Poetic justice for idiot driver on nature reserve (1 Viewer)

[trw]

Anyone who's been to South Walney Cumbria Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve will know what an important place it is for birds, seals and natural habitats.
A report from the Westmorland Gazette tells us what happened to a Rangerover belonging to a stupid driver who ignored the signs to keep off the beach area. It's still stuck there now and it ain't lookin too good.
Serves em right!

Report

Cumbria Wildlife Trust is calling for people to have more respect for our natural wild places following the trespass by the driver of a Landrover which got stuck in the sands off the Trust’s South Walney Nature Reserve on Sunday.

The driver illegally drove on to the nature reserve, across the protected beach and onto the sand in an area that is populated with seals, ignoring ‘no entry’ signs and removing a log barrier to gain access.

South Walney Nature Reserve is protected under several conservation designations: it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area.

“It is illegal, dangerous and damaging to take cars onto the sands. There is damage to the vegetated shingle from the vehicle itself, then there will be further damage from the vehicles that are going down to remove it, and if it cannot be removed there is serious risk of pollution from the petrol tank and oil as it rusts away. If the vehicle cannot be recovered it will potentially remain as eyesore for years”, explained Sarah Dalrymple, South Walney Warden. “I am appalled that some people think this is acceptable behaviour. The police are now dealing with the matter.”

The driver has damaged the vegetated shingle beaches in Lighthouse Bay which are an unusual wildlife habitat and where an individual community of striking plants has developed over hundreds of years. Plants, yellow horned-poppy, sea campion and biting stonecrop all grow here. In spring birds such as oystercatchers and ringed plover will nest on the shingle beaches and could be affected by the oil and petrol leaking from the vehicle if it cannot be recovered.

There is no access to the beaches at South Walney Nature Reserve for vehicles or visitors all year around, in order to prevent disturbance to the seals and the breeding and wintering birds. Beautiful public beaches can be visited at the north of Walney Island at Biggar Bank and West Shore.

 

[cheshirebirder]

Let's hope the police follow it up with a prosecution. Ignoring the signs, and , particularly, removing the barrier smacks of total arrogance. Off-roaders are a problem in many places. I've seen convoys of them in the Peak District where any "green lane" is seen as fair game.

 

[Mike Crawley]

What a berk !

Didn’t access to Peel Island used to be via Walney ?
I haven’t been to Peel Island since 1973 so my memory of the walk is a little sketchy but we were staying on Walney (A level field trip)

 

[trw]

A photo of the stricken and expensive-looking Rangerover.
Piel Island is in the background. Not sure how you access the island but I don't think you can get there from Walney.
http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/resources/images/7455719/

 

[pppppvvvv]

My first thoughts were nicked, taken for joyride, dumped..
Or if it was mine, that's what I'd be saying now!

 

[Farnboro John]

Hoik it out with a Chinook, and send the bill to the car's insurer. If they've written it off for the owner, it's their vehicle and their responsibility.

John

 

[Jos Stratford]

Hoik it out with a Chinook, and send the bill to the car's insurer. If they've written it off for the owner, it's their vehicle and their responsibility.

John

Insurance shouldn't cover it - illegal offroad driving generally voids any insurance, no?

 

[MTem]

My first thoughts were nicked, taken for joyride, dumped..

Got to be the most likely - even the biggest dope wouldn't leave it with the windows and sunroof open??

 

[trw]

Got to be the most likely - even the biggest dope wouldn't leave it with the windows and sunroof open??

Not so- see latest report from North West Evening Mail.

'A RENTED Range Rover has just been removed off the protected Walney sands after trespassers got it stranded.

Cumbria Wildlife Trust staff were left appalled after a group of three young men trespassed at South Walney Nature Reserve, driving illegally onto the reserve, across a protected beach and onto an area populated with seals.

The men, who were believed to be from the Midlands and on route to Scotland, ignored the ‘no entry’ signs and removed a log barrier to gain access on Sunday.

This afternoon a tractor has pulled the vehicle off the sands and it is to be collected by a car rental firm.

The trust has said that oil has been left on the sand and vegetation has been seriously damaged at the reserve.'

This sort of adds up. Anyone who lived locally wouldn't have pulled a stunt like this. The tides and sands are dangerous so it's unlikely anyone with local knowledge would have left the narrow tarmac road to the reserve.
I suspect the three stooges left the vehicle in a hurry to escape an incoming tide perhaps, or just panicked- hence the open windows and sun roof.
It will have ruined their trip to Scotland and may cost them a small fortune if the car hire terms invalidate the insurance.

 

[Hauksen]

Hi,

Ignoring the signs, and , particularly, removing the barrier smacks of total arrogance.

People buy big and expensive cars to empower them to go wherever they want, and to park them wherever they like.

If this kind of poetic justice occurred with any kind of regularity, Germany would be a nation of pedestrians in two weeks flat!

Regards,

Henning

 

[Farnboro John]

Insurance shouldn't cover it - illegal offroad driving generally voids any insurance, no?

Not if it was stolen..... that's the point of insurance!

Edit: just caught up with the intermediate posts. Not stolen then. But the car rental company will be looking to recover costs from somebody, and no reason not to send the bill for restitution to them in the first instance.

John

 

[Andy Adcock]

Insurance shouldn't cover it - illegal offroad driving generally voids any insurance, no?

In Australia, if you hire a car in Northern territories, they state or some do, that there is no driving outside of Towns at night or on unsurfaced roads, legal or not!

This moron may get blacklisted as well as financially penalised you'd like to think.


A

 

[Goneandhopefullyforgotten]

The locals who live on Piel Island often drive (legally) across the sands from Walney to Piel but their route stays well away from the reserve. Even they get caught out at times though. Last summer I watched a tractor trying to drag a 4WD pickup free from the mud before the incoming tide reached it. The tractor itself then became stuck and had to be rescued by an even bigger tractor. The pickup had to be left where it was until the next low tide.

I really hope the idiots in this incident are legally liable for the cost of the vehicle, maybe through not taking due care of it, as well as being prosecuted for damaging a SSSI and SPA.

 

[trw]

The locals who live on Piel Island often drive (legally) across the sands from Walney to Piel but their route stays well away from the reserve. Even they get caught out at times though. Last summer I watched a tractor trying to drag a 4WD pickup free from the mud before the incoming tide reached it. The tractor itself then became stuck and had to be rescued by an even bigger tractor. The pickup had to be left where it was until the next low tide.

I really hope the idiots in this incident are legally liable for the cost of the vehicle, maybe through not taking due care of it, as well as being prosecuted for damaging a SSSI and SPA.

Well at the very least it will have hopefully put them to a lot of inconvenience. They will have to find another vehicle to hire in Barrow and maybe cough up for the recovery costs and damage to the vehicle if the insurance doesn't cover their stupid actions.
Its years since I visited South Walney regularly.
In those days I was always impressed by the lack of disturbance on the reserve particularly along the beaches.
The warden told me he had a few problems with some dog walkers who walked on the main body of the reserve without keeping their dogs on a lead but I never saw this happen.
The long narrow road with speed bumps seemed to put off casual visitors and dog walkers, and I generally only saw a handful of dedicated bird watchers on my visits.