having been confronted for parking on street (no dropped kerb)

[Clawdius]

Workmen are digging up gas pipes on my road. There was basically no parking available on my end of a very long road. I went up the other end and found a parking space (just). There is no dropped kerb but house owner has front wall removed and front garden paved. There is no alteration to the footpath in front of the house.

A guy came out and said would I be long because he wanted to bring his car into his 'drive'. I said I was parking there as there was no dropped kerb but I would move temporarily for him to move his car in. This wasn't taken up. He then asked where I lived and I told him other end of street. I'm sorry I even bothered with this information. He then said could I move forward. There was a legit dropped kerb where he asked me to move to. He went inside his house. He had a dressing gown on so maybe that is why he didn't come out onto the street.

A car then moved from the other side of the road. Despite knowing he was an ar**hole for using an ordinary kerb as a drive, I moved over across the road where space had been vacated. This house also has a wall removed and a beautifully paved front garden (no car on it at the moment). It has an unaltered footpath in front, so no dropped kerb again.
I parked legitimately on the road in front of this paved garden.

This has happened before. I'm now expecting some git to say I prevented them accessing their 'drive'.

AIBU to think it is really strange the way these people are operating by confronting people who are parking legitimately. I live on a very long road with loads of this paved gardens being used as legit drives. I have been confronted before even though I was not parked in front of a dropped kerb and not blocking a car parked in the front garden.

We've got a shared drive with a dropped kerb. You can drive through this to park on front garden. Is this illegal then? I wouldn't be able to park outside the house as there are always cars parked opposite and it would be too narrow for people passing. So parking on the 'drive' (garden) is better. Probably 75% of houses on our road park on the 'drive' but they are accessible by dropped kerbs. Would be a nightmare if we all had to use shared drives or side of road!!

I work in the roads dept of a council.

It is illegal to drive on the footway/pavement, but not illegal to park on it. Confusing much?

It does damage kerbs/pavements to have cars bumping up across them - the pavement is not constructed to bear the weight of a car.

To drop a kerb, you need to a) apply for a permit to do so, and b) pay for a contractor to do it for you to a specified standard. The Council will only give you a permit if the location is suitable ie not too close to a corner/junction/pedestrian crossing etc.

It is illegal to drop your kerb without a permit and you need proof of permit when selling the house. We get people 10 years on asking us to certify that the dropped kerb was done to standard and whether we can issue a retrospective permit. (I'm in Scotland, not sure if this applies to England).

It is illegal to block someone into a driveway, but not illegal to park across an empty driveway. If you are blocked in, phone the police, not the Council, even though the police will probably tell you they're too busy to come out.

There are a large number of illegal driveways in my area, and sometimes we crack down on them, but usually it's low on our list of priorities. However, inspectors do carry standard letters saying 'your driveway is illegal, please apply for a permit to drop the kerb blah blah blah' which you might get shoved through your door. Usually we pick them up when someone with an illegal driveway phones up to complain about people parking in front of it, which they then regret!

Our local council is refusing permission for dropped kerbs now as it poses an increased flood risk. One garden being paved over doesn't have much impact but get 100 paved over gardens in the area and suddenly you have reduced the surface area for ground water drainage substantially, especially where the ground doesn't drain that well anyway.

Argh, YANBU. Opposite my house there are a row of 'garages' which back onto the road from the end of the next road's back gardens. The majority of these are in fact large sheds that just happen to back onto a road, so are used to store cars and bikes as there's easy access to the road.

A few do have dropped kerbs and/or are proper garages - but that doesn't stop the ones that don't daubing 'DO NOT PARK' etc all over them. All these houses have parking/drives at the front - nobody on our road does, and ours is mostly flats so there are more cars than road anyway. It annoys me that they feel they can stop us parking on our road with these signs which are not enforceable in any way.

YANBU. No dropped kerb, no drive.

IMO it is wrong for people to create pretend 'drives' that involve driving across a footpath! I am sure this is illegal.

As a partially sighted pedestrian who is often walking with young children, I would be endangered by drivers who drove across a footpath where there was no dropped kerb to warn me to look out for them.

Well tbh I'm always very aware when walking along footpaths that drivers may reverse off their drive without seeing a small child at the back of their car.

Whether they have a dropped kerb or not.

TooExtraImmatureCheddar - does parking on the pavement not damage it the same way that driving over it does?

Nobody has entitlement to the space outside their home. We have permit parking and I haven't bothered buying a permit this year because the fucking council sells more permits than there are spaces. I park round the corner. We park where we can and even with the permit often had to park a fair walk away.

if the council sees people driving over raised kerbs the culprits are liable for any damage and will be charged a hefty amount. In this cash strapped time, LA's are VERY sharp about extracting money for road repairs wherever they can (pothole costs are huge ATM) . Several people in my street have been warned about this especially as it is a conservation area and you cannot gain permission to change front gardens into parking spaces if it involves removing any wall or permanent structure.

I would ignore anybody who came out and harassed me about 'their' parking space on a public road. It'd make me more likely to park there, bolshy cow that I am.

We have a couple of streets near a train station that are full of angry residents with no dropped curbs, paved over gardens. Unfortunately our childminder lives there too. Even though we never park near a paved over garden, someone has keyed both of our cars over last year.

I don't get why those people don't just apply for residential permits. Then our childminder could issue is with hourly visitor bits. Police aren't interested, don't want to claim on insurance as it just raises the premiums

Keying of cars stopped on a local street when a) security cameras went up on several houses pointed at street and b) notices went up reminding residents that any more keying of cars would result in residents cars being keyed in retaliation.

Gideon - of course drivers might reverse out of their drive. Driveways do not cross footpaths! There is no tactile guide (tactile paving/drop in level etc.) if someone is illegally driving over a footpath. This endangers people with poor sight.

There are driveways in our street with dropped kerbs where residents reverse off their drive, over the footpath and onto the road. There are no tactile guides in these cases. There is also a small row of council maintained garages for residents to rent - there are dropped kerbs here but again no tactile guides on the footpath.

Are these guides a legal requirement? If so, then even the council itself is non-compliant.

anniepanniepears your neighbour sounds bonkers. Why pay for a driveway (and the all important dropped kerb ) and then not bother using it?

Is she a bit difficult? Have you thought about having a word, simply saying 'As you park in front of house, do you have a problem with me parking in front of yours?'. If she says 'No , you'll block it' then get your best expression and point out she doesn't actually use it!

The drive that is, not the house.

Gideon she is totally bonkers you could not have a reasonable conversation with her
some day I might just park in front of it and see what happens

Gideon- I think the PP meant the dropped kerb itself acts as a tactile guide- as you approach there is a slight slope down to the dropped kerb which you can feel. I think also the PP might struggle to see where exactly a car might potentially be parked- ie where there is a wall or similar and no chance of a car being parked, where there is no wall but an ornamental garden and again no chance of a car, and where there is no wall but a paved garden. Don't forget, you can clearly see that there is a car there and be careful of it, whether or not it appears to be moving or not. The PP may not be able to, especially as it gets dark quite early and many people with impaired sight struggle in low lighting conditions.

I'm imagining walking down my parents' street where all the houses are set well back from the road and mostly detached, so there is plenty of space between gardens. It would be impossible to be on 'car alert' the entire time, it's a busy street. And in the event of hearing a change of note in a car engine indicating that they are pulling in/out, it would be very handy to know whether you were standing in someone's driveway or not, and therefore whether you should move as a precaution. Imagine if you thought you were not in a driveway and so stood still as a car drove straight at you- or you weren't sure so when you heard a car very close by you took a step backwards as a precaution- straight into its path (and of course the driver wouldn't have been expecting that!).

Crohnically sick - yes, your post expresses it exactly. Difficult for people with no experience of visual impairment to understand, I know. But it's important that there is a clear distinction between spaces where cars are not allowed to drive (footpaths) and where they are allowed (roads/driveways). People who drive over non-car areas are endangering pedestrians, especially those who are very young/very old/visually impaired etc. I wish they wouldn't.

Even though it's very obvious I have a dropped kerb (it's a different colour and texture from the pavement), I wouldn't be happy reversing out without the camera on the back of my car which gives me a fish eye view of the pavement either side of the car as well as directly behind me.

no dropped kerb means no drive.

however, if you know someone uses it as a drive (wrecking their suspension at the same time) then I do think out of decency it should be treated as a drive.

We have a paved garden and we just hope that no one parks outside it on the couple of times a year that we need to get our trailer tent on and off of it as that is what is stored in this place. We did try to get a drop kerb put in, as our neighbour with the exact same measurements of their drive had, but rules had changed and we couldn't. I would never dream of telling someone not to park there, but if I knew whose car it was and we wanted to get the tent off, I would cheekily ask if they would move for us to do so. It hasn't happened so far as our car tends to be there anyway.

Hi I live in preston and south ribble council told me they turn a blind eye to people parking on driveways without dropped kerbs as it solves them a problem of traffic not then parking at the roadside I have complained over this to the council many times but they just ignore my emails and letters. I have lots of photographs too but still no action from the council. But yet if you put in planning permission like I did for a proper driveway I must pay for the kerb dropping whilst next door park on there so called driveway without a dropped kerb and the council will not stop them .so not surprising people dont bother is it . I even called my local police and he came down to look and said he parked on his drive without a dropped kerb and didn't really see my problem , this has caused big problems with me and the lady living next door but the council and police will do nothing . I am also disabled so she now dose everything she can to block my car in than is parked legally at the roadside untill I get planning and also now spreads rumours saying I am not disabled and that I pretend,again the police said nothing they can do to stop her telling lies.
So all in all really if people park illegally and get blocked in they deserve it because being honest gets you nowhere. Mr X at lancashire highways has been disgraceful in the way he makes up the rules as he goes along I've had 3 of his office tell me if I keep quiet and dont complain about next door illegally parking they will let me do the same , I even have a council member on tspe telling me this . Im thinking of going to the news papers to see if they will cover the story or to watchdog . [post edited by MNHQ]

I can't believe what I have just read! Who in their right mind thinks it's ok to block "anyones drive" however they may have it, is just beyond me. The total lack of respect for someone else's drive way, out side their own home - dropped kerb or not just shows what lowlife is around today! Total disregard for others! I believe in karma.....so hopefully you'll get yours.

It's only common courtesy not to park in front of someone's house, dropped curb or no dropped curb. If you had a problem with workmen obstructing your usual parking space, you should have taken it up with them. It's just rude to park in front of someone else's property without their permission, whether the law says you can or can't.

We have this on our road. Neighbours have block paved their 'drive' and no dropped kerb. People regularly park outside their house when they are out and they always look fuming when they come home!

Lozzy93

If you had a problem with workmen obstructing your usual parking space, you should have taken it up with them.

Since the original post is from 2013 I should imagine the workmen have just about finished the job by now...