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AIBU?

To park where I like on a public road?

25 replies

Phoenixwars · 20/03/2019 08:47

I’m off to an appointment on the train. The station car park is full so I drive into a side road that has a space. I park up outside a barbers shop and as I walk away I notice a sign in the window saying “please refrain from parking outside the shop during business hours”. Aibu to park there? I hadn’t got time to drive off anywhere else and it’s a public road, the spaces don’t belong to the shop!

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JacquesHammer · 20/03/2019 08:49

YANBU as long as you’re sure it’s a public road.

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Itwouldtakemuchmorethanthis · 20/03/2019 08:52

I think they can ask. You can give or not. In this case you hadn’t left enough time to be kind so the answer was “no”. YABU to think about it beyond “shall I or shall I not help these people”.

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Phoenixwars · 20/03/2019 08:54

Definitely a public road and tbh if there had been another space further up I would’ve moved it, but there wasn’t and I didn’t have time.

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Stawp · 20/03/2019 09:01

"In this case you hadn’t left enough time to be kind"

How passive aggressive. Hmm

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ShatnersWig · 20/03/2019 09:02

I parked on a residential side street outside a friend's house for a couple of days. My mum was on holiday and I was popping in for a couple of hours every day for a week to check on my grandad and this was the nearest place I could park and then walk three streets back.

On the third day I got a note on the windscreen telling me (not asking) to park elsewhere because it was a road and not a car park.

I told friend who suspected a new neighbour whom had already pissed everyone off. He told me to park again the next day as I had every right to and it was outside his house and he'd like to see if it was them.

When I got back to car, even shittier note. Friend said it was who he suspected and would I please park there the next day. So I did.

Came back to my car. No shitty note from neighbour but my friend had overnight made giant sign and placed it in his front garden that read "Public road, anyone may park here - please do to piss my neighbour off just as they've pissed the rest of us off!"

Apparently new neighbour went very silent for a very long time.

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SaveKevin · 20/03/2019 09:05

Tricky one. Whilst I think your right, I can imagine it’s annoying as a business owner if people park for long periods of time outside your shop. If dh can’t easily park outside a barbers, he will just go to a different one.
So I think your both right.

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Climbingahoneytree · 20/03/2019 09:10

YANBU as long as it's a public road. If they would like designated business parking then they can always take that up with the council.

I know some people who think the space outside their house is theirs, and will block people's driveways off if they park a second vehicle in 'their' space. Drives me bonkers. As long as you pay your tax, you can park on a public road.

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Spiritinabody · 20/03/2019 09:18

It's a public road so you can park there but, if it were me, I would probably recognise that the barber's patrons want to park there and I would probably leave a few minutes earlier to park in a more neighbourly manner.

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Bahhhhhumbug · 20/03/2019 09:27

Yes as long as its not outside my house Grin

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Yabbers · 20/03/2019 09:27

I can imagine it’s annoying as a business owner if people park for long periods of time outside your shop

Then business owners need to pay more for premises with parking. You can’t try to commandeer a public road to suit your business model.

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Yabbers · 20/03/2019 09:29

I would probably leave a few minutes earlier to park in a more neighbourly manner.
But the business can act in a non neighbourly manner so he can benefit financially?

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havingtochangeusernameagain · 20/03/2019 09:32

If it's a public road and you are not causing an obstruction you can park anywhere.

This means not on a bend, not across a driveway, arguably not opposite a driveway on a narrow road, not on the pavement and not on a grass verge leaving muddy tyre marks.

Whether or not the person in the house or business likes it or not, is by the by, as long as you are not in anyone's way. Also, they knew the station was there when they bought/rented the premises. It's fine to get annoyed with inconsiderate/illegal parking, but someone parking in a reasonable way outside your house or shop isn't either of those things.

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Pinkbells · 20/03/2019 09:33

I don't think he was in the wrong to ask (he did say please), and the space was probably only one of the last available ones because others had been courteous and not parked there, but on the other hand if there really isn't anywhere else then you are not wrong to park there.

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havingtochangeusernameagain · 20/03/2019 09:33

I can imagine it’s annoying as a business owner if people park for long periods of time outside your shop

Also annoying for everyone around when a delivery van parks outside their shop to make deliveries and causes an obstruction. Swings and roundabouts.

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BreakfastAtSquiffanys · 20/03/2019 09:34

I tend to take the view that if I don't park there now, someone else will park there in a couple of minutes anyway.
So I might as well!

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WeepingWillowWeepingWino · 20/03/2019 09:40

They can ask and I would say that if possible I'd oblige but if not possible I'd park there.

Maybe the barbers have elderly customers who want to park outside but with the best will in the world if they don't have a car park they can't dictate who parks where on a public road.

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cstaff · 20/03/2019 09:45

@shatnersWig - I love your friend. Hilarious Grin Grin

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cherrryontop · 20/03/2019 09:53

Then business owners need to pay more for premises with parking. You can’t try to commandeer a public road to suit your business model.

This

If it's a public road with no parking restrictions it's fair game to anyone. Businesses, customers, TRAIN STATION users....

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americandream · 20/03/2019 10:17

@Phoenixwars

Of course you can park where you like on a public road (with no parking restrictions or lines etc...)

And plenty of people will rush to tell you as much.

However, 95% of the people saying this, would be pissed off if someone (who didn't live in their street,) parked outside THEIR house, day in day out.

Upshot is, it's OK if it's happening to someone else and not them.

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ScrewyMcScrewup · 20/03/2019 10:28

If someone wants a designated parking space for their home or business they need to pay for it. No sympathy.

And I don't give a shit who parks outside my house. I have legs.

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Itwouldtakemuchmorethanthis · 20/03/2019 10:39

"In this case you hadn’t left enough time to be kind"

How passive aggressive.
Hmm

Not particularly. Personally I’m kind if I have time and can be but otherwise don’t bother. OP could leave home fifteen minutes earlier on the off chance she might need to help a random barber but in this occasion she didn’t have that time to spare. (Like most people she probably doesn’t build random act of generosity time into her day). There’s nothing passively aggressive about reframing your thinking to embrace this.

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WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 20/03/2019 16:26

When I was a student, I lived in a flat above a shop on a main-ish road with double yellow lines outside, so nobody was allowed to park there. The only places I could ever park were outside other people's houses on smaller residential streets, where parking was allowed. They had equal opportunity to park outside their houses as I or anybody else did, but I was NEVER allowed to park outside mine.

I was mighty annoyed, though, when I had some heavy things including furniture to unload. I'd parked elsewhere and waited until 7pm and pulled half on to the very wide pavement (loading & unloading were supposedly allowed), so what traffic there was would not be impeded for more than a few seconds - and there was still plenty of room to get by on the pavement. A friend was waiting with the open-booted car and the police came and said I had to move it NOW - even though she told them we were unloading and would be gone in 5 minutes. What really annoyed me, though, was that the pub opposite would frequently have massive delivery lorries on the double yellows outside for half an hour at a time, during rush hour, causing big traffic delays. Nobody ever told them off, though. Yes, they needed to unload; but so did I.

It's nice if you can park outside your own house, but if all spaces are taken or parking is forbidden, then it's just tough. If it's important to you, you have to get a property with parking if you can possibly afford it, or accept that you have to lump it if you can't.

I'd love a back garden, but we don't have one. When we bought, we could afford a house with a garden or a drive but not both. We prioritised one with a drive, so we have guaranteed parking but every time we'd like to use 'our' back garden? Tough, we don't have one.

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WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 20/03/2019 16:32

However, 95% of the people saying this, would be pissed off if someone (who didn't live in their street,) parked outside THEIR house, day in day out.

Upshot is, it's OK if it's happening to someone else and not them.

Anybody's allowed to be annoyed when they're disappointed at being beaten to a first-come-first-served resource, whether it'sa handy parking space, the last pie at the deli or the only two remaining theatre tickets, but anybody over 4 understands that that's just life.

I can guarantee that people who believe that the road outside their house is for their exclusive use only - and maybe intimidate others into forfeiting their legal right to park there - would, on discovering a major pothole or a water leak/drain blockage, instantly be calling the council or utility company - not one of them would say "Well, I'm the only one who ever uses it, so I'll arrange for it to be done and pay for it myself."

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SarahAndQuack · 20/03/2019 16:47

I couldn't get worked up about it TBH.

I live beside a school and you would not believe the number of cheeky fuckers who ask me to move my car from outside my own house so they can park closer to their precious darlings' school. First come first served, simple as that.

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Phoenixwars · 20/03/2019 19:29

Well I'm happy to report that my car was unscathed when I got back...and in the other space outside the barbers was the owner's car (private reg plate with his name on so definitely his).
Clearly the barber doesn't care enough about his elderly customers to forgo his own parking space...

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