Parking wars

But then when OP drives away and the woman can’t get in the spot outside OPs house the next nearest spot would be her next door neighbours, so Op would still have nowhere to park cos the woman would just take that spot

you have no right to ask her to park elsewhere, however annoying it is. What you could do is park over your crive whilst you unload, and pop baby in cot or bouncy chair. You could then pull into your drive and get out - would only take 5 minutes and as long as baby was secure it wouldnt be an issue.

I do get your pain. We have lived in our house for nearly 5 years and only had on street parking. 90% of the time we could park within a few cars lengths of our house but it was sods law that the times we had a car full of shopping etc were the times there were no spaces and we had to park miles away due to the fact that half the road have drives so apart from the stretch outside our bit of the street there is not a lot of on street parking. So this summer we forked out and got a drive put in (via the back lane into our back garden as the front is on too much of a curve to get permission)

Chnage whole front of the house into parking area with drop kerb?

OP has 5 children, all primary age and younger I think? She must need a pretty large car.
If they're that young it probably wouldn't be safe to unload them all roadside and then park the car.
The gate is their neighbour's.

And are there or are there not other spaces she could easily park in?

To be honest, I would be appealing to the council to restrict parking on your road to residents only. All the streets next to schools in my area are permit parking only (with permits only available to residents).

Smaller car, park over drive and remove children 1st before parking, alter/remove gate etc etc.

It seems to be a modern thing these days to buy a house with 1 or two cars parking then ignore them and still park on the road. I understand the frustration of the 'inconvenience' but that is all it is.

The idea of talking to your next door neighbour and explaining the situation and ultimately swapping places for a week or two should be enough to break the habit (assuming your next door neighbour doesn’t leave for a school run at the same time as you).

So this is definitely her preferred habit now, she knows you'll be leaving and she knows then she can park in that spot

So break her habit for her, make sure a car is parked in the spot. Ask the next door neighbour to park in the spot outside your home for a while and then the habit will be broken

once its broken, ask the next door neighbour to move back

She probably thinks you're off to work...

But YABU to even contemplate asking her to park elsewhere. If parking is that important to you then:

• move house
• change car to a smaller one that does fit in the drive.
• buy a tiny car that you quickly move into your space whilst you do the school run so she can't take that space.
• think of a more inventive way to wrestle the baby out!

Do you mean she's actually sitting in her car, engine running watching you put your baby and kids in the car?
That's actually quite odd as well as annoying. To you it might be obvious you're coming home after drop off, but it might not be to her.

I think it would be totally fine to approach her car and say "you don't need to wait for this spot, there are plenty further up the road. Also, I am coming home after drop off and because of the baby it's great if I can park outside my house."

The other spaces on the road are not far no, but they’re an annoying distance away when carrying a car seat and shopping etc, and round a slight bend from our house

possibly take the pushchair out and then pop the baby in the pushchair and the shopping under - then walk back to the house

alternatively get your dh to get to work another way and leave his car outside the house for 3 weeks

the thing with three weeks is, people are creatures of habit, once the car is there for three weeks, she will park elsewhere, get into the habit of parking else where and not hopefully be back.

If you can't leave your dh car there ask a neighbour to park outside your house for a while

tbh as she is parking up she will not know how long you are out for, and has no need to worry about your parking.

I sympathise OP. Someone has parked their car outside our driveway, near the dropped kerb and has gone on holiday. He could have parked a little further back so where it’s not the dropped kerb still outside my window which whilst would be unsightly to look at atleast I’d be able to reverse off my driveway the correct way. I mean surely you factor in the cost of car parking / taxi to the airport not just park in a random street so save money.

I sympathise OP. Someone has parked their car outside our driveway, near the dropped curb and has gone on holiday. He could have parked a little further back so where it’s not the dropped curb still outside my window which whilst would be unsightly to look at atleast I’d be able to reverse off my driveway the correct way. I mean surely you factor in the cost of car parking / taxi to the airport not just park in a random street so save money.

What a lovely person you are! 🤨🤨

Are you sure you can’t use your own drive OP? We had a very narrow parking space at a previous house, designed for coaches to pass through not cars. I used to park very close to the wall on the passengers’ side and that left me enough room on the driver’s side to get everyone out.

Edited to say disregard this as I see the OP has answered it

Even if she stopped parking there i am sure someone else will then do so .

TBH I had twins and would just climb in the back seat from the front - undo the belts and then bring them back in the front with me and out my door

In the event that she refuses try scattering a bit of bird seed all over the car as soon as her back is turned. I do this under cover of darkness when someone parks outside my gate and it obviously planning to stay the night. By daylight the car is covered in shit and the owner will have no idea why ... They will then try parking somewhere else.

It wouldn't hurt to ask.

You don't own the road and not your legal space. You answered your own Q within it.

If you know you don’t own the road, why ask Mumsnet if you an ask someone a favour regarding parking? 😳

Surely, you pick your moment and have a friendly chat?