Bit of a parking one....

[SwashbucklinInBrooklyn]

I'll try to be brief with this...

For background, my street is made up of about half semi-detached houses and half terraced. I am in the last of the semis, there is a big detached bungalow next to me, then the terraced houses. It sort of works out that the terraced houses have enough room for one car using on-street parking, and the semis have enough room for two each. it's not official, but it just works quite wll

My house has a very narrow "drive". It's in inverted commas, because it's really too small to squeeze a normal sized car in, but it does have a dropped kerb in front of it. We always just park across it.

I live at number 20 and the house at number 10 is having lots of work done to it, so there have been trades vehicles knocking around the street for a couple of weeks now. I went out shopping today in my car, and when I returned there was a flatbed van, with a cage round it, parked in front of my house. Between number 10 and my house, there were 4 other trades vehicles (another of these flatbeds, two transit vans and a Kangoo. There was also a smaller van parked in front of the bungalow next door.
In the van in front of my house, there were 3 of the tradesmen sitting reading papers. They had parked so there was a bit of space at both sides of their vehicle, but not enough either side to pull a car into.
I pulled up at the side of them, and asked if they could possibly move up so I could get my car in, because that was my house, and they driver said "it might be your house, but it's not your road"
I was a bit surprised, but replied "I realise that, but if you could pull up, then we can both fit in." He just said "We need space to load the van up" and wound his window up.

I ended up parking in front of number 2, and as I had my 5 year old DS and my 18 month old nephew with me, plus the weekly shopping, it was a little inconvenient. I genuinely couldn't get all of the bags - and because my house isn't really toddler-proof any more, I couldn't really leave my nephew in the house while I made several trips, as I would have if it had just been my son.

Anyway, it's not a big deal, but I wondered if it would be reasonable of me to go and have a chat with the owner of the house having the work done, to ask if we can work something out. It is going to be at least 2, possibly 3 more weeks, and to be honest, it really pissed me off.
I know I don't own the road, and have no entitlement to park there, but I was really polite, and they are taking up a huge amount of space on a daily basis. I thought of busting out the "dropped kerb" rule, even though it's not a proper drive, but thought this might me look a bit dickish.
What do you reckon?

YABU

As you already stated, you don't own the road and have no entitlement to park there.

That's the end of it unfortunately.

A public road is a free car park.

While he's right about it not being your road, if you have a dropped kerb and drive then he should move. He didn't have to move just because you wanted to park outside your house but should have if he was blocking your drive.

Can you not widen it at all so you can use it as a proper drive in the future?

It can't be widened as we have a fence which is the boundary between our house and the bungalow next door (about a three inch gap between the fence and the bungalow) and then our house on the other side. The trouble is, we can get it in so far, but as soon as the house begins, then there is no room to open a door. I could technically park in it, and be sticking out onto the pavement a bit. Otherwise it's only any use if I'm on my own, as I can literally just squeeze out of one door, and have no chance of opening the boot or anything. However, it is a dropped kerb, and I remember reading somewhere, that they are not supposed to be blocked?
I wasn't expecting them to park anywhere else, but he was pretty rude to me, and it wouldn't have killed them to pull up a bit (particularly as they are using 6 pretty big vehicles)
Just as a bit of extra info, they aren't in the van any more, but at no point since my return have they loaded anything into the van :(

And no dont speak to your neighbor, you have to put up with it or make your drive accessible. Presumably if there's a dropped kerb then someone had to pay for it because they were using the drive?

I think there's always been a dropped kerb - several houses have got them on our road, but with very small drives. It really isn't big enough, and I've only got a little car.
I think my neighbour from across the road is having a "chat" with them about the same thing right now. He has a usable drive, but chooses to park on the street, and I think one of the vans might be blocking it - but - conversely - he doesn't have a dropped kerb!

He didn't need to be rude and yes you can be fined in dome boroughs for blocking a dropped kerb. If the drive is that small maybe he missed it? He may have moved (disgruntled) if you did and just thought you were being precious about parking in front of your house.

If this happens a lot then check the kerb is registered with your council and tell them they are parking on your drive and to move next time.

Gosh your road seems like hard work. It's a free country. Did you ask nicely? It would have been good of them to move but they didn't.

Its a few weeks work- bit of give and take? U might want work done in the future. Keep things nice.

Well you neighbour may be out of luck, depending on your council it's sometimes not considered a drive without the dropped kerb and can be parked in front of. It's shitty to block in though and does depend on your councils rules.

He definitely didn't miss it - it has a double wrought iron gate (the front is much bigger than the depth)
They have parked in front of our house a lot over the last couple of weeks, but it didn't bother me before today. He just wound me up, as he could have been more considerate, and I'm just aware of the next three weeks potentially being a pain in the arse now.

Never mind - I'll suck it up, and it's not forever. And I will look into that dropped kerb thing with the council, thanks for the info. Just to be armed.

I think you should go round to speak to your neighbour. Be nice and polite, ask after the work and make some kind of positive comment on it.

Then say, you came back from shopping with your son and baby nephew and asked the workmen if they could move up a bit so you could park outside your house as there was room for both but they were quite rude and refused. Say you know its not their (the neighbours) fault but you thought they like to know so they can let the project manager / foreman know so they can be reminded of the importance of positive impressions and good word of mouth.

There may well not be either but it makes it less confrontational to the neighbour. I doubt they'll want the trades they have but will soon be gone to be affecting the neighbours they will still have to see.

I asked really nicely shake:)
He was a bit of a knob, really. And they still haven't loaded anything up, so he was obviously just proving a point.
Ah well.

I would speak to my neighbour, especially pointing out the dropped kerb. Work like that is really disruptive and it is the little things like not being to park which makes it harder to endure.

Oh yes, and, IME, workmen are often muppets because they don't live there so they have no vested interest in easing relations between neighbours bitter experience.

YANBU. If you have a dropped kerb on to your driveway, you should be entitled to park there IMO.

The bloke in the van sounds like an arse. If he works for a firm and their livery is on the van I would give them a call.

Just to clarify:

It is illegal to block a dropped kerb if there is a car on the driveway or in the garage etc. You are 'impeding it's access onto the highway'.

Its is not illegal to block a dropped kerb where there is no vehicle to impede.

You can block someone out, but not in.

Could you call the company they work for?

yanbu