Parking

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!

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.

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

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!

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

crazygranny

First world problem!

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

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.

First world problem!

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.

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 ?

@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.

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.

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

LovelyLady

If you buy a property near a school, surgery, airport etc., then it’s not surprising folk park outside your property. Some councils are cashing in on complaints and now have residents parking permits. So be careful about moaning it may soon cost YOU to park outside your own home.

That is of course true.

In our case, however, when we bought our house almost 30 years ago, the school was just years 1 to 4, and the majority of children lived very locally and walked to school.

Since then, school introduced a reception class, then a nursery, then wrap-around care, and since becoming an academy, now take children up to year 7, I believe.

We couldn't have foreseen that happening when we bought the house.

I'm pretty laid back about it generally, (apart from instances like that shown in the photograph attached to my earlier post) but it's not just a 5 or 10 minute wait. They start turning up half an hour or more before school starts, or finishes, "to get a good parking space". If they've got that much time spare why not just walk?

Personally, if it came to it, I'd be quite happy to pay for a permit, as long as it was enforced.

Wheniwasyourage

*Soroptimum*, have you considered the attractions of gooseberry bushes at the road side of your garden carefully planted with nettles to discourage the badly behaved people who walk across your garden?

I thought 'Berberis would make a nice hedge'.... Great minds think alike ?

My neighbour even came out and complained about an ambulance that had parked outside his house while I was in itbeing treated. Said he needed the space as his daughter was due any minute on a visit. I can’t repeat my husbands reply.

The Council wanted to widen a road near us a few years ago, taking part of people’s gardens to do so . One of the original houses on the road pointed out they owned to the middle of the road, including the pavement. There is now a kerb all round the bit they own, they park their car on the raised bit, and there is a length of single carriageway outside their house with signs with vertical arrows indicating traffic priority. Effectively a traffic calming measure, as it acts as a sort of chicane

If you buy a property near a school, surgery, airport etc., then it’s not surprising folk park outside your property. Some councils are cashing in on complaints and now have residents parking permits. So be careful about moaning it may soon cost YOU to park outside your own home.

One problem is that homes are no longer have just the one car my neighbour has two large vans and two cars,and next to him they have three vehicles,and the majority are at least two car families. It’s when my driveway is blocked that I feel annoyed and it is against the law ......rant over !!!!

I can see it from both points of view, the OP was doing nothing wrong, there are circumstances where people need to have the space outside their home, when I lived in a terrace, I quite often had to park in another street because people had visitors taking up the spaces, for 5 days over Christmas one time... I also had a classic car, very easy to break into and often the object of random acts of malicious damage, I wanted to be at least able to hear it being broken into. My neighbour had a baby and a toddler and worked, if she couldn't park near her house she had a nightmare of a morning getting to nursery and work, I would never put my car in front of her house, except If I saw the street filling up with cars for a party or whatever, then on several occasions I parked outside her house and moved my car as she was arriving home, thereby saving her place.

You don't own the road outside your house. When I am tempted to be iffy about such parking I remind myself of the time when my guests and children parked outside the neighbours' houses.

Additionally, it is always useful to remember that complaints about parking often bring the official response of painting double yellow lines around the whole area. An official complaint plays into the hands of councils whose parking revenue rises when on street parking is restricted or sold to badge holders.

Goodness - there’s not much tolerance these days!

Recently I parked on the street , not blocking any driveway or gate whilst visiting a relative with Altzheimers. A man opened his front door and screamed at me ' we are sick of you, this is not a public car park, go away go away.' I was so shocked and upset ( it was dark and my visit had been tiring and a bit upsetting). I asked calmly if he owned this part of the street. He shouted some more really loudly. I said ' what an unpleasant person you are' and drove off. It was horrible.

My neighbour once parked across our driveway whilst our car was actually standing there. I popped next door to discuss it with her and she said 'Well I presume it's your friends who've parked in front of my door '. Not so. It was a public thoroughfare where it was perfectly legitimate for anyone to park. People get precious about the craziest of things. Have no hesitation in parking anywhere it is legal to do so.

Soroptimum I feel for you having people walking over your garden. We have a wide grass verge and a path but people still let their dogs go on my garden Could you put a fence up?
People have a right to park on any unrestricted road but it is annoying when neighbours or their visitors park outside your house when there is pace outside their. I find delivery vans almost always park over my drive even when there is space in front of them . They only have to go another 6-8 feet. And people frequently park on the verge. It gets it in a terrible state especially when it's wet and it is quite unnecessary. Quite close we have an open space and people illegally park half on the path making it difficult for prams etc.