To write a note back

[Lexie1970]

I park my car on a side street near the station so I don't have to pay the parking.

Several times somebody has written this isn't a car park, use a car park etc on the window with a glass pen so it does come off.

Last night had message scrawled again and on this occasion the perpetrator has let some air out of the tyre, or to give benefit of doubt it is a coincidence.

I now wish to leave a note basically stating that the road is a public highway, my car is taxed and insured and you don't have the right to park on your street unless it is a private road.

My car is gone by 5.00pm and I do get that it is annoying that you can't park outside your house, but equally you could have a neighbour with 3 cars and there would still be issues with parking.

DP thinks I should report to police as the 'writer' is causing criminal damage where I am actually legally parked.....

[ledkr]

I used to live by a chilminder one of her clients worked in town so would park outside my house and walk to work after dropping off the baby. I asked her one day if she could park further down as I was in and out all day with. 3 dc shopping etc. she was ok about it. I agree about varying the space you park on if possible but I'd also be reluctant to give on to intimidation.

[motherinferior]

I get extremely pissed off with people who park cars in our road, actually. Including people who live on our road who have more than one car. Nor do I think the solution is to destroy our front garden - which a number of people have done - to make a parking space.

I wouldn't key any of the cars parked in our road but I definitely feel rage towards the parkers.

[littleducks]

Thank god I live in outer London. I park my car outside houses to catch the train no trouble and people park outside mine while they go to school/synagogue.

I used to live closer to the station where there was residents parking 10-11 and 3-4. It really didn't help, you would either get taxis with drivers in blocking the residents bays or people waiting in cars to pick up others or posh cars for whom the fine was obv not an issue. It also lead to neighbours setting up tiny car parks in the own front gardens when the credit crunch hit!!

I much prefer it now.

[nametakenagain]

Where I live, no-one can park on my side of the road because cars park on the opposite side, and it is too narrow for both sides to have parked cars. When I didn't have use of my drive because of our own building work for a few months, I used to park a little way up the road rather than outside my neighbour's house although that space was usually available because they have no car. I thought I would just avoid grumbles. I had 1dc, 12 months old.

However, one day my sister parked there. Her baby was 1 month old. The daughter of one of the other neighbours knocked on my door to ask my sister to move. She has 2dc, aged 2 and 5, and gave this as the reason for why she could not park 2 car lengths away from her parents' house.

So, the daughter of my neighbour thought she had more right to park outside a different neighbour's house than my sister had.

I went out and moved my sister's car for her. Easier than having a fight

[NotGoodNotBad]

"But they don't have a moral right to park there. They don't own the street outside their house."

"You're conflating morality and legality. They have no legal right, as they do not own the street, but as you quoted me, I feel they have a greater moral right to the space. "

Possibly I am, in the sense that it is evidently legal to park there. But, I fail to see how a house owner has a moral right to park in any particular place other than on their own property.

[simplesusan]

Oh I absolutely love a good parking thraed.
I am on the fence too.

What I will say is that life has been so much easier since several of our neighbour's children have grown up and moved out, taking their army of cars with them.

[TheBigJessie]

Ever heard that "morality is subjective"?

I feel that the houseowner/renter has more of a right to park outside their (own) house than a commuter does. Others see it more on a first-served basis.

[crashdoll]

Another fence sitter!

I used to live near a 5 min walk from a busy mainline station and a 3 min walk from the shops. Even though parking was restricted for one hour in the middle of the day, it was still packed. It was dangerous because the cars were huge, badly parked and it made getting out our drive difficult. Other people in the street agreed it was a problem but it's legal so what can you do?

[Fluffanstuff]

In all honestly I would be really annoyed if you parked outside my house all day.
At the end of the day people pay extra money for houses close to good transport links. So why should you not pay for parking. ?
I live around 15 mins from a train station on a small cul-de-sac and have people park on our very small road to walk to the station, My argument as resident is that it severley impacts the feeling of it being A quiet place to live , its also always been a child friendly place but these added cars are meaning children are being put at risk when they want to play out the front.
Because its not their road they don't take responsibility for it , they regularly speed up a tiny road , block the spaces that are allocated for visitors and just genuinely make a pain of themselves.

I do think its different though if you are parking on a large , busy highway , people wont have bought those houses for the 'peace and quiet' if your sneaking down a small road where one extra car can have an impact perhaps look somewhere else to park.

[nonameslefttouse]

A miiddle aged -arse- gentlemen lives across from my business regularly patrols the busy road and side street to make note where and to whom cars belong too, every so often to comes over to -vent his anger- politely discuss parking issues, I inform the -dozy- man each time that we have private car parking so I have no real concerns about who parks in front of us as we park in our car park, he as gone as far as printing up tickets which look like official ones as warnings he was extremely pleased with himself at this great masterplan, but didn't see the funny side of me asking him if he would like to borrow my dc's make and do box to construct a cardboard wheel clamp to go with his pretend tickets!! -I did though- hopefully he won't be back to -bore- discuss this matter for a while!

I just think if you want a dedicated parking space buy a house with one.

[GhostShip]

What if they needed to park there? Should they have to go and pay for parking, because you've parked in front of their house to save you money?

I know it's not illegal what you're doing, but in my eyes its wrong.

And they shouldnt be scrawling on your car btw, I'm with you on that one/

[TuppenceBeresford]

Wow, I find this thread weird, but maybe it's just me.

We live in a tenement flat and regularly have a five-minute walk to our car... we survive! I have no idea who is parked outside my flat and don't really care!

I wish people would get so angry about things that actually matter. A lot of people would be delighted if a wee bit of inconvenience was the most they had to worry about.

I think the homeowner needs to get a life.

[justmyview]

Surely if you buy / rent a house near a public amenity like a station, the purchase price / rent reflects the potential inconvenience of not having guaranteed car parking outside your house? Funny how people forget that once they move into a property. I'm with *TuppenceBeresford" on this

I don't agree that you have a "moral right" to park outside your house either

[CalamityJ]

I love a good parking thread too! I work in the centre of a town and there's not enough work car park spaces for all workers. So we park on neighbouring roads where there are no restrictions, and obviously don't park on the roads where there are. We regularly get emails round work saying "Damage to car on this road" or "Residents have complained on that road". I completely understand how annoying it is not being able to park outside your own house...so buy a house with a driveway!! These people are walking distance from town and therefore the houses are more expensive for the convenience but don't have driveways. So move further out and get a driveway! I bought a house with a driveway so I could always have somewhere to park and now when the road gets filled up on a Sunday with church goers I smile at them all as I drive on/off my driveway. Otherwise I'd get annoyed at them parking where I'd like to park. I do understand how annoying it is to have to walk to your car especially carrying shopping/babies etc but you don't own the space outside your house (unless it's a driveway). Now it might sound middle class to say "buy a house with a driveway" but flats come with allocated parking or buy a house somewhere no one would want to park outside. Or just get over it.

[EmpressOfTheSevenScreams]

What about people who park on their driveway but get blocked in by rude parkers though? (disclaimer: no car, don't drive, just interested)

[Brycie]

Don't worry too much, soon they'll apply for and get a CPZ. Writing hostile notes will speed the process along and then you'll lose your space and have to park in the car park. Go ahead and get stroppy! It will only help their cause.

[Fluffanstuff]

Cars && Territory are a bad mix !

[Icelollycraving]

I think it is understandable to want to park outside your own home,legally schmeggaly!

[motherinferior]

Yep. I don't write notes or deflate the tires of people who fill my road with their cars and compel me to drive round to some other crowded road to park and dash back to my house at 8.10 in the morning after swimming...but I am filled with coruscating resentment and bile, oh yes.

[motherinferior]

Not least because it is encouraging quite a few households to demolish their front gardens - which is a bit crap environmentally for a range of reasons - for parking space.

[NotGoodNotBad]

TuppenceBeresford, totally agree with you. Actually, I think the people who are most possessive over parking are probably those with very suburban streets where there is a clear house-to-car correspondence, or those who have roads with mostly driveways and are not used to strangers parking outside their house gasp.

The in-laws, who have always had their own drive, and live on a cul-de-sac where no outsiders park, used to find it freaky visiting us - if they had to park on a neighbouring street, they'd be looking out the window for a space on ours, and go and move the car if they saw one. Later the space outside our house might be free, then they'd go out again and move it there.

[Brycie]

I should think the note-writer would LOVE that. I would love it if I was the note writer. Do that OP.