Tarmac drives and doorstep offers

Tarmac is a common surface for a drive at home. Some householders are offered the work by a trader who calls at the door. The law gives extra rights to anyone who agrees to a contract like that in their own home.

If you agreed at your door

GOV.UK's guidance for traders covers sales made at a customer's home, at their workplace or at someone else's home. A trader selling this way must tell the customer they can cancel their order up to 14 days after the contract was made. The customer does not need to give a reason.

If the trader does not tell the customer about this right, the customer can cancel at any time in the next 12 months. A trader who then tells them during those 12 months gives them 14 days from that point.

For a contract for a service, regulation 30 of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 says the cancellation period ends 14 days after the day the contract is made. GOV.UK says a trader who does not tell the customer about the right to cancel could face an unlimited fine and up to 2 years in prison.

What the trader must give you

Before the order, the trader must give their business name, address and contact details, a description of the work, and the total price or how it will be worked out. They must also say how the customer can cancel and when the right to cancel is lost, and give a standard cancellation form.

The trader must say if the customer would still pay reasonable costs for a service already used after cancelling. The information must be easy to understand, on paper, in an email or in another form the customer can keep.

If the trader does not mention certain costs in advance, such as costs that are conditions of the right to cancel, the customer does not have to pay them. After the order, the trader must confirm the contract, on paper unless the customer agrees to another format. GOV.UK lists some exceptions to these rules, such as very small sales.

Reporting a trader

Citizens Advice says people can report a business to Trading Standards if it has broken the law or acted unfairly. Its examples include pressure to buy, and work that was not carried out properly. In England, reports go through the Citizens Advice consumer service, which passes them to Trading Standards.

National Trading Standards says it brings together Trading Standards services across England and Wales, and coordinates enforcement where a problem crosses regional or national boundaries.

The British Standard for laying asphalt

The British Standards Institution (BSI) lists BS 594987:2024 as the current standard for the transport, laying and compaction of asphalt. BSI describes it as covering asphalt from the time it leaves the mixing plant until it is laid, ready for traffic or the next layer.

Rainwater and planning

Government guidance on front gardens, published in 2008, names porous asphalt among the permeable surfaces a new or replacement drive of any size can use without planning permission. The same guidance says a traditional drive that does not drain, covering more than five square metres, needs planning permission.

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