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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to get really annoyed with cars that park on the pavement?

108 replies

IsItEvilLegal · 04/12/2013 21:15

They are all over the place around here. It REALLY bugs me.

I don't even know if it's legal, but it's public pavements. It's not always even infront of houses, so I can't see the reasoning.

Am I the only one this really gets on the wick of?

OP posts:

Halloweenjunkie · 04/12/2013 21:23

YANBU. Annoys the hell out of me, especially when I have to negotiate my oversized pram past said cars. I've nearly taken a few wing mirrors with me...

Domaby · 04/12/2013 21:26

It's really annoying. I came across a totally ridiculous one yesterday. A car had parked completely blocking the pavement (i.e. parked alongside a garden wall but completely on the pavement so that no-one could get through). A second car had parked at the curb next to it, so to get round I had to push the buggy right out into the road past the car that was parked on the road.

Salmotrutta · 04/12/2013 21:31

I'm sure it's not legal to do this.

You are not supposed to block pavements or cause obstructions - that's why shopkeepers etc. are supposed to get permission to put out those hoarding things etc.

Why should a person with a pram or wheelchair have to go into the road because of a selfish knobber?!

I hate this too!

Goofymum · 04/12/2013 21:33

I think it is illegal if it is blocking a public footpath. It is very very annoying especially for wheelchair users, those with buggies, in fact it's annoying for anyone who then has to step off the pavement and walk into the road to get past. Makes me mad too.

LE89 · 04/12/2013 21:37

YANBU- this used to be a common problem where we used to live and as there are a lot of bungalows on the road, a lot of wheelchair users had to use the road! Have you got any PCSOs in your area? A quick word with them ended up in "polite notices" being out through everyone's door and then, for anyone who continued to park on the pavement, notes on the windscreen...stopped people parking when they realised police/PCSOs were monitoring the problem!

harticus · 04/12/2013 21:43

Where I used to live the streets were so narrow the cars had to park up on the pavements. (Blame medieval town planning.)
I agree that with push/wheel chairs it is a massive pita but some drivers have no choice.

MiniSoksMakeHardWork · 04/12/2013 21:58

Yanbu. It's very satisfying scraping up the side as you walk past with pram though. As is the passive-aggressive apology note left stuck to the window.

BackOnlyBriefly · 04/12/2013 22:05

I do get why drivers do it, but not sure 'drivers have no choice.' is really an excuse. If there's no safe place to park then surely you shouldn't park (but give your MP hell for allowing things to get so stupid)

Perhaps when the pavements are full we might get people parking on people's lawns or roses.

Financeprincess · 04/12/2013 22:06

The drivers do have a choice, harticus. They could park elsewhere and walk.

No, OP, you are not being unreasonable. Far from it. It's pure selfishness. I get really annoyed when I have to take a buggy into the road because some inconsiderate bugger has blocked the pavement with a car.

There is a supermarket I sometimes walk to with a buggy where selfish people park at the bottom of the ramp designed for prams and wheelchairs. Why? Because they are too lazy to park in a parking space and waddle twenty metres to the shop and the ramp is near the entrance. It means that the people using the ramp have to go around the car, into the area where cars drive towards the exit. It's busy, and dangerous because drivers can't always see you. Occasionally there will be somebody sitting in the driver's seat waiting for their wife/husband to shamble out of the shop with ciggies/pies and I ask them politely not to park there in future. I always get a mouthful in response!

I'd like to see people being fined for this sort of thing.

Sirzy · 04/12/2013 22:12

If a road is too narrow to park without parking on the pavement then park somewhere else!

It really bugs the worst are the people who park blocking the pavement but have a drive big enough to fit the car on (normally parking on road to stop having to swap cars around)

GimmeDaBoobehz · 04/12/2013 22:15

Mini :o sounds too tempting.

I know I hamate it my partner is blind and his guide dog finds navigating it a nightmare. Grrr.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 04/12/2013 22:20

My dad used to be a Special constable, and one day he was in his local police station, talking to the desk sergeant who was his friend, when a very angry lorry driver came in to report that he had just been told off by woman with a pram, for parking his lorry on the pavement obstructing it. He pointed out of the window, and said, "there's the mad old bitch now!". The desk sergeant looked where he was pointing, and replied "That mad old bitch is my wife!". The lorry driver left, and moved his lorry immediately!

LST · 04/12/2013 22:20

I might get spikes attached to my buggy wheels for this very reason!

YANBU

NannyR · 04/12/2013 22:23

This drives me mad on the school run. There are loads of parking spaces on surrounding roads, but parents choose to park their 4x4's on the narrow road outside the school as near to the gate as possible. They park on the pavement meaning its impossible to get the pram past. What's even worse is that they reverse park onto the pavement as kids are walking past.

HopAlongOnItsOnlyChristmas · 04/12/2013 22:27

I have very bad thoughts along the lines of 'wouldn't it be a shame for you if I accidentally took a chunk out of your paintwork trying to squeeze my pushchair past your illegally parked car?' when cars block paths like this. I don't actually do it because I'm scared of getting shouted at but it is so tempting.

MsPavlichenko · 04/12/2013 22:53

It is always unacceptable. If there is no space to park on the road, then park elsewhere and walk. My son uses a Power Drive wheelchair, it cannot be bumped up and down kerbs. I have more than once had to turn back and retrace route as we cannot get by. This is more than a massive PITA to be honest.

I agree that there should be enforceable penalties.

LetsFaceTheMusicAndDance · 04/12/2013 23:01

YANBU it pisses me off majorly too.

BohemianGirl · 04/12/2013 23:48

Is it an area thing? here we used to park with two wheels on the pavement to avoid two lines of parked cars in the kerb obstructing the road.

There have been changes in parking bylaws, so every other house is 2 wheels up, then all four in the kerb, which IMHO is more dangerous as it makes the road slalome-like.

We do have wide pavements though, you could walk three abreast in double buggies and you could still park up on the pavement.

ecofreckle · 04/12/2013 23:54

not at all op. drives me crazy. having to bump buggy down kerb into oncoming traffic. I moan out loud.

missingmumxox · 05/12/2013 00:13

don't get me started! I had twins and therefore a double pram... unfortunatly more than once my pram either scratched their paint work or clipped a mirror, never deliberately its just I refused to go on the road.
once however it was impossible to get past the car and we did have to go out onto the road as no pavement on the other side.

I said really loudly to my Brother, people like this really piss me off, I feel like breaking their wing mirrors.... cue me clipping the wing mirror as another car came past and the whole bloody thing falling off, me, brother and cousin where hyperventalating with mirth by the time we got back to the pavement...I still can't believe it happened.

I realised on getting my nice new car a lot of wing mirrors filp in, so now outside my boys school as we walk up the road I make sure I am on the outside and happily flip the wing mirrors in with my arm as i stroll past...I see it as a service to save them from a inadvertant nug from a pram which could actually case damage.

missingmumxox · 05/12/2013 00:15

oh and forgot to piss them off, when they realise the mirror is in and they have to get back out of their car.

ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight · 05/12/2013 00:16

YANBU get someone in a wheelchair to phone up and report them

Everyone else, take a photo and tweet it to yplac shame the buggers. They park wholly on the path round here, infuriates me when walking ds to school. But then round here you have to dodge and slalom round parked cars and piles of dogshit both of which make me

Squidwardtenticles · 05/12/2013 00:18

yes! some twat parks his whole car on the pavement where live. it's right on the mail road so pedestrians have to walk on the road to get past.

lessonsintightropes · 05/12/2013 00:26

Think this sounds like a nightmare - but where I live (SE London) cars are signposted to parking half up the curb due to access for fire engines etc up the street. It irritates me as a pedestrian without a pram but don't see a better option for our street - are you somewhere with similar issues?

BackforGood · 05/12/2013 00:37

Totally depends on the width of the road and the width of the pavement.
Near where I work for example, you could park 2 cars side by side on the pavement, and still have room for a cycle lane, a wheelchair users and a parent with a pushchair to walk along side by side, but it causes miles of traffic chaos if someone stops on the rather narrow road.

I think the rule of thumb is - it is unreasonable to park on the pavement if a wheelchair or double buggy can't get along the pavement. If they can, then it's not an issue.

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