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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...to think that writing 'No Parking' in front of your property doesn't mean people can't park there?

51 replies

MackerelOfFact · 10/11/2011 11:47

I live on a narrow road of terraced houses and maisonettes. All parking is on the street. Opposite ours is a row of sheds and shed-like 'garages', which back onto the road from the bottom of the gardens of the houses on the next road. None of the structures are brick, most are wood or corrugated metal, so I assume they have not required planning permission to erect. Although most of these 'garages' are large enough to drive a car in, I have only ever seen a car leaving any of them on one occasion.

Now, here's the thing. There are a lot of maisonettes on the road, ours included, and there just isn't the space on the road to park. Most of the garages have huge signs saying 'No Parking', 'Access required 24 hours a day' etc. There are no lines or parking restrictions. Two have dropped kerbs - fair enough, we definitely can't park there. And wherever possible, we will try not to park in front of the garages. But sometimes that is the only place to park, and despite the signs, it is surely still perfectly legal to park there.

So are we BU to park there if there is nowhere else to park?!

OP posts:
kenobi · 10/11/2011 12:55

aaaah... very useful to know, thank you!

verlainechasedrimbauds · 10/11/2011 13:08

I parked on the street near our house recently, not directly outside our house as I usually do, because a friend had parked there. I came out to find a note saying "if you park here again we will call the police". I was tempted to knock on the note-writers door (I'm fairly sure I know who it was!) and ask them what exactly they intended to say to the police when they called them as I had legally parked a taxed and insured vehicle on the public highway (it's not even as if they didn't also have room to park their car - there's acres of space).

However, life is too short, so I just threw the note away and didn't park there again.

Take care OP, some people get very possessive about spaces they believe to be "theirs" and I think you might find a car left there gets "accidentally" badly scratched.

heleninahandcart · 10/11/2011 13:43

YANBU I get really fed up even with the dropped kerb brigade, the majority of whom around here just use it to get a space right in front of their houses. It means that without enough space between each dropped kerb on some streets its impossible to park at all Angry

naturalbaby · 10/11/2011 13:47

if there is nowhere else to park i would park there and wait and see what happens. if they are used as long term storage and opened 3 times a year then why waste a good parking spot?

meanieinthecupboard · 10/11/2011 14:07

We had a smiliar situation in our last house. All terraces, on road parking and parking in from of garages. Our neighbours didn't like other neighbours parking here even though it was perfectly legal too. (we actually owned one of the garages) Confused They had three cars. Anyway we just used to ignore them and park there anyway. Grin

DreamsOfSteam · 10/11/2011 14:16

well you probably can park there legally. I suppose it depends if you want my dh someone hammering on your door at 6am on a saturday morning because they can't get their addmitidly irreguraly used car out of their garage when they need access to it. Just because you haven't seen much use of it doesn't mean they don't get used.

LordOfTheFlies · 10/11/2011 14:25

I'm not sure about other areas but where I am - you can park across a dropped kerb if you are not blocking people in. You can block someone out of their parking space. There was something in the papers about residents not being able to get into their own drives and parking on a single yellow lines (with time restrictions) They were given fines but couldn't appeal them.

And if you want to park on your drive you need a drop kerb. They also change the pavement to strengthen against cars driving over underground pipes.

Andrewofgg · 10/11/2011 14:27

A dropped kerb is one which is "smoothed out" with a gradient.

OP Be careful what you wish for. If you block garages and the people ask for a dropped kerb they will get one, even if they did not have pp for the garage. Then the space will be lost in any event.

pecanpie · 10/11/2011 14:36

YANBU, however, if there's a car in the driveway and you're blocking their exit, it's pretty unfair. This happened to me a couple of weeks ago - was due to take DD to Great Ormond St for an appointment by car as heavily pregnant but someone blocked me in. I couldn't get to the appointment and DH had to take time out from work. Having left a note on the offending car explaining the situation, they left no apology. Regardless of my particular situation, I'd expect someone to have the decency to ask or at least leave a note on their car with contact details if they were blocking me in.

DeWe · 10/11/2011 14:36

When I was taking ds to A & E I had to first find the lazy person who had parked right over our drive which saved him all of two yards walk to the house he was visiting. YABU.

londonone · 10/11/2011 14:38

dreamsofsteam - fair enough if you have paid for a dropped kerb in front of your garage, but if you haven't then your dh has no right to go hammering on peoples doors.

londonone · 10/11/2011 14:40

pecanpie and dewe - you need to pay for dropped kerbs

Andrewofgg · 10/11/2011 14:58

You do indeed pay for a dropped kerb but it may be a good investment!

fickencharmer · 10/11/2011 15:01

polite notice.....is somewhat questionable.

Original poster
MackerelOfFact · 10/11/2011 15:10

pecanpie and DeWe - these are not driveways. They are basically large wooden/metal sheds at the bottom of people's gardens, which happen to back onto a road and therefore are being treated as though they are garages. Their front doors are about 5 minutes walk away, and there is parking round the front of their houses, on their road.

It's nothing like blocking someone's driveway IMO.

OP posts:
DreamsOfSteam · 10/11/2011 15:18

our garage is in a small compound of garages so none of them are infront of peoples houses. We pay rent for that garage, and if we cant get to it to even open the door as some arse has parked their car so close to the door we can't even lift it then I will hammer on the door of the cars owner.

londonone · 10/11/2011 15:33

not exactly comparable then dreams of steam as it will be private land and not the public highway

DreamsOfSteam · 10/11/2011 15:48

no not private land. access to all who rents a garage in the compound and infact any one who should wish to go there, as it is within a housing estate where many people live and need to park their cars.

not sure why you would say its not comparable londonone. If someone needs to have access to their car which they do not if the op has parked blocking it, then what to stop them from hammering on the op's door to get them to move it, which if you read, was my point.

londonone · 10/11/2011 16:03

I would guess it's still private land unless the road runs right in front of the garages.. It;s not comparable because the area in front of a garage in a garage compound, is wholly different from the public highway.

SardineQueen · 10/11/2011 16:15

I would have thought knocking on the door was more appropriate TBH

DreamsOfSteam · 10/11/2011 16:18

I shall clarify

If someones car is blocked in by the op, how would the op feel about someone banging on their door in the early/late hours because they have blocked someone in/out?.
If the answer to that is not very happy, then I suggest they don't park there.
That is the point I am making, it has nothing to do with the legalities of whether the land is public or private or not. It is a practical concideration of whether or not the op would be happy or not to be woken up in order to move their car if it is blocking someone else in.

SardineQueen · 10/11/2011 16:21

I strongly suspect that the cars for these houses are parked on their drives, rather than miles around the corner.

And that at least some of the "garages" are full of crud.

In which case the owners are being v unreasonable by trying to stop people parking in front of them.

DreamsOfSteam · 10/11/2011 16:23

If thats the case Sardine I would agree with you.

Original poster
MackerelOfFact · 10/11/2011 16:27

The door-knocking 'risk' doesn't really bother me TBH. There are probably 30-40 front doors running opposite to the garaged portion of road, so if someone wants to try every door to find the car owner, good luck to them! I would feel worse about the 35 people they'd woken up before getting to us. Blush

I was more worried about a) the legality and b) the morality aspect of ignoring the DIY 'no parking' signs. But I do see where you're coming from, and the neighbours getting disturbed to identify the owner of our car is a good point.

OP posts:
Sandalwood · 10/11/2011 17:46

So these people have laid claim to all the parking spaces infront of and behind their street?
I think the residents of your road do need to get together and somehow lobby the council for better parking for residents.

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