Is it legal to park here?

[CARnageSt]

Terraced street. Each house has one car outside. Last house on street parks at the end of the closed road in the middle but it obstructs no one.

Lady who's household has 2 cars and lives a few houses down has started parking here (red car)

DH is one of the cars directly next to hers and can't get out, so needs to knock on her door at 7.45 to get her up and mover her car!
She gets very mad about this!!

Can she park there, she says she can.

I don't think she is allowed to park there.

But the spaces in front of the houses are not reserved either.

So if you go for enforcement you may win the battle, but not the war.

Surely after the first person left she would park in the available space though?

Dh needs to sit with his hand on the horn. The other people woken up can tell her she is the dick.

I'd be setting an alarm and waking her up at 3am to move it.

knock on her door at 7.45 to get her up and mover her car!
She gets very mad about this!!

I'd be knocking at all times of the day and night

If it's a quiet/low-crime area you could ring the local police and see if they'll send a PCSO round to tell her off.

But I agree with others that you can't expect her to stick to the informal agreement that you all park outside your houses. The likely outcome of any action is she'll start taking one of those spaces instead.

No of course she can’t park there, it’s an obstruction of the highway. There’s no difference to her parking here or blocking entrance of the road. Cheeky fucker. Print off the legislation and tell her.

I’d be needing to go out, very frequently at inconvenient times like 1am

Can you see if the council can come out and fine her?

Contact your local councillor and see if they can't get the local parking enforcement team or PCSOs to pop out. Is there a regular time she does it? Let them know and wait for the fireworks!

In fact, check your local police website - ours allows you to put your postcode in and then it gives you the email addresses of your local team so you can contact them directly.

The only way she's going to believe it's illegal is to get a parking ticket.

I think you and the neighbours need to start a rotation of going out every half hour for a while

We all know that she shouldn't park there, but as for what rule she's breaking, there's a good few in the Highway Code that would apply:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/waiting-and-parking-238-to-252

I'd pick this as the most definitive:

Rule 242You MUST NOT leave your vehicle or trailer in a dangerous position or where it causes any unnecessary obstruction of the road.

Yes, I agree with this.

Whilst she is totally unreasonable - and her idea that it's legal to just leave your car wherever you fancy is bizarre - if you have an understanding that everybody has 'their own' (single) individual space and she needs two spaces, she may feel 'forced' into it.

Normally, when there's no pretence/suggestion/understanding of anything other than 'public spaces: first come, first served', everybody knows the score. It may result in unhappiness when people frequently don't manage to secure a space themselves - especially when they have just one car and other households have more than one - but it does give an acknowledged solution to those with two cars for them to park safely and not directly in anybody's way (if they're quick enough/don't move their cars and lose the space), even if in so doing, they irritate the neighbours.

I don't see any way around this, sadly. Either everybody has 'their' space and then this woman has to park one car on another street (where they may also have limited parking and 'their' spaces) or block people in; or otherwise any of the neighbours who are the last home will have to regularly do the same.

The first person to successfully invent and roll-out a system of 'bunk cars' parking in built-up areas across the country will soon be calling Elon Musk a pauper!

This. A couple of family emergencies at 2am might change her mindset.

ApolloandDaphne · Today 08:55

You all need to get together and agree that for a few nights you will take it in turns to ask her to move every hour through the night.

That's exactly what I was thinking!

I second the advice to report her to the council. Also, take photos and video, every time she does it and every time you have to get her to move it.

Is this something the local PCSO (if you have one) could have a word about?

Where I am, the local amateur football team are forever parking on the footpath at the side of the pitch and more than once I've seen them walk on the pitch during a match and halt play until the offending cars are moved.

I used to live in a road like this, although we didn't have 'allocated' spaces, either formally or informally, we just parked wherever a space was available. Sometimes non residents would park in the street so it was impossible to informally 'own' a space - does this not happen to you?

We did also park in the spot where the red car is if no other spots were available and all the blocked in cars were known so we knew they knew where to find us. We'd keep an eye out for a spot to move the red car into if someone moved. We had good relationships with the neighbours and it was fine.

But it isn't legal, no!

Completely illegal. God forbid any of the neighbours had an emergency and couldn't get out because of her! She needs to find somwhere else to park her car.

That'd be so annoying! And I can't believe she gets pissed off about this!

Well she can't have it both ways. Either she parks there and moves every single time someone she's blocking in asks her to. Or she doesn't park there. I would be talking to the owners of the other 4 cars and organising an early morning rota for her to move the car...

Sometimes non residents would park in the street so it was impossible to informally 'own' a space - does this not happen to you?

Yes, this is always what I wonder about roads that 'agree between themselves' that certain households have the 'right' to a particular spot outside their house.

Unless you live absolutely nowhere at all near to any other roads, amenities or populations, it's a public road that anybody with a legally taxed, insured and roadworthy vehicle can and will use if they need/want to, without a second's thought.

It's like passing through a village and stopping off to visit a bakery - then being condemned by all the locals as the worst person in the world for 'deliberately' buying the last wholemeal loaf, which all the village know that Joan likes to come in and buy on her way to work on the late shift every Wednesday!

Definitely report to highways enforcement at your council. With a bit of luck, they won't ticket her, but actually tow the offending vehicle. 😊

If she just parks back in the middle, she has an inconvenience every half hour. If she does go to the empty space, then she would hopefully still get the message after being asked to move it several mornings at 6am by whoever.