Does anyone else on MN feel blessed that they have a gated driveway or garage?

SwedishEdith · 17/02/2025 17:28

Not everyone has that choice.

olympicsrock · 17/02/2025 17:32

I have a drive , no gates . No one has ever parked on it without permission.
Various neighbours occasionally have parties , warn us and we ask if they would like to use the driveway . Pisstaking is not inevitable .
I would hate the expense of an electric gate or the inconvenience of one that you had to get of the car every time you go on or off the drive.

Polecat03 · 17/02/2025 17:32

I'm fine with parking on the street, I've never had a drive or allocated space so I'm often surprised it's such a big deal to people when house hunting.

I truly can't believe the brass necks of others though, the things you see posted here!

I'd never dream of just parking on someone's drive and walking away, unbothered. The decline in acceptable behaviour from the general public is pretty worrying.

MyFlightWasAwfulThanksForAsking · 17/02/2025 17:32

Someone could still park across your gated driveway so I wouldn't get too smug.

TwinklyRoseTurtle · 17/02/2025 17:35

I have a gated driveway however my NDN and family who don’t live there park so close to my drive I find it difficult to get out so annoying - the partner parks in front of everyone else’s houses when they have a driveway for one car and space outside to park, drives me mad, I’m going to start parking outside ( not in my drive) and in the next year or too extend my driveway so there’s no where for them to park, sounds petty but honestly they park so close I can barely get out I think it’s inconsiderate x

Kangarude · 17/02/2025 17:36

I have a gated driveway but can’t say I feel ‘blessed’. There was a van parked across it this morning when i looked out. I work from home (and it wasn’t there all that
long) so it wasn’t an issue but it doesn’t prevent people parking where they want

Serpenting · 17/02/2025 17:37

MyFlightWasAwfulThanksForAsking · 17/02/2025 17:32

Someone could still park across your gated driveway so I wouldn't get too smug.

Yes, exactly. It’s happened to us, after we got an electronic gate because of anti-social activity at a business next door. One day when DH had to drive for six hours to a work event, someone had left a car parked overnight right across our driveway. Had to call the police and have it hauled away, but DH still had to get a colleague who’d already left to turn back and give him a lift. It’s only happened once since, but on that occasion, it blocked in a tradesman doing work for us who’d parked his van on our drive and was fuming because he needed to collect his young children from school.

Having a gate and/or a drive is absolutely no guarantee of no issues.

TickingAlongNicely · 17/02/2025 17:38

I have a gated driveway.
Doesn't mean we don't have problems with the dangerous drivers/parkers at school times (mounting and driving along pavements).

Whatevershallidowithmylife · 17/02/2025 17:39

God yes couldn’t be without - we’re in Scotland in a village so totally different circumstances. We have a drive big enough for 2 cars and another area off the drive for 5 cars. Garage suitable for an estate car (although currently filled with motorbikes) and a speedboat!

buffyfaithspikeangel · 17/02/2025 17:39

I have an allocated parking space which is a nightmare
My neighbours used to park in it, now they just block me in
I didn't ask for my space to be near their house, it's just where it js

suburburban · 17/02/2025 17:39

No one parks on my drive

Influencerofcrap · 17/02/2025 17:39

DrivewayBlessings · 17/02/2025 17:27

I have been on MN for a while and have noticed that there are frequently posts from people having issues with other people parking on their driveways. There is one on trending right now and I see several posts a month about the same topic. They are usually from people having problems with neighbours or other people parking in their driveway. I fortunately have a gated driveway that has enough space to fit a small family car. I don't think I could live somewhere without a designated drive and a gate for each house. I also don't particularly like parking on the street itself. I'd need either a garage or a gated driveway. I think it's so important that it would be the first thing I'd look for if I was buying a house.

🤣🤣 love it!

Littletreefrog · 17/02/2025 17:41

You can still get blocked in if someone parks across your drive or garage so I don't think they solve the issue. But not an issue I've ever known happen to anyone where I live. I think people who this happens to must live in very difficult but to park but nice areas. Pretty sure if someone parked on someone else's drive around here their car wouldn't be in the same shape when they got back.

SecondStarOnTheRight · 17/02/2025 17:45

I had a gated drive, now have a drive that I'm not allowed to fence off. Issues existed with both but they're just different issues.

MrsAvocet · 17/02/2025 17:51

When we bought our "forever home" one of my non negotiables was that we had to have a drive that I could drive into forwards and drive out of forwards. After years of either parking on the street or reversing up a narrow drive in our previous house I wanted to be free of that inconvenience. We do have gates but rarely shut them. If anyone parks on our drive they're definitely lost! Sometimes people use our drive to turn round in if they've gone the wrong way but it doesn't particularly bother me. It's infrequent, does no harm and it's better than drivers trying to do a 3 million point turn in the narrow lane.
I'd never live in a house without good off road parking if I had the choice. Obviously it's not important to everyone, just like the size and orientation of a garden, presence or absence of an en suite bathroom, distance to the nearest school etc are important factors to some people and not others. I do feel fortunate to have the choice though.

Queenofthejabs · 17/02/2025 17:59

Yes we are gated with garages, and parking for several cars, and it’s not feasible to block us in. Our last house had no parking, it was on street, and to be honest, ensuring we had a space for us and guests was key when we moved,

however I appreciate it comes with a cost, and not everyone has that luxury. We didn’t realise just how awful it would be last time,it was fine when we bought, but turned into a scrum for parking, and it became the bane of our lives, every night looking for a space, hoping for a space, and deeply problematic when we had guests.

Ameliepoulainandthephotobooth · 17/02/2025 18:01

We live in the middle of nowhere and still get idiots parking in front of our drive 😂 honestly, they drive for miles to go for a walk and abandon their cars at the top of our drive!
I would do a diagram but it’s basically a lone car in the middle of next thing.

MoreDangerousThanAWomanScorned · 17/02/2025 18:01

I don't think I could live somewhere without a designated drive and a gate for each house.

I reckon you'd just about survive if you really did find yourself in such dire straits.

Mochudubh · 17/02/2025 18:01

I have a gated driveway, CFs still park across it all the time, even when my car is there. I don't mind if it's a delivery driver or someone just picking up/dropping off as I know they'll only be there a couple of minutes.

Our CF diagonal neighbours on the other hand, with their 4 cars (terraced housing) who repeatedly kept parking across our drive despite being asked not to and threats to call police if they did it again. It only stopped after DH knocked on their door at 7am on a Saturday to tell them to move. They were still in bed and the adult child whose car it was had stayed over at a mate's with the only set of keys. Dad had to get dressed, drive to DC's mate's and get the keys to come back and move the car. DH made clear he was going nowhere till the car was moved and stood on their doorstep for half an hour till they came back.

We have a proper dropped kerb BTW, not just a patio with aspirations.

TrickyD · 17/02/2025 18:02

We have parking space for five cars plus a garage. The drive does not have a gate as it fell to bits about 15 years ago and we did not bother to replace it.
We have a church at the end of the road and are close to the town centre so we have a lot of people parking in the road at weekends.
But we have lived here since 1997 and only once has anyone parked and blocked the entrance. We must have very considerate people in our town.

Wendolino · 17/02/2025 18:05

We have a wide drive with a dropped kerb. It fits 3 cars at a push. Nobody has ever parked on it without being invited to. We ask our neighbours if they would like to use it if we're on holiday, but they'd never do otherwise. I can't imagine anyone doing that but it obviously happens.

RIPVPROG · 17/02/2025 18:06

We have a drive without gates, no one has ever parked on it without our permission, occasionally CFs have parked overhanging the dropped kerb but I am not lacking in confidence in telling them to move. A lot of these issues are a combination of CF neighbours and OPs trying to be non confrontational

NoodleNuts · 17/02/2025 18:11

Some of us are not fortunate enough to be able to afford a property with a drive (gated or not) and/or a garage big enough for an estate car and speedboat.

We manage because we have to.

Starsandall · 17/02/2025 18:17

I’m not sure all the people in the terraced houses you describe with on street parking had the options of gates when they moved in. 😂