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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

I might be the parking bitch!

55 replies

MistressChalk · 22/09/2015 23:05

Parked on the street outside our house this evening as I always do, there is a small stretch of pavement outside our house and the neighbours where we all park. Neighbours on one end have put up notes saying don't park here as access is needed at all times, although they just seem to park their cars there anyway. The space outside ours is usually always filled and next door is always around so their car is always outside their house.
Tonight I parked where I have for nearly 2 years which is on the end of the stretch of pavement just before a dropped kerb. Earlier this year we had new neighbours here who moved in and got rid of the lovely huge driveway (big enough for 3 maybe 4 cars) to build over it. The only driveway on the whole street! But fine the new build looks lovely. Only the tiny stretch of garden they had left they have paved over and parked both cars in. Half of this was the original drive and so is over the dropped kerb and the other half is directly in front of the pavement so to drive into that space means driving over the pavement = illegal.
So I parked on the pavement and yes it was in front of one of their cars but they could easily get both cars out by driving the car in front of the dropped kerb out to move the other out iyswim? Same principal as having a long driveway only one car width wide.
I've just found a note on my car asking me not to block them in and to be considerate.
I've got my flameproof vest on so come on, am I THAT parking twat?

OP posts:

MarthaMonkeynuts · 22/09/2015 23:07

Yes, i think so. Sorry.

WorraLiberty · 22/09/2015 23:10

If it's legal for you to park on the pavement, why is it illegal for them to drive over it?

Genuine question btw, because where I live everyone has to park on the pavements and the council have marked white parking lines on them.

ToadsforJustice · 22/09/2015 23:11

Just to be clear - you parked on the pavement AND blocked a car in?

NeuNewNouveau · 22/09/2015 23:13

If they haven't had the kerb dropped then it is not official access so YANBU. Obviously if there was loads of room in the road you wouldn't do it but when space is tight as long as you didn't park over the dropped kerb YANBU.

whois · 22/09/2015 23:13

Are you actually parking on the pavement or just alongside it?

If you're in the road but against the pavement I don't think you are being u at all given they don't have a dropped kerb there.

Original poster

MistressChalk · 22/09/2015 23:14

Lol I knew that would get picked up on! Yes I did park on the pavement but it is legal here and encouraged by local council as there is no where to park and they don't want to build car parking spaces on the green land. The pavements are wide enough to put two wheels on and leave plenty of room for pedestrians if you park in the right places. I didn't plonk my car right on the pavement!

OP posts:

Cookingongas · 22/09/2015 23:15

If I'm right- you parked at- on?!/ a pavement, that's fine ( ish dependant if it was on the on a pavement') otherwise their being street hogs and there is nothin g morally or legally to stop you parking there.

WorraLiberty · 22/09/2015 23:16

Ahh in that case YANBU.

People can't expect others to adhere to the rules of an imaginary dropped kerb.

Either pay to get it dropped, or put up with people parking legally.

ToadsforJustice · 22/09/2015 23:27

YANBU

Original poster

MistressChalk · 22/09/2015 23:35

i know legally I can park there and they are slightly twatty for writing notes before making sure they were in the right, however I don't want to start neighbourly tensions and I don't want to be a stubborn arsehole. Is it a good idea to go round and be nice but firmly state that I will be parking there as it is perfectly legal? There's no way of parking in that space and being friends is there realistically?

DP thinks I should go round with all the jumpers, bags and scarves I ruined squeezing past the hedge and their massive 4x4 (which they parked on the pavement just down the road during their building works) and ask if they'd be considerate enough to replace them. I've told him that's childish but secretly would love to!

OP posts:

Spectre8 · 22/09/2015 23:38

You are legally right to park half on the pavement is the kerb was not dropped - sounds like it isn't on that half of the driveway where they now park their cars. They ABU to ask you not to park there because it is illegal to drive for them to drive theri car over a pavement where there is kerb to park on their driveway. They should drive through the dropped kerb to park on their driveway and to get off it.

I recently had my driveway done and got rid of the front garden, the kerb is only dropped where the original width of the driveway was I do not stop people parking against the kerb where it isn't dropped as I can still get off my driveway via the dropped kerb.

Spectre8 · 22/09/2015 23:40

I wouldn't even bother engaging to be honest because they won't want to listen to your point of view.

Fatmomma99 · 22/09/2015 23:42

Where I live it's illegal to park over a dropped kerb.

If you live somewhere where there is off-street parking and NO dropped kerb (usually if the off-street parking is put in after the property is built) you can pay - used to be about 200 quid - to have the dropped kerb put in. Paying this £200 for a dropped kerb means that you effectively ban parking from in front of it (to park there is an obstruction) but lots of people don't want to pay the money, so they turn their garden into a drive but then expect you to be considerate.

So going on the information I have, YANBU, because the tight-bastards don't want to pay for a dropped kerb, but expect the privilege that comes from it.

My advice would be to stick a note right back saying "I would never park on a dropped kerb, but where I'm parking is legal".

But I am brave on the internet!

(sorry, used to work for the local city council Engineering Dept.... Years ago, but it stays with one!)

Fatmomma99 · 22/09/2015 23:43

p.s. I like that we've found our parking villain after all the threads....

Fatmomma99 · 22/09/2015 23:46

btw, I did used to have a neighbour I used to regularly block in for just this reason, and I REFUSED to not park in front of his drive if it suited me because it was a legal space. I told them repeatedly if they didn't want me to not park there, to pay for a legal dropped kerb.

They hadn't by the time we moved, and I don't think they miss me!

Sallyhasleftthebuilding · 22/09/2015 23:50

You were legally parked. Ignore, but i like the idea of a dropped kerb, instant parking space outside your home. Do that.

Original poster

MistressChalk · 22/09/2015 23:52

Ha FatMomma I honestly logged in with trepidation expecting to see a thread about the arsey bitch down the road that keeps parking in front of my car!
It's the use of the word 'considerate' that has got my back up because they are essentially expecting me to park way further down the street (ok not a huge deal in perspective) so they don't need to faff about moving cars in and out to use their (illegal) double driveway. I really must stress that she wouldn't be blocked in, they can get both cars out if they needed to via. The dropped kerb. It would just involve moving one out to get the second out. A faff, but not my problem.
And I really, really wanted to get on with my neighbours!

OP posts:

sproketmx · 23/09/2015 00:04

Parking in the pavement isn't illegal here either though it's common courtesy not to block someone's drive whether they've dropped the kerb or not. Loads of our neighbours park their cars in their front gardens with mo dropped kerb. Some of them have put up concrete ramps to the kerb and some have removable ones they use and I wouldn't park over someone else's garden if they used it for their car really.

Fatmomma99 · 23/09/2015 00:19

My dad (dead - much missed :( would never do that either, sproketmx [waht is your user name?????] so it would have been a YAU from him. But having worked for the council, I do know that if you can't be arsed to pay, then you shouldn't expect the privilege as a right. And I really believe that. Although the last time I worked for a local authority Labour was still in power (and not the current bunch of arseholes [I have not used the word that was in my mind because of possible sensibilities of other MN users]) I don't see why you should demand a right you're eligible for.

If you have a child, you are entitled to child benefit.

You can't claim this money if you'd LIKE to have a child.

Or, to put it another way (because this is the kind of stuff I know). If you are disabled, or have someone disabled living in your home, you can apply for a disabled parking bay to be painted outside your home. If the council will do this, they will explain to you that ANY blue badge holder can park there, it's not "your" space.
However, any able-bodied person - one without a badge - can not.

If you are disabled, then you SHOULD apply for this (and it shouldn't cost you anything), and anyone who parks there, if they don't have a badge is the word I wanted to post earlier!

If you want the privilege, then you should pay for it. And I think it's outrageous to claim the prize without paying to play the game. But maybe that's just me!

Adarajames · 23/09/2015 00:24

If a Disabled space on a residential street doesn't have a sign up by it, then it's not legally enforceable and anyone without a badge can park there, only if there is a sign up can it be used only by bb holders

Bogeyface · 23/09/2015 00:25

My parents have a one car width, two cars length drive. If my father wants to get his car out and mums is in the way, then they move mums. Thats life. They dont co opt their neighbours drive and ask him not to park on it to be "considerate" of their need to get dads car out with using mums (he would try it to them, but thats another story!).

If you are parked legally then you are parked legally. If they wanted a double width drive with access then they shouldnt have built on it.

In my world this is a Tough Titties situation for them!

Bogeyface · 23/09/2015 00:26

adara I think that may vary by council because my local one states that as long as it is marked as disabled (here they paint on the road alongside the space) then it is illegal to park there without a blue badge. If they put signs up at every single one then they would be bloody everywhere!

MrsHathaway · 23/09/2015 00:30

We have that kind of drive - we both use the dropped kerb but it looks like DH's car went over the pavement he doesn't do that any more because it knackered the balance or suspension or something.

I think it wasn't neighbourly of either of you but if they're that bothered they should apply to have the other half of the kerb dropped.

sproketmx · 23/09/2015 00:41

Sprocket mx. It's that because the name on the back of my motocross stuff is sprocket Rocket, that's my name at the track because I used to be a little 3 or 4 year old kid who would ride my big brothers massive motocross bikes really fast doing all the jumps on the older kids course and not bat an eyelid and i always wanted in on the mechanics side oof things too. I joined mumsnet while at the track with my son's because one of the other mums was telling me about a thread on here bitching about one thing or another and I wanted to see it but I couldn't think of a really original name

araiba · 23/09/2015 07:57

just because it is not illegal doesn't mean you should do it

don't block people driveways

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