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Original poster

Can't Park on my own Drive!!

237 replies

TwinkleTwinkleLittleCat · 07/07/2023 17:48

Let me set the scene, we are a 2 car family, car parking on the street is awful. One side of the road is mainly double yellow lines and most houses have 2 or 3 cars.
We are terraced houses but each have a front driveway and garden.
Half our driveway has a dropped kerb so one car can easily get on the drive.
The other car (mine) can also fit in the front, but I use rubber ramps to get up the kerb. Have done this for 20 years .
Today I had a letter from the council telling me I should not park on my own drive as I am damaging the kerb every time I go over it, and the ramps cannot be used as they might harm another vehicle.
I'm fuming!

OP posts:
goodmenandwomen · 07/07/2023 18:10

I think YABU but I'd like to see a photo please so I can properly judge you

INeedAnotherName · 07/07/2023 18:10

Apply for an extended dropped kerb.

First person home drives over the original dropped kerb and parks on other side.

Only one person uses the original dropped kerb/drive. The other parks elsewhere.

Those are your only legal options.

calmcoco · 07/07/2023 18:13

The council are right. Extend your dropped kerb to allow you to cross the pavement legally.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Driving & parking
Flossflower · 07/07/2023 18:13

You are complaining that the council leaves weeds in gutters. All the residents of my road remove these from the gutters outside their own homes.

EggInANest · 07/07/2023 18:14

It really pisses me off when people effectively ‘bags’ a section of road with DIY fake dropped kerb.

You aren’t allowed to drive over the pavement where there is no dropped kerb.

And you haven’t got a double drive. You have tarmacced over your front garden (which is terrible for water run off adding to surface water flooding / pressure on the drainage system).

I can understand your frustration but all in all you are being unreasonable.

wineschmine · 07/07/2023 18:15

massiveclamps · 07/07/2023 18:09

A dropped kerb isn't just a dropped kerb. The area underneath a dropped kerb is reinforced so vehicles can drive over without damaging the utilities beneath.

Yes, I think this is the crux of it.

You need to apply to get the kerb dropped.

maybebalancing · 07/07/2023 18:15

TwinkleTwinkleLittleCat · 07/07/2023 18:09

One house on our road has no dropped kerbs and uses 6 ramps!
I honestly had no idea it was illegal to drive over the pavement to get on your property!

I imagine that they have also got a letter.
Of course ignorance of the law is no defense but at least you know now and can sort it out properly.

minou123 · 07/07/2023 18:16

maddiemookins16mum · 07/07/2023 18:04

I may be being a bit slow here, but are you using your ‘garden’ bit as an extended driveway? Or is your actual driveway a double driveway?

I've seen it around where I live.

People have paved the entire front garden outside their house.
But only part of the pavement is dropped.

What tends to happen (and I think this is what the Op has been doing) is:
▪︎ Car1 drives over the dropped part of the pavement and parks on driveway.
▪︎ Car2 comes along to park, but cant drive over the dropped pavement part because Car1 is in the way.
So, Car2 drives over the normal pavement (using those little ramp things) and then parks on the rest of the paved front garden.

Original poster
TwinkleTwinkleLittleCat · 07/07/2023 18:17

Every House around here does the same tho.
I think the houses mostly have half a dropped kerb and 99% have had their gardens paved to take cars off the streets.
We already get people parking on junctions making it impossible to pull out of the street but the council don't do anything about that.
The section of the council that build the dropped kerbs are the people that sent the letter.

OP posts:
WelshNerd · 07/07/2023 18:17

Yes you need to extend the drop kerb or actually use the drop kerb to get on the drive.

This reminds me of when I was learning to drive and the instructor asked me to find an appropriate place to pull over. He said i had parked in front of someone's drive but there was no drop kerb. We got into a proper Barney about it.

EggInANest · 07/07/2023 18:18

I very much doubt that they will allow an extended dropped kerb, either. For a house that wasn’t designed for a double drive. And I imagine your neighbours will object because a dropped kerb robs them if a ‘first come first served’ on street parking space.

It was probably someone in the road who dobbed you in.

OddBoots · 07/07/2023 18:18

So without another dropped kerb you can park there if DH moves his car off to let you on then parks again?

NoTouch · 07/07/2023 18:19

No idea why you are fuming, getting away with doing something wrong for 20 years doesn't give you permission.

Just decide whether to park on the road, move your 2nd car when getting in or out or apply for a dropped kerb.

croft89 · 07/07/2023 18:20

People who do this are so entitled

I see it where I live. A row of terraced houses with on street parking but somebody decides they are going to reserve parking for themselves by chucking a bit of gravel down and parking at the front of the house even though they don't have a dropped kerb

They now expect people not to park in front of their "driveway" even though they don't have a dropped kerb

Massive cheapskates. Pay for a dropped kerb

pinguins · 07/07/2023 18:21

We had a drive that wasn't as wide as we wanted. We applied to the council and got the kerb dropped. It was really easy.

Original poster
TwinkleTwinkleLittleCat · 07/07/2023 18:21

@Flossflower we remove our weeds on the pavement against our walls and fences but these are thick growing weeds in all the gutters. The council used to sweep the gutters with a machine but not seen them this year.
The gutters and kerbs belong to the council apparently so therefore shouldn't they maintain them?

OP posts:
Blinkinbloodyhayfever · 07/07/2023 18:21

You are crossing the footpath with a motor vehicle illegally. You need to apply for a permit to widen the access crossing, and as and when the permission is granted you need to ask a council approved contractor to carry out the work for you.

BMW6 · 07/07/2023 18:22

Well you got away with it for 20 years so just apply for a dropped kerb FFS!

No good pointing at other things and whining!

HaveYouHeardOfARoadAtlas · 07/07/2023 18:23

TwinkleTwinkleLittleCat · 07/07/2023 18:05

I'm fuming because the council say I'm damaging the kerb. My argument is the roads in our area are like third world roads, full of huge pot holes. Drains overflow as they're not cleaned. There are weeds growing in the gutters. The pot holes cause far more damage to cars than I cause to the kerb.
We have a driveway and rest of the front garden is tarmacadam. Half the garden has a dropped kerb. I can get on the driveway via the dropped kerb if I get there before my DH if not I use the ramps.

Your drive sounds similar to mine, so only half the width of mine has a dropped kerb. Difference is the other half has a wall so I can’t access it via the road even with rubber bumps.

but we manage. Yes, sometimes one of us is blocked in and the other person has to move off and let the other out and then go back in. But you get used to it very quickly.

Lizzt2007 · 07/07/2023 18:23

TwinkleTwinkleLittleCat · 07/07/2023 18:21

@Flossflower we remove our weeds on the pavement against our walls and fences but these are thick growing weeds in all the gutters. The council used to sweep the gutters with a machine but not seen them this year.
The gutters and kerbs belong to the council apparently so therefore shouldn't they maintain them?

They can't sweep because all the rubber ramps are in the way maybe ?

noctiscaelum · 07/07/2023 18:23

This made me laugh. I think you are lucky that you got away with it for 20 years!

Original poster
TwinkleTwinkleLittleCat · 07/07/2023 18:23

@EggInANest I very much doubt someone has dobbed me in as we all do the same thing.

OP posts:
IamfeelingConfused · 07/07/2023 18:24

I am confused. You only have a drive if its got a dropped curve all the way across it. No dropped curb and its not a drive. You may want it to be a drive...but no dropped curve then no drive. Just apply for a dropped curb.

Tinkerbyebye · 07/07/2023 18:25

You are damaging the kerb. Quit moaning about it and pay for a dropped kerb

CatsOnTheChair · 07/07/2023 18:25

You aren't parking on your drive currently tho.

The council are informing you that you are currently illegally driving over the pavement to park on your garden.
Get it converted properly - including the dropped kerb.
And celebrate getting away with it for 20 years.