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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Parking and disability

34 replies

Welshmaenad · 29/12/2016 17:01

Fully prepared to be told IABU but would like some input!

Moved to our new home in April after splitting with DH. We live in a small village where I needed to stay for school/contact etc and there wasn't a great deal of housing available in my budget that met our needs - nothing at all that offered off street parking. Chose our house because I loved it, it ticked every other box, and offered better parking prospects than all the others - village is ex mining so 99% terraces where parking is problematic, our house is a semi situated on a roundabout, but between the property next door and is there's room for 3 cars outside. Next door have one car, usually parked outside their own property.

My DD has CP, and is a blue badge holder. I have chronic health issues and ongoing issues with pain and mobility but don't have my own blue badge as I don't have a firm diagnosis or claim PIP.

Couple who live in the end house of the terrace adjoining the roundabout have a massive great bloody campervan that they park on street outside their own home, plus two other cars that they persistently park outside my house ( both of them). I have politely asked several times if they could leave at one space free for me, as if I can't park outside I often have to park up the hill which is difficult for both my DD and I to manage when we return to the car. This had little effect, so I got a nice sign to put on my fence which states there's a disabled resident and please leave the space free. They persistently ignore this too, and often will park one car across two spaces, blocking me completely from parking there, then move when the other comes home so they can fit both in, whilst DD and I are left to struggle.

They dumped their campervan outside for a week once, even when space cleared for them to return it to its usual spot, which not only blocked both parking spaces but also all the light into my front room. They only use the bastard thing twice a year, so I'm not really sure why they can't put it in storage and make everyone's life a bit easier.

These are people who have known me and my DD for a number of years, are well aware of her disability and my own ill health. It's so frustrating because I'm fully aware that legally they can park where they like, but everyone else locally is so considerate (including next door who will sometimes knock and offer to move their own vehicle so I can use their space, and watch the kids while I move the car, bless them).

I am aware there's nothing further I can do, but AIBU to think they're complete self absorbed twats and also to report them next time they let their MOT go 3 months overdue?

OP posts:
WorraLiberty · 29/12/2016 17:07

YANBU, they really do sound like completely selfish wankers.

However, I wouldn't get into petty reporting wars as that sort of thing tends not to end well.

MotherFuckingChainsaw · 29/12/2016 17:07

You can ask the council to make a disabled bay outside your house I think

But yes, report them.

2shoes · 29/12/2016 17:08

contact the council and ask for a disabled bay(with pole) for your dd

Welshmaenad · 29/12/2016 17:08

My concern with the MOT is whether it invalidates their insurance - I'm not sure. But she in particular is a terrible driver/parker and I'm just waiting for her to prang my motability car. If she does and isn't insured, I might have to kill her.

OP posts:
GingerHollyandIvy · 29/12/2016 17:10

Contact the council and ask for an enforceable disabled bay (so it has the sign and all) for your dd in front of your home. My MIL did this for FIL when he was alive, and it wasn't too difficult for her to sort.

Welshmaenad · 29/12/2016 17:10

Unfortunately our council does not do disabled parking bays, at all.

I am considering approaching them about a DFG to help with the cost of moving the lamppost outside the house, as I have enough frontage to have a driveway and drop kerb put in if they could shift the lamppost a few metres up the pavement!

OP posts:
BIgBagofJelly · 29/12/2016 17:10

Definitely apply to the council for a dedicated bay. Those people sound like massive tossers. Have you tried knocking and asking them to move their car/campervan ASAP? I don't know if I'd report them for their MOT but if you get a dedicated bay definitely report them the second they park in it!

Hercules12 · 29/12/2016 17:11

How do you know mot overdue?

sirfredfredgeorge · 29/12/2016 17:12

Stop moaning about others parking completely legally, and get a disabled parking bay to solve your problem, simply and easily.

YABU to not simply sorting out your problem.

search for - "disabled parking home" and your council name, and they'll tell you how to apply.

BIgBagofJelly · 29/12/2016 17:12

Reading your update about MOT I'd be tempted to report it if it does invalidate her insurance. Have you asked your council for advice about parking. It's ridiculous you can't get a disabled bay!

SauvignonBlanche · 29/12/2016 17:13

YANBU
Is there any chance you can apply for a BB space outside your house?

RichardBucket · 29/12/2016 17:13

Totally selfish wankers. This is one of those cases where what's legal isn't moral. How does the conversation go when you ask them to leave you a space?

Could you and next-door-neighbour collude to block the space in the way they do? One of you parks across both spaces until the other gets home, so you can both fit in. Or do Campervan Arseholes get there first?

SauvignonBlanche · 29/12/2016 17:14

X post - sorry
That's crappy of your council.

BIgBagofJelly · 29/12/2016 17:15

sirfredfredgeorge OP has said her council don't do disabled bays. The fact that they're parking legally doesn't mean it isn't obnoxious and OP has every right to complain about it.

sirfredfredgeorge · 29/12/2016 17:16

Well we need to name and shame the council, I don't know of any which don't do it...

Welshmaenad · 29/12/2016 17:16

hercules you can check an mot status on the gov.uk website. After several months of her bumper being held on with a bungee cord I was pretty sure it wasn't roadworthy.

OP posts:
WorraLiberty · 29/12/2016 17:19

If you think anybody's car is unroadworthy and uninsured, you should really report them so that's a bit of a red herring surely?

I thought you meant reporting out of spite rather than genuine concern.

Welshmaenad · 29/12/2016 17:21

Yes, the council are notoriously crappy. I sought advice from occupational therapy when they came to do an assessment in our old home. They just blanket don't offer them, to anyone. There are children far more mobility-impaired than my DD who have also been denied.

OP posts:
lalalalyra · 29/12/2016 17:21

Surely a council can't unilaterally decide that they don't "do" disabled parking bays? I know that some have stricter criteria than others, but not doing them at all doesn't seem like something that's legal or right. Have you double and triple checked that?

lalalalyra · 29/12/2016 17:21

Surely a council can't unilaterally decide that they don't "do" disabled parking bays? I know that some have stricter criteria than others, but not doing them at all doesn't seem like something that's legal or right. Have you double and triple checked that?

lalalalyra · 29/12/2016 17:23

Surely a council can't decide that they don't "do" disabled parking bays? I know that some have stricter criteria than others, but not doing them at all doesn't seem like something that's legal or right. Have you double and triple checked that? The OT that my relative (terminal cancer) first dealt with was absolutely clueless.

Also policies change. I'd be getting onto them, your councillors and, if needs be, your MP because they can't just have a blanket no on disabled bays.

lalalalyra · 29/12/2016 17:23

Sorry - no idea what happened there!

Welshmaenad · 29/12/2016 17:23

I was battling with myself whether to do it worra, when it vanished for 2 days and returned with a new bumper and shiny new MOT status. Next time I don't think I'd hesitate.

OP posts:
happypoobum · 29/12/2016 17:24

I had no idea a council could refuse to consider any request for a disabled parking bay!!! That is so strange.

I agree with PP, I think your best bet is going to be going for the dropped kerb.

happypoobum · 29/12/2016 17:25

I mean refuse to consider any and all requests - not that they had to agree to anything requested!! Never heard of that before Sad

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