AIBU to be fuming at this CF and my lack of rights?! (Parking thread)

[jessebuni]

OK so I come home from taking the kids to school and when I arrive home someone is parked in my space. Not just anyone but the little black car that had 3 students in it I had seen driving in on my way out. Now normally student park in our residents only visitors bay which is annoying enough but this time they have parked in my privately owned and numbered parking space. So I cannot use it!

The council won’t do anything the police won’t do anything and even the college won’t do anything!

I honestly can’t believe the lack of rights people have on their own properties! This car is going to be in my space for at least 6 hours!

Why can’t there be some new system where people can call and report vehicles to be towed from their property at a smallish fee and then the owners of said cars have to pay the remaining fee to retrieve their cars?

I've had 10 years and counting of this. Blocking in usually works, and I take my intercom off the hook until I'm ready to move

but they couldn't move it, so have gone back to college for the rest of the day.
Or longer...

I’m not sure they always read the signs as new drivers! My daughter and her boyfriend (his car) parked in the B&Q car park that gets locked at 8pm to go cinema. Was locked when they got back. My daughter had to beg me to pick her up and boyfriend had to do same to his parents.... and then go all way back into town to collect his car first thing next day. Not sure if any fines were involved. BUT very valuable lesson to them both. They both got annoyed parent lectures and have been careful since.

Bet these students are more aware of where they park in future. That said I do wonder if my daughter would have been brave enough to knock in this situation, most hate facing angry adults despite pretending to be grown up and confident to friends!

Do what people do at my workplace (government job,) and put a traffic cone or 2 in the space. Or a 'reserved' sign. (Like so...)

I am not even sure you're meant to do it on a public road (probably not!) but maybe you are if it's your allocated space that goes with your flat/house. And it may be a deterrent.

I am gonna watch this thread tentatively as you have now blocked them in LOL!

Maybe they have mock exams and were desperate

Maybe they should have allowed extra time for issues such as traffic being busy and needing to find a space?

My 16 year old has mocks today and he left at 8am to ensure he is there on time. He'll have got there 45 minutes early probably.

Great thread

Could you contact the college again, and tell them the driver needs to come back and move the car, not just look at it. And then, a note saying clearly (again!) they need to knock on to get you to move your car once they have apologised. Great thread OP.

Just to clarify they didn’t knock on any neighbours doors they just asked two of my neighbours that happened to be outside having a chat. Also if they were desperate for mock exams they still shouldn’t have done it but I’m not some crazed monster all they have to do is knock and say sorry please move and I will.

OP now has to wonder what happens if they've left for the week and don't come back until Monday.

If it was my space they'd either come back to an empty one or a burnt out wreck (bloody kids eh!!)

I don't see the point in stringing this out.

I would have just gone down, moved the car, they would have been sheepish and wouldn't have done again, and more importantly, you would have had your car back in it's rightful place.

Carry on the carry on if you want, you have an attentive audience, but I don't see the point of ramping up the situation- they probably don't want to knock on your door as you are angry and unreasonable and are hoping you cool off, which is probably about right! Or perhaps they just didn't see the number on the note. Either way, you are going down in my estimation for not just sorting this out reasonably quickly once they turned up. One day your child might make a silly mistake or be inconsiderate, and presumably you'd like them to meet a reasonable person who would just sort it out straight away instead of treating it like some type of a game on the internet.

To be said in the voice of Steve Coogan... “Fuckin’ Stewdents!”

Love the idea if the Tuna oil. It’d be the perfect reminder (every time the car warms up) to park legally and considerately 😊. The gift that keeps on giving when the heater’s on!

Also there was three of them so surely they could’ve sucked up joint courage between them? Safety in numbers and all.

you are going down in my estimation for not just sorting this out reasonably quickly once they turned up.

Arrogant much? Who gave you delusions of significance??

Sorry, blatant place marking as I'm not on the app and can't add a bookmark :-)

Love a good parking thread, thanks OP!

As much as this is annoying, op, I think instead of taking pictures of the kids you could have Just gone out to unblock them. Now you still have their car there, won't be sure when they come back you could have Just spoken to them and it all be over and done with.

Maybe they should have allowed extra time for issues such as traffic being busy and needing to find a space?
And maybe they stopped on their way to help an old lady who'd fallen on the pavement.

Why do people always have to systematically assume that everyone that inconvenience them do so purely to annoy them? It is a sad fact that maybe do, but before acting in anger, how about assessing the facts?

just asked two of my neighbours that happened to be outside having a chat.
So why didn't the neighbours point them to your direction?

Reading some threads, you'd think everyone posting is perfect, never done anything at all to annoy others. I wish you all lived around me because my town is full of inconsiderate people who probably think the same of everyone else, but an apology, and life goes on.

Can I say, my pet hate is being stuck behind the bin man lorry! You know they can pull out on the side, but they don't because they don't have to, very annoying and selfish when you are rushing to work, but I just smile and wish them a good day, and then they do to back and somehow, it's not so bad!

The problem with those 'residents only' parking signs is that unless there is a permit scheme or something in place, then nothing can really be done. My friends flats have these signs up to deter parkers, but if a non resident parks there, they wont be ticketed or anything.

Well there’s always going to be a difference of opinion in how to handle something. This is my first time having the guts to actually block a student in so it’s not going to be perfect for everyone. Too late to go and talk to them now since they are gone.

I'm hoping they are off buying a big bunch of flowers for the OP.

I love a happy ending. 🙃

Also the neighbours did indeed tell them which number I was.

Swingofthings your halo is waiting for you at the back door. Don't forget to pick it up on your way out 😇

I wonder what power control game you'd have played if they weren't young students. If it was an old woman or 2 older guys in suits I bet you'd have acted differently.

I reckon the college did get the message out, student returned to move car only to find it blocked in so has returned to college.

Can you bounch it out of your space and leave on a yellow line. Contact the college every ten minutes till its moved

Just to be clear, I think you did the right thing to block them in the first place, but believe you should have then resolved it calmly and waited to see what they had to say before deciding whether to get very angry with them.