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Can football clubs stop traffic legally

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before people start with over sensisitive knee jerk reactions here are the questions do please try to understand the questions and please only reply if your answer is legally correct. i only stipulate this because there are some that are clueless that would and probably still will post useless comments.

 

are football clubs legally allowed to close nearby roads to traffic?

and if so by what right?

and who empowers them the right to do so?

 

or other events aside from football but the two secondary football teams wednesday and united seem to be the main protagonists.... during game days both put people ..not police officers... on some roads and deliberately block trafic causing diverted traffic to cause further interuptions to traffic flow and consequently very often traffic jams

 

please no speculation or fanciful comments ....... facts only please preferably with links to evidence

 

also

 

may any road user regardless of number of wheels or means of propulsion without fear of penalty or prosecution choose to ignore those people apparently being employed to obstruct the road?

 

again i say football clubs because the two i mentioned seem to do this the most often of course it applies to any other events you might know of that actually obstruct traffic

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Yes, Football Clubs are entitled to close Public Rights of Way. However the situation is more complicated. Any road closures need local authority approval in advance and there is a cost implication.

However the Police can close roads to traffic (as often happens in the case of accidents) and I believe they are responsible for closing roads (or part of roads) around football grounds.

In this case, ignore the directions of an officer in uniform at your peril.

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Police can close roads to traffic (as often happens in the case of accidents) and I believe they are responsible for closing roads (or part of roads) around football grounds.

In this case, ignore the directions of an officer in uniform at your peril.

 

Or, alternatively, check the fixture list and plan your journey accordingly.

 

Feel free to sit in a traffic jam, or navigate round the ground, or travel at a different time.

 

All better options than odd, overly aggressive posting on an Internet forum.

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A member of the public can direct traffic if authorised by a constable, e.g. at a traffic accident.

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A member of the public can direct traffic if authorised by a constable, e.g. at a traffic accident.

 

You don't need such authorisation in an emergency, about 14 years ago all of Eastern Canada and most of North Eastern US were hit by a massive power outage. There were guys on their way home from work directing traffic at intersections with lights, all over the place and drivers were co-operating, it was amazing to watch.

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All better options than odd, overly aggressive posting on an Internet forum.

Its what he does best :thumbsup:

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You don't need such authorisation in an emergency, about 14 years ago all of Eastern Canada and most of North Eastern US were hit by a massive power outage. There were guys on their way home from work directing traffic at intersections with lights, all over the place and drivers were co-operating, it was amazing to watch.

 

Yes that power outage started in Ohio, jumped into eastern Canada and then down the east coast as far as Florida. It took all of 19 seconds.

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You don't need such authorisation in an emergency, about 14 years ago all of Eastern Canada and most of North Eastern US were hit by a massive power outage. There were guys on their way home from work directing traffic at intersections with lights, all over the place and drivers were co-operating, it was amazing to watch.

 

I appreciate that, and in the UK the same would apply, but it still relies on the co-operation of others. However, if you are authorised by a constable he delegates that particular power to you. Many years ago this happened to me at a traffic accident on Abbeydale Rd. I stopped a car and the driver told me to sod off, despite me telling him the PC had told me to stop the traffic, and set off again. The PC stopped him further along and gave him a ticket.

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Yes that power outage started in Ohio, jumped into eastern Canada and then down the east coast as far as Florida. It took all of 19 seconds.

 

We were without power for 18 hours, thousands were without power for several days, and we were in the middle of a heatwave at the time. It happened at just after 4pm. I had just started as afternoon shift supervisor that very afternoon lol.

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I have sympathy with the poster. Re Sheffield Wednesday, I finished work late one Saturday and taking the truck back to Stocksbridge I went up the hill past the NGH and down the otherside to Penistone road, just after going under the arches I turned right towards the Hillsbro roundabout. Fatal mistake, there was cars lined up at both sides of the road and a single track through the middle of them, Struggling to get through, two lady coppers were walking towards me, when they arrived their main cause of concern was a large truck that might inflict damage on the lines of cars. When I asked why these cars were allowed to just about block the highway, one of them said, It's Saturday, a home match and there is no where else to park. I admited defeat to my self and carried on struggling to the roundabout. So yes, football makes its own rules concerning parking and the coppers let them do it.

 

Angel1.

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I have sympathy with the poster. Re Sheffield Wednesday, I finished work late one Saturday and taking the truck back to Stocksbridge I went up the hill past the NGH and down the otherside to Penistone road, just after going under the arches I turned right towards the Hillsbro roundabout. Fatal mistake, there was cars lined up at both sides of the road and a single track through the middle of them, Struggling to get through, two lady coppers were walking towards me, when they arrived their main cause of concern was a large truck that might inflict damage on the lines of cars. When I asked why these cars were allowed to just about block the highway, one of them said, It's Saturday, a home match and there is no where else to park. I admited defeat to my self and carried on struggling to the roundabout. So yes, football makes its own rules concerning parking and the coppers let them do it.

 

Angel1.

 

So, some cars were legally parked on the road. You arrived in a truck and didn’t have the skill to get through easily. But you managed in the end.

 

All that outside one of the oldest football grounds in the country, with one of the highest attendances

 

Cool story bro.

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before people start with over sensisitive knee jerk reactions here are the questions do please try to understand the questions and please only reply if your answer is legally correct. i only stipulate this because there are some that are clueless that would and probably still will post useless comments.

 

are football clubs legally allowed to close nearby roads to traffic?

and if so by what right?

and who empowers them the right to do so?

 

or other events aside from football but the two secondary football teams wednesday and united seem to be the main protagonists.... during game days both put people ..not police officers... on some roads and deliberately block trafic causing diverted traffic to cause further interuptions to traffic flow and consequently very often traffic jams

 

please no speculation or fanciful comments ....... facts only please preferably with links to evidence

 

also

 

may any road user regardless of number of wheels or means of propulsion without fear of penalty or prosecution choose to ignore those people apparently being employed to obstruct the road?

 

again i say football clubs because the two i mentioned seem to do this the most often of course it applies to any other events you might know of that actually obstruct traffic

 

Clubs are not entitled to close roads, without authority, at random.

 

Local authorities will grant the right to close the roads at the club's request, or they, or police, in fact stipulate it as a condition of an event licence. Other events such as road running or cycling events may also similarly close roads.

 

The local authority has the power to close roads for events using either section 21 of the town police clauses act 1847, most commonly, or a temporary traffic regulation order under section 16A of the road traffic act. In either of these cases, the closure can be enforced by cones and signage.

 

Contravention of a road closure, in the first case is an offence under section 36 of the road traffic act 1988. That is a failure to comply with traffic signs (offence TS50, which is three points and a £100 fine). It is an offence in itself to contravene a road traffic regulation order with a vehicle under sec 16C of that act.

A person who contravenes, or who uses or permits the use of a vehicle in contravention of, a restriction or prohibition imposed under section 16A of this Act shall be guilty of an offence

In this case, the offence is a moving traffic offence under Traffic Management Act 2004.

A moving traffic contravention is—

(a)an offence under section 36 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (c. 52) of failing to comply with the indication given by a traffic sign that is subject to civil enforcement (see paragraph 9), or

 

(b)an offence of failing to comply with a traffic order in so far as it makes provision for a requirement, restriction or prohibition that is conveyed by a traffic sign subject to civil enforcement.

 

The traffic management act 2004 also gives the local authority the power to designate individuals as "traffic officers" to direct traffic. This is in effect anyone who is working for whoever the local authority designates an authorised person. Ie a steward at a club could be a traffic officer at the say so of the club should the local authority designate someone at the club an authorised person for the event.

 

(1)This section confers the following powers on a traffic officer—

(a)a power, when the traffic officer is engaged in the regulation of traffic in a road, to direct a person driving or propelling a vehicle—

(i)to stop the vehicle, or

(ii)to make it proceed in, or keep to, a particular line of traffic; ....

 

©a power, when the traffic officer is engaged in the regulation of vehicular traffic in a road, to direct persons on foot (or such persons and other traffic) to stop;

(d)a power to direct a person driving a mechanically propelled vehicle, or riding a cycle, on a road to stop the vehicle or cycle.[/Quote]

 

Amendments to the Road Traffic Offences Act 1988 mean that ignoring the direction of a traffic officer is the same offence as ignoring a uniformed constable directing traffic.

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