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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Parking thread! Aibu to put a note on this persons car?

46 replies

CatthiefKeith · 10/07/2015 20:13

I live in a row of terraced houses, just before a school. There are eight houses. The five before the school have zig zags outside, the three the other end (including mine) do not. Opposite our houses is the rec/park.

At weekends there are no restrictions, and the spaces outside our houses are usually taken up by visitors, or visitors to the village hall, which is opposite the school.

For the last three weekends a car has parked right in the middle of the houses, but on the opposite side of the road. The street isn't wide enough for two cars to park opposite each other and still allow vehicles through the gap, so effectively this woman is stopping 5/6 people or their visitors parking outside their house for the weekend. The car is usually picked up Sunday night. Nobody has any idea who it belongs to.

I know that we could all park the other side, but it's a faff. Car seats are then on the wrong side, or we have to go up to the end if the road to turn round so they are the right side, and it's a bit further to drag the grocery shopping. Plus one of the houses has a visitor who uses a wheelchair.

Aibu to put a polite note on her car asking her to park this side of the road instead?

OP posts:
WhyTheDrama · 10/07/2015 21:14

That's a nice polite note. I wouldn't mind receiving iT.

Gabilan · 10/07/2015 21:16

"At weekends everyone used to park slightly on the large pavement, (still leaving 4ft of pavement) so as not to restrict the traffic,"

So she parks legally and you park illegally? Hmm

EponasWildDaughter · 10/07/2015 21:17

Seems fine to me.

I would however swap

would you consider moving your car to the other side of the road please?

to

''would you consider parking on the other side of the road in future please?''

in case she thinks it's just for this weekend Grin

(i hate misunderstandings)

TreaterAnita · 10/07/2015 21:18

I parked up briefly on a side road to pick up from school this afternoon. Never parked there before (mostly walk) and it was a narrow cul de sac but no parking restrictions and clearly room to park down one side. I was (I thought) very considerate in picking a space which didn't block anyone's drive and wasn't opposite another parked car and I parked slightly on the pavement (I realise this is not technically ok but the road would have been narrowed too much if I hadn't and all the other parked cars had done the same) but made sure that a pram/wheelchair could still pass on the inside. Despite this I returned to the car to find that both wing mirrors had been folded in and a note reading 'Be more considerate when parking on this avenue' had been stuck on the windscreen. Genuinely though I had done my best to park considerately so I have no idea what I did wrong.

So, OP, fro my experience today YWNBU to leave a note (or at least others would do so) but if you are going to you should probably explain how you would like the offender to park as she might otherwise (like me) be entirely clueless.

DoJo · 10/07/2015 21:20

That sounds like a reasonable note, and you have put your name and where you live which I always think is a sign of whether you're being a dick or not as those who are usually want to preserve their anonymity!

CatthiefKeith · 10/07/2015 21:21

Wtf, technically, yes, you are right, however as I explained there is a very wide pavement this side, and a slim one the other.

This side we leave enough room for a mobility scooter, a side by side double buggy or wheelchair whilst illegally parked, the other side is only big enough for a single buggy at the best of times.

OP posts:
Chunkymonkey79 · 10/07/2015 21:25

Yanbu

Only in the world of mumsnet is it unreasonable to politely ask somebody to rethink how they park.

In the real world, it's fine to ask.

Just because it's 'legal' doesn't stop it affecting residents. What's the worst that can happen if you are polite and courteous? They probably just don't realise parking on that side causes more of an inconvenience!

Sistedtwister · 10/07/2015 21:27

It's not always illegal to park using the pavement. We have been instructed to by emergency services to allow for access of their vehicles down the street and the kerb is dropped all of the way down to allow us to do so.

backtoworkblues · 10/07/2015 21:27

As a person who has received a note yanbu. I was new to a street and didn't realise the inconvenience I was causing. The note I got wasn't half as polite as your suggestion. Yes I felt annoyed at first but now I'm happy to park somewhere else.

Lurkedforever1 · 10/07/2015 21:34

My usual attitude to street parking issues is get a driveway or suck it up, but I wouldn't at all mind a note like that. But I'd leave out the suggestion of a house number unless you are there in person, purely because if I found that the suspicious part of my mind might think it was someone just trying to annoy number 10 and that by moving my car I'd be inconveniencing people more

CatthiefKeith · 10/07/2015 21:34

Oh Ffs.

This hasn't gone well. I put the note on the car. It wasn't the same car I don't think as it has now gone and there is a big old rant on the local FB page about how she was volunteering at the youth club for a few hours and I should be ashamed and she was parked legally and I should build myself a drive if I want to park outside my house. (Not possible, we only have a 2ft front garden into the street, and 2 allocated parking spaces at the back. Unfortunately some residents have driver teens)

Blush It was the same make, model and colour though.

OP posts:
Chunkymonkey79 · 10/07/2015 21:43

Ha haGrin Sounds like they need to get a grip! A polite note doesn't warrant that reaction!

just rewrite and put it on the actual car if it appears again!

Lurkedforever1 · 10/07/2015 21:47

She is clearly bvvvvvu, just for feeling the need to include the fact she was volunteering at a youth club. Note the reg and leave her a giant tin foil medal next time thanking her for her good works

CatthiefKeith · 10/07/2015 21:56

Ha! The woman is clearly a loon. The car is back, and outside my house! Grin

Oh well, at least she has done as I asked, maybe when she calmed down she though iwnbu after all. Smile

OP posts:
JackSkellington · 10/07/2015 21:58

That was an odd reaction, I'd rather receive a polite note than unwittingly inconvenience people with my parking every single weekend. You would only be unreasonable if you had been rude about it.

DoJo · 10/07/2015 21:59

Sounds like a massive over-reaction - you put your name and address, so why not just come round and have a reasonable discussion about it if they were so convinced that she had a point.

SantasLittleMonkeyButler · 10/07/2015 22:31

Haha! Grin After your updates, I was going to say YANBU & that leaving the note would be fine.

Some people have an issue with anything they do being remotely criticised. I'm glad your woman has seen sense now Smile.

Saz12 · 10/07/2015 22:34

Leaving a nice note is fine! (obviously not Ok to leave a note with "fucking move your fucking car you bitch", though).
It's pretty unusual to have a street with a person with twin babies and a person in a wheelchair as near-neighbours - she'd not be able to predict that, and absolutely OK to ask if she could park on the opposite side of the street.

CatthiefKeith · 10/07/2015 23:18

Saz we are a mixture of shared ownership and council housing. All the houses have extra wide doors etc to accommodate disabilities. Tenants / part owners are a mix of young families and Council tenants whose needs suit the premises. Smile

OP posts:
FedUpWithNoisyPeople · 11/07/2015 19:34

ffs some people - you just cant ask anything these days

i asked people on the local facebook selling group if they could ask their teenagers/young adults to think about the others living in the road and not talk really loudly through the night on their way home from the pub etc

In the end it was my fault as i should be more tolerant of people coming home and the fact there is a pub about 100 yards away, even though i live in a no-through-village

After being woken up at 330am and then 530am, I was the fucking unreasonable one!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2418059-To-think-that-asking-people-to-be-quiet-in-the-early-hours

saturnvista · 11/07/2015 20:03

Of course it's fine!!!

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