People who don’t use their drives. Why? 😆

There are three men on our street who all park outside their houses rather than on their drives. If one of them can’t park outside his house, he parks on his drive and then moves his car back on the street when the other car has moved. Absolute madness.

We have one car, space on drive for 2 (maybe 3 if one was teeny). DH and I always reverse into drive (à la the Highway Code) we sometimes struggle due to inconsiderate on street parking. Especially those who don’t really park according to the Highway Code.

To PPs who park over dropped kerbs they might help with access to your driveway but they are really meant for those who are wheeling (buggies, prams, wheelchairs, mobility scooters etc) please don’t block them.

I’m probably not your target audience as I have a very valid reason, but our drive is really narrow and VERY steep. We have a large car and it barely fits and I sheets have a fear it will roll back into the house, so we just park across the drive instead.

My neighbours sometimes do this. They’re both doctors so I’m guessing they do it because they work unsociable hours and driving on the gravel driveway would be noisy. If it’s not that then I have no idea!

I don't understand this, even if they are just visiting. I have a relatively large driveway, it would take multiple cars. I have to regularly ask visitors to park on the driveway rather than on the road and causing difficulty for neighbours. They can even park on the side of garage so not impacting light etc.

When we paid for our front garden to be made to a proper drive we had every intention of parking our car and my husband's work van on it. Unfortunately, it turns out the builder didn't do a great job with the foundations so the weight of the van makes it sink. We do still park the car on the drive, and guests with cars park next to us, but the van is on the road round the corner. (We're on a corner plot)

My drive is to the rear of the house behind the garage and not visible form any other property. Access is via a road owned by a utility company for which I have to pay them for an access key. Having suffered an attempted mugging for the key by a neighbour and his son, in the middle of the day, I no longer use the driveway late at night or early in the morning when I have a high chance of meeting him. The police were utterly useless despite me suffering bodily harm.

On our estate, most houses have a car port to fit in 2 cars. The people over the road from us seem to think that they are entitled to their car port spaces and also 2 spaces each on the road.
We get loads of abuse if we park in front of their houses. (It's actually double yellows on our side).

I always used my drive until a new school was built and I kept getting blocked in with cars overhanging the drive. Now I park my two cars either side of the driveway and make sure the gap is too small to squeeze into.

if they can't be respectful, I'll take the spaces away.

If it's a shared drive, some people are scared of a neighbour bashing them. Some people use their garage as an office/play space or whatever, and don't like people going in and out close to the cars. And one neighbour parks on the road because it's quicker (I wouldn't have thought it saved her more than 3 seconds in the morning, but that's her business.

Maybe their kids ride their scooters or play basketball or roller skate on the drive

Sorry what I mean is that you will save money on insurance because the premiums are lower for drive vs street (I think) and that's also because the drive is considered safer.

But I suppose, that said, that the insurance company won't know whether someone is parked on their drive or not!

Maybe they have carers visiting during the day and possibly evening so leave the drives free for them to park on.

Maybe other neighbours block their drive so they can't get on or off when they need to.

We’re on a cul de sac of 5, all with double driveways and a single garage, and the house at the start of the road parks both cars on the road, their guests do too! So the house opposite will end up parking outside mine to save a space on their driveway for one of their parents who visit maybe once a week.

It’s baffling! Annoying cause they’re entitled to park on the road if they so wish but they could have saved money getting a house with no off road parking 🙃

I understand what you mean. Fortunately in our culdisac everyone uses their drives/garages most of the time. It is still sometimes a slalom and no space for an extra one to park.

We gained a second car, and moved a shed to make the drive long enough to park both. They are one in front of the other, so we do sometimes need to play car Jenga. Not always easy before people have left for work, can't leave one in front of our drive, if the other needs to be put back on the drive- much easier with two drivers than one.

We do leave one in front of our drive some of the time, but only if we are going back out a short while later. It will be put back on the drive on return.

I don't think the insurance details include how far from the house your car is while on the street. It's garaged, on the drive or on the street. My house doesn't face on to the road I cant even see my car when it's parked on the road.

This. We have someone on our street that does this. Every now and again they go back to parking on their drive (which actually has room for two cars) but then as soon as they realise someone else will park in 'their' space outside on the road they move their car back once the other car has gone.

My drive is horribly steep but I could probably get used to that. However, what has stopped me using it over the last 14 years is that my road is very narrow and when I did park on the drive I had people parking directly opposite meaning I couldn't get off and people parking so close to my dropped kerb that, again, I couldn't get off. I set off for work before 7am, before most of the people around me, so I decided I couldn't risk being blocked in again so have never parked on the drive since. It's habit now. I always park across my dropped kerb (MN says this is illegal, even if i's mine, but I've never had an issue) so I'm not taking up any more room than I would if I parked on the drive, But I know I can leave when I need to so I'm happy.

My dog likes to hang out in the front garden and there is more space with no car there so I only use it when I'm charging the car. I live at the very end of a very quiet cul de sac and am not inconveniencing anyone at all by parking outside of my house.

How odd. Doesn’t happen here. All the houses along the road have drives & everyone uses them apart from one house that has three cars but only room for two on the drive so parks one on the road out of necessity. Perhaps because it’s a main A road & not an estate. When we had four cars, grown children as well as ours, all were parked on our admittedly large drive even if it did mean a bit of shuffling at times.

My friend used to live on a south london street where clearly there were no drives originally. Some people have paved the tiny bit of spaces to the fromt of the house to pull a small car in, but it makes the houses look awful when they do. I can imagine you wouldn't really want a car parked 6 inches outside your front room window.

Drive’s not wide enough to get in and out of car, get bins down etc; people keep blocking them in; can’t get in and out of drive when someone’s parked opposite; don’t want white van permanently parked outside living room window.

I’m sure there’s more.

Mix of driving laziness, inability to park in tighter spaces or sometimes if they're expecting guests they save some spaces closer to them e.g. their drive.

But I also know people who don't like people parking in front of their house.

I can't understand it. It's safer to park near as possible to your door and I thought it's better for car insurance too.

I would think they are the type of people who believe the area of road in front of a property is for the property owner's exclusive use, and will park there specifically to stop anyone else doing it.

My parents never use their drive but it is incredibly steep (it is the steepest in the whole road) and anyone would struggle not to scrape the car on it and to get in/out of the car.
We don't have a drive and I miss it. Would always use one (as long as it wasn't as steep as my parents) if I had one.
Next door neighbour can get two cars on her drive but usually parks one on the road and I don't understand it at all. Maybe I should ask her.