The pavement is for pedestrians?

[MarcelineTheVampire]

This has bothered me for a while but complete lack of sleep deprivation has turned me into a raging bull.

I don't drive (medical condition so 'learn to drive' wouldn't be the best advice) and so walk a lot.

Now, I have sympathy that parking your car is sometimes limited and that a lot of the time you need to park in awkward places and car slightly on the curb. However, it sends me into a rage when inconsiderate cockwombles park near enough their entire car on the path meaning you can barely squeeze by.

I can't get my pushchair past them most of the time which is annoying, on quieter roads I do just go on the road around it swearing or slightly on the persons front lawn (not ideal I know but needs must) but today I was walking down a busy road with a wall and/or spiky bushes on the other side and several people had parked this way. I was on he verge of writing a note, they made me that mad I was going to be one of those people and write a bloody NOTE!!! Instead I'm writing an aggressive post on mumsnet to vent.

AIBU to think that the pavement is for pedestrians?

We're in London but never see this enforced, despite plenty of traffic wardens about issuing tickets.

A lot of the bays near us aren't side on to the pavement, so even small cars are packed with the front wheels right up to the curb so the bonnet completely blocks the pavement. Im assuming they do this so they're closer in from the road, but it's so inconsiderate. However, the wheels are not on the pavement, so maybe this is why they don't get a ticket.

My road (and all the surrounding ones) are the same WinnieTheMe. Luckily the pavement that we do bump up on is ridiculously wide, you can almost get another car between the parked car and gardens.

This really annoys me. I have worked with people in wheelchairs and its no fun either trying to drag the chair through mud from someone garden or having to risk everyone welfare by going round on the road. I have in the past knocked on doors so I could get the chairs through asking people to move and TBF people have moved with no issue and generally he next time we have gone by there has been more room. Its now annoying me again as I have a DD and go out with her and squeezing a buggy through can be a nightmare but mirrors fold in!! (The CA's not the buggy)
My most recent job (currently on maternity leave) involves visiting people at home and at times parking can be difficult . I avoid parking on the path and have only done it no rare occasions but make sure I don't take up too much space, its only a Micra I use for work so fairly east to manoeuvre (also avoiding drives, dropped kerbs, junctions etc)
Went out yesterday with DD and DH in the family car (Sportage which feel like a tank compared to my little Micra) and there was little space for parking. Ended up on the road and my DH wasn't impressed that I wouldn't park the tank on the pavement. I pointed out the were small streets of bungalows nearby and people likely would be in wheelchairs, and that we were close to the village centre so people would need to get by.

I agree. So selfish and inconsiderate. I live in London so don't see it around here.
However where my parents live in the north east it is ridiculous. 1970s built estate and all houses have decent sized drives for at least 2 cars but there are cars are parked half on the pavement so you can barely squeeze through. DD did bump her scooter into a car one time but sadly it didn't leave a mark. Oh and on bin day the wheelie bins also block the pavement.

I even see cars parked on the whole pavement, as if the pavement was space for parking! Not a clue. I wish pedestrians had the power to take a photo and that photo evidence was enough to prosecute. If there isn't a big enough gap for a buggy or wheelchair I always point it out to the driver. Builders and plumbers are dreadful, parking close to unload stuff and then instead of reparking straight away they just leave it there!

@insancerre

criminal damage is illegal and parking on the pavement is only automatically illegal in Exeter and London.

People who want to be part of society can't pick and choose what laws they abide by and if I saw someone deliberately scratching one of my cars because they didn't like the way I'd parked, there's a good chance they'd get a smack.

I don't think anyone here has purposely scratched a car. When trying to squeeze past a poorly parked car I couldn't care less whether I scratch it though. I think you would have little sympathy from the police for assaulting someone who caused accidental damage as a result of you parking like a cunt.

if I saw someone deliberately scratching one of my cars because they didn't like the way I'd parked, there's a good chance they'd get a smack

Although assault is illegal so there is a good chance you'd get a sentence. Shame there is no law against being a self-centred cunt.

YANBU

A few streets not far from me, everyone parks fully on the pavement, not even a wheel on road. This is both sides of this both sides of the street.

I always think about telling mumsnet about it whenever I drive down. Yesterday was even more though as a police car was also parked up with them, just the same.

This really bothers me too. I can only imagine what it must be like for wheelchair users.
There's a house at the end of the road where they have a garage in an odd spot with only a very short drive between it and the pavement. Of course they park on the drive rather than in the garage so the car sticks out across the whole pavement. It is just by a junction too so have to put the buggy right out into the junction to get around. Luckily they are quiet roads.

@YetAnotherSpartacus

Common assault is illegal as is criminal damage. Which aspect confuses you?

@Oysterbabe

At least two people have said that they push they handbag with charms or buggy past cars, not caring if they're scratched. The mens rea of simple criminal damage consists of intention or recklessness as to the destroying or damaging of property belonging to another. Don't be misled by the notion of "destroying" as simply reducing the value is included.

Anyone advocating criminal damage shouldn't expect sympathy when someone else does too.

Common assault is illegal as is criminal damage. Which aspect confuses you

Er neither. It's only cuntishness that causes me some mental taxation.

The worst sort of pavement parkers are the ones who, ignoring any zigzags, park as possible to any railings outside school, halfway across the pavement of course, then the doors fling open across the rest of the pavement, right in front of you, and half a dozen kids pile out and all stand there fussing over bags, standing on each others toes etc all because their lazy arse mother doesn't want to walk around the corner.

@Course I'm one of the posters you're referring to I think. I would purposefully scratch a car but if the gap is just wide
enough and I do end up scratching it then that's tough shot for the owner. If you park on a pavement and take up so much room as to only allow single file individuals to walk past then you must be prepared to accept scratches and scuffs to your car. If you don't want that to happen then park properly on the road.

*wouldn't rather than would!

*shit rather than shot (autocorrect is so polite)

People who want to be part of society can't pick and choose what laws they abide by and if I saw someone deliberately scratching one of my cars because they didn't like the way I'd parked, there's a good chance they'd get a smack.

Don't park like a cunt and it won't arise.

@AtHomeDadGlos

Yes, you are one.

"[if] I do end up scratching it then that's tough shot for the owner"

Unless of course, you're seen. Damage through negligence is still criminal damage. I'd hazard a guess that a scratch on a single panel of my vehicle would cost you thousands and thousands of pounds and my being parked legally wouldn't mitigate in the slightest.

So, either you're wealthy enough to afford the cost of a respray and loss of earnings from a criminal record or you're cowardly enough to only damage others' property when you don't think you'll be caught. Either way, someone who does what you're suggesting, needs a smack - either in the wallet or on the cheek.

Avoid acting like a vindictive and cowardly cunt and you'll be hit in neither.

It's only criminal damage if it's deliberate. If I'm pushing my elderly relative in a wheelchair I will not push her into the road I will stay on the pavement. If you are too stupid to leave enough space I may accidentally damage your car.

Yanbu. Nor are they for people's hedges to protrude into forcing you into the road/verges too.

Criminal damage doesn't require intent and remember, your stupidity isn't mitigation.

Actually it does. But feel free to pretend you're right.

"Legally, it is only criminal damage if it was done intentionally, so accidental damage does not count and something that isn’t permanent doesn’t count either. So while smashing a wing mirror is criminal damage, throwing eggs at a car isn’t, because it is not permanent. However, it may still be a crime – particularly if it happens more than once – as it may be considered antisocial behaviour.
So if you’ve been affected by the crime, whether you’re upset, scared, sad or angry, there are people you can talk to and who can help you cope with what’s happened. And if you decide you want to report the crime to police, it will be taken seriously.
Graffiti might be regarded as art by some people, and in some places; but to the police and to the owners of buildings, unauthorised art is criminal damage. Arson – deliberately trying to damage a place or someone’s property by setting fire to it – is also criminal damage.
Sometimes the damage is a one-off, but it may also be repeated – which may become antisocial behaviour, bullying, or even harassment. Or it may be targeted at you or your family because of your identity – perhaps your race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity, or because of your disability – which is known as hate crime."

www.youandco.org.uk/crime-info/ive-had-something-stolen-or-damaged/my-property-has-been-damaged

I've scratched cars in the past not on purpose but with my pushchair when I've had to squeeze through. I will not drag my toddler and baby in a busy main road because selfish people park on the pavement usually because of double yellow lines. It's a nightmare by our local school!

@DecoRules

I'm not a criminal lawyer (I'm corporate) but have a good enough grasp of the law to afford a big Range Rover to park on the pavement and doubly piss you off.

I don't want to piss on your little Google search but negligence is all that's needed for criminal damage.

Anyway. Don't act like a weaselly, chavvy cunt damaging a parked car and you'll be fine. I've you've the balls to do it in front of the owner armed with your little quotation then good luck to you.

Hate this shit. One of the reasons I want only two kids is so that once I've learnt to drive I can get something dinky like a perodua rather than one of the massive tanks that drive and park all over the bloody pavements constantly. (Sometimes you do have to mount the pavement to let other vehicles through, but you have to do it less if you've got a small car).

Personally I always try to get myself and my buggy through the gap, really really hard if necessary. If it takes some paint off, so be it, I left a gouge on the back of a wing mirror one time so now I always fold them in if it's going to be a close one. I'm not a monster.