Is this a reasonable amount of space to leave between cars?

[Blushingm]

I thought the grey car should have been able to get out (there’s room for them to go back a bit too) but I’ve just been sworn at and threatened to hit my car.

Totally fine space - I can easily get out of that sort of space. Had a lot of training with outer London onstreet parking. It’s less close than I park if I’m trying to be passive aggressive ….

Looks fine to me. Sure, it might take a couple of backwards and forwards by the grey car, depends on their turning circle , and ability.

Honestly city/ town parking is often tight. It’s great for honing the skills.

in London that kind of parking would be encouraged where space is at a premium.
In our street residents are specifically asked NOT to leave too much space between cars.

There’s LOADS of room there!!

everyone thinking it’s too close needs to do
some more driving lessons! 🤣🤣

I like my car unbumped and unscratched so I leave plenty of space between myself and anyone else. If I need to park in a supermarket I park as far away from the shop( whilst still being in their carpark) as possible. Some people can get out of/ into small spaces. Some people can't. You've no idea which group they fall into when you park and, if they can't drive well, it's your car that will be damaged.

It's too close

Agreed! I remember a few years back when I shared a post about one of my neighbours relatives parking just a bit over the dropped kerb leading to my driveway (not completely blocking it, but the front of her car was hanging over the drive). I could still get out, but it was tight, and it forced me to drive all the way to the end of the cul de sac and come back since there wasn't enough room for me swing around her when pulling out. The kerb was long enough, so no idea why she chose to park so close.

Then came all the comments from people saying I was being unreasonable and that it wasn't a big deal to have to drive out and circle back. I get it if she only visited occasionally, but at one point, she was coming by every day, so having to do that twice a day was a bloody pain! Honestly, that situation was much worse than what OP has done! Mumsnet is a funny place sometimes.

It’s not too close. I live in a street of terraced houses and sometimes you have to squeeze in a small space to be
able to park, thus leaving a small gap.

Thats just the way it is. They might need a couple of attempts to manoeuvre out, but its no big deal really is it

That’s pretty standard on my street. It’s more annoying when people leave massive gaps that are size of half a car which mean fewer cars can park overall.

@Blushingm why didnt you take a pic of the closeness of the rear of the silver car which we cannot see? would it have shown that you have actually blocked him in????

One can infer that they should be 1.2 meters in total or 60cm each side if you look at the regulations for car parking bays parallel vs perpendicular - if it was marked into bays but there is no legal requirement when bays are not marked

So many people on this thread have clearly never lived in a terrace row with only one street parking! I’d definitely say that’s enough room, the van across the road makes it slightly awkward but if it’s in a layby and not parked on the actual carriageway it’s fine.
Having said that I’ll always leave more room if I can, so the only way to know if YABU is to know if that was all the space you had - if you’ve left acres of space behind your car then you are a bit unreasonable

It’s absolutely fine. If you can’t get out of a space like that, you shouldn’t be driving

Without seeing the gap behind, no.
It also looks like the blue car is blocking a dropped curb of some kind.

They parked next to a drive/parking space. That may not have been a coincidence. There is supposed to be a gap there so they don’t have to wiggle out at all. They expected to come back to their car without being boxed in at all because they scored a spot at the end of the string of cars.

The silver car is also across what looks like the driveway / the photo angle downplays that aspect

Exactly… leaving more space could be interpreted as being selfish

All the comments saying it's fine and people park with their bumpers touching just makes me so thankful I've always lived in houses with drives( apart from times when I was a student and/or didn't own a car).

Looks fine

If the son's car was already parked, or if there is a marked bay, the silver car should have left enough space for another car between it and the son's car. If the silver car driver deemed the in between space long enough that s/he'd be able to get out if someone parked in the remaining space, then that's down to silver car driver.

Though as someone who learned to drive in London, I'd say that was plenty of space unless the car behind silver is only about 10cm away.

It’s tight but if there’s room behind then it’s fine. Ideally you wouldn’t want to park so close but parking can be tricky in certain locations so needs must. Sounds like they weren’t capable or comfortable of getting out but they should have asked u nicely.

I actually once reverse parked into a tiny space and had less room than this at the front and the back. I don’t know how I got in it tbh as it took quite a a few back and forth on full wheel lock to get it out but obvs I did manage.

Plenty space! Space is tight on my street too so I much prefer this over the people who leave massive gaps and waste the spaces!

It’s absolutely fine.

A metre??!

If they have slightly more space than what's at the front at the back then I think thats fine.

They must be a nervous driver!