Kirsty MacColl sang about a guy who worked down the chip shop and swore he was Elvis.

Well in the case of Winterbourne v Bennett, the guys who worked in one particular chip shop were very much under the impression that their customers had a legal right to use a neighbouring private car park.

Then one day in 2012, the owners of the car park blocked vehicular access. The owners of the chip shop complained, claiming that they had acquired the right to use the car park by long use. To acquire rights in this way, a person must show uninterrupted use of the land "as of right" and without force, secrecy or permission for at least 20 years.

"Without force" is not to be taken literally. The expression simply means that the use must not have been contentious or have been allowed under protest. Landowners are not required to do everything within their means to object to the use of their land. They do not have to protest continuously, physically interrupt the use, or commence legal proceedings to defend their rights.

The landowner's opposition need only be reasonable and proportionate to the scale of the problem faced. Where there are different users each day (such as visiting public), putting up some clear signs might do the trick. In this case, the car park owner had erected two signs which stated that the car park was for private use only, and had on at least a dozen occasions personally objected to customers using it. This was enough to defeat the chip shop's claim.

It is possible to prevent others from acquiring rights over your land but clear steps must be taken and landowners must be careful not to comply in unauthorised use of their land.