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?

What happens if you cover your number plate?

This - if it's a motorbike or moped, the number plates need to be visible. OP could report it to the non-emergency police number if they suspect that a taxable vehicle is underneath the cover.

So i get its annoying that this one space is permanently in use, but i think jumping to its not taxed and never used other than to "dibs" the space is odd.

If it doesnt impact you being able to park i think you need to stop curtain twitching about it. And if its really causing an issue ask neighbour if theyre able to be flexible with its position

Parking law needs an update. Would be so easy to do. Burnham needs to add that to his list.

What would be easy to do?

resident permit rules already exist for these situations. Op lives on a street that doesn’t have these rules. Many streets were built before vehicle ownership was widespread, let alone multi vehicle ownership.

and resident parking usually means anyone living in zone a can park in a zone a space, not that every resident gets specific parking,

but if you have a brilliant easy scheme then I’m all ears!

I very much doubt the police would bother to come out and check, given demands on capacity.

I would say the opposite. It would be an easy job for them and they probably have targets to meet.

I disagree.

While the underlying regulations - the Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 and BS AU 145e:2018 - remain unchanged, enforcement priorities have shifted significantly toward identifying plates designed to evade ANPR detection.

plate-maker.co.uk/guides/government-crackdown-ghost-plates-2026?srsltid=AU7gw4Un-2w9HlLtVqzzePZKfu7jENgi-0oLZLrmLi3o3Q3jmVuhpSlP

A parked vehicle with a cover over it (which may or may not need a number plate anyway) is a lower priority than a vehicle on the roads without number plates or with non compliant number plates (colour, font, reflectivity)

How is a motorbike not a 'normal' road-using vehicle?

tell me you don't know anything about the police without telling me.....

Been on the wine have you?

FFS
Just move it a couple of feet to the side

Do none of the posters on this site have ANY testicles ....

• The Situation: A person with a minor paper cut refuses to move out of the only open emergency room bed.
• The Defense: "If the hospital is facing a massive nursing shortage and the waiting room is packed, freeing up this one bed isn't going to solve the healthcare crisis, is it?"

So because the problem is big, your contribution to making it worse doesn't count? Convenient!

Big problem can only be solved with small and collected actions. It probably doesn't solve everyone's problem, but it completely solves the problem for the next person who actually follows the rules.

It’s amazing how 'we can't solve everything' only ever gets used to justify 'I should get to do whatever I want. If that's your logic.

Are you sure with what you are saying? It's understandable everyone feels the same, but they are not different from anyone else living in the road. We all have the same right, but it doesn't mean we shall all do this to "protect our own peace". If that's not selfishness, what is it?

I'm just pointing out that you're focusing your attention on one singular space but that would be snapped up by someone else immediately and your neighbour would still have nowhere to park.

I didn't say that I can do whatever I want, so not QUITE my logic, no 😂

Some of the houses in our street have off road parking for one car, but mostly its on street parking. A mix of one, two and no car households. There is enough room in front of a pair of semis for two cars, most of us park near enough the edge of our dropped kerb to enable another car to park in front or behind.

One family with two cars parks one on their small front drive, the other on the street, always bang in the middle of their house and their next door neighbour’s. As soon as the one on the street drives off, another family member dashes out and moves the car on the drive onto the street. Quite amusing, but also quite selfish given their ND neighbour also has two cars. My NDN and I park quite comfortably one car in front of the other. They could easily do the same, but they seem to feel more entitled to use what could be two spaces.

I know we have no more right to on street parking than any other road users, and living near to a football ground means sometimes the street is heavily parked. I never take the car out when there’s a home game!

Actually, if everyone did put a bike in their space when their car wasn’t there then - assuming there is one space per house but no spares - your road would effectively become residents only, designated parking spot road because there would never be a gap for a commuter or shopper.

Sorry, going off track now. But you'd have to pay almost £300 to have a blue badge space put outside your house and it isn't even yours?? That's bloody ridiculous.

I knew disabled bays outside houses could be used by all blue badge owners, and could be applied for.... but I didn't think you'd be charged for it.

Of course it can be parked on the road, pushbikes would regularly be parked on the curb prior to cars being parked everywhere. People would hook the pedal over the curb to balance the bike

Just because you don't want it to be parked on the road - doesn't mean it can't

it’s free in Liverpool! Councils charge differently across the UK. Leicester and Sheffield both charge over £300, Manchester a little less.

its free in my district

It would be possible for your disabled neighbour to request a disabled bay via the council.

The proximity of the space to their home is a convenience of opportunity to them; it doesn't convey any kind of right. I'm sure they aren't the only household who work hard and have anything worthwhile to do with their day.

I'm reminded of the time when I went on a holiday with my DSis (many years ago now) and we stayed at this very large hotel that had THREE luggage trolleys near the entrance, for guests to use to take their cases up in the lift and then obviously return them afterwards.

We were seated with another couple at a table for the evening meal, and they commented how handy the trolleys were (well, they were Americans, so they referred to them as carts, but that's by the by). They said that they'd taken one of the trolleys and had left it in their bedroom (they were big rooms), so that they could know that they wouldn't have to wait for one, or bother coming down to fetch it first, when they left a week later - and this seemed an obviously ideal solution to them.

Maybe this is the thinking of the neighbours: that you put yourself first and centre in all things and just automatically take it as a given that other people aren't in the least bit relevant or important?

Maybe already suggested but can you not also put a bike there? Very petty but they wouldn't be able to move yours and it would make a point for a couple of weeks!

OP didn't say that it was a motorbike; more that she wasn't sure, but thought it was an e-bike - and that they were able to take it to store elsewhere when it suited them.

Motorbikes are obviously smaller than cars, but they're still big, heavy things - with a fuel tank that you probably wouldn't want inside your house for the fire risk and the residual smell of the petrol. Owners commonly feel the need to store them in a regulation parking space when they aren't in use - albeit you can often fit two of them in a standard space that's big enough for a car, and some places do provide special small spaces for motorbikes only - and wouldn't dream of taking them inside their home (unless they have an actual garage).

If OP is correct that the vehicle is only ever used to prevent others using a parking space, and is never moved apart from to allow their car to park there, they would be mad to choose to keep a motorbike there - and have to tax, insure and MoT it every year, then haul it out of the way every time they want to park their car there.

With their apparent plan, leaving morals aside, it would be infinitely preferable to buy a cheap second-hand e-bike, lock and cover - and then incur no further costs or maintenance requirements apart from to make sure that the wheels can physically move (at walking speed).

It’s just the same as using a traffic cone I suppose. As long as no one complains to them they will keep doing it. I think the only solution is to complain to them or get the support of a couple more neighbours and do it altogether.