the person responsible should be put in jail

People should try parking thier cars a bit more sensible, I’ve seen the way cars are parked along there and On it’s best day it’s shocking . The road in question is after all the route up to a working farm

Parking both sides of the lane upto a working farm. Not surprised this has happened.

Maybe the people who park on the road so other vehicles can't get past should think about people who are trying to earn there living and if emergence vehicles needed to get though say an ambulance to pick a walker up what would they have to do it could have been one of the inconsiderate drivers who parked there car in this way

Working farm and dodgy parking or not, criminal damage is criminal damage. You can’t just damage multiple vehicles and expect to get away with it. I hope they catch the perpetrator. Either way, I suspect all of our insurance premiums will go up because of incedents like this!

My sympathies are with the farmer on this one; and why are we talking about criminal damage here - so far, nobody has produced any compelling evidence that this was anything other than an accident, made less avoidable by utter wombles who simply *had* to park their cars on the tarmac. When did we get so entitled that we thought our rights to park outweighed our responsibilities to do so considerately?

common sense and consideration to the local residence by the car owners could have saved them a lot of expense. They may take a little more thought the next time they visit our beautiful countryside!!!

The farmer has been causing problems along there for over a year -Hopefully he won't be around for much longer !

If you cause accidental damage to someone else's car, it's helpful if you leave a note with your insurance details. I can't judge whether the cars were parked reasonably or not, but I note that they were only encroaching a little onto the tarmac. Maybe they didn't leave enough room, but that is not an excuse for causing damage but not having the guts and courtesy to admit to it.

I've now seen a photo showing both sides of the road and the gap between the cars is not adequate - so definitely very inconsiderate parking.

http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/Shocked-witnesses-watch-on-as-cars-damaged-by-tractor-driving-through-them-in-Cumbria-7363f4df-e8e2-4a03-b58c-6a10f8b10df9-ds

The farmer may have tried to reverse, been unable to do so with so little room to manoeuvre the vehicle, and had little option but to leave his trailer where it was for hours or push his way through.

He should still have left a note on the damaged cars ...

What really needs to be discussed is how can we move forward. The park g is awful across many popular locations in the lakes. Mist noticBly on this very section of road.

Double yellows along one side?

National trust car park (They own the farm?)

Parking notices. Would that be enough.

Who's responsibility is it to move forward. National.park? County council?
National trust? Farmer? Locals?

I'll say this..The owners of these cars won't forget this in a hurry!

You could say, it's another form of Remembrance Day!!!

Quite obviously a deliberate act, and my argument would be that if the farmer claims otherwise, then he shouldn't be driving any form of vehicle and should have his drivers licence revoked immediately until undergoing a sight and hearing test.

As for the cars owners, they should learn to be more respectful to the locals and act accordingly. It's a country lane, not the M6 motorway.

If the farmer had rang the police saying parked vehicles were blocking the road , would the police have come and issued tickets for obstructing a road to all the vehicles ?

Interesting - I don't think any of the parties come out of this at all well.

I was there on Saturday, the day before this event, and ended up parking well up the valley, north of the bridge as even on a normal weekend day there was clearly insufficient safe parking spaces at the side of the road nearer the farm for all those who wish to park-up here and much of the verge was probably impossibly wet if not in a 4x4.

On Saturday - there were a number of inconsiderate drivers - maybe not as obviously bad as Sunday - but a number had parked very near or opposite gates without really thinking about the size and turning capabilities of tractors and trailers.

The car parking that is actually offered at the farm seems poorly sign-posted and the filed itself looked very damp - so I can understand people's reluctance to use that.

On a number of other forums people are decrying the option of "another extortionate pay and display car park" but surely something clearly needs to be done here. The demand hugely exceeds available supply and the resulting chaos is causing real problems. Is something like at Nant Peris near Llanberis (i.e. a sizeable, hard surface car park sympathetically shielded by trees etc.) needed here in a field towards the main B road?

benalder284, I agree with everything you've written although my sympathies are with the farmer, who must be driven to distraction due to the bad parking by inconsiderate drivers along the access road to the farm on most days of the year.

As for the Police being called, this could be a double-edged sword for the affected drivers, who could find themselves being fined for obstructing the Queen's highway (the access road is adopted highway, obstruction is an offence). They might also find that their insurance companies are reluctant to pay for the damage caused to their vehicles that were obstructing the highway.

Clearly, a solution needs to be found - National Trust, Cumbria County Council Highways and the Lake District National Park Authority. I just hope the end result isn't a repeat of what happened at Hause End (below Catbells) - double yellow lines put on the road, which is a bus route, but then action taken against a farmer who opened up a field for people to park, for a reasonable charge! You couldn't make this up!!

Hopefully the police will cancel his shotgun license. If he can do that much damage with a tractor trailer on purpose or accidentally he certainly shouldn't be allowed out with a gun.

I was there on Sunday too. There was some inconsiderate parking for sure, but if the farmer was blocked in by carelessly parked cars, his remedy should have been to contact the police and notify them of an obstruction on the public highway, not to act mindlessly and cause tends of thousands of pounds of criminal damage.

As for people siding with the farmer and trying to pretend it was an innocent accident, that just doesn't wash. Farmers are perfectly aware of how large their vehicles are.

This was sheer bloody mindedness and I hope a criminal conviction comes out of it.

Maybe the best solution is to improve the signage for the offered car park . As to folks being unwilling to use a field because the underside of the car might get damp - so get together and use a minibus and leave the car where you are staying ......

I've been parking along the Seathwaite farm road since I started visiting the Lakes back in the early seventies. Back in those days, drivers would drive up towards the turning circle at the farm, (leaving that clear), and then park, side on to the road, one car beside the next, in an orderly fashion.
Yes, times were different then, and there weren't as many cars, but it was understood by one and all, that if there were no suitable spaces left to get your car completely off the carriageway, then you went elsewhere.

These days, with generally larger cars, and many more of them, an increasing number of Lake District visitors seem to think they can park anywhere without any thought for potential consequences. I can definitely sympathise with the farmers frustrations, as this sort of behaviour is now the norm, and not the exception.

I haven't parked on that road in the past twelve months, but do recall a news story that large boulders had been placed all along that section of road nearer to the farm, where cars would previously have been able to park "side-on, off the carriageway. - Thus preventing people from "responsibly" parking their cars there, and "encouraging them?" to use the farmers paid-parking on the field. If that is correct, then that would certainly have exacerbated the situation here, as people who have enjoyed free (and wholly responsibly) parking there for many years suddenly had that facility removed. (I must ask the question: - Who actually owns the road verge at that point, and was the placing of such boulders a legal action?).

Seathwaite Farm is a working farm, with the farmer trying to make a living in a very difficult financial climate. It must be immensely frustrating to have to keep dealing with inconsiderate parkers - people just out for the day enjoying themselves, while he is trying to do what's necessary to keep his head above water.

Nevertheless, the damage caused to these cars on Sunday cannot be condoned in any shape or form. - From the witness statement it seems that the tractor driver was aware that he was hitting the cars, and decided to carry on regardless, when he should have called the police and had them lawfully deal with the situation.

I wholly sympathise with his frustrations, but however bad things are we can't have the situation where people think they can cause serious damage other people's property and simply get away with it. I hope the culprit is found, and taken to task with the full extent of the law. - As for those who's cars were damaged, well I would imagine they will think more carefully about where they park in future.

As for the ongoing parking situation on that road, I'm sure that simple. highly visible and legally place police notices advising of where parking was prohibited would solve the problem. - Such notices exist along the Langdale valley road (Dungeon Ghyll Hotels area) and there are extremely few instances of people disregarding those notices!

I would also suggest that, since Seathwaite Farm is a major "hub" for the start of many of Lakeland's grand fellwalks, (and that situation won't change in a hurry!), the farm's "pay parking" needs to be better facilitated, (i.e a muddy wet field doesn't cut it when you are having to pay for the facility)/Or else, the National Trust, (if, as suggested in another comment, they do indeed own that farm), needs to seriously think about providing a suitable pay/display carpark at that location.

Last thing we want is the national trust getting its hands on another car park just to charge astronomical prices just to park our wheels . How’s about going forward people use a bit of common sense when it comes to where they leave the car , simple solution is park on one side of the road problem solved , if people keep parking their cars like simpletons then Giles might just toss another wobbler and put large stones by the side of the road on both sides for a mile from the farm then it’s knackered for everyone

The Jase- I totally agree with you. The farmer should have called the police and let them deal with it. Is it not an offence to damage someones car and then just drive off and leave it? I thought all damage had to be reported to the police.
Joe Morgan- I agree with you too. Sounds a rather unstable person

looking at some of the cars which were scratched it would appear they would be parked on some rather nice driveways from where they came. I do wonder then what the drivers wouldve had to say if Mr Farmer had parked up with his slurry spreader on tow blocking their exits...

We all have the wonderful liberty to enjoy the national park. Of course with that come responsibilities and the vast majority of grough readers wouldn't dream of parking there even if it meant an extra few miles walk or missing the service ( I was lucky to find an unoccupied stretch of marsh). But amongst all the sympathy for the working farmer may I play devils advocate and say that farmers are as much guests in the national park as any walkers. We certainly should not be subsidising sheep farming in the fells where it costs such devastating ecological damage. Let's not hear any nonsense about the farmer having to go about their business. Better that the farmer finds a proper job and that we no longer have the sheep that kill our plant life moved around in trailers against any welfare or ecological reason. I did say you wouldn't like it but in future decades we will loom back and see sheep farming as a shocking anachronism. And yes I did feel hurt about not having caught the bus and walked from seatoller - that is also what we will be going in future when access by bmws f Types (and audis like mine) is a distant memory.

If you have something precious to you don't leave it on the road or it will get run over. I just hope there wasn't any damage to the tractor that he needs to earn a living. I also hope that it was the cars that blocked the road that were damaged and not the cars that were parked first, if not then those drivers should exchange insurance details because in my eyes it was the people who parked opposite the cars that were there first that caused the incident that luckily, only resulted in some bent metal not someone getting stuck without a needed emergency service.

Not exactly the same thing, but I work in a supermarket and a while ago someone parked overnight and then left their car there the following day, outside our fire door. we also bring deliveries in this way. we had a large delivery that day so the manager phones the police who came and said they couldn't do anything as the driver wasn't commiting an offence. we had to wheel the deliveries in another door as we couldn't get past the car. The manager (jokingly) said to the police that he would scratch the car with the cages of deliveries and the police said if he did he would be arrested as it would be criminal damage. surely this case is the same? and if its a local farmer he wont be so hard to find

heidi, your manager should have used some imagination, as the farmer in Seathwaite did (earlier this year I think or it might have been last year) when some idiot blocked one of his field gates - he got his high loader with the forks at the front (I presume your supermarket has a forklift truck, where I worked they did) and lifted the car high up above the ground and moved it! You must have seen the photos, they were all over the internet. Oh, and guess what, all the comments I saw said "well done" to the farmer.

As for Nigel complaining: "the last thing we want is The National Trust getting its hands on another car park just to charge astronomical prices just to park our wheels", if it does come to this then blame those inconsiderate drivers. Yes, we all like to be able to park our cars (safely) from free but, really, is spending between £3 and £9 for a fabulous day on the fells too much? Don't forget, TheNational Trust are one of bodies who undertake path repairs, where do they get the money come from? In part, from parking charges!

Hi Rod- no we don't have a forklift truck. Its not so big a store and I didn't see the photos. I totally agree that some people are totally inconsiderate sometimes but wilful damage of cars like this is sickening (to me)

The parking charges are shocking in the lakes , the point I’m making is that if people continue to park inconsiderately for free then they will be forced to park correctly for a fee . Might not be a bad thing , would reduce the numbers may even get a bit of solitude

#Gilbert Roberts – I accept that say you are playing Devil’s advocate, but I think your assertion that: -
“. . . farmers are as much guests in the national park as any walkers. We certainly should not be subsidising sheep farming in the fells where it costs such devastating ecological damage. Let's not hear any nonsense about the farmer having to go about their business. Better that the farmer finds a proper job and that we no longer have the sheep that kill our plant life moved around in trailers against any welfare or ecological reason”
is somewhat misplaced.

Taken to the nth. degree, all human beings are “guests” on this planet, wherever they might find themselves. However, Lakeland’s farmers, (be they tenant or owner), live, and earn that living in the National Park. – Visiting walkers do not. – Those farmers have every right to expect that visitors should park sensibly and not inhibit them from “going about their business”.

Subsidies? - Well there are many such subsidies that we have to accept, whether we like it or not. – I’m no fan of the grossly inefficient wind-farm monstrosities that are springing up all over our land, and even less enamoured by having to fork up an additional 20% on every electricity bill I pay in order to subsidise them!

As for fell-heft sheep being the cause of “devastating ecological damage”, and “killing our plant life”? Were it not for centuries of sheep grazing on the fells, most of Lakeland’s upland would today be an impenetrable wilderness jungle of scrub, comprising of a few “dominant species”. - Which would have destroyed the wide variety of present day habitat, and eliminated with it the vast diversity of upland plants/fungi/invertebrates/etc.etc., we currently find there.

On the wide subject of car-parking fees generally, I find it strange that many people are so vociferous in their complaints. Yes, I do agree that £9.00 for a day’s parking at an NT car park is quite expensive, but NT members can park in any of their car parks without needing to pay. A one off annual membership fee (currently £64.50) can very quickly be recouped in not having to make further payments when using their car parks. Surely, anyone who can afford to own and run a car these days, can afford what amounts to less than £1.30 a week for a full twelve months-worth of parking in any NT car park countrywide?

Plus, realistically, there are hundreds of places in the Lakes where free and wholly responsible parking can easily be found. I visit regularly, and with a bit of forethought and planning can almost always find free parking wherever my intended walk might be starting from. Quite honestly the only pay car-parks I ever use are at the New & Old Dungeon Ghyll areas. (And being an NT member, I don’t have to pay when using those!).

As has been said, wilfull damage cannot be condoned. Equally, drivers are more and more parking selfishly as if no-one else exists. It's happening around schools, and on the road where I live. Here some 80 dwellings sometimes have an access road blocked by inconsiderate drivers who use a nearby nature reserve for walking their dogs, or simply enjoying the countryside. Many of the local dwellings are park homes and there is a high proportion of older people living hereabouts. Emergency services vehicles would not get through on some occasions.

This seems like deliberate vandalism to me. Don't forget this is a regular event for a not unworthy cause ...the farmer is well known and I'm sure will be only be to pleased to pay for the damage with his 6 figure public subsidy...

Being able to drive and park your car close to where you want to walk isn't a right, it's a privilege. Park considerately or pay to park in a designated location.
For those complaining that NT car parks are too much, remember that money goes towards maintaining the areas that you are enjoying, if you are a regular visitor, join the NT and you can park as part of your membership in most NT car parks.
Yes the farmer could have phoned the police, who may or may not have come out (eventually) and may or may not have ticketed the cars. They certainly wouldn't have moved them, so by the time the toss...walkers got back off the hill the farmer has then lost a day's work due to other's selfishness.

I think £4 for a full days parking is more than enough to pay for a fabulous day on the fells

I am Cumbrian born and bred and have lived all my life in the Cumbrian countryside that many people take to be the National Park playground.
What I see more and more is farmers and particularly the farming contractors buying oversized tractors and trailers, some of which are wider than the single track roads that we have much of here. There is no need for such large equipment in the restrictive by nature Cumbrian countryside, or the (what is now the norm) farmers and contractors thinking they own the countryside and they can do what they want on the roads.
If inconsiderate visitors have obstructed the road, and the agricultural vehicle, probably the size and weight of a large goods vehicle could not get through, then the driver should have called the police to resolve the problem.
It’s a wake up call for the inconsiderate visitors, but I sincerely hope the criminal - yes that what it was - act by the tractor driver is subject to the full punishment of the law of our land.

This is a pubic road governed by the Highways authority. Its not the farmer's road. It is permissible to park at the side of the road or entirely off the road on a verge. Many people did this but some cars were unfortunately damaged, even one car entirely off the road was still damaged by the trailer.

The trailer was not appropriate for that road, even without any cars on that road that trailer would not pass an on coming vehicle.

The farmer also has a defender and smaller trailer which would easily pass through the parked cars. I was there and saw a large delivery van (the company is an appointed courier for amazon) make a delivery to the farm. It did so without hitting other cars, it even missed the metal work on the BMW that was by then sticking out into the road. Presumably the farmer requested a delivery knowing it would come on Sunday even though there is no way that van and his tractor trailer combo could pass each other on that road even if there were no cars there.

The farmer is a tenant of the National Trust and is not paying market rent, so is further subsidised, tourism funds his otherwise unviable farm.

The farmer charges £3 a day to park in "his field" which is actually National Trust land.

After damaging other peoples cars the farmer didn't stop and leave his details and he didn't return during the day. This is a criminal offence.

After damaging the first vehicle he should have stopped but he continued on damaging more vehicles. If the first was an accident the rest were deliberate.

Incidents like this increase insurance for us all.

If your car was damaged how would you feel?

If the same farmer holds a firearm he could within the law shoot a dog if he deems that it is worrying his sheep, yet he drives his sheep trailer into cars causing metal shards and broken glass. His judgement and his care of his livestock is questionable.

Concerned car owner- the best post on here.

Farming is a hard game , especially this time of year without the added headache of blocked roadways

The road wasn't blocked Nigel.

Concerned car owner- the most ridiculous comment on here!

Quote " As for fell-heft sheep being the cause of “devastating ecological damage”, and “killing our plant life”? Were it not for centuries of sheep grazing on the fells, most of Lakeland’s upland would today be an impenetrable wilderness jungle of scrub, comprising of a few “dominant species”. - Which would have destroyed the wide variety of present day habitat, and eliminated with it the vast diversity of upland plants/fungi/invertebrates/etc.etc., we currently find there."

Mike V, you seem to have very little understanding of ecological processes

I just just been alerted to this thread.

About the damage to cars at Seathwaite, my sympathy would normally be with the farmer, who has work to do. But surely he knows that, once a year, there is this major Remembrance event which produces huge pressure on parking at Seathwaite, Honister and Wasdale Head. He must be able to arrange that, on that one day, he doesn’t need to use that narrow road with wide vehicles. This seems like a bit of deliberate sabotage, and I hope that he pays the consequences. But he won’t, because it would be impossible to prove just exactly who was driving that tractor.

As for the National Trust, if it is correct that they own Seathwaite Farm and the surrounding land, then they should ‘bite the bullet’ and create a large new surfaced car park near Seathwaite, as they have done in Langdale. Of course it should be ‘Pay & Display’. It is so obvious that this is one of the main access points for the high hills of the Lake District that I can’t understand why they have not done that.

The NT (whom I have long supported) should, in these extreme situations, just withdraw the tenancy.

David Purchase, whatever day of the year and whatever the event, there is no excuse for selfish parking which stops the farmer going about his lawful business.

You damage my car I damage your face, farmer boys we will all come with our caravans and dogs and stay around all summer long just to get on your tits see you all very soon , black country boys