Another effing parking thread!

[LivinOnAChair]

Woke up to a note shoved under our windscreen wiper this morning telling us that we are not to park in the street?! Surely they can't dictate this?

We live in a cul de sac and everyone else up the street parks similarly to us. Our garages and drive are round the corner and quite a walk carrying a baby in a car seat along with bag and possible shopping so I tend to park outside the house (the 'visitors spots' are not marked as such and the house wasn't sold to us with allocated street parking etc so assuming it's a free for all). Our drive is regularly blocked by neighbours round the corner but we can't do much about it unless we are blocked on...
Partner parked his car in bay yesterday and when me and DS came home from baby group yesterday drive was blocked so I parked in the street (very slightly up curb as road is narrow and people up the street had wagons coming and going as they are having garden landscaped). I would have moved the car later on but partner works shifts and I can't (and am not prepared to) leave DS in the house while I move it once workmen were finished.

Is it me? AIBU? Can they really dictate to us that we can not park on a public highway and must 'follow suit' of other residents (whatever that means)?

At least they just left you a note instead of dumping their car in the miidleof the street and screaming at you to 'move your fing car, as he hasnt paid a lot of fing money to never get to fing park in front of his fing house, so i could stop being a fing c* and shift my fing car because im just a selfish fing bitch. And if he sees mine or my t* of a husband parked in his space he'll fing knock the door till we f*ing shift it and it wont be a problem at 5 in the morning for him'

If hed just asked if i could move my car so they could park id quite happily moved it.

Avonandice

What did you do?

I've no idea why developers still think these layouts are better than the traditional driveway leading to the house scenario

Because - money. We need to stop buying this stuff. Also LA "planning" is a joke.

Avon what a dickhead! Mine are just passive aggressive for now...
I am going to get back on the the council/developer about the people blocking out drive because hopefully that will solve all this.
Its pissed me off even more that no one has even said hello since we moved in in August yet can go through the effort of writing shitty notes and howking our windscreen wipers up to shove them under.

RB68 It's actually not illegal to park on the pavement, except in London.

Here is a - BBC News article from last year on the subject.

I doubt hell be here for long - i am currently ignoring him as i have a hot temper and dont want a dispute as we will be moving inthe next 18 months or so. The neighbour logged it with the police apparently.

DP has phoned and checked with developer when he got in (I should've this morning really) to see if bays outside the house are indeed 'visitors', they aren't! Anyone can park there according to the builder, they said they would have marked them as such if they were exclusively for visitors. As for neighbor round the corner we will just have to keep asking them not to block as we need access...

As for neighbor round the corner we will just have to keep asking them not to block as we need access...

No! You TELL them not to continue blocking your drive. TELL them! No explanation, it is a drive... they know they are being difficult, so you won't need to explain! Just TELL them to STOP!

Politely, of course. Just no hint of apology or explanation.

The only thing I would say is be sure you are not blocking the path. If you can't get a double buggy through then YABVVU. Otherwise, it is a public highway with unrestricted parking. They have no right to say you can't use it. If you have a double drive and two cars and they have nowhere else to park like you do then yes you are being a bit of an arsehole not using it but that isn't illegal. I'd be fucked if it was Besides until wankbadger who is blocking it moves, what are you supposed to do?

Does your drive have a dropped curb? If it does then they should not be blocking it.

OurBlanche you're absolutely right, tell them

They've got a double (unrestricted) drive and one car so they've always got somewhere to park, they have lots of visitors daily and I think that is what they are taking umbrage about. However IMO, residents need somewhere to park as well and it's a bit tough for visitors.
I was slightly on the path but there was lots of room either side of my pram so assuming a double buggy/wheelchair would have fit (the path stops just after where my car was anyways so it doesn't lead round the corner or anything you have to cross over for the next bit).
Yes we've got a dropped curb but no ones interested unless we are blocked from leaving it seems.

You are perfectly entitled to park on a public highway as long as you aren't blocking someone's access. Just ignore the note and keep annoying them. I've started parking outside my house, leaving the drive empty because if I don't, my neighbours many friends will park outside my house meaning I struggle to get out. If two cars park either side of my drive and one opposite, I cant make the required turn as the road is thin. I am not breaking any laws doing so, and her friends can now park further away.....it's not their Street...

I've put a note back in our car window (explaining again) drives blocked again with my car on it no answer at other neighbors to move it so other car is in 'non-visitors bay'...

Ooh, very passive aggressive. The xoxo was a master touch.

OP, the bit you blacked out in that update isn't blacked out in your original post. For privacy sake you might want to ask MN to remove original photo.

It's a good reply to the note though!

Thanks done so, completely thought I had!

I think it's irrelevant whether they are specifically visitors bays or not. Where are visitors, tradesmen etc to park if all the spaces are taken up by residents? If everyone was doing this there probably wouldn't be complaints. But in the absence of cooperation from the residents maybe that's what will have to happen so that everyone can save their driveway spaces for visitors. Then you can all battle it out for the on-road spaces.