To be annoyed someone is pushing my wing mirror in?

[sniffle12]

Incredibly trivial problem alert!

At home I park ever so slightly on the pavement - but it's a wide pavement and there's definitely room for people, prams, wheelchairs and even scooters to pass. And yet someone keeps tucking in my wing mirror. AIBU to think it's a bit rude to touch someone else's car?

You're not the person who parks down the road from us are you? If you are then I will tell you there is not enough room for people to get past - well, not without being scratched half to death by the bush on the other side of the pavement!

Almost everyone in our town living in Victorian or Edwardian houses parks on the pavements because no-one has driveways or garages and if people didn't park in this way, then no-one would be able to use the roads, and emergency vehicles couldn't get past. The council have facilitated this in some streets by making half of the pavement tarmac, and leaving the other half as brick (most of our pavements are lethal red bricks). I always tuck my wing mirrors in (shame that rat runners using our road have knocked three of mine off without stopping) and we all try to park considerately for wheelchairs and pushchairs. But fatuous comments such as "buy a house with a garage" or "don't have a car" are not remotely practical for lots of people living in urban areas without off street parking.

Oh and btw, I'm not actually totally against cars parking a little on the pavement (especially if there is a narrow road) but drivers should take responsibility to make sure there genuinely is plenty of room for pedestriabs, wheelchairs, pushchairs etc to get past and tuck their own mirrors in! (And no, being able to cross the road to use the pavement on the other side of the road doesn't count as person down road tried to tell us when we politely confronted them once.)

Tis true about Exeter. But parking is shite people have too many cars. Car parks are woefully small and vastly expensive. Residence only parking everywhere and small narrow roads. I often have to park on pavements for my job or if never get to my clients. Mercifully it's only half an hour.
But still I'd rather park legally. I dread the day I get a ticket.

In places where you genuinely do need to park part on the pavement, the police are ok with this. I have heard the police say that at a public meeting in my City. Because they recognise there is no choice.

I always tuck my wing mirrors in, less chance of some passing neds kicking them "fir fun"

It very much depends on the road. Are people forgetting that when a lot of Britain's houses were built (Victorian era/1930's) they would have been astonished at the sheer number of cars on the road today. They never had to think about road width for double parking. those saying "Don't park on the pavement" obviously don't live in a busy, overcrowded, built up area.

On my residential street, if all the cars parked on the road and not on the pavement, there would not be enough room for a single car to get through, much less ambulance/bin wagon/trade van/removal van. Park on the road? Only if you want an angry stream of motorists banging on your door asking why you are blocking the road.

Drama you make a good point. I wish homeowners would cut back overhanging branches, plants and trees so they are in line with the boundary fence/wall of their house. As a buggy pusher, the number of times I have nearly had my eye scratched, or my hair pulled by sticking-out branches is ridiculous. Some people are so lazy and thoughtless about their exterior gardens.

I would push your wing mirror in as well. The pavement is for pedestrians not cars/vans etc. This gets my goat massively.

I had to ask an Asda van to get off the pavement the other day as he was blocking half the path and I wasn't willing to walk down the middle of the road with my pram.

Our old house opened onto the street and cheapskates parked on our residential street to avoid having to pay car park costs (we were a 10 minute walk into the town centre) and some clown parked so close to my door - being heavily pregnant and on crutches I struggled to get out of my door so I rang 101 and reported it - the clown got a well deserved parking ticket and didn't park there again.

if we didnt park on our pavement here emergency service couldnt get through

But the thing is, people aren't telling you to simply park on the road. People who don't like people parking on pavements tend to be considerate people who also think about the emergency services. If you can't park on the road then you need to find somewhere else to park. End of..having a car and living on a road doesn't give you the right to be rude and park on the pavement. I push a double buggy around A LOT. I had to walk on the road this morning. I didn't mind so much but I often think, wow if I was in a wheelchair now how would I have got around? One van was parked so far on a pavement that there wasn't space for even a child to walk through. It really pisses me off. And yes, I live in this area and yes I often have to park a few roads away when coming back from a long day at work. But I'd rather do that than block the pavement for a wheelchair user

People get very cross about pavement parkers...
www.kentonline.co.uk/whitstable/news/pavement-parking-vigilante-strikes-again-119361/

I push these in to makes a point, paths are for pedestrians!

Our road has narrow pavements which are perminently blocked by vehicles parking on them. If they parked on the road then the wemergency services couldn't get through. On the other hand, if the people who lived on our road used their drives and garages, and those that want the sports club at the end of the road were prepared to walk for 3 minutes before and after their sports training then there wouldn't be a problem.

Conclusion: most people are selfish.

It's not necessarily illegal to park up on the pavement. In our borough there are even roads where you are specifically told on the signs to park on the pavement.

In our borough there are even roads where you are specifically told on the signs to park on the pavement.

Yes, and the signs are what makes it legal. No signs = no pavement parking.

Urgh, my neighbours park on the pavement. It's a pain in the area to get the pram past so I often end up pushing the pram in the road.

You are being very unreasonable. Cars go on roads and people go on pavements.

I usually push wing mirrors in as I go past. I thought it was a helpful thing to do?

They are at the right height to be knocked off by prams, kids, wheelchairs. There's no need to risk damage or injury to pedestrians if you can just fold it in. Are you just lazy OP?

If you live in a built up area it makes sense to get used to pushing in / folding out your mirrors. Otherwise you will lose one eventually.

Whoever I park on a certain street in our city (exeter as it happens!) whe we've I get back to the car, the drivers side wing mirror has always been pushed in (on the road side). That side isn't it? I always feel like I'm going mad!
Also. I always park on the pavement outside our house . The police know and have even said its fine because it's a main road, the pavement is wide, and there are parking bays a bit further along, so in order to all park in a line the other cars need to be on a pavement. And if they're not they get bashed by cars driving past and have caused accidents before. I'm not explain gig it well really. But anyway although it's not really allowed the policed said they'd rather we did that than cause an accident!

Is it just one mirror that gets pushed in? Like someone said upthread your car might be doing it automatically.

Just wondering why, given the 'need' ( rightly or wrongly) to park partly on the pavement, why don't those car owners like the OP, out of courtesy to pedestrians, push their own wing mirrors in? That way no one else will do it, car doesn't get touched by unclean, stranger hands and done - or am a missing something?

Yes, and the signs are what makes it legal. No signs = no pavement parking.

I don't think this is correct. I believe that if there are signs erected by the local authority clearly stating no parking you will get a fine.

Otherwise you will only get a fine if causing an obstruction or seen driving on a pavement. Silly as the inference is that you have to drive on it to park on it, but it is only an offence if reported by the witness.

Jeez, where do all you people who never park on the pavements live? I live in an area where I can only think literally of three-four residential streets within a mile (yes, a mile) radius from my house. Think an urban area that has been densely built-up, mainly by terraces, way before the 1920s. Streets are largely narrow, almost no houses have garages or space for them (think microscopic gardens), the only two communal parking lots are a local town car park that fits about 30 cars and the one at the local supermarket with a 2-hour limit. This leaves two choices only for thousands of residents: 1) park on the road and block the roads for any vehicles never mind the emergency ones, and 2) not have cars. I cannot see how choice number 2 would be realistically enforceable without making the whole town a car-free zone. So everyone parks part on pavement, and in the 11 years I've been here, I have not heard of anyone getting ticketed for this or have been ticketed myself. A lot of pavements do end up being obstructed, but we all get along. People just walk/ride in buggies and wheelchairs in the roads and cars give them priority and drive slowly and carefully. Drivers fold their mirrors in in particularly narrow streets and twatty behaviour like parking too close to house doors does not really happen.

Drives me mad this. I push a double pushchair most of the time and im forever having to go across grass or go into the road to get by. Hubby has been known to put wing mirrors in but I couldn't lol. It does annoy the life out of me. I sometimes think I should just push through anyway and if their car gets scratched it's their own problem but I wouldn't have the guts lol. If you can't park safely on the road, find another street.

Looneytune253, are you suggesting that the whole of my town should 'find another street'? Where would that magic street be? And I do get a feeling that all local double-buggy owners will not be happy themselves about having to park miles away from their houses or not having cars at all. I understand that in your location people might have an opportunity to park safely on the road or elsewhere not on the pavement. But not everywhere is like that.

I'd always tuck my wing mirrors in myself now if pavement parking after some tw** knocked one off when I hadn't and as it's an electric adjusting one, cost about £200 to fix....

Just be grateful they haven't snapped it off instead.