AIBU - parking one!

[oblada]

So yesterday drove into work after dropping kids at school. I have a (paid for) permit for a carpark but it gets full up quickly on Wednesdays so I usually cannot park there. All the other carparks around are the same. So I have to resort to parking on the road on that day. I parked on a fairly busy but very wide road. Perfectly legally. Enough space on the road for cars to cross and trucks to pass. I went on the pavement slightly to make sure of that. Everyone else around does the same. By the same token i also made sure there was enough space on the pavement for prams and wheelchairs. There is a wide strip of grass after the pavement so there is plenty of space but in any event i ensured there was enough 'pavement space' for anything with wheels in effect. I was in between 2 dropped curbs for drives. Left space on each side to ensure i wasn't. Blocking or hindering anyone. Massive drives there so no issue. The houses on the road have huge front gardens so I'm not right in front of someone's window and certainly not preventing them from parking as they all have massive drives anyway. It's in Wilmslow (posh).

Despite the above someone saw fit to remove the tyre pressure cap from my front tyre and put a stone in the valve. I didn't see straight away so drove off then of course stopped. Had to call recovery and the tyre is ruined so i need so spend the money replacing it (quite a recent tyre too of course!).

So i expect IANBU in wishing a slow and extremely painful death to the mindless that who did that, no?
Anyone can shed any light on what exactly offended them by my parking there? It's not like i have any option!! I can't take the train to work, there is no other place to park other than more residential areas (further afield) where the same issue would occur. I have 3 carseats in plain view in the back. I'm obviously not doing this for fun, i need to go to work, i come too late to park because i take kids to school...

Drives me nuts! (Literally)

[oblada]

It should read "mindless twat"! Bloody autocorrect!

[CallMeSirShotsFired]

Some people are NIMBY cunts.

Yoc an get dashcams which continue to record after you turn the engine off, maybe consider one of those?

[veggiepigsinpastryblankets]

You shouldn't really be parking on the pavement even if everyone else does it, and if you were on the strip of grass (sorry if I'm interpreting wrong!) the people who live there are probably fed up of it getting churned up by cars. But the appropriate response to those minor annoyances obviously isn't criminal damage to your car!

[oblada]

Veggie - how should i park then? It's legal to park there. The road is wide but if i don't park slightly on the pavement cars will be hindered on the road. The pavement was wide enough for my 'side wheels' + the width of a wheelchair/prams. So i figured that was i wasn't bothering anyone. The strip of grass is after the pavement so i wasn't touch that at all and all of that is Council property not private...

[Hillarious]

So, if you park up to the kerb, you'll be hindering traffic in the road. As you're between two drives, doesn't that give space for cars to pull in to if one needs to let another pass?

Of course it's unforgiveable to deliberately damage someone's car.

[oblada]

Hilarious - i wouldn't have thought so as the drives are pretty massive round there. I didnt park much on the pavement, just the wheels really, to align with others and ensure there is space for cars on the road to still cross unhindered. Seemed sensible enough.

[ShatnersWig]

You shouldn't really be parking on the pavement even if everyone else does it

But it's NOT illegal @veggiepigsinpastryblankets

[WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue]

You shouldn’t have parked on the pavement (and no, ‘everyone else does it’ is not an excuse to). If there isn’t enough room for cars to pass you on the road so you need to park on the pavement then it isn’t an appropriate or suitable parking space.

On saying that however, nobody should be damaging anyone’s car no matter how much they park like a twat.

[keepingbees]

It might not have been parking related. Some people just do things like this to be an arsehole.

[Oddsocksandmeatballs]

Aside from causing problems for pedestrians parking on pavements causes damage to the pavements, the kerbs and to underlying infrastructure which costs money to repair every year.

[Peleus]

I don't know where you live, but parking with two wheels on pavement or grass verges is illegal in the London boroughs. But legal or not, if your parking in this way was the motivation for someone sabotaging your tyre, then that is of course very spiteful and surely criminal behaviour.

[ShatnersWig]

@Perleus The OP says where she is in her OP. Wilmslow. So not London. And you're right, it's only actually illegal in London.

[Stinkytoe]

Damaging your tire is obviously unreasonable but as a woman who frequently finds herself pushing either a double buggy or her grandmother is a wheelchair I do hate people who park on kerbs.

[Fluffyears]

You have topsrktge eheeksinthe pavement in Mil’s street.? If you didn’t emergency vehicle cant fit through. No other place to park apart from on the street and it’s really tight so I understand op. A new neighbour of hers parked without his wheels on the pavement and an ambulance was blocked, the paramedics had to block the full street and then run on foot to the house with the emergency. It’s a very long dead end street, ifs no ambulance can’t get access then a fire engine would be fucked!

[Fluffyears]

I’m ill so that made sense at first but basically At Mil’s unless you Park slightly on the pavement emergency vehicles can’t fit through.

[Samcro]

yabu to park on the pavement at all. I hate this. the driver assumes that a wheelchair will fit ......yeah cos they are all the same size.
with it was out lawed.

[oblada]

There was definitely enough pavement still for a wheelchair so grandma wouldn't have had any issue. The double buggy i would say would fit too. Otherwise may have ended with a bit on the grass. But not a big issue surely. I just thought i was being considerate parking a bit on the kerb to ensure smooth traffic on the road since that leave still enough space for everyone on pavement. What else would ppl do??? The alternative is hindering/slowing traffic on road or parking right in front of ppl's houses in more residential places....

[oblada]

Samcro - arent wheelchair pretty standard in size?? I use one with one relative, he is a very big bloke so a sturdy wheelchair so i have a fair idea of the size requirements. Of course i could be wrong. I tried my best.

[Myimaginarycathasfleas]

www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q387.htm

[Fluffyears]

Well i’ll Get everyone in the street to park ‘properly’and hope there isn’t a fire or the need for an ambulance then. I’m sure an ill person could be wheeled the quarter mile down from the top of the street on a stretcher no bother! Those hoses on a fire engine will stretch. As long as there is enough room onthe pavement for a wheelchair and enough room on the road for emergency vehicles then it’s fine ffs!

[Stinkytoe]

Easy enough to say it’s fine for me to go on the grass it the pavement is there for pedestrians. Why should I have to go on the grass which in this weather is probably horribly muddy. I don’t want to be trailing that into my house.

Fortunately my buggy is pretty sturdy but I’d struggle with the wheelchair on the grass as well.

[blackteasplease]

My thought would have been that they wanted the tyre valve not that they objected to your parking.

[ButtonMoonLoon]

Pavements are NOT for cars. We have this issue around my daughter’s school. Yes lots of people park on the pavements but I’m not one of them, my working hours and childcare are arranged to ensure that I have plenty of time to be able to park safely and legally. Yes it’s a pain at times, yes it’s tempting to do what lots of other people do but that doesn’t mean it’s morally right-or legal.

So yes, you are being unreasonable.

[Oddsocksandmeatballs]

arent wheelchair pretty standard in size??

No, not at all. It depends on the type of chair, some electric chairs are much bigger than standard chairs.

[Yabbers]

Don’t park on pavements. Unless you are a wheelchair user, you probably don’t really know when you are leaving enough space. Grass isn’t a suitable surface for wheels, especially in winter. I have had MANY debates with pavement parkers who insist they aren’t causing me problems. I’m not about to challenge someone if they aren’t, I have enough problems with those who are.

Pavements are for people, not for cars. If there aren’t restrictions on the road, you should park on the road, regardless of whether traffic would be impacted.

It isn’t illegal to park on the pavement but you can still be ticketed for causing an obstruction.

I would be angry if someone damaged my car if I parked thoughtlessly, but I would think about my actions and not do it again.