Parking

@Esspee. I’m assuming that your road is unadapted by the council - do they maintain the road or do you ?

Do they never have visitors who park in front of neighbours houses? Have they never parked outside anyone elses house themselves ever? Parking here is a nightmare for us but we as neighbours don't fall out about it. We do have the odd moan about it of course but its not personal or about a particular resident, I don't have a house with off road parking for me or mine and its an inconvenience I simply have to accept if there is no space outside my own house.

@HurdyGurdy. I have this problem as we live near a school. If you have a dropped pavement for access, it’s an offence for anyone to park across it - it’s obstruction. It’s a peculiarity though, because technically they are only causing the obstruction if you want access there and then - in other words if you ask them to move to let you out and they refuse, that becomes the offence. I was advised to have a word with the driver, and that if they refuse to move, to get the registration number and model of the car, and ring 101. A civil enforcement officer would then write to the keeper of the vehicle advising that they are committing an offence, which, if reported again, will attract a fine. You can also ask them to send a PCSO or civil enforcement officer to patrol at school run time for a couple of days, because parking across a dropped kerb can be ticketed if seen by the police or traffic warden.

I live on the coast & we get people parking across our driveway all the time despite a big sign on the gates asking not to block us in as access is needed at all times, it's mostly tourists or visitors to other houses in the street, but there are times when they've parked there and gone off hiking or canoeing something for the day & I've not been able to find them, there is a carpark right there with ample space for about 6 cars which is mostly empty and they don't use it, they'd rather block us in or park in front of the garages on the other side & block those instead. I've lost count of the times I've had to go door to door to try and find who has parked there so we can get out or back in. One time we were just about to go out in the early morning when a huge motor home pulled up to park right over our gates, I asked them nicely to move & park over on the carpark as we needed to get out. They were really huffy about it as they were running late & that meant they were going to have to run to catch the bus to the city and they'd wanted to leave their van parked in the shade so it wouldn't be like a roasting tin when they got back ! They don't think what people have will to do if they have an emergency situation and need to get out fast, you can do without the stress of going door to door to try & find out who has blocked you in & get them to move on top of what you're already going through.
On another note my mother used to get really upset about people parking in front of her house, but nobody in the house had a car, not many people we knew that visited did either so I didn't see why it mattered so much to her. She never had ago at anyone though, she just moaned a lot about it in the house instead ?

A friend of mine works in the local Primary School which is set in a 1930s estate of semi-detached houses with no drives. Many have had the kerb lowered and front garden given over to the car(s).

After a lot of complaints to the school about parking over dropped kerbs, the school involved the Police who informed them that it was NOT illegal to park over a dropped kerb, providing you were not blocking anyone in.

So - you can block people out, but you cannot block people in.

First world problem!

Soroptimum

threexnanny

I do feel sorry for people who live nears schools. When I'm on the school run I've seen drivers leave their vehicles all over the place and often allow their children to run across front gardens.

Our house does not have a hedge, wall or pavement outside. So our front garden ends directly onto the road. People will park outside (for school) and just let the children, and themselves literally walk over our garden. My husband has deliberately let a ground spreading plant to grow to discourage this, but they just trample over that!!!

A prickly hedge might help! That’s how the council stopped youngsters gathering in a nearby swing park.

crazygranny

First world problem!

Until you need any of the emergency services in a life or death situation.

Next time ask these entitled asses if a pothole appeared in the road outside would they pay for repairing it.

This year I worked as a census officer, going door to door reminding householders to complete their forms. In some areas parking was a complete nightmare if I wanted to avoid walking extra miles. I discovered though that some roads with very wide pavements in my area were marked to indicate you should park half on the road and half on the pavement. This left plenty of room for people to walk by with a pram or pass in a wheelchair while giving extra space on the road. This makes lots of sense. However parking on the pavement is discouraged elsewhere and sometimes results in prosecution. During my 5 weeks work I managed to get a parking ticket though as, although I was in a marked bay, one wheel was just over the line as I couldn't get fully in due to wheelie bins being on the kerb which would have prevented me getting out of the car. I thought the traffic warden who issued that was excessively harsh!
I also got a ticket for driving in a bus lane too. I was driving back to the centre of town to find a loo and being in rather urgent need of one, my concentration was not as good as usual. Made for an expensive month! Just as well the job paid well.
I too live by a school so suffer the inconvenience of being blocked out of my own driveway and having nowhere to park. At least now I'm retired it happens less often than when I got home at pick up time every day. Neighbours have had people park in their drive and when the offenders were asked to move to let them in, they walked off saying they would only be a minute! It never fails to shock me the cheek of some people!

It's really odd what people choose to make themselves miserable about sometimes.

Each house in my road has 2 parking spots outside but they don't belong to anyone... The amount of fallout that happen over it even so.

I haven't got time for that sort of drama, I just park somewhere else if I need to and move the car later

I pay £60 per year for resident Parking. I live near a place of worship which is used regularly in the evenings. I also live next to a local Health Centre and a Family Centre. They both have access parking. Every evening people going to the worship centre, park in the access road to these places. In the event of requiring access for emergencies it would be impossible to get near either centre.

About 20 years ago a neighbour’s sister, instead of parking in the neighbours’ large drive, parked (frequently) across my drive. So one afternoon I got my husband‘s car out of his side of the drive and backed it up to the sister’s car, then, because I couldn’t get into my side of the drive I sadly had to block her in! When they telephoned to ask me to move one of the cars I explained that I was in the bath with a large whisky and therefore not able to drive . She had to walk home, then walk back once my husband got home & moved his car. I’ve no idea why, but she never did that again!

We had an off road parking space at the end of our garden when we lived in an end terrace house years ago. There was a dropped kerb and lines, but that didn't stop a few neighbours parking over it and blocking our car. One woman who did night work would regularly park across the space at about seven in the morning and go home to bed. So frustrating - one day I thumped on her door until she got up, and said politely that I would come and knock every time she did it as she was stopping us using our car for the day - did she not think this was unreasonable? She stared at me as if I were speaking another language, got her keys and moved the car. Fortunately now we have ample parking and more considerate neighbours - it certainly can cause stress and arguments when people are thoughtless - or don't care.

The residents at our local primary got a petition up and now there are yellow lines where the parents used to park outside the school. Apart from blocking driveways it is totally unsafe for children to be going between parked cars with or without their car obsessed parents. The children are better off walking with their parents to school anyway so long as they haven’t got too far to walk.

@Breda. Can you not ask the council to mark out a disabled bay by your house - if you have a blue badge you can then use it to park. Other blue badge holders can park in it though - but from what you say that wouldn’t be much of a problem and might give you better access.

Whilst I agree with what has been said about parking outside someone else's house, can I say a bit about the other side. I live immediately opposite a GP surgery, and people park whilst they go in, often a relative sits in the car waiting. They re not long usually, and drive off. Then are immediately replaced by another car that sits for 10/15 minutes, that goes and is replaced by another car and occupants. you get the picture. When it is cold the person waiting in the car often has the engine running, or in summer has the radio on with window open. I cannot open my window because of fumes, noise and and comings and goings. The worst thing is, this is supposed to be for residents only and the notice is generally ignored because "I'm only going to be a few minutes", It is the "only a few minutes" that is the problem. On the rare occasions I have spoken to somebody (to ask them to switch of the engine maybe) I have been met with hostility and incredulity that I would dare to ask them.

Pammiel. Thank you for your comment. I’m very new to being so immobile so trying to find my feet (literally!)

I’m not sure that the council would mark a disabled area out although I have contacted them with that in mind and asking if it could be considered. The Blue badge is something that I am in the process of applying for as it would be handy elsewhere and not just at my home address.

Our village has no pavements along the roads and is a ‘no through’ village so it’s generally the local folk that need to park but the problem arises with the number of cars to the number of households. Most have at least two. The large house across from mine has a minimum of five cars most days and sometimes they can have as many as seven which is a total nightmare. They can accommodate four or five vehicles on their drive but often choose not to because of ease of driving out of the village! They don’t want to get blocked in by the other vehicles in the household. When we bought the property a couple of years ago my feet worked and the house opposite ours was occupied by a family with just two vehicles.

If people choose their residence to be on a busy road or near a doctor's or retailer's establishment, then they should expect and accept that there will be parking in front of their house. If they are uncomfortable with that, then they should relocate.

If they don't own the road, then they can't dictate who can park there. I would continue to park there, and if something is said again, I would consider it harassment. Perhaps you can report them.

arthurboyd.co.uk/using-company-vans-for-tax-free-home-to-work-travel/

Possibly why so many work vans/vehicles are parked in residential streets nowadays.

I have no parking at my house as I live on a single track road. I parked nearby on a public lay-by and someone who lived opposite, who thought he had a better right than I to park his commercial vehicle plus 2 cars there keyed my car badly, smashed the windscreen and punctured the tyres on 3 separate occasions. All the police could suggest was to install a camera in my car as I had no proof it was him, except that he’d harangued me several times.

Rosie51 In some cases people do own the bit of the road outside their home. It's in the title deeds of a home. Both my mum and I did own the bit of road outside her home. I had many an argument with a neighbour who parked at the bottom of my driveway when I needed to head out to work and couldn't as he was blocking my drive. Pretty annoying. Different if someone was still in the car who could drive

I was once told off for parking outside MY OWN house ! Actually, it was s taxi that had brought me home from work, The neighbours saw that it was me but still told the driver to move as her daughter, who lived in the house next to mine, might need the space outside my house for guests to park. So we, the driver and I,chatted for a while and watched her rant and rave in front of my garden wall. Some people need a reality check.

The law states that a road is a public highway and no one owns it, even outside there own house. I have had large vans parked outside my house which have blocked the light from my front room for over a week. The police say there is no law to stop this. As it is classed as a public highway anyone can park where they like, even large vehicles. If anyone asks me to move from outside there house , I tell them they can consult the police for information on this.

I’m disabled and my mobility is pretty rubbish. So when I arrived home one day to find nowhere to park, I parked in a bay three houses down.

Next day I was really sick and didn’t go out at all. The following morning when I went to move my car I found a notice on it - stuck to the paintwork with brown parcel tape. I was furious. A bloke came out of the house telling me I had no right to park there. The note stated if I parked there again, they would call the police on me. Bloke was so rude, screaming in my face, saying I didn’t even live in the street! I was the first to move in when it was newly built!

I took photos and moved my car. I called my landlord (same as his) as I was shocked at what he’d done. Police said it was criminal damage (the tape took parts of the paint off) and did I want to press charges? I said no, but I’d like you to have a word with him to let him know anyone can park and that he doesn’t own the road which is what he was screaming at me!

That night at 11.30pm one of his sons knocked on my door. I opened it reluctantly for him to threaten me with violence if I parked there again, and he’d MAKE SURE I never used that spot again! What the f?!! My daughter was behind me and has the sense to record the conversation on her phone. Again reported it so it was on file in case of further incidents.

A few months later I had no choice but to park there again. As I hobbled up the hill walking stick in hand, another son raced up behind me and started screaming at me about parking there ‘It’s not your bay/this bay came with the house (none of them do!)
my Mums disabled (as am I - with a blue badge) move your car now or I’ll smash it up!’ He tried to stop me going into my house but I brushed past him. Reported it again, and waiting for the police to arrive. They never bothered. That was over 5 years ago!

But I had to make a formal complaint to the landlord for them to speak to him and stop him and his family screaming obscenities at me and my daughter in the street.

They’ve been quiet for a while now, Tho I often get two fingers up at me if I go out. I just laugh and if I have to park there again I will, even though I have since applied for a disabled bay which has been put outside my house. It’s not just for my use, but anyone with a blue badge and there’s a few people around here that have blue badges so it’s not always empty.

I say… Live and let live. No one owns the public highway apart from the council.