Parking across driveway.

[Greigeisthelatestbeige]

Not me but what to do in this situation.

The neighbours in the house across from us have started parking their car across the entry to their driveway (dropped kerb). .

I have always reversed into my drive by using the part of the footpath in front of their driveway but I can't do this anymore.

I have started to drive in but then I can't back out. I can't turn left or right as there are other cars parked on both sides of the road in front of every other house too. Previously I could edge/turn around by using the path in front of the neighbours to turn slowly.

I know they don't have to use their driveaway and can park across their driveways but how do I get out of my driveway. What am I missing?

Because there are cars parked on both sides of the road, the road is barely passable for one car. There isn't room for large trucks including for example the bin trucks but we can work around that by bringing the bins to the bottom of the road.

I'm not blocked in as I can obviously manage to drive in but I'm so anxious trying to get out that I think I must be missing something. How do other people manage this?

if I can make it in I should be able to get out.

This would seem to be the case. You can't ask the neighbours to not park in a legal spot on the road and as you say, you have the option to park in front of your house across the drive too. It sounds like your road is too narrow with too many cars (and cars are so big and hulking now) for your driveways to really be viable if you can't get in and out without driving onto opposite pavements and driveways. Or that driving skills and confidence are needed beyond what you currently have.

In theory if you can drive in forwards then there is enough space for you to:

• reverse out
• reverse in

a car will take the same path forwards and backwards…

so it would seem that it is more a case of the difficulties of reversing (and most people find it more difficult) - can you help yourself by fitting a reversing camera / putting up a mirror somewhere to help?

Do that. It’s probably why your neighbours do the same.

Longer term you could apply to the Council for yellow lines. It sounds dangerous TBH. If a bin lorry can’t get down, nor can a fire engine. And an ambulance would have difficulty manoeuvring out.

Yeah, they cannot legally park in front of ANY dropped kerb including the entrance to their own driveway.

Remind them of Highway Code rule 242 & 243, I think that's the one.

If they still do it, you'll have to report them for this.

Nobody owns the footpath outside their house and dropped kerbs are important for the disabled as well as parents with prams, etc.

I think you'll find it actually is and they're ordered NOT to do this in the Highway Code.

So, @Greigeisthelatestbeige, parking across your own driveway is not a solution either.

If you can drive in and reverse out, you can reverse in and drive out, same car, same amount of space, same manoeuvres which would suggest it's your driving.

Not to be mean, but you need to use your mirrors. That's what people did before they got cameras, and it's actually safer. Perhaps practice in the weekends when it's not so busy, and if it's unsafe, you really should reverse in if you can. Maybe get a smaller car next time.

The neighbours in the house across from us have started parking their car across the entry to their driveway (dropped kerb) I think I get it, so basically the road is too narrow for you to be able to manuvere with their car at the opposite end of your drive. Do other people have this issue? Just trying to ascertain if it's you or maybe you have a legitimate complaint.

Blimey. Calm down ...

YABU for not providing a diagram.

Anyway if there’s a pavement they aren’t allowed to park across the dropped kerb, because they’re blocking access for wheelchairs etc. Report them. And if it really is too tight, ask the council for yellow lines.

I totally get you, this happens to us occasionally and it is not a case of if you can get in you can get out again, at least not without about a 20 point turn every time which is stressful especially if other cars are waiting to pass. Sometimes it is just as hard to get onto the drive as off again when it happens. I don't know what you can do about it other than appealing to their better nature though.

It is generally illegal, parking outside of a residential premises by or with consent is an exception. The exception being to the illegal blocking of resident's access to the public highway, preventing them from driving off their drive. On is also quoted but it's not enforced anywhere to the best of my knowledge.

Parking across your own driveway's dropped kerb is not illegal.

@Bellamari Have you no vision of this problem?! If you live in a narrow road, you get it, if you don’t, why comment?!

@Greigeisthelatestbeige Im wondering if you can widen your drive? My DM lived in a very narrow road and visitors to the opposite house parked across their drive. That made access to DM’s drive difficult, At times impossible. Widening the drive did help as cars didn’t need lining up in the same way, could you widen your access?

Failimg that, a friendly chat? They might not see the issue as they have never reversed into you drive. This is, of course, a much safer manoeuvre for everyone. Reversing out isn’t great for pedestrians and cyclists. Try this angle with them?

“Illegal” means the police could prosecute. In this case they won’t if it’s a non restricted road. It’s unhelpful and not neighbourly, but there won’t be a court case or fine any time soon.

I'm another who thinks that if you can drive in, it must be possible to reverse out (car follows the same path) unless more cars have parked up on either side since you drove in.

Easier said than done though, I am not confident maneuvering between parked cars, walls, waiting traffic, pedestrians etc.

The road must be very narrow if bin lorries can't travel down it - that would mean fire engines would have an issue as well.

The only things you can do are to have a chat with neighbour and explain that you are finding it difficult to access your drive with their car parked there. They may not have noticed and be amenable to changing where they leave it. If they're not then you will have to come up with something else - changing your driveway, parking your car elsewhere, changing your car to a smaller one with a smaller turning circle...

Incorrect.

Highway Code 👇

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

Laws RTO 1995 Art 32, RO Art 88 & CUR reg 119

243
Do not stop or park:

• near a school entrance
• anywhere you would prevent access for Emergency Services
• at or near a bus stop or taxi rank
• on the approach to a level crossing/ tramway crossing
• near the brow of a hill or hump bridge
• opposite a traffic island or (if this would cause an obstruction) another parked vehicle
• where you would force other traffic to enter a tram lane
• where the kerb has been lowered to help wheelchair users and powered mobility vehicles
• in front of an entrance to a property
• on a bend
• where you would obstruct cyclists’ use of cycle facilities

except when forced to do so by stationary traffic.

All dropped kerbs are also for wheelchair and mobility vehicles usage.

You cannot park in front of an entrance to your own property.

OP can report to the local authority if their neighbours don't do anything to rectify this.

I am surprised at people claiming that reversing follows the same path as driving forward. It doesn't. Driving forward, the front wheels are turning, with rest of the car following in their track. Simples. In reverse, the front wheels do follow the reverse path to that driving forward, but the rest of the car does not. It is pushed ahead of the driving wheels, and swings out from the entrance path. If you think of parallel parking, you will notice that the bonnet swings out further into the road as you move into the space. If the space is big enough to drive in forwards, that does not happen, much neater. We've all got used to the differences in everyday driving, and only when things are different, find it difficult. If we haven't met a problem, it can be hard to visualise it. Reversing needs wider space for the car to occupy. Or. like the OP and her neighbour, a longer space to reverse into before turning forwards.
I thought there must be diagrams on line somewhere but all I could find were wiring diagrams for reversing lights.

You can park across your own dropped kerb. See exemption 2 of the Traffic Management Act 2004

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/18/section/86/2005-06-30?timeline=true

86Prohibition of parking at dropped footways etc.
(1)In a special enforcement area a vehicle must not be parked on the carriageway adjacent to a footway, cycle track or verge where—
(a)the footway, cycle track or verge has been lowered to meet the level of the carriageway for the purpose of—
(i)assisting pedestrians crossing the carriageway,
(ii)assisting cyclists entering or leaving the carriageway, or
(iii)assisting vehicles entering or leaving the carriageway across the footway, cycle track or verge; or
(b)the carriageway has, for a purpose within paragraph (a)(i) to (iii), been raised to meet the level of the footway, cycle track or verge.
This is subject to the following exceptions.
(2)The first exception is where the vehicle is parked wholly within a designated parking place or any other part of the carriageway where parking is specifically authorised.
A “designated parking place” means a parking place designated by order under section 6, 9, 32(1)(b) or 45 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (c. 27).
(3)The second exception is where the vehicle is parked outside residential premises by or with the consent (but not consent given for reward) of the occupier of the premises.
This exception does not apply in the case of a shared driveway.

If they have registered their vehicle with the council with proof of residence they are safe parking on their own dropped kerb. They don't necessarily have to do this but OP reporting them will most likely result in that process and if she's that bothered she probably should just do it herself and park across her own driveway. They aren't causing a problem, it's not the only dropped kerb so it's safe for pedestrians to cross elsewhere.

Quote highway code all you want, the application of the actual law especially over residential parking is very different.

@FatLarrysBanned Thanks for that quote, 👍 literally the exception from the law I paraphrased from my first reply that I was told I was "incorrect".

Agree, this is why it is possible to parallel park in a much tighter space if you reverse in then if you go in forwards.

People (not on this thread but when I've tried to explain the same situation IRL) also say but there's enough space to get a car through so it musf be OK but it isn't because that involves turning a very tight 90° and takes no account of turning circle.

Most iof the houses on my side of the road have widened their own drives. I’ve just realised this. I don’t know why I haven’t realised this before now.

Yes this is my problem. Unless I can chop the car in half to make a right angle, I don’t have enough space to turn out as I’m turning onto a narrow road between two parked cars on either side.

My driving skills are not the best. However the guy next door is a tradesman and he used the house opposite his to reverse in too (and he has turned his small front garden into a double drive).

Well OP the obvious thing to do is park across your own drive.

If it only big enough for one car anyway you are not taking up another parking space on the road.

Is it worth risking a collision if you are not confident anyway and one night you get back are tired, it's dark and pouring with rain?

Perhaps your neighbours will also realise how tricky it is if they do need to move the one car they park on their own drive.