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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to want to park outside my house

49 replies

lifeisshort · 21/06/2012 21:10

We have just moved house and the other neighbours park all over the place. nobody seems to park outside their own homes, I personally would like to I know I have no right to a certain spot but surely its common sense to park outside your own house and not other people's.

OP posts:
WorraLiberty · 21/06/2012 21:13

Well that sort of thing falls flat if you have more than one car per household so I don't see how people can.

I've never got the whole 'I want to park outside my house' thing anyway to be honest.

bogeyface · 21/06/2012 21:15

YANBU to want it.

BUt whether you get it or not is another matter! I made a point of parking outside my house whenever I could to the point of moving the car if the space became free, I copied my neighbour who did this. Gradually we all came to an unspoken agreement where you park outside your own house and if you cant then you park up the road where there are no houses! It does still sometimes happen though and winds everyone up a stupid amount when it does :o

lilolilmanchester · 21/06/2012 21:17

I don't understand why people don't park outside their houses if there is space there, and YANBU to want to. But unfortunately you don't have the right to.

MsVestibule · 21/06/2012 21:18

YANBU to want to park outside your house, but YABU to expect to park outside your house.

My guess is that your neighbours would prefer to park outside their houses too, but if somebody gets there before them, they park outside your's instead. So you park outside somebody else's house, then they park outside somebody else's, and the cycle goes on.

It can be mildly irritating if you're carrying babies/bags of shopping, but there's nowt you can do about it.

happygilmore · 21/06/2012 21:19

Why does it matter? Honestly can never understand why people get so worked up about parking 6 foot away from their house.

surroundedbyblondes · 21/06/2012 21:20

I like to park right by my front door, I totally understand you.

A drive where we could park both our cars was one of the things on our long wishlist when we bought our house (and the one before that)

I think it's impossible on streets where families have more than one car and e people are coming and going at different times to 'insist' that a space on the street is yours only. Sorry.

Does seem weird that someone wouldn't park outside their own house if there is a space free there though, is that what you mean? Perhaps it depends on the size of the space available, or the side of the road it's on, making it easier for some people to get into IYSWIM.

FourEyesGood · 21/06/2012 21:21

YABU. Yes, it's annoying having to struggle an extra few metres with shopping and a wriggling child, but if you want to be able to park outside your house every time, you need to buy a house with a driveway.

NoMoreMarbles · 21/06/2012 21:23

lifeisshort i am with your 100%! our street is like a car park for businesses on the main road and we are the first house in the street so every bastard parks their car outsideHmm we have a residents permit and a box outside reserved for residents and neighbours- everyone up to 5 doors away-without a car and can we park outside our house? no we freaking well cantAngry

i dont see why i should have to walk with DD and my shopping etc from halfway up the street lugging everything when i pay my council tax, pay for my permit and have to clean my own front paving etc just so the lazy cows from the hairdressers on the corner dont have to walk an extra 20 yards from their cars...

clearly this is a sore subject for me...too many rain-soaked 5 minute walks home from my car...

in short... YANBU IMOSmile

complexnumber · 21/06/2012 21:24

YABU, there is no right to your own parking space upon a highway.

It has caused me some hassle in the past where I live, but it has never occured to me it was an entitlement.

Tiddlyompompom · 21/06/2012 21:27

I've always thought it a nationwide unwritten rule that people will see the space outside their house as 'theirs'. Most people don't mind if they occasionally have to park elsewhere, as long as they can park outside their home most of the time.
We have always parked directly outside our house, as do all the neighbours......BUT ONE!
This chap decided 'our' space was a better, safer spot for his BMW that he only drove at weekends as his spot was at a narrower point of the road and therefore our rather shittier car should park in the 'risky' spot outside his house. Gah! He actually tried to justify this to us in person, the bloody cheek!
He has a bit of a Napoleon complex, so was being quite cocky and overbearing about it, so I just kept smiling sweetly and patting my 8-month bump while repeating "the neighbourly thing to do is park outside your own home, it's the same in practically every street in Britain, and if you genuinely think your space is unsafe it is even more unreasonable to ask us to park there".
It worked, he only parks there once in a blue moon now! :)

soverylucky · 21/06/2012 21:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
lifeisshort · 21/06/2012 21:34

We are having to park at the end of the road when we live 3rd house in. I wouldn't mind but if the neighbours just parked a little closer to each other we could fit twice as many cars on the street. I have 2 sets of very young twins and it's a nightmare parking so far away from the house.

OP posts:
lottiegb · 21/06/2012 21:34

You can want what you like but, even with a resident's permit, You don't own the public highway and have no right to a particular space.

Our neighbours are the opposite, they have an entrenched system whereby if the space in front of their house is taken, they won't park in front of each others' but much further up the street, thus passing the problem on to people they speak to less often. When we moved in they explained this and expected us to join in. We do it because it matters to them but find it rather silly.

The basic problem is that some households have two cars but only one space on the road. the really silly thing is the use of traffic cones (illegal) and reference to 'our space' (no it isn't). One night we will become drunk and tour the neighbourhood stealing all the traffic cones. It will amuse us but bemuse many people. We probably won't, really.

thisisyesterday · 21/06/2012 21:34

in general yes. i think most people naturally park outside their own home, but like worra says, if some people own more than one car that complicates things and people end up parking anywhere

i think if you want to park outside your home you have to put a driveway in

EverybodysSleepyEyed · 21/06/2012 21:40

You have 2 set of very young twins - I am very impressed that you manage to leave the house!

But you are still being unreasonable. That is the peril of having a house with no off street parking.

If we're lucky we can park outside, but sometimes the car is 3 streets away!

ErikNorseman · 21/06/2012 21:57

YABU
3 car lengths away from your house isn't so far away from your house. Bloody hell.

bogeyface · 21/06/2012 22:04

2 sets of twins? If that is not a typo then I to am impressed you ever manage to leave the house at all!

BsshBossh · 21/06/2012 22:18

Well, as much as I'd love always to park right outside my house, often "my space" is taken up by a car of a neighbour's guest or workman or second car or , or by a neighbour's own car because "their space" is taken. I can't be bothered to curtain twitch so when "my space" gets vacated I'm too busy doing something else to go out and move my car, meaning I might end up parking for a day or two outside someone eles's house. But so be it. I have a life to live.

IvanaNap · 21/06/2012 22:22

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn as this poster has privacy concerns.

MephistophelesSister · 21/06/2012 22:25

I never get to park outside my house. My next-door neighbour always parks there, and puts out cones if he moves his car for any reason. His wife can do a cats bum to beat all cats bums face, so I only ever move the cones if I am utterly desperate - and then they don't speak to me for weeks except to knock at the door to ask me to move the car.

Parking obsessed people are scary.

bogeyface · 21/06/2012 22:37

You can report them for that Mephis, its illegal to obstruct the highway.

Why dont you steal the cones? :o

ceeveebee · 21/06/2012 22:47

Tbh I don't expect to ever park outside my house. Have lived in London for 12 years and have to pay for resident parking but often have to park on a different street never mind outside our house. And I have just the one set of twins and never drive anywhere because I hate driving and parking.

redyam · 21/06/2012 22:53

This is how people get fat. They don't want to ever walk more than they have to. It's just pure laziness. You don't have any right to park in front of your house, it is public property. If you want your ca nearby, but a house with a driveway.

misslinnet · 21/06/2012 22:55

YANBU to want to park outside your house.

But, if you don't have a driveway, and there's more than one car per house, YABU to expect that this can happen all the time.

MephistophelesSister · 21/06/2012 23:09

trouble is, Bogeyface, they are lovely neighbours otherwise - and it is a SMALL town.

Don't sweat the small stuff and all that. It is a bit of a running joke with the whole street. So long as they are the butt of the joke and not me, and I only have to walk 10 yards further I am happy to let things lie.

If we ever fall out, I'll be straight on the phone/stealing cones Grin

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