to have expected a slightly more empathetic response from this Range Rover driver?

[TheOneWithTheNicestSmile]

It's pouring with rain.

The (shiny new) Range Rover is parked bang in the middle of 2 spaces outside my house with the engine running.

I park across the road, then tap on her window & say "you realise you're parked across 2 spaces?"

Super-groomed blonde perma-tanned woman driver responds "this is a public road & I've just paid £500 to tax my car"

Maybe, maybe not - the sort of person who parks like a twunt tends to be fairly robust in their response to anyone who asks them (nicely or otherwise) to move. It could have gone either way.

I'm a great parker I really am. But yesterday I parked like a twunt briefly. I was calling the police after following the suspect who burgled my neighbours flat this week. .

I wonder if someone is bitching on the internet somewhere about it? Prob not as I drive a small car and am not blonde or tanned.

But I bet that if someone had spoken to you about your parking your first reaction would have been to explain why you had parked that eay, as opposed to telling them you could park where you liked and what your road tax bill was

As I said previously, this sort of scorn is reserved for drivers of NICE, EXPENSIVE petrol guzzlers.

I think the problem is more that those who drive 4x4s and people carriers sometimes find them difficult to manoeuvre, hence they will do thinks like parking across two spaces and taking hours to wriggle into and out of spaces in multi-storey car parks; and because they are big cars, they are all the more noticeable.

I'm with SirChenjin, I couldn't give a stuff whether anyone else's car is bigger or more expensive than mine, and if the drivers of 4x4s think that the general populace is seething with envy whenever they see them drive by they're sadly deluded. However, I do give a stuff if someone thinks that driving a big car gives them the right to be an inconsiderate idiot.

I think the problem is more that those who drive 4x4s and people carriers sometimes find them difficult to manoeuvre, hence they will do thinks like parking across two spaces and taking hours to wriggle into and out of spaces in multi-storey car parks; and because they are big cars, they are all the more noticeable.

The last six words are the only true ones in that statement, Ici! Oh, and the key word "sometimes", of course
Believe you me, I have sat for an absolute age on many occasions whilst I wait for the driver of a small car to try to wriggle into a parking space. This is simply bad driving, nothing to do with the size of the car at all.

I also agree that it is not necessarily jealousy, more an inbred, unjustifiable blanket hatred and prejudice of something some people just do not like, so it is easier to label ALL people driving a certain style of car or looking a certain way.

I've driven cars of all sizes in my 36 yrs of driving, including Minis, Renault 5s, Range Rovers and all sorts in between (on my third RR now in the last 17 years). I also drive our work vans, including a long wheel-base Mercedes Sprinter (quite big). I have no problem with parking, so highly object to being lumped in with a certain perceived stereotype, just because it's easy for a certain section of society to do so.

It still all boils down to good manners, pure and simple. If OP had asked nicely for the owner of THAT car to move up a bit, I have no doubt she would have done so quite happily.

This really has turned into a 4x4 bash-up, hasn't it? and and also a little

And now I think I'll go out for a ride on my

Not ALL - but there are certain makes of cars which tend to attract a certain type of person. There's some really interesting reading out there on the subject, which certainly bears out my 26 years of driving and significant commuting mileage. Of course there are exceptions, but as with every label and lifestyle choices certain people are attracted to certain cars more than others.

And I doubt that the 4x4 driver would have happily moved - but we'll never know

sirC no way!! I was undercover

How exciting!!!

EvansOval, if you acknowledge that the use of the word "sometimes" in the bit of my post that you have quoted is correct, then you acknowledge that the entire quote is correct. It's basic logic.

I also didn't deny that drivers of all sorts of cars sometimes have trouble manoeuvring into parking spaces. My point is that big cars are more noticeable, and I must say I've regularly sat waiting in multi storey car parks thinking "If you can't cope with a people carrier, don't sodding drive one, and definitely don't try to reverse park."

One of the local councillors designate, a lovely young man, was due round to pick up some stuff. He seemed to be taking a long time getting here and when he arrived was hot and flustered and said he'd had to park in [basically the other side of town] bacause he couldn't park out front. Yes, there were spaces but he's never learned to parallel park.
Irrelevant to the thread but it really made me snigger in a satisfyingly superior manner. [Grin]