AIBU-to think this disabled bay should not have been allocated

[parkingisnotaright]

I'm a lurker who rarely posts and its my first thread, have name changed as this is fairly identifying! I also know that parking posts are particularly irritating to many, but this has been upsetting/ annoying me for almost a year. And I wish to know if I'm being unreasonable or not, and if its something I should let slide. There's a fair bit of back story to it, so be patient, I don't want to drip feed.
Bought house just over 2 years ago, neighbours across road asked us to park outside their house rather than on our side of the road, we did. Forward 18 months, and I was heavily pregnant. My DH and i discussed it and decided that we would start parking on our side of the road. Neither house opposite us has a car, one has a driveway the other does not.
We have one car, but kindly someone lent us one has I became slightly less mobile the bigger I got. At about 8 months pregnant we were in bed one morning at aprox 0930 when there was a knock at the door, DH answered and the neighbours daughter was demanding that we moved borrowed car as she had to be able to park outside her parents house. Stating that she must be able to park there as she had elderly parents, and a disabled son. I got up feeling rather furious, and went out to move the car. Outside i found her chatting to the other neighbour saying that she'd just told us that our parking wasn't on, especially with 2 cars. Her parents were already in the car, I got into the car to move it, and she drove off with her parents.
My DH and I both felt that she was bullying us, and that we would continue to park outside our house, but I continued to feel intimidated and nervous that she would come back to the door.
We had been having work done to the house and had tradesman parked outside the house for a considerable time over the summer. On two occasions that we were made aware of by two separate tradesmen, she had parked her car outside of her parents and blocked the road. On one occasion she was heard to tell another motorist that hers was a mobility vehicle and she would not be moving her car.
I was concerned for her parents wellbeing, but felt reassured when i saw them cutting the grass, walking into town and taking in the wheelie bins for all of the surrounding houses.
Fast forward to this week when we returned from holiday to find a disabled bay marked outside their house effectively meaning we can no longer park outside our house. Since we came back, her car has not been there. I have seen her parents out, and about, so no dramatic deterioration has occurred during our holiday.
Am I being unreasonable to feel that this allocated bay makes a mockery of the system, and effectively it is being used to ensure that they have a convenient family space outside their house. I know that it is a public road, and whenever her car is there usually during the school day ( whilst her son is at school) we park on the same side as she is. And am i being unreasonable to question the councils installation of the space, and whether the household merits it??

Call the council. If it's a legit space then you just have to accept that and park down road. If it isn't ask them to remove it and park wherever you legally can.

I don't think there is anything wrong with querying it with the council (and the placement sounds a bit odd, given the placement means you loose two spaces).

However - it does sound very petty! I'm really surprised that you feel that parking across the road from your house, on what sounds like a very narrow road, is so not on.

Your username applies both ways. Just like the neighbours daughter has no right to dictate to you which side you park on, you have no right to be able to park on your side of the street and block the road because that is where your house is!

If the parking spot is legal (do check) then you are going to have to suck it up and park across the street to avoid blocking the road.

If you want to rectify this, and if parking by your house is very important to you, you'll need to make arrangements for a driveway and dropped curb.

I live in Portsmouth and MrsD is definitely correct. The bays are marked out and the house it's for also have a blue disabled sign attached to front of the house.

Anyone with blue badges displayed can park in them. Those without cannot....confirmed by the parking ticket issued to the car parked in my neighbours space last week. Well deserved it was too. Surprised it's not like that everywhere.

Please, call the council. I am really curious whether it was done by the council or not.

I've had a blue badge bay put in the past. The rules were I had to have a car, have nowhere else to put it (I.e. A driveway) and it couldn't block anything.

I requested the first space of a row that had been used for years for parking. The house owner verbally stated he may knock down his wall, take up his lawn and put a driveway in, so the council said it couldn't go there. He was lying, and I pointed out it wouldn't event fit a car even if he did that, but no, it got out halfway up a hill, meaning it was pretty useless anyway.

But the point was the council knocked on the doors to check for any issues, then did a road traffic order.

It took two years to be done, and I had to go through social services and the county council and meet lots of criteria.

So I'm surprised your neighbours just appeared with no warning. If it does turn out to be legit, perhaps you could put a complaint in along the lines that it blocks your potential driveway space.

Normally I'd obviously be totally for the disabled person, but if they don't have a car and aren't picked up daily, I'm not sure how they managed to qualify.

A disabled person visiting somewhere shouldn't qualify, or I have a very long list of blue badge bays I'd be expecting the council to install!

giantpurplepeopleeater - I didn't get the impression the OP is blocking the road. I get the impression her road is like my new one, and there can only be one row of parked cars, and the other side is left for cars actually moving.

But if someone parks one side and someone the other, then it gets blocked.

She said when she had a workman parked outside her road, the daughter parked the other side and blocked it.

The OP is doing nothing wrong - she's parking legally.

There is a lot of difference between spray paint and road marking paint.The latter is thicker and more opaque and kind of sits on the road surface.

princessailsa

You can get road marking paint quite easily through the internet.

Sorry finally an update. I emailed the council they took a while to respond. They said " A disabled space may be allocated if there is a blue badge holder at an address, and a vehicle registered to the address." I didn't query whether or not the space was legitimate or not, I just asked them for confirmation of what they require to allocate/paint a bay.

This space was installed 4 weeks ago, I've only seen it used twice by two separate cars ( neither of which displayed a blue badge, both visiting the house its outside). Its all rather strange now because since it went in I haven't seen their daughter or her car, which is rather concerning. The neighbours do all look out for one another and I'm sure if something had happened I would have heard.

AIBU to to respond to the councils email saying please investigate the space at * as I don't believe there is a car registered to the address?? It does look like a genuine paint job, all marked out properly long enough to ensure the safe loading of a wheelchair into the back etc.

GlitterNails thats why I posted on AIBU to question the installation of the space. It felt wrong to question the installation of the space, but it just doesn't seem quite right.

"Generally disabled parking bays in residential areas are "advisory only" markings, so they are not legally enforceable. An enforceable disabled parking bay will have a legal Traffic Regulation Order applied to it and will have an accompanying sign stating ‘Disabled Badge Holders Only’."

I have a similar situation in my road - the bay is only ever used by resident's daughter who pops over a couple of times a week. She is not disabled, nor does she claim to be - but if you park in the bay (which I do once in a blue moon if there's nowhere else to park) the resident will bang on the window and shout at you to move even though she never leaves the house.

There's another similar space just up the road, but the difference is that a bloke who lives nearby parks his car there. I have no idea if he has mobility issues (there's no blue badge) but never park there as he's old and at least it's his car!

So you agreed with your neighbours that you would parl your single car on their side due to the narrow road.

Then you suddenly got a second car AND started parking both cars on your side without consulting them. Because you were pregnant and couldn't manage to cross the narrow road.

And you blame them for being put out by the change and want to question whether they have disabilities or not?

No I'm questioning whether the space meets the councils rules for allocating a bay. They said it was safer if we parked on their side of the road, not that they asked!! Is it not safer when parking with a baby/ toddler/ child that you park on the side of the road of the house you're going to? Which was why we started parking on our side of the street.

Yes, you are now. But previously to the bay being put down, you did in fact agree to park somewhere specific, then change your minds and double your number of cars without notice. Unless I am reading it wrong.

As for safer with your baby, well it might be, it might not, I suspect it is much the same. You park, you get the baby out, you carry it into your house. Crossing a small narrow road (one of many you cross each day), crossing someone else's drive, crossing your patio, walking up some steps, whatever you do to get in the door all have certain dangers not incomparable to one other I suspect!

Perhaps if you have multiple children at young ages lining up behind the car as you get the rest out, then I might understand the angst.

But then I have always lived in on street parking permit zones where you park where you can and hope it is close to your house if it is raining.

Why should she give notice just to have another car??? Its hardly unusual for a household to have multiple cars is it.
As to parking on one particular side of the road , do other neighbours your road all tend to park on one particular side? If so, then you should follow along with that. I live on a narrow road and historically all neighbours and their guests stick to the one side. Its an unwritten rule I suppose but it works for everyone.

IdaClair I shall in future give notice in writing to my neighbours of my intention to "double" our cars. I've never read such complete nonsense......

Of course it is safer for us to park on our side of the road, and as our child gets older it will become more so.
Past the next junction everyone parks on my side of the road, and the houses opposite only have guests visiting, neither neighbour has a car. The neighbour with the drive has kindly offered us use of hers, since quoting her "that thing got installed."

You move into an new house, and agree with your neighbours that you will trim a big tree down to a level they find acceptable. You do this politely and well for a year or more with no problems mentioned.

One day, you decide you don't want to trim it anymore . In fact you would like it to grow much higher. You don't mention this desire to the neighbours but just let it grow and grow. You don't discuss this with them or how it will affect them based on their previous requests. Then you go out and buy another large tree and place it right next to the existing one.

Within your rights, sure. But not nonsense that your neighbours may feel aggrieved.

I would speak to the council. It may be that hey use their ska to pay towards a car which their daughter drives. It is possibly registered to their address but she is the one that drives it. I am not sure if you can do that or not, if the car is very rarely at that address and not available for the parents to use.

It could be fake, she could be sayin her and her son live there. Or it could be genuine.

If it's genuine you will just has to suck it up and park further down. It's not a huge hardship to park away from your door, in reality. No one (unless you have an allocated space or disabled spot) has the right to park on the road outside their own house.

Dla not ska