Can't Park on my own Drive!!

[TwinkleTwinkleLittleCat]

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!

The council don't build dropped kerbs, you apply to the council for permission then you ring around the list of approved contractors and organise your own works. You are usually then responsible for the maintenance of the new dropped kerb for a set period of time before it's adopted by the Highways Agency.
And it doesn't matter what everyone else is doing, for all you know every last person on your road who is parking like this got the same letter.

If everyone else is also driving over the pavement how do you know they don't all have the same letter from the council?

You need to pay for a dropped kerb. They're right. If it doesn't have a dropped kerb, it's not a drive, it's a pavedfront garden

I honestly had no idea it was illegal to drive over the pavement to get on your property!

did you win your driving licence in the lottery?

@croft89 when DH and I both park on the 'front garden' there is still room outside my house for someone else to park if they wish, so if I parked on the road I would be using a space someone else can use.
I'm not being entitled I'm trying to keep my car off the road so others can park outside my house if they wish, and they do.

Every House around here does the same tho

I bet they all got letters too then

Just get a dropped kerb and stop moaning!

why should other taxpayers have to pay to fix the pavement after you damage it by driving over it?

Id imagine the inspectors have been out and will have sent letters to others in your road too. They’ll put a bollard up to stop you if you’re not careful

Just pay for a dropped kerb like anyone else would have to .

@EggInANest the 'tarmac' was already here when we moved. Its properly edged with paving and a drain channel along the front and hasn't sunk atall. Maybe it's not old school tarmac like the thick black gloop but I just call it tarmac.

So you arguments have been:

• but I’ve always done it.
• everything else is bad.
• everyone else does it.

Whereas the argument from the council is that you are breaking the law and damaging the pavement.

Chances are the whole street had the same street had the same letter. Go to the local paper with a sad face picture and point at the little rubber ramps.

Can't the 2nd person home just park across the actual dropped kerb for now? Might be a bit of hassle moving in the morning though if drive car has to go out first..

I've now removed the ramps and will drive up the dropped kerb to get on and off where possible, but I'm not sure the council will accept this.

do you leave the ramps in the road ? No wonder there’s no street doves to park is every selfish dick has rubber ramps preventing parking

No idea where doves came from , meant spaces

How did i not know there are rubber ramps? We use a triangular bit of wood.

I would pay for a dropped kerb now its been flagged by the council. A friend had similar except it was a deep grass verge and the council just installed metal railings preventing any vehicle access.

Are you sure you haven't pissed someone off.
There's a family I know who have the rubber things to get onto the property, dropped curb for part of it. Neighbours are racist arseholes and they called the council about it after yet another round of them being spiteful over where BT put the pole landline (not family's fault at all) But instead of just making said family move the rubber things once used (that's the rule according to our council) The council went right round the village and sent letters to everyone. What a mess.
I'd apply for a full drop curb and then you won't need to deal with idiot neighbours

Well they are trying to maintain their kerbs by stopping people driving over them………………..

If there is a section of dropped kerb it is unlikely they will add in another one. oP has access to her driveway via the dropped curb and it is fairly easy to get two cars parked there using the dropped curb - it just occasionally involves one car reversing out to let the other out. It is what lots of people do

@mrsbyers There is still space for someone to park outside my house, even with ramps there. I could park there but I thought parking on my 'drive' would save a road space for someone else
I'm not being entitled as pp said. I'm trying to jeep my car off the road so save road spaces.

You are being very entitled indeed, your opinion to the contrary.

By claiming a part of road as your driveway you are reducing the amount of parking on the street. I can’t think of any way that isn’t the case.

@MrsCarson there are loads of houses that have the same situation as us. Neighbours each side of me do the same as me. One hasn't got ramps they just use the weeds as a cushion😃
Looks like we'll all be getting fines or clamps or whatever they decide.

Ah the classic “AIBU?”

374 replies of YABU

OP: no I’m not!

Yup.

I parked on a road recently with no dropped kerb where someone had parked a campervan on their front garden. I couldn't give a shit if it blocked their access getting the campervan off their garden if there is no dropped kerb it is road free for anyone to park on.

So get the kerb dropped. You've got away with it for 20 years, count yourself lucky & fix the problem. If you already have one section of dropped kerb, it's very unlikely to be turned down; this is easy to fix.