[bigchicken]

I have had people using my fields as a short cut resulting in collapsed walls gate left open and there dogs chasing sheep had a strong word and so far all is OK .But I had to spend three days fixing walls    Once had a man put 6 horses in one of my fields by mistake and I had to argue with him until he removed them. they make some mess    So nobody gets on and anybody doing so will get short shift and as for someone else wanting to ride on my fields what a cheek how would these kind of people like it if I  came into there gardens riding a horse and causing damaging to there property   

[waterhouse]

Round here gates on fields get smashed by the local youth while joy riding so most of the farmers park a couple of tons of tree trunk or a subsoiler in the gateway instead.  A week ago one of our neighbours had a caravan torched in his field a couple of hundred yards away from us.  He'd left the gateway open so he could cultivate the field...

We have common land next to us.  This creates all manner of entertainment because it seems most people are deeply ignorant about commons.  The favourite assumption is that our drive is a public car park for dog-walkers.  We get some splendid barrack room lawyers spouting b*****ks about their access rights.  My favourite was an older middle-aged bloke who told me that under the Law of Property Act 1925 he could have the concrete drive he'd parked on removed.  Unfortunately he was pontificating at the wrong person.  The LPA 1925 while establishing the public right of access for "air and exercise" also prohibited vehicular access.  If he'd even heard of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 there could have been a discussion. 

By the way the LPA 1925 abolished the legal estate under which property was entailed .  I'm betting that Round 3 of Downton Abbey uses this to resolve the inheritance issue about which the entire tortuous story has been built.

[Plantoid]

Most people round here lock their gates to protect their livestock against being let out, or even stolen. And the empty fields are locked to stop gypsies camping there - they were on the local common right next to the golf club for two weeks, and  council had bother evicting them.  I drove past at the time they were due to leave, and the council had got all the local farmers with tractors ready to pull the caravans on to the road.  But gypsies know the law and how long they can stay, and moved off themselves. 

So, I suppose locking gates prevents bother like that!!

we got no gypsies round these here parts...just a horrible farmer who hates people i think

 I'd be with the farmer on this one , as locking his gates means that someone has forced entry to get in .
So if there is an injury to the person breaking into the fields the liability angle changes to"  engineer of their own downfall " .
Even if it was not the person who broke in  the liability angle also indicates that the farmer tried to prevent poeple entering his field.

 

[OhLaLa]

If anyone needs to padlock/chain up a gate, remember to do the hinge end too. It's not uncommon to find the 'bolt end' locked and the gate lifted off it's hinges instead.

[robert waddell]

yep crucks turned upside down

[Plantoid]

Drill and pin both hinges and any nuts on the bolts to make it difficult to get the gate easily open .
 The scrap scavengers around here seem to take the gate away entirely .

 In East Anglia the hare coursers and dregs with heavy 4x4's  just rear ended the gates at the middle to break the posts so they could do mud track hunting round the fields at night with lamps , shotguns or rifles .
Most of the farmers I knew  there took to leaving an old set of rusted crop rollers or several 2 tonne concrete blocks behind the gates as well .

[Mel Rice]

Here in germany there is often a gate across a bit of track or forest 'roadway' that is locked, but there are no fences either side...which just looks wierd. If you have stock they are in an electric fence that has warning lables on if it is next to a public road/path.

[robert waddell]

plantoid what you have written does not make sense        rifles and shotguns are gun crime without permission on others land
i once heard of a farmer that buried a zig zag harrow in an old road to deter the off road fraternity   ( that was in England)

 this does not happen in Scotland there is no common ground    all land is owned so illegal to go offroad with vehicles 

[waterhouse]

I think most if not all English common land is owned by someone. Most people don't seem to know that and there's a widespread belief that everyone has unrestricted access.

[Sylvia]

I padlock my gates firstly to stop people letting ponies, sheep etc. out and also to protect anyone who fancies walking through from the ram (who is a b......d) and the boar (who is not )
We don't get many passers-by as we are well of the beaten track but we do get dog-walkers whose dogs are off the lead and the owners cut across to get to the lane a few fields away. I lost ewes and lambs one day so the padlocks stay

[Plantoid]

plantoid what you have written does not make sense        rifles and shotguns are gun crime without permission on others land
i once heard of a farmer that buried a zig zag harrow in an old road to deter the off road fraternity   ( that was in England)

 this does not happen in Scotland there is no common ground    all land is owned so illegal to go offroad with vehicles 

 Gun crime / poaching or armed trespass is rife in the flat lands of East Anglia & on many big estates all round the country where there are deer .

 Sometimes there is a massive traveller /gypsy influx , they had set up no end of break ins and  robberies ,they know the police cant cope and will only deal with the worst crime. so leave the illegal hunting alone whilst they deal with the more serious stuff .
 Sometimes we used to get forty or so 4x4 'sfrom B'ham or London  turn up and they would course and shoot hares on anybody's fields in broad day light .
 it's not unknown for gangs of 12 vehicles to take turns at coursing or lamping field with dogs or guns at night leaving a massive mess in the fields .


Whilst I was living in Guyhirn I discovered that lots of my farmer friends had been at the wrong end of a loaded shotgun whilst trying to prevent the crooks doing their stuff and have had to back down  especially when one of the crooks threatens to come back and knee cap the farmer one night..

 Sometimes it got a bit hairy when several farmers turned up on oneside ot the River Nene with rifles and started shooting over it to try and take out the lurchers & greyhounds in the field on the other side .

 Any police vehicle entering the area by road is easily spotted miles before it gets to the place of action and a phone call is made to the other miscreants who do all sorts of dangerous things to try and stop their mates being caught .
Even the police chopper frequently got thwarted.
 
 Occasionally the police  heard chatter and set up a big sting  using HGV's to block routes out the area. and successfully aprehend the miscreants.
I recall something like 18 people were  sentenced for coursing & poaching in broad day light near GUYHIRN Wisbech in 2004 ish ,
They nearly all had unlicenced shotguns & came from the Birmingham area

[robert waddell]

it is  a mandatory 5 year sentence for having an unlicensed gun 

[Plantoid]

It might well be illegal to have unlicenced firearms  but it does not stop the buggers having them does it.
 
You only have to look at the convicion of the McCabe drug pushing family from Merseyside conducted under the code name of Matrix it has been ongoing for three years.
 An SA80 and 1500 rounds were  captured /recovered and they are not even on the top snow flakes of the masive iceberg .
We hear daily of unlicenced weapons and shoties being used in the comission of crime.