Parking

I live next door to a junior school and what really anoys me is parents turning up in their cars to wait for their offspring an hour or more before school ends. And what really makes my blood boil are these drivers sitting in their cars with their engines permanently running poluting our street. On occasion, I and other neighbours have politely asked them to turn their engines off, sometimes, not always, resulting in verbal abuse from the drivers, (the irony of their actions totally escaping them) Don't think this will ever change.

Just say she’s free to the police next time if she’s that bothered. I expect they will put her straight!

My next door neighbour has turned his front garden into an extended drive so the whole piece of ground at the front of his house accommodates two vehicles, (sometimes three ) and his long touring caravan. He has knocked down a wall and claimed the pavement and road immediately in front of it as his. Before he moved there, it was a turning area with a space to accommodate two cars if visiting people in my cul de sac. He and his wife are extremely territorial over it even though they did not apply for planning permission and do not own the road or pavement. If my children park there he would come around and knock on our door and get them to move their car, with the excuse he needed to go out. He would drive around the block on purpose, taking all of two minutes then park his car back on his drive, just to be ridiculous. People are under the impression it’s all above board in the cul de sac but I inform folk it isn’t. He purposely parks his caravan on his actual legal driveway to prevent anyone being able to park a car where he has claimed at the end of his garden. In answer to the original post- you are permitted to park anywhere on the highway provided you follow Highway Code . It is illegal to block someone’s driveway but not illegal to park in a street outside a strangers house, unless it is permit holders only.

You have every right to park there. . They sound as if they have too much time on their hands , or live to moan. No point getting angry or trying to argue with people like that. I would have smiled sweetly, looked helpless and said that I had no choice, "oh dear , how awful it must be for you" and divert them by asking them about themselves. Insincere and fake I know! I find moaners are often unhappy and lonely. Let them have a good moan, flatter their ego a bit, say how lovely their house/garden is and they'll probably let you park there again. I used to work with very difficult people. Friendliness disarms them.

@Esspee you will find out that you do not really own up to the middle of the road, if you try to extend your front garden, or build on the stretch of road from the pavement to the centre...

You pay road tax to drive your vehicle and park it wherever is legal. You've done nothing wrong.

Occasionally, just occasionally, I'd love to park my car on the road in front of my house to unload my shopping etc. It's hardly ever possible though, so I just park as close to my road as I can. I don't stress or get annoyed and would never tell anyone I didn't want to see their car parked where mine should be. Life is far too short.

What's wrong with people? (That's rhetorical btw.)

You carry on parking wherever's legal.

There's a parking bay outside my house for residents (a permit must be visible) but for some reason, the council have also allowed parking for up to 1 hour for non residents...as we live close to a public transport interchange and a shopping area (with a large free carpark!!), for some reason people park in the local streets.
So from around 6.00 pm its easy to park but during the day or on a Saturday, impossible.
While I appreciate it's perfectly legal, I and my neighbours do find it frustrating.

Sadly there are two sides to this situation, and circumstances vary so much making situations like theses difficult for so many of us.

My cottage has no garden, driveway or allocated parking space and my sitting room windows are barely a cars width from the road in front of the house.

When the house was purchased we were assured by the previous owners and the estate agent that all the villagers understand that the area directly at the front of the property was used by the people living in the cottage.

My home is in a small village and most of the villagers have at least two cars which they park on their driveways or on the road outside their homes. However, the people across the road have at least five cars in and around their property all of the time and if I happen to be out they will park in front of my home and the car will remain there sometimes for days.

I have one vehicle and yet I find it almost impossible to park my vehicle close to my home, let alone outside because others have chosen to utilise the space.

As someone who has some mobility issues this can be very inconvenient but there is nothing that I can do about it except sell my home.

So please before parking in front of someone’s home just give a moments thought to who may possibly be affected by your actions. It isn’t always that straightforward.

It is weird how people think they have some ownership of the highway outside their home. We have parking permits I am overjoyed when there is space actually outside my house yet I have a neighbour who does not have a car, or a permit, but seriously believes she can dictate who can park outside her house. She graciously told me I could park outside her house ( in same permit zone but different road) I just ended up bemusingly thanking her. I think some people have an exaggerated sense of entitlement.

People dont own the road outside their homes if you pay road tax you are entitled to park there if you are not breaking any parking rules or regulations.

Rosycheeks I entirely agree with you. Lots of comments here show that it is more important for people to exercise their right to park, rather than sparing a thought for people who understandably want to park outside their own homes. Come on people, think twice, please.

I agree, my deeds same the same thing!

We often have large vans, parked quite legally, but so close to our drive that getting out is really dangerous as you can’t see what’s coming. We always back in, but even so……. No matter how slowly we go, we’ve had a couple of near misses. If we’re together one of us can “see” the driver out. There’s nothing we can do except hope van drivers can be a bit more thoughtful. Not holding my breath though.

Our neighbour was well known complaining loudly at people for parking outside his house. When my husband was in ICU my son in law had little option but park there and when the neighbour complained my SIL was quite rude to him. So I popped round to apologise for his language and explain why there were so many cars at our house and he said ." I thought someone must be in hospital with all the coming and going" I left before I cried at his lack of compassion

I must admit I get very fed up of people parking outside my house, but only because they block half my drive, which then makes it difficult for me to get out, and more importantly, in. I live on a cul-de-sac and there are cars parked all over the place, and little parking for residents (hence I bought a house with a drive). We have a day nursery on the road and the parents think its fine to just block everyone's drive while they drop off and collect their children. They may only be gone for a few minutes, but I think it shows a disregard for people who may need to make an emergency exit at any time, or be due to leave the house anyway.

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.

We're on a school road. I used to get really annoyed but now I tell myself it's only for a short time. The traffic speed bothers me more.

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!!!

Does anyone know if there are restrictions as to size for commercial vehicles or say large camper vans that are parked in residential streets please?

As I said up thread, if it’s lawful to park cars on a road, then there can be no complaint. However parking is often a problem for residents of a road and this is obviously acknowledged by councils as there are so many residents only parking schemes, which are fair enough in my opinion. This doesn’t tackle the huge problem of big commercial vehicles being parked on residential streets. Often one or two lorries and a couple enormous vans belong to just one household and cause great difficulties for other residents including blocking the pavement so people have to walk in the road, and narrowing the road to the extent that larger vehicles and possibly fire engines cannot get through, as well as leaving no room for the cars belonging to other residents.

my daughter lives in a block of apartments with allocated parking for those with two bedrooms, she has one so no space. Just recently cameras and a man patrolling that people without a permit are not parking anywhere nearby. She has to park in the next housing estate which is now causing issues for those people and their families and visitors. It seems crazy that blocks of apartment with lots of people and no parking are being built. There are a couple of visitor spaces with parking meters so when i visit i now have to pay to see her. I worry that when she returns home late at night in the winter she has a fair distance to walk to her home. Jokingingly i suggested we buy her a electric scooter to keep in her car for the journey from parking to her home!!!!!

If a car is taxed,insured and has an MOT and was mine i would park it anywhere i want as long as it`s legal to do so.

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.

There's usually plenty of space in our road for people to park. However, they frequently park right opposite our gate and disappear off walking all day. Even if they park partly on the pavement, the road is too narrow for us to be able to get our car or motorcaravan in or out.

Why don't they just park further up or further down the road where there's more space? A complete mystery.

Oh parking is terrible outside my house the whole world and his wife park outside it is so frustrating when you cant park anywhere where you live. Ive asked the council lots of times for resident parking and they come up with different excuses everytime all the roads around me are resident parking. I can only drive my car on a sunday because thats the only time I might be able to park near my house. If you drive away 10 mins later someone has parked in the space. I have driven round and round to find somewhere to park. Sometimes it streets away from where I live. My front garden is too small for a drive my next door neigbour as already asked the council but they said no.

I have to disagree about nobody owning the pavement or road outside their home. My title deeds clearly show I own up to the middle of the road.
Having said that I do understand that anyone can park on a council maintained road and it doesn’t bother me (though I would be upset if trucks, caravans and the like parked there long term).