Victory for residents as council will get court order to move dead man’s trailer

Lincolnshire County Council hopes to get a court order to remove an abandoned trailer of rotting rubbish in Lincoln – if it can’t find the deceased owner’s relatives.

The trailer, described by the county council, as a “wooden caravan-like structure” has been parked on Ripon Street for two years or longer according to a local resident.

The county council stuck a notice letter to the trailer in March this year, stating it was an obstruction to the highway and needs removing within 28 days, which has still not been done. However, commenters on The Lincolnite’s story earlier this week flagged up that the trailer’s owner had died, including one person who said she’d “reported it to the council after the family cleared his flat out”.

The Lincolnite contacted the county council to ask for clarification on the situation and a spokesperson said: “We’re still looking for the current owner’s family and alongside that we’re hoping to secure a court order to allow us to move it, should no living relatives be found.”

Karen Cassar, assistant director for highways at LCC, previously said the council was trying to find out who now owns the trailer to avoid local taxpayers having to pick up the bill for moving it.

She said: “We appreciate this is a nuisance for local residents. We want to make sure as much of your money as possible goes into maintaining and improving our roads.”

The council has not set an exact deadline in its search for the owner’s family, but once the court order comes through a more accurate timeline will be known.

The trailer is full of rotting rubbish. | Photo: Submitted

A notice from the county council was stuck to the trailer stating that it needs removed within 28 days, but this was back in March 2021. | Photo: Submitted

This comes after a concerned Lincoln resident contacted The Lincolnite calling on the county council to take action, saying he has never seen the area so filthy in more than half a century.

And the trailer full of rotting rubbish isn’t the only issue on Ripon Street, as there also appears to be a problem with fly-tipping and overgrown weeds, which City of Lincoln Council says it tackling.

The weed spraying programme is ongoing with Ripon Street scheduled to be sprayed in the next two weeks.

The city council added that Ripon Street and that general area is ‘subject to a significant amount of fly tipping, which is why we try to check and clear all streets around there at least weekly’.