to think that either there should be a limit to the number of cars kept at one address or that developers should be forced to plan adequate parking on new estates (another parking thread!!!)

[FeelingSoLucky]

DH and I have spent 7 years of racing to be the first home so we can both get parked due to having really inconsiderate neighbours who took up more than their fair share of space in a joint parking bay in front of both of our houses. Plenty of room to park the 4 cars we had between us but their parking was so bad, we could only fit 3 in.

They've now moved out, the house is empty and on the market so next door but one neighbours have now started parking there and today have blocked access to my drive. There are 5 adults in their house (mum, dad & three grown up kids/partners of kids... I don't know, they've never made any effort to speak to us in 7 years and I gave up years ago) who all have cars, meaning not only do they fill up their drive, they park on their front garden. So now they've decided they're going to take our parking space as well.

I know parking threads are boring but I'm home alone with a young baby and just needed to vent!! I will be speaking to them if the situation continues.

But it did get me thinking - with the amount of threads about parking problems that you see on here, it's obviously not just a problem where I live. So I was wondering, do people think there should be a cap on the amount of vehicles that can be kept at an adress? Or should developers of new estates be forced to build houses with adequate parking for the number of occupants that could possibly live in the house. A 5 bed roomed detached could easily house 5+ car owning adults yet there is never usually space for more than 2 cars.

We're looking to move house but we're being put off a number of new estates because cars are crammed onto every available bit of off road space or at the side of every road because houses are not given enough parking space.

Rant over... I'm off to make a cuppa!

Where I live they they have just introduced resident only parking during the daytime

Your car has to be registered at your address and you get 1 free permit
Any extra ones are charged at £100 max of 3 inc free permit

If you have a driveway your expected to use it and if you want to buy a permit its £250 per year per car if you have a driveway and need an extra permit
Again max of 3 permits I think

You also get 50 free day/ visitors permits and then it approx £100 per £50

Otherwise you have to pay via the parking meters

The estates round here have enough parking spaces in planning terms but these spaces are often not in front of houses but in courtyards to the rear. Nobody uses them, preferring to park by their front door but when new developments are proposed with these layouts the planners have no power to refuse as they technically meet the required standard. They know nobody will use their allocated parking but because it exists it's not a reason for refusal.

I agree with Fleta re considerate parking. My issue is not that there is theoretically not enough space for DH and I to get parked but that my previous neighbours would leave such a gap between their cars that it if they got parked up first, there would only be enough room for 3 cars instead of 4. Also my other issue is that a neighbour with a driveway and front garden which is regularly used for parking has now decided that that parking bay in front of our house which they have seen us using for 7 years is now the place where she wants to park without any consideration for us. One of the reasons we bought this house was for the apparent ease of parking but it has ended up being worse than the ex-council house we used to own. When we move again, I'll be making sure there's enough of a driveway to park both our cars (ours is tiny, too narrow & too often blocked off by inconsiderate parkers).

My old house was within a 7 minute walk from the centre of town and the mainline railway station. Because it was not considered to be a major road, the council refused to introduce any parking restrictions. It just became a free car park for commuters who left their cars on both sides of the road (leaving narrow gap in between so no chance of emergency vehicles having access). The commuters would start arriving at around 6 am and vehicles were often still there at 8 pm Monday to Friday. It was awful but I realised I had to put up with it as I did have space for two cars on the drive but inconsiderate commuters sometimes made it difficult to access.

It was one of the major considerations we had when we moved and luckily we now don't have any problems at all. Wonderful.

Fleta, I know you are particularly annoyed at people parking badly, but these threads are mostly about there not being enough spaces anyway. Number 7 comes home and finds 'his' space full so he parks in front of Number 5 and then rants about it being unfair that people park outside other people's houses

Absolutely. I don't have a problem and can't understand why people get so peeved about not being able to park directly outside their house. Of course there are exceptions where its necessary or would be useful as a one off and I can totally see why people get angry in this case.

But I still think that if everybody were to be conscious of how they park etc it would make life a lot easier for everyone, especially as there are more and more cars on the road needing to be parked