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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
vtechjazz · 06/12/2013 14:26

missing, pushing down wing mirrors is a damn stupid thing to do...you are reducing their visibility just before they are about to drive near walking kids and familys. Yes, they should check, but if they forget or are too lazy to fix it then they can't see a whole side if their car.

MrsCosmopilite · 06/12/2013 14:30

To clarify, the Highway Code states that:

“You MUST NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement in London, and should not do so elsewhere unless signs permit it.”

Bunbaker · 06/12/2013 14:38

"YANBU they do it because they are lazy and selfish."

Some of them are. Some of them really don't have any choice. Blame the Victorian town planners for not anticipating the fact that most households now own a car.

DoubleLifeIsALifeOfSorts · 06/12/2013 14:46

Drivers DO have a choice, I do not unfortuneately. When you park right up on the pavement you stop me from being able to use the pavement on my mobility scooter. And then when someone parks right up to the bollards at the end of the road, it means I cannot get through at all. I then have to turn round and go home. I'm not well enough to go the extra mile around and still make it to work. But hey ho, disabled people don't actually have a right to use public space, and they don't actually need to go outside their homes. Probably better for all if they are trapped inside.

So yes I bloody do get annoyed by it. Likewise when people park blocking dropped kerbs and stop me from crossing a road. I've not been able to pick my son from nursery once because of this.

Selfish fuckers.

Bunbaker · 06/12/2013 15:35

I guess the only answer is don't buy a house without off road parking if you have a car or if you do, make sure it is on a street wide enough to park on without mounting the pavement.

NotSoChicAfterAll · 06/12/2013 15:48

This gets me so angry it's untrue, I feel like keeping a load of post it notes with Cunt written on it to put on the cars.

perlona · 06/12/2013 16:33

This used to drive me insane when I was using a pram and had to walk out onto a busy road to get around cars. As infuriating as it is for parents forced to endanger their babies, it must be a hundredfold for wheelchair users. I would love to see any cars obstructing the pavement being immediately confiscated, that would put an end to inconsiderate parkers.

BakeOLiteGirl · 06/12/2013 16:40

Parking like this is a competitive sport in Bristol. A competition to park like the biggest wanker.

My son once got knocked by a car driving off of a pavement. As I was knelt down checking him over another car on the road beeped their horn for me to get out of the way so they could park.

I was fucking raging.

Bunbaker · 06/12/2013 16:43

Perhaps you could lobby the councils to put double yellow lines on these narrow streets and to provide better public transport so that people don't need cars.

BackforGood · 06/12/2013 18:09

I'm awfully glad the people in the narrow road round the corner from us all park on the pavement (which still leaves room for double buggies and/or wheelchairs), as it means the fire engines can actually get along the street and to where they need to be as fast as they safely can. The fire station is just on the next road along.

silverten · 06/12/2013 18:22

Perhaps you could lobby the councils to put double yellow lines on these narrow streets and to provide better public transport so that people don't need cars.

Hahaha. In the medieval town where I live, the place is one continuous double yellow line. Just down the road from me is a theatre/dance studio with double yellows and double pavement stripes as far as the eye can see, and three car parks within 50m of the doors. (It's town centre, so plenty of buses- but TBH I can't see bus use being at all practical for parents in this example.)

Where do the yummy mummies park when they are picking up their ballerinas from class? Yes- right by the doors, two wheels on the pavement, and often over the dropped kerb that marks the crossing point.

Some people are just total fuckwits.

mollypup · 06/12/2013 18:34

Although I understand why it annoys pedestrians, it is pretty commonplace where I live. It is equally annoying for drivers who are queuing due to some twat parking a foot away from the kerb!!

lozster · 07/12/2013 07:51

Ooh close to my heart! I had to push my 3 month old baby in the road by a school on a country lane where a 40 is just turning in to a 60 because of one woman parking on the pavement by an embankment. I had already not been able to use a drop kerb as someone was parked over it and had had to step on to the muddy verge to avoid being run over by someone mounting the pavement. I took photos on my mobile, rang the school and then saw the woman coming out and made her stop to talk to me as she wanted to drive away with the fey oops silly me ha ha manner thing going on. This attitude changed pretty quickly to the belligerence of a five year old once I challenged her on her parking. Apparently everyone does it and she doesn't have time to park in a side road where I live one minute away as she is a working mum. She drove off shouting at me that I was making a fuss over nothing. The police thought differently and sent the PCSO out for a week to supervise the school pick up. He said he spoke to 8 parents a day about their parking. What bugged me was that they were parking on the pavement when they could have just parked on the road anyway - it would have made no difference to accessibility on the road. The offence isnt parking on the pavement per se (except in London) it is causing an obstruction and driving over the pavement. Also there are two village car parks to use and only the one closest to the school gets used. Selfish selfish selfish.

lozster · 07/12/2013 07:58

mollypup traffic flow being disrupted due to parking away from the kerb isn't really the same thing as parking on pavements which puts the pedestrian in danger as they are forced in to the road or that they are unable to get by at all in the case of wheel chairs or mobility scooters.

ivykaty44 · 07/12/2013 08:08

we have a local man who has to use the road to get his ds to school - he wheels his chair along as he is unable to get along the pavement due to cars parking on the pavement and he can't get though, some cars will have left enough room but there will be the odd one or two that are parked closer in and then the man can't turn round he would have to reverse twenty cars or so to get out and then go down the road anyway. He then gets beeped at by drivers being held up, as they can't get passed him due to the cars parked and the road being narrow.

Possibly the answer is to get ride of the pavements altogether and give right of way to pedestrians on this type of road and make drivers slow down to 5mph in built up areas with terraced houses.

Financeprincess · 07/12/2013 08:25

That is shocking, Ivykaty. Poor bloke.

I don't understand why some posters (obviously those who park selfishly) are suggesting that it's a choice between pedestrians and emergency vehicles - suck it up, wheelchair and pram users, because by parking on the pavement and stopping you from using it, we drivers are making space for gallant fire engines - when surely it's the parked cars that shouldn't be permitted on narrow roads?

I know that some streets were not designed for cars (those short sighted medieval town planners!) but surely anybody could anticipate that parking would be difficult before buying the house/car? You don't have a divine right to block the road with your car just because you live there.

SanityClause · 07/12/2013 08:38

I once asked a special constable to have a word at a site where some builders were building a couple of big houses. It was right on a busy corner, which is dangerous at the best of times, and they were all parking cars and vans right on the corner, and partly on the footpath. He got a panicky look in his eyes, and told me I should speak to the council about it, and scurried off.

However, another time, many years ago, DH and I had parked with two wheels on the footpath outside our house in a village. We thought we were doing the right thing, as it meant traffic was not so badly obstructed. There was still room to walk on the footpath. The local policemen knocked on our door, and politely asked us to move. His attitude was that he would rather give pedestrians more room, and our car would actually act as a chicane to slow traffic down in the village!

Bakerof3pudsxx · 07/12/2013 08:44

Some idiot used to do this outside my house, when I had a tandem pram and so could not get in or out of my garden gate

It stopped when I stuck a nasty note on the windscreen

There is an Asda delivery driver who parks like this when I am on my way to work, drives me crackers, I no longer care if I scratch his van with my pram

It's almost as bad as when the bin man leaves bins scattered all across the path

Squidwardtenticles · 07/12/2013 10:48

When my children were small we had to weave in and out of cars all the time on the school run.
Once we nearly got run over. So i stayed on the pavement, if the pram scratched a car then tough. I wasn't prepared to put my dc at risk.

Mrsb999 · 07/12/2013 11:22

To be honest I used to park on the pavement and not even give it a second thought. Now I have DS I can see what a pain in the ass it causes buggy/wheelchair users etc. we have actually just paid for a lampost to be moved in order for us to double up our driveway so I don't have to do that anymore! I've had my wing mirror damaged in the past as a result of parking on the pavement so at least this won't happen now!

Iamsparklyknickers · 07/12/2013 11:56

So when I get knocked over because I have to walk in the road to pass, it's just dandy because an ambulance can now get to me Hmm

I do sympathise to a point with people who are living in areas that were built long before car ownership was a thing, but the choices left aren't really justifiable either way imo.

There are alternatives to car ownership - plenty of people manage without one, so for me heavy shopping and/or children still aren't good enough reasons to put pedestrians in danger or obstruct the road.

I accept that my opinion is a drop in the ocean with how our society actually operates today though Xmas Smile

tinkertitonk · 07/12/2013 12:57

If an ambulance can't get through that's bad news for one person. If a fire engine can't get through that's bad news for a street of houses.

Which is why the firemen tell us to park on the pavement.

Taz1212 · 07/12/2013 13:23

It drives me bonkers where we live. We're in a small cul de sac where there is enough parking for each house to have one extra car in the parking bays. It would be great except for the fact that one house owns 6 cars, the next one owns 3 and the next one along owns 4. Everyone ends up parking on the pavement and quite often on the pavement directly across from our drive making it very difficult for us to get out. There's not much we can do about it but hope that some of the extended family in these houses eventually move out!

ivykaty44 · 07/12/2013 13:49

which firemen tell you to park on pavements?

It was a bit silly when a 4x4 parked on the pavement down my old street - the 4x4 went through the pavement and into the cellar of the house it had parked in front of. The houses were built around 1900 and the cellars went out at the front under the pavement - the pavement wasn't strong enough to take the weight of a 4x4.

This isn't an unusual build for this time and so you do need to be careful as pavements are not built for the wear and tear that a road is built to withstand.

The 4x4 stayed for a few days whilst a crane and truck was organised to pull it out, then the council had to repair the pavement and sent the bill to the resident who passed it on to the 4x4 driver....

ZombieMojaveWonderer · 07/12/2013 14:25

No YANBU but all of those who are deliberately causing damage to these cars are BU. To push past cars and not care if you damage them is really not on. I agree they shouldn't be parked on the path so perhaps getting in touch with the council or local MP would be better and maybe get some bollards put up to prevent it instead. If you don't complain nothing will be done.