To resent the family with four cars?

[Gentleness]

Road of almost all terraced houses though theirs is a semi. The road space outside each house is the same - 1.5 cars max. We have one car for a family of four and another baby maybe on the way. They have a family of four, 2 adult children and a car each. AND 2 of the cars are long sedans. I can understand the need for a car each but surely they should take that into account when choosing where to park on a busy road. They're all lovely apart from one who can't bear to even smile at anyone, never mind chat, and all of them except her do try really hard to leave us a space outside our house. But when we or one of us goes out in evenings, sometimes we can't even park on our road which leaves me in an awkward spot the next morning with the kids - a baby and a toddler.

The other day the mum said, "It's frustrating the parking on this road isn't it. It's really hard for us with four cars!" Given none of them ever leave the house in the evening so are parked up nicely overnight right by their house by 5pm, and they have 1 person to a car, I just about managed to splutter politely that with our ONE car for 4, we can't always park on our own road which is hard with the kids. I so wanted to rant and it's been picking at my mind ever since.

So AIBU to reckon they should consider the rest of the residents and expect to park at least one of their cars further away. Even rent a garage. Not from any legal obligation, just from moral kindness. Or the "kids" could actually leave home!

I live in an area of terraced houses but don't have a car so I always watch with amazement and how just the mention of 'parking', 'parking permits', 'parking attendants' means the red mist comes down in front of seemingly normal people's eyes and the arguments that ensue are vicious, nasty and completely out of proportion to the situation. Rights to park your car in front of your house have not yet been added to the Human Rights Act as far as I know, but if you drive and park your car in a community then I think you should consider the needs (not rights) of others in the community when you park. If you don't then be prepared to be moaned about, just as others who don't consider the needs of others in the community get moaned about.

But what is it with you car drivers, you do go really weird when it comes to parking.

Bumping What I meant by that is that part time teaching is a very achieveable goal. The training is short and financially viable for most people. When I hear people talk about their 'dream' job, it is often one that is out of their reach due to finances, time needed in training, location etc., a job that often is very specific to a passion of theirs, a job that may even not exist but that they wouold love to do.

I have never heard anyone talk of being a part time teacher as a dream job because OP could be a part time teacher. It must be much easier to imagine turning down a job as a part time teacher than to imagine turning down a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

No offence meant to teachers.

Anyway, this takes us completely off the subject. But linking back, I would imagine that most people, discounting the OP if she cannot imagine her dream, once in a lifetime opportunity, would not turn down their 'dream' job if it really was a dream just because it might inconvenience their neighbours.

If people need cars to get to work, they need them, This is not a family with 4 cars, it is four adult individuals requiring 4 cars. They happen to live under the same roof and be related, but really this is no different to telling people in a block of flats that because they live under the same roof and occupy the same space, that they should be car sharing.

I have heard people talking about part time teaching aspirations-usually they are after the holidays.

YABU. You have also chosen to have a large family who may in future cause a similar problem for other residents.

Just to add that if you can afford to have 5 kids, that makes you wealthy on my planet.

OP you live in my road.
Please stop having children.
You live nearer the school than I do and there aren't enough places for us all.
Please. It is the morally kinder thing to do.

Doncha think?

Don't know when the entitlement to a car of all adults resident in any property came into force either.
Some wacky formulas being employed on this thread.
Perhaps nobody should be allowed a car if they haven't go an allocated parking space.

Lots of people posting here who seem as though they would welcome the return of the Poll Tax so that each adult in any house could pay for their own council services too?

What difference it makes whether these people are 4 adults or 'a family of 4 adults' is beyond me. They have 4 cars in one household and there's bugger all public parking space - wtf shouldn't the OP be resentful? I bet they get pissed off too if they can't get a space.

They may not need these cars for work - they may keep them for weekends and the odd jaunt - people do.

The Utilitarian argument is always a bit flawed.

Living in cities, in close proximity to others, calls for compromise from everybody - the OP seems willing enough - but apparently it's unfair to expect her neighbours to reciprocate.

Exactly what it made me think of viv - poll tax.

YABU - resentment will affect you only. Waste of time IMO - why do that to yourself?

Yes "morally" you might be correct, but life just isn't like that.

And you say the 4carfamily "leave space for you" but others take "your" space. Do you resent them too? Personally I'd quit the resentment - waste of time & achieves nothing.

Even if EVERYONE on MN says YANBU, nothing will actually change for you will it?

yabu why do you have to park right outside your house all the time , we have DH works van our car and dds car parked outside or round the corner , unless you have a drive you cant really moan where anybody parks , my neighbour is obsessed with her parking spot and will move her car a few CM just to get it where she wants it , DDs car is normally parked right outside but neighbour will come out in her Pjs just to move her car when DD leaves , DONT BE THAT PERSON ,

I found the best way to resolve parking wars was to bob over and have a polite chat with my neighbour. Seems to have done the trick...

I donj't think you are BU to be irritated by this, but as things stand they are entitled to park as many cars as they like. Perhaps you could persuade your council to introduce residents parking? In my area where they do this only one permit is allowed per household, fairer perhaps?

Someone from the next town could park their articulated lorry outside your house - It's a public road. I know it's a pain - we have similar here but you just need to see being able to park outside your house now and then as a perk. It's not worth letting it eat you up.

OP will you make your own children leave home when they are old enough to have their own cars so your neighbours can park?

Do people not consider parking when they buy/rent a house? Up there with number of beroom, price and location etc was how easy it was going to be to park in the area (we wanted somewhere with a drive or allocated parking as I knew it would annoy me if I didn't have a set space). YABVU, you have just as much right to park there as anyone else in the area; so tough luck if there aren't any spaces.

I do think its funny that a house needs a car per adult to be honest. SIL recently passed her test and now the inlaws have 3 cars at theirs the extent of SILS driving? To the shop or to town with friends or just a drive, everywhere else she goes? MIL drives her own car! What a waste of a car/tax/insurance etc

What bugs me more is when there are spaces in my street yet people still park outside my house which is just on a road rather than in the car spaces a steering wheel turn away!

Let's cut to the semantics and pedantics.

The OP is not asking if it is unreasonable for a household to park four cars in the street.
She knows it's not illegal but it could be construed as inconsiderate or a tad antisocial depending on the circumstances.

She is asking if it is unreasonable to RESENT them parking four cars in the street - which of course it's not unreasonable to do.

I lived on a street with a few South London trades/building families once.
Mum and Dad have a car each. Dad also has a van. Two sons, also trades people - van each and a car each to pull birds at the weekends. Daughter own car too.

Eight vehicles minimum per standard builders family. There were at least three families that size.

That gives 24 vehicles for 3 houses. There weren't even 24 houses in the entire street.

Other standard non-building families had 2/3 vehicles max.

They left in the morning before everyone else to get to their jobs/sites and were back before everyone else (finishing at builders hours) and took all the spare street spaces.

I don't give a flying fuck about whether they paid car tax on all of them - that's taking the ffing piss.

Where I live at the moment they allocate recycling bags according to the size of the household - if people want to go down the Poll Tax route then do the same for cars - get the snooper police to calculate the maximum allowed occupants per household, measure up the size of the available road and divide it among the registered vehicle owning occupants.

If you've got extra cars pay to use the local purpose-built municipal car park.

And to top it all, they parked the pretty little shiny cars outside their houses and the dirty great builders wagons outside everyone elses - because they wanted to keep an eye on their precious cars - still pisses me off.

Vivandtom - you do have a point - it's more about being totally selfish than anything. The problem we have here are there are lots of very big posh houses and a few very old terraces on the road. The knobs in the posh ones are forever leaving notes on the cars (on the public road) telling people not to leave their cars on the road as it makes their houses look messy

Did anybody say they couldn't? Did anybody say it was illegal?
Did you read any of the previous posts?

Unless legislation is brought in limiting the number of cars per household (and why not?) or limiting the number of cars residents may park, YABU. But I understand your frustration.

SphericalRotundities -

Cheers - that note leaving - for making thee street look messy!!! - what a pita!

Where's the guarantee that if that family weren't parking there someone else wouldn't be?

I used to live somewhere just like that spherical. I got notes on my car every day for parking on the public road, saying please do not park outside my house. I parked up and down the street looking for sanctuary from the notes, they still continued. I reckon pretty much every single person in the 12 or so posh houses wrote me a note. Eventually they starting keying the car in the hope I'd move and park in a different street. After the first key scratch I didn't care anymore and just collected notes and key scratches for the next year or so.