to think that if you live near a city centre you should expect this

[mileend2bermondsey]

I currently live about 10 miles from a big city which I work in. To save money on parking in the city centre at on average 8gbp per day I drive to the outskirts of the city, park on the closest street that does not have yellow lines and walk just over a mile into work. I was chatting to a friend about it who said I was lucky my car has been nicked (dodgy area) then goes on to say she'd be fuming if commuters parked on her street. My opinon is that if you chose to live on one of the first streets without parking restrictions, there are bound to be people who will park there to save money, same with living near a train station. I used to live in a terrace opposite a shopping precinct, during business hours you couldn't park on the street for love nor money. It was part and parcel of living in that particular location, I got on with it until I could move and consider such factors when moving since. I certainly wouldnt blame the drivers or key their cars over such a 'slight' as my friend thinks may happen.

Obviously it's not ok if people are rude to you, or if people park in front of a dropped curb

But how the hell does anyone at all know that all the other cars around them belong to visitors and not the owners of houses? If you need to park somewhere and you see a load of free spaces why on earth would you think "ooh legally I'm allowed to park there, but I won't, because it's outside someone's house and what happens if they return and want to park there?".

You buy a bloody house, you don't buy the bit of road outside it. If you want to park your car outside your house, buy somewhere with a drive.

Thankfully I'm saved the school run parking horror. There's a free car park opposite dds school and the playground backs onto a supermarket which has a gate into the playground so lots of us park in there. It's the furthest point from the store so always empty. The gate was put in to encourage it as most of the mums nip in for a bit of shopping after and a blether so no issues at all. The big shite school in the estate at the other side of town is apparently horrendous though. Small narrow streets on all sides surrounded by flats. Gridlock at school times.

Ah of course! Because everyone with mobility problems/children/shopping bags should have just bought a driveway.

It's odd that people still think it's ok to park next to a dropped kerb

www.theaa.com/public_affairs/news/changes-to-civil-parking-enforcement.html
From April 2008
"Penalties can be issued for parking alongside 'dropped kerbs' or for 'double' parking – being half a metre out from the kerb."

Also: The highway code:
www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/waiting-and-parking-238-to-252
"Rule 243
DO NOT stop or park:
in front of an entrance to a property" - which is what a lowered kerb is for

YANBU. I live on a cul de sac with a school at the end close to a football ground and public transport links and a shopping centre. I would say for us the biggest problem is residents who insist on parking slap bang in front of their houses even if it takes up two spaces rather than visitors.

It's part of life, we work around it and it's not worth getting upset about. And people throwing dog shit at cars is just vile.

Dont really think I am a 'special snowflake' for not wanting to spend 170+gbp per month on parking when I don't have to

Yeah, you kind of are because you're happy to inconvenience other people for your convenience. That's kind of the definition of special snowflake.

We're in this situation. I get a good giggle from the 'choose a house that isn't just outside a CPZ' and 'buy a house with a drive!' comments. What a pleasant wee bubble some folk live in. It's sort of the same as me saying to OP 'if you want to park for free near the station, buy a house there.'

We're currently in year 2 of campaigning to have the CPZ extended to our street because the sort of thing you're describing means that if you dare leave your house between 7 and 10, you have no hope of getting a park within half a mile before 5pm. I avoid it as much as I can but the 25 minute nursery run with a preschooler and a newborn can be a bit much when it's pouring rain.

Unfortunately the council are ideologically against more parking controls because they were elected on a '30 minutes free parking' platform. Fuck the local residents seems to be their maxim.

It's ever so pleasant feeling slightly trapped in one's house at certain times of the day because others want to live somewhere cheaper, but not absorb the extra costs of that choice.

Yeah, OP, you're acting entirely legally, but you're still acting like a bit of a special snowflake. Soz if that hurts a bit.

why on earth would you think "ooh legally I'm allowed to park there, but I won't, because it's outside someone's house and what happens if they return and want to park there?".

Because I am capable of thinking of others and not just myself. I would think about whether there is somewhere nearby that is less likely to annoy people. Like the stretch the OP describes which is not outside houses.

If it saved me £170 a month I would do it.
But I would accept that I was being a cunt to the residents.
Accept your cuntiness, OP!

We are thinking of moving because of this.
Our area has parking permits until 5.30 we don't have a drive but a garage we bought separately on the next street.
People park outside to eat their lunch and get stroppy if you come home and signal for them to move.
Visitors come after 5.30 and can't park, even though we pay for residents and visitors permits.
Saturday evening people park to go into town, sundays to visit friends or shopping.
Quite often we can't access our garage as the next street and all the others in this area are the same and people just park in front of it.
If people are paying for friends to visit you do have the right to park if it's out of restricted times. You'd have to be a bit of a cunt to actually do it though.

When I look for a new house, I insist on private parking exactly so that I wouldn't have problems with lack of parking.

Are you being unreasonable for parking somewhere you are legally entitled to?

No.

Disgruntled residents need to direct their anger and efforts to change things to the rule makers, not to citizens parking legally in public streets.
I think it's being special snowflakey to expect strangers to avoid parking in a publicly available, legal parking spot because you feel falsely entitled to it.

Legally you can - but it's a massive PITA for residents, definitely. What will probably happen is that the residents will campaign for permits, the council will introduce limited parking spaces with charges and time limits for non-residents and you'll end up having to park much further away. And so the cycle will repeat itself. No park and ride you can use? Or any other form of public transport?

What's with the gbp incidentally? Does your keyboard not have a £ on it?

I really don't get this perception on MN that the only criterion by which you should live your life is whether what you are doing is legal, and to hell with the notion that you should also behave with a bit of human kindness and consideration. There's the same sort of attitude on a thread about smoking right under neighbours' windows.

Friends of mine live in an area which originally was all free parking, but it has now become mainly residential or business parking - with the exception of their road. Their oldest child goes to a school fairly nearby but the nature of the route is such that walking there is dangerous, particularly for someone like friend who has two younger children. However, if she drives to school it is inevitable that it will be impossible to park in her road when she comes back, and she regularly has to drive around a mile away, pay for several hours' parking and walk back with the younger children up a steep hill. So recently when one of the younger children was having chemotherapy and wasn't well enough to walk any distance she was left in a near-impossible situation. Would the people who think OP is NBU believe that it would be morally fine to carry on parking in my friend's road knowing those facts?

And before the "Apply for residents' parking" brigade jump in, of course people in that road have applied for it, more than once, and have been refused.

What HairyLittleCarrot said - unless someone is breaking the law is it is a public parking space the homeowner/renter has no claim to a space outside their home.

But you should have to pay, you only don't because you are parking outside someone's house. I did chuck dogshit on a car outside mine one day when I was pissed off just saying.

Jesus, Regina, that's revolting.

OP - if you're parking legally on a street with no restrictions, not blocking anyone's driveway or stopping them getting to their house, that's fine. You don't own the parking space outside your house.

That struck me too Gruntled. The idea that the only limit to ones behaviour is literally illegality. It's pretty sad.

Yes but I find it particularly unkind and not very community minded to claim ownership of a space outside you home that is not legally yours!

That would be a point if we were talking about people who actually live in that community, rather than travelling there just to park up.

I doubt most people mind if they can't park outside their front door, age and disability notwithstanding, but having all the parking nearby used by commuters and shopper has nothing to do with being unkind or lacking community spirit. It's just having life made more difficult and then being called names about it and told to suck it up, it's not illegal.

But you don't KNOW if you're upsetting anyone - in fact many many times you will park in a street and nobody could give a damn about it, so why should the fact you might be inconveniencing someone you don't know affect your parking choices? 9 times out of 10 you won't be bothering anyone or making anyone's life more difficult.

Basically nobody should park in any residential street ever unless they live there or are visiting someone? Is that what we're saying here?

I think yanbu. And I say this living on a street that is basically the only free parking street anywhere near local transport.

However if you do park there you should be considerate and not overhang people's drives or park right up to the edge. That said, our local council should have put parking spaces and yellow lines on the road to stop people doing this, I.e. parking right up to the edge/ overhanging.

Is it hard to tell?
Most places around here it's glaringly obvious where parking is really difficult and where the commuters and shoppers try to park for free.

"Basically nobody should park in any residential street ever unless they live there or are visiting someone? Is that what we're saying here?"

God yes, because that's exactly the same as suggesting that using residential parking every day to facilitate your commute.

Brian, I think we're saying be considerate. If you're parking somewhere regularly, vary which road you park in. Get some exercise and park a bit further away. Think about whether you do need to drive or whether it wouldn't be just as good (and cheaper) to get public transport.

Smelly, I don't claim ownership of any particular space. I'd just quite like to park within half a mile to a mile of my home if I dare nip out for 15 minutes of a morning, rather than having to park outside the OP's house because she's too tight to pay the costs of living where she does.