bus using our driveway to turn around every day.

[whatatod0]

Scene - basically, we live on a main road, with a private dead end service road for us to get to our houses and parking spaces. There are 8 houses along our little row. We have a drive outside our house, then the service lane, then another parking space, then a small strip of grass (ours) then the main road.

I have noticed that a small bus (18 seater maybe??) has started collecting a dc from our row of houses, and is using our parking space and grass to turn around each morning and afternoon. The alternative would be to reverse back down the lane and turn around at the entrance.

For some reason this really annoys me that the bus driver does this twice a day. We now have tyre marks on the grass, and I think it will add to the break up of the road surface.
DH is not bothered, saying he has to turn around somewhere, but it annoys me. AIBU?

I have a similar set up, three houses on a service/private road, the council won't adopt a road with less than six houses on it so the owners of the three houses have to maintain the road ourselves. I wouldn't be happy if a bus was using our road to turn round in. I would contact the bus company and let them know of your concerns.

Another road with a similar set up to us have put "Private road, no turning or parking for non residents" on it.
Apart from the damage to the grass there is also the potential for the weight of the bus to cause damage to the drive...a bus is bigger and heavier than a car.
A lorry driver once used my FIL's drive to reverse into, he drove over the drain cover, cracked it and the drain underneath it. The drive and drains weren't built to withstand the weight of a huge lorry.

Maybe I am wrong but I read that line as, Bus outside the house and dropping off children who "in their day" were locked up out of sight? Tough on those who moan about the bus daring to halt in their line of sight.

I would contact the bus company not the family involved, it's not their manoeuvring that's the issue.

I would definitely contact the bus company. The fact that the driver was rude enough to dismiss you like that would make my blood boil.

I'm amazed by posters who think this is okay
Complain to the bus company
Take a pic if you can

The household of the dc being collected has a lot of cars, so there is no room for a bus to turn round on their property. A taxi could manage it fine, but not a bus. The bus then decides that as we have more space on our drive, he'll use ours instead.

diddl - image a row of 8 houses (4 x semis) with longish front driveways along a main road. Then instead of each house having it's own entrance onto the main road, someone decided to make an entrance next to house number 1, and build an access road through everyones front driveways, and stop the road outside number 8. So as you turn in off the main road, the houses are on the right, and our parking spaces are on the left, near the main road. Does that help? So we all own the land right up the main road - there is no pavement - just like a normal driveway, but we have an access lane, and no entrance directly onto the main road. That is where the grass is, between our parking space and the main road.

You are right FrancisCrawford - sorry if my last post was not clear.

If the flow of traffic is impeded, that's life, but you have no more right to blockade somebody's drive than you have to blockade their front door. Where a door opens outward directly onto a very narrow pavement you jsut can't stop there, and it's the same with a drive.

Can the bus not reverse down the lane instead? Ring and speak to the bus company. It really doesn't matter who the bus is picking up, it's not material. What is material is that the driver is slowly but surely ruining your grass verge. Either he improves his turning and doesn't drive over the grass or he reverses down. If he isn't capable, can the passenger be picked up at the junction with the main road instead?

Op, what do you think the bus driver should do instead?

Passenger has sn. It is not reasonable to expect them to be picked up away from house.

I think getting some white rocks is the way to go. Driver seems like the sort of person you can't reason with. He has no right to drive over your property and churn up the grass.

I suggested talking to the parents, but in a reassuring, 'please don't think it's you I have a problem with' way.

As mum to three with autism, two transported by LEA services, I can only say how much that might have helped me. Certainly don't expect mum to chase for you.

'I bet every single parent carer of a child with special needs has received a negative verbal exchange with one of their neighbours or a passing motorist because those few minutes has inconvenienced them. '

Yes. Absolutely. Our road was narrow and really only needed by a handful of people, but lots of people used it to shave seconds off their journey (unfair, as there was a major NAS unit opposite so lots of people with severe ASD using the road).

Obviously the ASD unit plus our two meant taxis were common, but we had neighbours banging on taxis and buses to scream at them. One was a bit further down and didn't realise the taxis stopped for us as well as the unit, and tried to get me to sign a letter.

Er, no.

We tried the bus drop off being outside DS4's school, in a disability space, but the local PCSO used to chase the bus off whilst allowing four by four drivers with no badge to park there (bus didn't have a blue badge, but had several kids who were entitled to one). Legally her prerogative. At one point I was expected to be in three places at the exact same time- infant school, home for SN taxi drop off, juniors for other child- and nobody would back down.

It was impossible, damaging, and only stopped when we moved to the middle of nowhere- now the only people who complain are the transport drivers who have to drive here!

honking - I think he should either reverse back down the lane ( I have seen him do that once) or say to his boss that there is nowhere to turn the bus around.

The household of the dc being collected has a lot of cars, so there is no room for a bus to turn round on their property.

Hmmm...
That changes it slightly. Is that a block of flats? Or the child's family?

Because if that's the case, they should facilitate the bus turning. Still, in which case, the bus company should talk to them about access, not you.

A pp has already explained that busses should not be reversing along the road whilst they have passengers on board.

Has the OP actually confirmed that the passenger has SN? Sorry if I've missed that... But if they DON'T (and there isn't anything I've seen to confirm it is) then I think it is entirely reasonable. There are other circumstances where a minibus could be collecting an individual child; for example the independent schools in this area all offer a pick up/drop off service using that type of small coach.

I think the majority of those posting are not familiar with what a "private road" entails. They are very rarely finished to the same spec as council maintained roads - meaning that it is unlikely it was designed to accommodate a bus turning - and the residents are free to apportion costs in whatever way they see fit (unless it is written into a new development for example). So the private road that I live on has a split according to number of cars per household plus an additional levy for commercial vehicles (one property runs a business using large vans). Perfectly reasonable.

OP YANBU - definitely not. I would contact both the council (or whoever has organised the bus service) and the bus company and make it clear that the road is private. As a PP said perhaps a taxi may be more appropriate in this instance.

no, the cars all belong to the family in their own driveway. There is no turning space along our access lane.

*entirely UNreasonable

Well if buses with passengers on board shouldn't reverse, how come performing a turn using forward and reverse gears is different? Surely simply reversing is safer?

yes, the dc being picked up has SN. He is completely mobile if that makes a difference. If a bus can't reverse, than the taxi should be sent back.

No being mobile makes no difference!

The LA won't provide a taxi for those reasons. It doesn't work like that.