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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to park in this street?

119 replies

ashmts · 03/02/2015 18:23

Parking thread. I work in a hospital in a residential area of a large town. Parking is terrible, the main car park is for visitors only and has a limit of 4 hours. There are smaller car parks for people with permits (only staff who work between sites or are on call) or one car park for all staff with about 30 spaces which are full well before I start work.

The only option is to park in one of the streets nearby. For the past couple of months I've been parking in a cul de sac which has 6 spaces in the middle for cars. Every house also has a driveway and obviously by parking in the space I never block anyone's. Today I left work to find a note on my windscreen from a resident saying the spaces are for the use of residents only, not staff of the hospital.

So, what do I do? I do understand it would be annoying but it's a public road and I need to park somewhere. Before I could drive I had to get two trains and a bus to and from work (an hour and a half each way) so I'm not going to stop driving to work.

OP posts:
PetraDelphiki · 03/02/2015 18:25

Unless they want to get the council to put in proper residents parking, or its a private road then tough luck for them. Public road means you can park there if you want.

DoJo · 03/02/2015 18:25

Is it a private road?

TheTravellingLemon · 03/02/2015 18:26

If it's a public road and there are no signs anywhere saying they're private spaces, I'd say park away.

I got shouted at yesterday for parking in a visitor space where I live because the car park is being resurfaced. Boy, was I mad.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 03/02/2015 18:27

If there is no signage to say that the parking is Residents Only, then you are absolutely within your rights to park there.

Where I used to live, our local hospital was as bad as yours sounds, for parking. I was lucky that dh used to drop me off for work, and pick me up at the end of my shift, but the majority if patients, visitors and staff found parking a nightmare, and many had to park on local streets.

The hospital had submitted a planning request for a multi storey car park, but local residents objected to that - and then objected when people parked in their roads because the parking at the hospital was so inadequate!

NotOnMyWatchOhNo · 03/02/2015 18:27

Park there, it's a public road, they have drives.

WowOoo · 03/02/2015 18:27

Could you find some other streets and alternate where you park?

You can park where you like , but I suppose it must be incredibly annoying for residents to have streets filled with hospital staff. They did choose to live near a hospital - they must be used to it by now.

I'd ignore the note basically!

TidyDancer · 03/02/2015 18:28

Most parking bays like you describe have been owned by the houses nearby ime. Have you checked if this is the case?

joanne1947 · 03/02/2015 18:28

I have sympathy for you and for local residents. I worked shifts most of my life and depending on the shift would either get a bus then train, then bus to work or drive to the station and get a train and bus.

It is really annoying for residents to have all the parking spaces taken up all day. Where I live my car is in the driveway and at weekends the roads are packed with parked cars, if my kids visit they can't park near my house.
No easy solution but to be honest it does seem to me that people who work in hospitals seem to think they should be allowed to drive to work while other shift workers have to rely on public transport.
One place I lived was near a big office block and parking was a nightmare.

Original poster
ashmts · 03/02/2015 18:34

I think it's a public road. What's a private road legally? It's just a normal street with twenty houses.

How would I check who owns the spaces? The ones in my street are just communal, I thought they were council owned.

I don't think I should be allowed to drive just because I work in a hospital Confused If public transport's unfeasible for people of course they're going to drive to work.

OP posts:
rinabean · 03/02/2015 18:38

Private roads usually have signs up saying so

It takes a special someone to complain about hospital workers though honestly. When people are parking on your road to do something like go up the shops, or to avoid paying in a car park that has plenty of space, that's annoying. But to work in a hospital?! Most people would be okay with that

RaptorInaPorkPieHat · 03/02/2015 18:41

When you say spaces, do you mean parking bays, as in marked out specifically for parking or just space in the road (I'm confused). As that would make a difference.

CheeseandPickledOnion · 03/02/2015 18:41

I live in a cul-de-sac like you describe. All privately owned houses with parking for one car outside the house. Then we have visitor/second spaces in a car park around the back. It is not a public car park, they are all specifically owned by each house and on the deeds. I suspect you are parking in someone elses owned secondary/visitor space. That's rude.

OddBoots · 03/02/2015 18:42

It really doesn't sound like you have any choice.

CheeseandPickledOnion · 03/02/2015 18:43

On street parking is different, but what you describe is specific and sounds very much like the set up here.

OddBoots · 03/02/2015 18:46

Oh, I think I was wrong. I thought you meant normal on-street parking but it is sounding more like this is private parking.

TedAndLola · 03/02/2015 18:46

Park away. It's highly unlikely that they own the road in front of their houses, especially if they already have drives. Unless these are marked bays with door numbers on them, or with signs up, they are there for the taking.

Territorial parking really irritates me. I looked at a few houses near the local hospital and vetoed all of them because I could see parking would be a nightmare. I would be both stupid and unreasonable to move there and then moan at hospital staff for parking.

TedAndLola · 03/02/2015 18:48

FWIW I live in a cul-de-sac. I have a driveway at the side of the house which is mine, as do other houses. Then there are marked out bays dotted around the road in front of our houses, which anybody can park in.

Original poster
ashmts · 03/02/2015 18:48

In the middle of the cul de sac there's a round bit of grass and on the grass there's a tarmac bit with room for three cars. At the end of the cul de sac there's room for three more just on the road facing into the kerb. No white lines or numbers so I wouldn't have thought they were owned by the houses?

OP posts:
itiswhatitiswhatitis · 03/02/2015 18:49

Are they parking bays or is it just space on the road side? If they are parking bays then it is possible that you shouldn't be parking there

MrsPeterQuill · 03/02/2015 18:51

I have sympathy for you and the homeowner. Our local hospital was built in the seventies and as a consequence didn't have adequate parking, so everyone, staff and patients, parked on the surrounding roads. However, the council, then made all the nearby roads in the area permit parking only. So beware, you may eventually have to find somewhere else to park anyway.

TedAndLola · 03/02/2015 18:52

ashmts they would surely be marked if they belonged to the houses, especially if hospital parking is an issue around there. The owners would be stupid not to!

There must be a way you can check, if this is bothering you. Maybe call the council?

FreeWee · 03/02/2015 18:55

It doesn't matter who you work for residents hate workers parking in 'their' streets. Place I worked previously had car park then when it was full people parked on the road and got notes about parking in the (full) car park. Place I work now has car parks plural then when they are full people park on the streets. Plenty of damage done to cars and notes left. Most residents have got the council to implement residents only parking areas. So now we park slightly further away outside someone else's house till the same thing happens. It's regardless of who you work for. There just aren't enough spaces. Sucks for people who can't park outside their house but if they own driveways what's the real problem? I'm sure it'd tick me off but that's why I bought a house with a driveway for 2 cars! If you live near a large employer it's to be expected.

PoppySausage · 03/02/2015 18:57

My cul de sac has no sign but each house owns a space and we leave notes explaining this if we get persistent parkers. We have no other place to park and while it may look appealing, coming home at lunch time to find 2 cars in our spaces infuriates me

Original poster
ashmts · 03/02/2015 18:58

I could park on the road beside the kerb in between driveways (is that on street parking? I haven't been driving that long) but that would probably be more intrusive and annoying for them to have to drive round me.

Last summer I parked on a street slightly further away just beside the kerb with no issues and I can go back to doing that in a few months but it's just too cold and dark to want to walk the extra ten minutes each way. Alternating where I park is probably the best idea so nobody really recognises the car.

I'm just annoyed that it bothers someone so much they write a note! Maybe parking on the street but not in the space would be the best, most passive-aggressive thing to do?

OP posts:
ginmakesitallok · 03/02/2015 19:00

If it's a public road then you can park there, tough luck for the residents. They should be going to the council and asking for resident only parking. Residents round our hospital did it and got all the parking changed to resident permit parking only.