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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Parking. The dreaded parking has come to us..

50 replies

Hullygully · 28/06/2013 10:28

We live opposite a house with a drive. The people that live there park one car on the drive, and the other on the road, across the drive, blocking themselves in. We park on the road outside our house (off street not ready).

Sometimes, when we get home first, we park and then Mr Mackay (Porridge) comes home, parks where he ALWAYS parks across his drive, and thereby blocks the road knowingly. We have had to go out and move our car further along so people can pass.

I know that in his head he thinks, "I am parking here, I have always parked here, they are newcomers and can fuck off." But how do people think like that? How can you deliberately block a road??

He never speaks to us, his wife however is lovely and chats and brings me stuff from their allotment.

I don't even care, he's clearly mad so let him get on with it, just cannot understand it..

OP posts:

TheVermiciousKnid · 28/06/2013 12:19

Plenty of strange people though.

Owllady · 28/06/2013 12:21

Oh i don't know. I get people shagging on my rear drive in the middle of the night

Original poster

Hullygully · 28/06/2013 12:26

I want shaggers

it's not fair

OP posts:

THERhubarb · 28/06/2013 12:28

Well if it's easily solved Hully then you are right, no point in making a fuss. Either he honestly doesn't look to see he's blocking the road (some people just park where they always have and don't even notice anything else, they are in auto-mode) or he is a bit of an arse who thinks that he has a right to park right there, every day, without fail.

If you can just modify your parking to accommodate then I'd do that.

THERhubarb · 28/06/2013 12:30

I wouldn't mind just a shag actually. It doesn't have to be plural.

Original poster

Hullygully · 28/06/2013 12:32

I do think it has to be on a drive, tho. Someone else's.

OP posts:

Trills · 28/06/2013 12:36

If they have parked so as to block the road then call the police non-emergency number and let them know. Maybe they'll get a talking-to.

THERhubarb · 28/06/2013 12:50

I would prefer a bed Hully, tbh, but whatever floats your boat

SanityClause · 28/06/2013 12:55

Drives don't always help, anyway.

Delivery people always park across the end of ours, although it is free to park outside out house, there is plenty of space to park where the kerb is raised (ie, not dropped) and no one ever parks on our road, as all the houses have driveways and/or garages large enough to store all their cars.

So, why do they have to park on the one bit of the road that might cause us inconvenience?

THERhubarb · 28/06/2013 13:02

Because they aren't allowed to mount the kerb, they could be reported for it.

TSSDNCOP · 28/06/2013 13:57

See this is why, if I ever win the lottery, the very first thing I will do is move to a house in the middle of bloody nowhere.

In my old flat we all had a space, but the woman that lived above me was like Mad Woman above. We all parked wherever, because on the deesds the spaces werent allocated, but God Forbid if we parked in "her space". Anyone that parked in "her space" would find her car rammed up against theirs and she'd move only in her own good time. Which also often meant none of us could get out.

One day she must have had to park in a space that wasnt "hers" for some reason. I came home (had been out on foot) and found that both other residents had come home. One parked in "her" space, and one had rammed up right behind her. She was going BALLISTIC! No one else would one their doors to give her a taste of her own medicine. Being a Saturday, everyone called a cab to go out and left her in her parking induced madness until the next day.

Karma

EMUZ · 28/06/2013 14:15

People do it here an park opposite each other all the way down the street. God forbid a fire engine needed to get through (although I'd pay to see their cars shoved to one side)

Katienana · 28/06/2013 14:22

Opposite our flat is a bungalow with a double drive. The man who lives there parks his car completely on the, pavement leaving his drive clear. Often double parked with us. I just don't get it!

FryOneFatManic · 28/06/2013 14:23

THERhubarb - We had a neighbour who used to start his car engine for work at 4am (diesel van) and leave it running for half an hour. The car was often parked right outside our house as we have parking issues too. So he'd come out of his house across the road, turn on his noisy engine at 4am and then walk back into his house for a cup of tea or whatever.

This chap could have been ticketed by the police for leaving his car running unattended, they've had spates of ticketing people for this in the past in our area.

Highway Code:

The Driver and the Environment
123
You MUST NOT leave a parked vehicle unattended with the engine running or leave a vehicle engine running unnecessarily while that vehicle is stationary on a public road. Generally, if the vehicle is stationary and is likely to remain so for more than a couple of minutes, you should apply the parking brake and switch off the engine to reduce emissions and noise pollution. However it is permissible to leave the engine running if the vehicle is stationary in traffic or for diagnosing faults.
Law CUR regs 98 & 107

THERhubarb · 28/06/2013 14:29

I know FryOne both he and his wife do it. I have no idea why. He drives a noisy diesel van and she has a car and both start the engines then go back into the house for half an hour. During the summer the stench is horrible and you have to put up with this constant drone of their car engines.

I can just about abide by it during the day but not at 4am.

The police never come round here and if they were done for it, I'm sure they would look to us for grassing on them as we're the only neighbours to have ever taken them on.

FryOneFatManic · 28/06/2013 14:34

Thing is, most modern cars/vans don't need this warming up period like the (really) old vehicles did. They don't even have chokes now. (My first car had one, the car I learned to drive in didn't. Steep learning curve. )

I have a diesel, and even on cold winter mornings at 7am I have never needed to let the car warm up.

THERhubarb · 28/06/2013 14:48

It's not to warm them up, his wife does it in the middle of the day in summer ffs! Could be cooling them but I doubt it. I've never thought to ask as they probably would take it the wrong way.

He also used to park his white van right outside our house so all we could see when we looked out of the window was his van. I now make sure that my car is always at the front so he has to park elsewhere.

Recently he has started bringing his articulated lorry front to our little estate. I've seen it parked right outside other neighbour's houses all day sometimes and felt lucky it's not outside ours. I hope to goodness he doesn't start that half an hour before he drives off!

Katisha · 28/06/2013 17:20

Rhubarb I recently discovered my diesel was fitted with something you can turn on or off for half an hour depending on whether you want to warm the fuel or cool the engine. It used to make a whining noise. When it started belching white smoke we disabled it.

JackNoneReacher · 28/06/2013 17:37

Is there a line in front of his drive? If so he could be ticketed for parking on it. Next time he does it, phone the council and ask them to come and issue a ticket to someone blocking your driveway (give his address) and on a line.

cumfy · 28/06/2013 17:47

If the road is that narrow why doesn't everyone park half on the pavement, half on the road ?

TweedWasSoLastYear · 28/06/2013 17:47

Set fire to his car ?
Rhubarb. Arctics are not allowed to be parked on residential streets , its against the law.
Owllady . a 500watt PIR halogen search light will stop all night time activities on your driveway. Set it up in a tree so its not triggered by hedgehogs and then the randy randoms cant turn round the detector thingy

cumfy · 28/06/2013 17:48

Or at least just only park on one side of the road ?

punter · 28/06/2013 17:53

well cumfy, call me a spoil sport or whatever, but I do not think cars should drive over the pavement - the pavement is for pedestrians who should be able to feel safe walking there with a pram, children, wheelchair, dog etc. If it is not safe to park your car on the road then it is not safe - end of.

cumfy · 28/06/2013 17:58

So one side of the road on your narrow street then punter.

And everyone else can park a large distance away.

My point is really though, how does it come about that on a street so narrow there is not a local protocol/system that is obvious and that the residents adhere to ?

elfycat · 28/06/2013 18:10

I let out a house that has an allocated parking space in a yard. It's an old Maltings conversion and the way it's worked out is 2 spaces outside every 3 houses. So the developers have given everyone down the row the nearest space they can and the houses at the end have a space each at their end of the yard.

I keep having to write little notes on behalf of my tenants explaining that this is my space, and subject to the tenant's need for it they must park in their own. I include my number if they need to discuss it but since I write it on the back of a photocopy of my deeds, with all the spaces shown by house number all I've ever had is one person call to say how helpful and they wish their landlord had explained the situation.

Parking outside my own house can be tricky. It's a tight road and we've the only dropped kerb so people park opposite and sometimes there's a multiple point maneuver to get in or out. We're asking the council if a loading bay could be marked so the pub opposite can have deliveries, but no-one else can park there. Funnily enough I do not have a problem with my local getting beer deliveries and am happy to wait, sometimes in the car and sometimes with the kids in the buggy as they block access to the whole front of our place.

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