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?

Our local authority charges quite a lot for a disabled parking bay. And even if right outside someone’s house, anyone with a blue badge can park in it. We have considered applying, I have a blue badge, but there’s an ‘assessment charge’ of over £120, non refundable. If approved, another charge of around £170.

Even though the neighbour is possibly legally right, it’s selfish behaviour.

Don't move it. Motorcycles are heavy, and can hurt if they fall on you. Plus if you drop it the damage can be expensive.

Imagine if someone moved your legally parked car? It's the same thing.

I'm able bodied, but if I deliberately parked my car repeatedly to block access to parking spaces I'd expect it to be moved, and no nonsense about it.

And if it was someone else's car, I'm quite happy to trolley-jack it out of the way.

Has anyone actually spoken to them about the frailty of their neighbours?

It’s wicked but ingenious.

That explains it. Sorry to know that though. Council really shouldn't make money out of disadvantaged residents!

Just people who are looking for loopholes in the system. It's pathetic, I'd call it!

It raises eyebrows in the street where they live. But obviously they don't care, as how others see them won't affect their life in real term. Modern time, neighbours mean very little.

...yes?
Why wouldn't they be able to?
My car is always parked outside my house when I'm not using it. Why on earth would I park it anywhere else?
I really don't get what your problem is.

Legally they wouldn't be doing anything wrong even if they always parked outside someone else's house if there are no restrictions, but given they are outside their own, it seems an absolutely bizarre thing for you to find wrong in any way.

If you think the bike is unregistered or untaxed then inform the police/council. You can tell them you can't tell the plate to look it up yourself because it's always covered. But if it is taxed then they aren't doing anything wrong.

I can't see how one bike is apparently the thing that makes or breaks the parking situation for 'the elderly.'

How do you know they arent using the bike when it's not there? Maybe they for it because one of them works nights? So essentially one goes off in the daytime in one and the other goes off in the evening in the other?

I am confused with what you are saying about the space? Is it that they're taking up 2 spaces or simply parking either the car OR the bike in the space?

Perhaps the e- bike rider doesn't have a car driving license or they need to make sure the other has a means of transport when the other person is using the other? Maybe they used to have 2 cars but now cant afford two and have bought the bike instead.

I find it very hard to imagine that someone would have bought an bike specifically to save a space for a car and then "hide" it once the car was parked. Is it not far more likely that its being used when it's not there?

@Endoadnowarrior my understanding is that they have two vehicles (car and bike) and one or other is always parked in one particular space, not that they are straddling two spaces.

But as parking is general for the street and also for any traffic, it’s likely that, if the bike wasn’t in the space when the car was out, the space wouldn’t remain empty for the frail neighbours to come and go. It would be used by another resident/visitor or by shoppers.

So you've seen them moving it and another neighbour moved it - so it's possible to move it? Just do that then!

Have you considered reporting to 101? Police in London are now starting to confiscate illegally modified ebikes...

Because it's morally wrong??? If you can't see that, there's nothing that I can say..

I can't believe how many people think it would be ok to move a motorbike that isn't theirs just because they want that parking space.

The difference is that (presumably) you don't move an ebike or (if that's what it is) onto the space every time you are using your car to block anyone else from using the communal space?

It's not ok to do it but the bike is taking up 2 spaces not 1.
If you live on a street, the number of spaces doesn't match the number of cars and it is infuriating when one vehicle hogs more than one space.

We get it here with people parking 3/4 of a space from a disabled space, and their shitty parking means that their saloon is using a space that you could get 2 hatchbacks into.

When you're returning from the supermarket, baby in the car and there's a downpour, you don't appreciate that you've had to park in the next street.

It's the specificity of OP's anger I don't get. e.g. why the fact that it's an e-bike (or motorbike, OP doesn't actually know) is so relevant. It's still a vehicle for the purpose of road usage. Why would it be less annoying if it were a car or van, or if they were parked outside someone else's house rather than their own? They'd still be using some of the limited road space for their vehicle.

I can just about understand OP's concern about whether morally it's a neighbourly thing to do or not, although don't really get the extreme level of outrage - surely people with gigantic cars or multiple cars per household are equally contributing to the limited space available on the street.

But I really don't get why she seems to think someone parking a vehicle (regardless of type) on a road without any parking restrictions could be illegal!

It's parked in one space though. It wasn't immediately clear but was clarified in the thread.
Even parking badly as your examples, it's not illegal. But is morally wrong.

The main issue is that, if it were a 'normal' road-using vehicle, they couldn't easily occupy a parking space with it when it suits them, but then take it inside and pop it in their hallway or shed when it doesn't.

If they had two cars, they would still need to find another parking space somewhere to move the 'space-saver' car to whenever they swapped them over... which would be a much less appealing and beneficial prospect for them.

You're just making assumptions.

They’re put lots of energy into reserving a space, presumably because they need to charge.

OP your road sounds so busy that even if they weren’t there someone else would take the space before the elderly neighbours got a chance.

I think it’s just one of those things when you live on a terraced street, you’re always going to struggle to park.

Are they running a cable across the pavement to their property to charge? Thought that was not allowed?

You are seeing it as morally wrong because of your frail neighbours, I think?

But if they had a petrol car and an EV, and were swapping them over at night (parking the EV nearby for charging and the petrol further away) then the net effect on resident parking would be the same)

ETA which is why I asked if anyone has talked to them - and to other near neighbours - about trying to leave a space for the frail couple where possible. Though it wouldn’t stop shoppers parking there.

Morally wrong because the bike seems to be bought and used solely to block the parking space from others using it.

Not only allowed actually encouraged by some councils. Needs to be cased in though