A little bit of legal advice please.

[DCLane]

There's the house opposite your sign. I wonder who owns the land/pillars?

Also, a van parked there may solve the issue

 

[Mugshot]

[QUOTE 4509129, member: 9609"]Moving on though, I can see the importance in having some directional advertisement there. Potential customers may be trying to reach you and mistakenly going to you competitor. How about a sign written tailor parked up at the junction.[/QUOTE]
We know that we have had customers sent to us by various fitters that have mistakenly gone next door and bought, thinking they were in the place that had been recommended to them. The junction is the big problem in all of this, there is room certainly in front of their sign for example where I could put a sign which is not on their property, but, it's a dead end road there's quite a number of cars generally and the room for my delivery vehicles is limited already, they know this and this was the reason for me coming to an agreement with their previous manager. Without some clever jiggery pockery I could end up making it very very difficult for my deliveries.

 

[Mugshot]

There's the house opposite your sign. I wonder who owns the land/pillars?

Also, a van parked there may solve the issue

The pillars belong to my next door neighbour, he's a git and wont let me put signs on them, I do have an A-board type sign on the pavement there but I need one on the other side of the road too to catch peoples attention as they drive towards my neighbour. The potential issue with the van idea is blocking the access to my property, particulalry for delivery vehicles. I know I can run up and down moving it. My idea at the moment is to mount the sign on something like a Heras fence panel which will be much thinner than what I currently have the sign mounted on, which I can then line up with their boundary, hopefully this would not restrict access too much, would keep my sign down the end of the road and they couldn't ask me to move it either.

 

[Mugshot]

I wonder if they've got planning permission for their own sign.

Almost certainly not, but then as I haven't either that may not be the best route to go down.

 

[Hacienda71]

It might be worth looking to see if you are protected by the 1954 Landlord and Tenant Act. If you were then they would need to give you six months notice to remove the sign. However it may be that the tenancy you have with them is a tenancy at will which is not protected and merely requires reasonable notice. This area of the law is not entirely straightforward in terms what constitutes a protected tenancy.

 

[swee'pea99]

It might be worth looking to see if you are protected by the 1954 Landlord and Tenant Act. If you were then they would need to give you six months notice to remove the sign.

I suspect that would make little or no difference, since this would almost certainly be the reality:

Ultimately the manager will do what he wants whether it's legal or not. Then it will be up to you to pursue him through the courts

It looks like you've had a decent run with the previous manager, but that's run out now, and the bottom line is there's really not a lot you can do. You talk about mounting a sign on a fence panel, which isn't on your neighbour's land...well, whose land would it be on, and would they let you put it there? Try it by all means, but I'd be surprised if you were able to get something up that would stay around for long. Looks to me like you need to start focusing your thinking elsewhere. Assuming the sign's a gonner - now what? If you'll no longer be able to rely on passing trade - which seems likely - what else can you do to get customers in? You mentioned 'customers sent to us by various fitters' - is there anything you can do to build that side of things up? Maybe ring all the fitters in yellow pages and offer them a kickback if they recommend you? Or advertising in the local paper, or in shop windows? I don't know. It just feels to me like you're trying to shore up a temporary arrangement that's run its course and in truth can't be saved, and that you'd be better off trying to take a step back and look at the thing in other ways.

 

[Mugshot]

I suspect that would make little or no difference, since this would almost certainly be the reality:

It looks like you've had a decent run with the previous manager, but that's run out now, and the bottom line is there's really not a lot you can do. You talk about mounting a sign on a fence panel, which isn't on your neighbour's land...well, whose land would it be on, and would they let you put it there? Try it by all means, but I'd be surprised if you were able to get something up that would stay around for long. Looks to me like you need to start focusing your thinking elsewhere. Assuming the sign's a gonner - now what? If you'll no longer be able to rely on passing trade - which seems likely - what else can you do to get customers in? You mentioned 'customers sent to us by various fitters' - is there anything you can do to build that side of things up? Maybe ring all the fitters in yellow pages and offer them a kickback if they recommend you? Or advertising in the local paper, or in shop windows? I don't know. It just feels to me like you're trying to shore up a temporary arrangement that's run its course and in truth can't be saved, and that you'd be better off trying to take a step back and look at the thing in other ways.

Mostly agree with what you're saying in that I disagree that it can't be saved. It's going to take a bit of thinking outside the box for sure but I am confident that something will be done to encourage customers. Advertising is actually something of an issue, as I mentioned above the big issue is potential customers driving straight past our turning, whether they be specifically looking for us or visiting next door. As a result any advertising we do is effectively advertising our neighbours.

 

[mjr]

What about a better sign on the main road junctions off, with directions? You could stick a bigger / better / more evident one on Pembroke Road than the brown one there at present.

Well, that took me a lot of hunting to see. I'd be putting directions and a simple little map on a sign on/at the roundabout end of the building, plus chaining a sign including "←+ 1st Right" to the Magdalene Road sign on the corner. It also looks worth asking the shop(?) on the other corner if you could put a similar simple map sign on one of their blanked-out windows. An estate-agent style board with an arrow on it on either number 15 or 17 might help, too.

This is what we have currently, mine to the right, their's to the left;
View attachment 147643

Oh come on, why's the arrow on the sign on the corner in black and can you drag that skip bag away from blocking sight of it?

Probably won't get everyone but presumably the chain are paying a higher rate and maybe confusing with your business is part of why they're in that location.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Throw a brick through their window.

 

[Markymark]

Then the site may not be working for you. I'd consider moving.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Go on...

 

[Electric_Andy]

That little space by the bollards is all you're going to get I'd think, get a sign that won't blow around and make sure it's facing the traffic.

In response to your question, I'm not sure of the actual law. Put it this way - if they did move your sign - would you report it to the police? If so, why? And what would you expect them to do about it, and what would you think they would ACTUALLY do about it? Not being rude, but no-one would care unless he threw it through your window/at your car etc.

 

[Mugshot]

That little space by the bollards is all you're going to get I'd think, get a sign that won't blow around and make sure it's facing the traffic.

In response to your question, I'm not sure of the actual law. Put it this way - if they did move your sign - would you report it to the police? If so, why? And what would you expect them to do about it, and what would you think they would ACTUALLY do about it? Not being rude, but no-one would care unless he threw it through your window/at your car etc.

That area is exactly what I'm looking at, something tallerand more noticable than is currently there.
The sign in question weighs about half a ton, if he threw that anywhere I'd be minding my Ps & Qs!!
I'm not looking to report it, or make a fuss or cause hassle. I don't want to move it for obvious reasons, but I will. I just didn't want them moving it and was wondering if they actually could, not physically but legally, IF I decided to dig my heels in and told them to naff off, which I'm not going to do anyway.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Or as someone else said, park a branded bike/trailer but that always looks a bit unprofessional to me, plus there's the issue of parking/obstructing.

Have you looked elsewhere? If people are being referred to you then does it matter where you are? How many customers a month do you think intended to visit your competitor but (either willfully or by accident) came in to your shop instead? If not many, I'd say that's a good argument for not staying where you are.

 

[Cycleops]

Citizens advise bureau?