, then the Garda you spoke to was incorrect.

Did you say it was blocking your entrance, or parked on the footpath?

there's so much millions worth of damage done to cars and motorbikes by way of aesthetic scratches and small bumps. Id say none are recovered through the courts

Then it was a matter for the gardai as it was unlawfully parked on a public footpath. As ever, their hands were washed.

If you didn't scratch the bike, then what are you entertaining any of this for?

it would have been lying on the ground if he parked it in front of my entrance

you have a right to enter your property if he blocks your entrance and you accidently knock it over

entering thats his problem

Isn't such business court?

Yea, the lesson being not to try that scam again.

See post #43 or better still look up the SCC on the Citizens Advice website.

You have every right to move someone else's vehicle which is blocking your lawful access or egress "to any place", you are lawfully allowed to take "such steps as are reasonably necessary to move the vehicle by human propulsion for a distance sufficient to terminate the obstruction", S113 (4) of the Road Traffic Act 1961.

https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1961/act/24/section/113/enacted/en/html

You can move it, but you are still liable for any damage you do when moving it and moving a locked motorcycle is going to cause damage to the bike unless you can physically lift both wheels off the ground when moving it. You can do a lot more than €1k damage to a locked bike when you move it.

Since this is a civil matter could the biker sue the OMC or the OP's insurance companies for the damage? Just because the bike was parked illegally doesn't mean that you can damage it, there's a reason the council and campers take lots of photos before and after they move or clamp a vehicle.