Author Topic: Beware of locked gates!  (Read 918 times)

gunwharfman

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Beware of locked gates!
« on: 20:02:26, 31/10/20 »
I went for a run yesterday, parked got myself organised and started my run. The 5 bar metal gate, normally secured with a chain and lock was wide open. I normally pass through via the kissing gate to one side. The first mile of my run is part of the Wayfarers Walk.

Just past the gate, two people carriers were parked to the side of the path in the wood. I ran on down the hill and saw a small van and a man to my right driving a bulldozer clearing some woodland. I ran on for the next 45 minutes and then returned to my car. JUST BY CHANCE, I decided to be nosey and try to work out what the bulldozer was up to? I wondered if someone was going to build a house there? The metal gate I noticed was now locked.

The two people carriers were still there and some adults and children as well, deep in discussion, (they had been collecting chestnuts) I quickly realised that they were locked into the wood with no route out. One of the mums said to me as I neared 'can you help us?' Her excuse was the gate was open so we thought it would be OK. Luckily for them, I could help them and did so. I was able to suggest that one of them should wander down to the bulldozer driver to find out if he had a key to the gate and explained that his van was parked down the hill and the gate was the only route out to the road for him as well.

One of the husbands did this, I waited and chatted to the wives and in about 10 minutes the bulldozer driver appeared with the key. I'll always remember two of the teenagers, one was definitely 'Kevin' and the other was definitely 'Perry!' Both were miserable as sin, I'm convinced they could only grunt or say "its not fair!"!  :)!

The two families were very lucky, they could have been stuck in that wood for a long time! They were so grateful to me and grovelled at my feet!  ;)

gunwharfman

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Re: Beware of locked gates!
« Reply #1 on: 20:04:16, 31/10/20 »
Maybe I should have entitled it 'Beware of unlocked gates?'

fernman

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Re: Beware of locked gates!
« Reply #2 on: 09:30:20, 01/11/20 »
I finished a walk and found the car park was locked with my van in it. Presumably it was opened and shut at certain times of the day but there was no notice to inform people. Fortunately I had my tools in the back and with a bit of effort I broke the padlock so that I could get out and drive home.

Totally unrelated to walking, when I was working I got locked in a property in NW London, a 4-floor Georgian house that had been converted into 12 flats. There was no answer on the doorbell for the one I had to call at, the front door was ajar, so I let myself in and climbed the stairs to the 3rd floor. Definitely no-one in, so I went back down and found the door double locked. Someone must have quietly gone out and locked it while I was upstairs. I then knocked at each flat to get someone to let me out, and there was no answer at all twelve. It was one of the many occasions in that job when I wanted to sit down and cry! I did get myself out in a while, but I daren't reveal how. 

barewirewalker

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Re: Beware of locked gates!
« Reply #3 on: 10:21:08, 01/11/20 »
Always worth looking at the hinges of a locked gate before going for extreme measures. Top hinge is rarely reversed, so many gates can be lifted off the hinges and then hung and no-one is the wiser. Certainly not the landowner, best kept in the dark and denied any pathway to wisdom  >:D
BWW
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ninthace

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Re: Beware of locked gates!
« Reply #4 on: 13:08:38, 01/11/20 »
Always worth looking at the hinges of a locked gate before going for extreme measures. Top hinge is rarely reversed, so many gates can be lifted off the hinges and then hung and no-one is the wiser. Certainly not the landowner, best kept in the dark and denied any pathway to wisdom  >:D
We often used to do that to get onto the airfield to flying at the weekend rather that drive a mile to the guardroom to sign out the key then drive back again to return the key only the repeat the exercise at the end of the day.  Puzzled the hell of the RAF Plod on their rounds.
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windyrigg

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Re: Beware of locked gates!
« Reply #5 on: 15:02:36, 01/11/20 »
There are a few gates getting locked around here, folk taking the opportunity to restrict access (with some sort of excuse), as happened during the foot & mouth debacle. It's generally just a farmer/tennent chancing it, if no one complains they've got away with it and one more right of way gone. Contact your local authority if it happens to you.

barewirewalker

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Re: Beware of locked gates!
« Reply #6 on: 10:25:04, 02/11/20 »
Just a thought, do I sense a touch of peeve that the RoW has been obstructed by locking the gate. I don't particularly mind climbing over gates, though I have reached the stage in life when I have to help one leg over with my hand. If I respect the farmer I will always climb over by the hinges, nothing damages a gate more than bouncing up and down on the latch end. All too often the need to wrap string, wire or a lockable chain around the slapping post is because of misalignment of the hanging post with the slapping post and this is a sure symptom of bad land management.

Perfect example in PDSTSP's topic here. So I don't take personal afront, it just adds another item to bolster my contempt, to those who cannot work by the standards they expected of their tenants in the past, who would have had some half cut land agent phoning him up of an evening when the second half of the whiskey bottle had brought on a  bout of bullying.


BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

 

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