Antisocial behaviour - parking - they think they are entitled to do this and nobody has done anything to stop them

[Nobodybothers]

Our neighbour used a covered up ebike or motorbike to block the parking space in front of their house.

Every day, at late night, their EV car would swap with the bike and they probably took the bike inside, as it's nowhere to be seen. Every morning, they took the bike out again to block the space when they drove away with their car. Since it's one of the two parking spots between two driveways, it became natural that they just have one of these two spots, as their bike is parked in parallel to the curb such so it's impossible to park another car despite the massive length of space.

It's a street with no parking restrictions and there's no patrol around. They have a door camera so neighbours are deterred to openly move the bike.

They've been doing this for three weeks in a row.

I've tried to report to the council online and by phone. But nothing has been done. AI seems to think there's very little legal ground for the council to do much.

How could they just claim the space to theirs when the elderly come home finding no space in the street and having to park elsewhere? How could this be allowed to carry on?

Anyone can park a road legal vehicle on an unrestricted street

We don't think it's a legal vehicle. Is it tax? Is it a second hand bike they bought on eBay with no road worthy value? It's covered up, so nobody can tell. They don't use it except to block the space. I don't think it's taxed.

@MeowDoku Do you mean they are justified to do this? And anyone can copy this to block a space in front of their house?

Let's cut to the chase: is this causing you an issue? If the bike is parallel to the curb, why can't someone parallel park behind it providing there's enough space for another vehicle?

Get the registration number of the bike and check if it is taxed. If not, you could report it as SORN. Take some pictures.

If it is taxed they are legally entitled to park the bike there.

That doesn't make it fair or reasonable.

No, you can't. As it's one of the two spaces between two driveways, there's not enough space for another car unless you move their bike near the white line, which nobody has done it so far.

It's calculatedly placed.

How is this affecting you?

So legally, anyone can do this as long as it's a taxed ebike?

I tried to find the registration plate, but the cover seemed to be attached so that you can't lift it up without remove the lock.

Push bike or motorbike?

if it’s motorbike you can check various things if you can see the reg plate.

push bikes don’t need license plates or insurance or mot and are by default road legal.

when it comes to parking there’s a big gap between illegal and antisocial

It's a street that not elsewhere can find a place to park, as commuters and shoppers park on our street. At night, not everyone gets to find a space if you come back past certain hour.

Very dense populated street with Victorian terrace houses.

Does the council have a residents parking scheme? If not, contact your local counsellor and ask them to consider one.

Not much you can do. If it’s a push bike or e bike they can park it on the road. If it’s is a motor bike it needs to be taxed. If I were feeling particularly petty I would get my own push bike or e bike and park it parallel to theirs so even when they move theirs yours is blocking the way for them to park a car.

I did consider it 😂 but I can't transport one easily. And that would certainly become a feud for years...we live too near to them!

We don't mind to have one, but I heard many years ago it was voted out as majority of people don't want to pay plus most importantly they's simply not enough space for every household. So the permit scheme wouldn't make situation better. It's a nightmare!

Please just answer the question directly, you've been asked it several times now: is it preventing you from parking where you want to, is that the issue? Are you the elderly you refer to? Could you go and speak with them?

E-bikes don’t have registration plates and they do not need to be taxed.

yes, it is legal to do this. Anti social obviously

Yes, it's an issue and yes it does affect me and others who live on the street. No, talking to them won't change their mind if they went out of their way to get a bike for this.

My next door neighbour is an elderly couple who are in their 80s. The wife had a bad fall a couple of years back and constantly had seizures for a while. She's still real frail. The other day I saw them had to drive away to other road to park and walk all the way back because someone uses a bike to block the parking space designated for all.

If they are disabled they can apply to the council to put in a disabled space.

And they need a space to presumably charge their car.

Tbh I live in same type of parking and Mrs the reason we can't get an ev. There is one lamp post charger but that's it.

How annoying, this is like sun lounger hogging by towel placement.

You, or any other resident are just as entitled to place a legal bike in the same spot and leave it there for all eternity but I can imagine the original bike parkers are more than ready to escalate parking wars.

Have you contacted your local councillors to see what options there are to try and help here?

Do you mean they are leaving the bike in the middle of two spaces instead of just occupying one?

A man in my street used to leave his 2 wheelie bins in the space outside his house to reserve it for his own car. I used to pull them back up onto the pavement.

Sounds annoying and selfish of course, likely they need the car for work etc and feel the space near their house is the "right" place for it to be, especially if they work late etc. Clearly this is not fair of them but as you have discovered if they are willing to go to these efforts to keep the space busy there is not much you can do. As someone mentioned abput the bins this type of thing is pretty common where there is not enough good parking.

Don't know. If they have their own home EV charger for their car, they need to park where their cable can reach - right outside their house.
Keep in mind, some people need to charge their car every day.
Maybe they even got their electric car thinking they are responsible, considerate people, who mind environmental impact. Now they might be more pissed off about the situation then anyone else.
I suspect, the car being electric might be a significant point here.

Neighbourhood parking wars are going to go crazy in some areas once EVs are the only cars available. People already feel entitled to the space in front of their own house, just so that it's handier for unloading shopping, and they like to be able to keep an eye on it; but once they need to be able to charge it too, that will intensify to an absolute essential in their minds - irrespective of the fact that somewhere to charge their cars will be equally essential for everybody else.

Fear that they won't be able to park near a charger will cause them to block and hog the space next to the charger permanently; and then, if somebody else ever manages to get it, the same fear will make them do the same... thus what could have been a fairly-shared community facility that worked for everybody, with people moving for others once they're charged up and knowing they'll be able to get a turn using the space when they need it again, will become a vicious circle.