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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Could I get into trouble for this parking?

60 replies

hyperhypermum · 31/08/2016 17:31

Inspired by the parking in a disabled bay thread but, to be clear, I did not park in a disabled bay, or anywhere illegal for that matter.

Parking near my work is very tricky so I choose to park a 10 minute walk away in a residential street with no restrictions. It's an average width street and, if there were no parked cars, 2 vehicles could pass each other easily. However, there are always a lot of parked cars so a fair amount of giving way is required.

This morning, I pulled into my usual spot and saw that a couple of cars had parked on the opposite side of the road, parallel with my car. I thought it looked a little tight but a quick assessment told me it was fine and other cars could still squeeze through. There was nowhere else to park so I left it.

When I returned to my car, another driver had to wait for me to open my door and climb in before she could pass (no room to pass with my door open).She gave me a filthy look as she passed and I just thought she was rather impatient. However, I then noticed a couple of blokes working further up the road in high vis jackets (not sure if they were from the council). As I went to pull away, one starting to walk purposely towards my car, I'm pretty sure he intended to speak to me. I was in a hurry and really didn't think I'd done anything wrong apart from some perhaps not ideal parking. I chose to pretend I hadn't seen him and drove off. As I passed the other man, he gave me a filthy stare.

I'm now worrying they might report me or, even worse, I might appear on facebook or one of those websites showing twattish parking. AIBU?

OP posts:

Hercules12 · 01/09/2016 08:42

Rule 242 and 243 for anyone sad enough like me to check.

AmserGwin · 01/09/2016 10:21

Sounds like you were entitled to park there. However if I lived in that street and you regularly took a space up for the whole day I would be annoyed too

JacquesHammer · 01/09/2016 10:30

I doubt very much you will get in to trouble if the street is without restrictions.

However it wasn't an ideal place to park and would probably be better to park somewhere else in future

BristolLFR · 01/09/2016 11:03

Most of residential Bristol is like this! No driveways and houses split in to flats means far more cars trying to park on every road than originally intended. If you didn't park in that spot, someone else would have around here. Most of the roads here are double parked and the only place to pass is at side roads, you get very good at reversing down narrow roads! And as for pulling a face as she had to wait a moment when you got in your car...

I don't think you did anything wrong. If the road was too narrow for double parking there would be yellow lines on one side.

TikTakTok · 01/09/2016 11:19

The highway code is very clear re parking and blocking access for emergency vehicles

There is no reason to think an emergency vehicle couldn't get down the road. It's much more entertaining for the indignant MN'ers to assume that Is what the OP did but they are basting their outrage on nothing.

NotMe321 · 01/09/2016 11:23

Hercules12, how would a random traffic warden know that it was OP who blocked the road rather than anyone else? They won't know who got there first. For all we know, the cars on the other side of the road left shortly after OP's arrival which would make any cars replacing them the ones causing any blockage. As Bristol says, if anyone thought there was a problem about access for emergency vehicles with parking on both sides then it wouldn't be allowed.

Newenglandinthefall · 01/09/2016 12:24

Just out of interest, what happened to the disabled parking thread?

WiddlinDiddlin · 01/09/2016 13:11

If a 4x4 can get through then yeah, park there.

You probably ARE pissing off the people that live there - like the people who park up and down my road do, its like some sort of extreme rally chicane to get in and out and then you and in the special shitweasels that park on CORNERS and bloody junctions...

But if you aren't actually parking illegally or causing an obstruction then technically you aren't being unreasonable to park there, everyones gotta park somewhere.

If an emergency services vehicle needs to get down there and your vehicle is in the way, it will be shoved out of the way - as two of our nearest twatty parkers discovered when I last needed an ambulance.

Room for a 4x4 = room for an ambulance. Not room for a fire appliance though but they are very good at shoving vehicles out of the way.

Adarajames · 04/09/2016 23:33

As are tractors pulling life boats on trailers!! Saw one take out a row of motorbikes like dominoes, then follow it up with crushing the sides of half a dozen or so cars, but they got the boat out to the (idiot actually!) who needed it!

kali110 · 05/09/2016 02:02

I'm so happy that website is real!!
I visited my friend this weekend and whilst we were out we passed her town's walk in center.
The way people had parked was unbelievable. Several cars had simply parked in the middle of the car park and at the front of it, so nobody was able to get in or out.
I really hope someone has shamed these people.

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