Parking outside my house....

[ManneryTowers]

I know I am BU about some of it, but I'm pregnant and grouchy.
We have a driveway that just fits both our cars but due to the front brick wall there is only a narrow entrance. To reverse our cars on we need space in the road to manoeuvre. Not much, just enough so we can pull across the road then back in. Made slightly tricky by a massive old tree in front of the brick wall. With me? Good.
What is really, utterly boiling my beef is the guy next door insists on parking his work van three inches over our dropped kerb. Every single day. Not enough to really moan about but bloody annoying. Especially when he could back up and just block off his own drive a bit. (He also has space for two vehicles on his).
What's really started to get on my nerves is that the neighbour on the other side has now also taken to parking vehicles on the road outside our house. Either work men's vans, their son's car or their visitors car. The space on that side of the road means two vehicles can be parked there, but they always choose to park outside our house and not their own.
I've come home tonight, after a sincerely crappy day, with a grizzly toddler in the back and found a van on both sides of our dropped kerb, the usual one just over it and the other right up to the edge. I could barely swing in forwards without scraping one of the vans or my car. Plus now tomorrow morning it will be a nightmare to see what's coming down the road when I have to back off the drive.
I know it's petty and there really are bigger problems, but it's annoying me every single time I come home and it's making me not like living here. The guy with the van won't move it as he's had issues about parking his van there before with the previous owners of our house (which we didn't know when we bought).
Sorry for such an essay but any ideas please? Is there anything I can actually do or am I just U?

[Cabawill]

Thanks for the link, See. I might just have that in mind for next time.

[PigletJohn]

"The space on that side of the road means two vehicles can be parked there, but they always choose to park outside our house and not their own."

That's the easy bit. Just park outside theirs.
If you're really lucky, they'll grumble at you, giving you the chance to say "yes, I know how you feel, I feel just the same when you do it to me".

Don't tell them you might accidentally bump their car. My clumsy neighbours used to reverse out without looking. They had to pay for a replacement light cluster, a rear respray and a front respray on my old car.

[seeThereWeAreThen]

Cabawill you could report them and they will probably get a ticket for parking opposite a junction.

I double checked and it does look like it.

www.drivingtesttips.biz/nearest-you-can-park-to-a-junction.html

You could save yourself £££s if you didn't need to drop the curb to stop them.

[lalalalyra]

Sparkling coincidence that!!

Speaking to them doesn't always work with folks like that sadly. Hopefully it will with the OP. Before I spoke to them, nicely and politely, they parked there two or three times a week - since I spoke to them there hasn't been a single day where they haven't parked there. And they'll now move a car from that spot to park a van instead to make it worse (I've no idea how they've the energy for the faffing about. Parking turns some people into utter arses.

[Monty27]

Yes lala I had my suspicions. It was several years ago too, and many people have parked there (not vans as I reasoned with the van people) and not a ticket has been had to my knowledge. Weird.

Anyway, just speak to them, it worked for me.

[lalalalyra]

Probably the van driver reported him... One of the neighbours had a bereavement and had lots of visitors over the last few days and for the funeral and twatty parker guy phoned the council and asked them to send a parking warden round as people were parked "two and three abreast all over the place". Which was true, but they were blocking each other in and no-one else (which is more than he manages!) - they just happened to be using spaces that he "likes to use".

[Monty27]

I'm right on a bendy hill end of 'terrace'. Lal and the same has happened here, vans parked outside my window on the bend and such. My db parked his car out there once while visiting and got a parking ticket. Weird, and never normally see 'parkies' and never have since.

[lalalalyra]

We're having our drive/dropped kerb extended full width for the exact same reason.

We're on a corner and if someone (guy opposite...) parks their vanon the right you simply can't see out. To park legally in terms of the corner/road lines you have to have a small Car or overhang our drive by quite a way and the dropped kerb by a few inches.

It hasn't been an issue the whole time we live here, but now the new guy opposite parks there and his son has narrowly missing hitting me or DH too many times for comfort now sparking WWIII over who was in the wrong - us for coming out when the road wasn't clear, him for driving at around double the speed limit (therefore giving us no chance to see him - and that's not hearsay, he was caught doing 48 on the 20 on the next street) or his father for blocking the view.

It would be slightly less annoying if they removed the basketball hoop they installed on their drive (could easily get several cars on there) and parked a couple of their four cars on their drive. Our cul-de-sac isn't really meant for parking on, it wasn't built with that in mind and with only the no-drive houses parking on street it would be much safer.

[Monty27]

Sorry I'm tired and have flicked through the thread. I just wanted to ask if you've asked them politely not to do it? I have and it worked a treat, Just appear to be reasonable about it.

[Cabawill]

*extend the drop kerb to the whole width of the house

[Cabawill]

That's pretty annoying OP.

Our drive is double width but the drop kerb is only a single. We regularly have people parking right up to the drop kerb even when both cars are on the drive which is a complete pain as there isn't enough room to manoeuvre the 2nd car without moving the 1st. The cars belong to people in flats opposite so we're not even sure where to knock to ask them to move.

We've just been granted permission to extend the whole width of our house which will be great as it's dangerous parking there with the road opposite anyway. Just got to save up the 2k it's going to cost now....

[Kerberos]

We have a similar set up. All was fine but gradually getting worse. Final day mild mannered DP finally flipped and visited ALL of the neighbours who'd parked stupidly pointing out their stupidity. Everyone is much more thoughtful now :)

[Blondeshavemorefun]

Delphine31 , that white car takes the piss and i would be leaving a note on it saying please dont park over my driveway or i may occidentally hit your car

[Blondeshavemorefun]

knock down your brick wall, i did this, tho had a wooden fence, as people would park on the road infront of fence but slightly over my driveway which coz of the fence meant i had to swing in at an angle

therefore you will have a double drive and they cant park over it

ask for council to paint t/dog bones lines

or see what a dropped kerb would be, maybe £1/2k but well worth it imo

[Inertia]

Once you are on mat leave you can park on the road next to your drive where the van usually parks. I wouldn't park across your drive in case other people start doing it.

[ManneryTowers]

I would try and park across our driveway but I am not on mat leave yet and van man seems to get home around 3pm daily so is always there when I get home!
Plus I think having to parallel park in to a small space between two vans on a busy road would cause me more annoyance!

[Greyhorses]

I have no advice but I have exactly the same problem. I have the corner house and ndn insists on parking right up to the line of our driveway, so that there isn't enough room to actually get onto our drive as the road isn't big enough.
It drives me nuts

[monkeytree]

This problem has caused me real angst recently even though I have not been blocked in on my driveway. I don't know why I get so annoyed. I hate it when anyone parks outside my house (when they are not visiting me). The people living opposite have two cars - one parked on the road and one in the drive. They recently moved into their house and chose not to widen their driveway (the elderly lady who lived there before did not have a car and her visitors parked on the driveway). I hate the fact that these neighbours park on the road when our houses are large enough to potentially accommodate 2-3 cars. Last week they had a tradesman visit them and I backed into his van (not being used to cars being parked on the road opposite, causing some costly damage). I was devastated that I hit his van but now this has turned into annoyance. These houses cost a fair amount of money and now thinking I would rather live in a house without having to bother who is parked on the road or what they have or have not done with their driveway!

[TheWitTank]

Lots of people round here block their own drives by parking across them. Any good?

[chillycurtains]

Could you park across your own driveway and block the three inches plus a bit maybe that he uses to park and then your DP calls you when he's on his way home so you can move? Then just before he gets in you can move on to your drive and DP can park where you were on the road across the drive.

[ManneryTowers]

Thanks for all the suggestions.
Re parking forwards - it is the only way to get on the drive if both vans parking like this. The width of the vans being so close to the entrance means there isn't the width in the road to pull alongside one van and reverse in. Swinging in forward is the only way!
Also, it isn't that I can't park on the drive when the vans are there. I can, just with difficulty. It is a narrow entrance.
Glad I am not being entirely U. I am reluctant to play the pregnant lady card because the van man wouldn't care!
Great suggestions re widening dropped kerb and the white line though. Thank you.
We could take some off the brick wall down too to widen the entrance, but not sure this would do much unless the kerb was dropped to match.

[trufflehunterthebadger]

My force has a team that deal with antisocial parking like this called Op Crackdown. Your force may have something similar and people can self-report online to us. You might call 101 and enquire with your local force if they have something similar. We deal with parking complaints all day long

The legal situation is that you have the right to access the highway from your drive. But no rights vice versa.

[Mouthfulofquiz]

When people have parked right up to my bumper outside my house (I live near a church), I always leave a note saying 'I couldn't get into my boot to get my buggy out without having to sit on your bonnet. I didn't want to do this so have been stuck in the house waiting for you to move your car. Please be more considerate'. And more often than not, I've had an apology note left under the windscreen wiper!!

[WaterWorld]

H bar?

www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/travelling/roads-safety-and-highways/request/h-bar-road-marking/default.aspx

[m0therofdragons]

I would be overly friendly and play the ditsy pg woman card "hi, you've been parking a bit too far over the drop kerb which makes it really tricky to get into our driveway. I'd hate to hit your van, I'd feel terrible. Would you be able to leave a bit more space?"

I did this when my new neighbour started parking within millimetres of my bumper although I added that occasionally I go to work at 6am ams would hate to have to wake him to move his car (I have never started work at 6am but he didn't need to know that).