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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

....to be bemused by people NOT using their driveways???

167 replies

RebeccaBunchLawyer · 18/01/2018 22:07

Hello.

Moved to the UK nearly 2 years ago, and until I bought a car never really realised that people WITH A DRIVEWAY DO NOT USE THEM MUCH!! Instead, they park next to their driveways, sort of “displaying” their driveways or “protecting” them, then hogging the bit of road next to said driveway.

My very odd neighbours have recently created a driveway and dropped curb (at “considerable” expense as he likes to tell anyone who’ll listen), but, yep, you guessed it, they have only used it to park their car in a couple of times when they went on holiday!

And yes, obviously a fully taxed and insured car can park legally on appropriate bits of road, but why not use your driveway and why the f have one built if you don’t really want to use it? Most of my English friends go on and on about wanting one but would they use it?

I feel like going to my neighbours and asking if I can park my little car on their driveway to get it off the road, since they obviously don’t really want it?!

OP posts:

MaryPoppinsPenguins · 18/01/2018 23:12

Although my neighbour opposite has five cars so often parks blocking his own drive which leaves me no space to get onto mine... is that legal?

Original poster

RebeccaBunchLawyer · 18/01/2018 23:13

There is also a weird man (who walks around looking at all the local houses all the time with his whippet dog) who has a driveway and 3 cars which he would park across his driveway (never in but at least it was across), then two on the road using CONES to claim spots, so others couldn’t park there. Now, they have bought a caravan which is in the driveway, and the other 3 cars are ALL on the road, one he parks wherever, even though people can’t park where his other cars are.

O my, I feel so much better getting that off my chests. Mumsnet is surely a form of therapy!

OP posts:

FartlekNewYearHell · 18/01/2018 23:15

Oh my giddy aunt. A parking thread I can post on with my own nightmare neighbour!

The neighbour just across from us lives on a corner plot (so has more kerb space than anyone in the street). They extended their house a dozen years ago and had a driveway with dropped kerb put in. They are the only house to have a driveway on our very packed street which is all terraces and flats. It is also one of the last streets before getting into paid parking in town so lots of 'day visitors'.
These neighbours were always weird in that they used to do coordinated parking with each other so that they could have the space in front of their drive and the one around the corner too. One of them would drive away in the vehicle parked around the corner and the other would move their other car to that spot. This left the spot in front of their drive free. Fair enough, we thought it was anal-retentive but hey-ho.

8 yrs down the line though they now have a 3 car household because their DD has a car. Do any of them use the drive? Do they f*. The man is unwell (this is very sad, other than being arsehole parkers they are a lovely family) and doesn't drive often which would be a good reason to park his car on the drive you'd think. Oh no. His car will be left outside any of the houses on the street for weeks on end, her's has pride of place in front of the drive all the time (big new 4x4) and DD just parks wherever. WHY ISNT HIS ON THE BLOODY DRIVE!!! There isnt even enough room for one car per house on our street because of traffic calming chicanes. They keep their bins on the drive. Meanwhile I have to park 4 streets away and schlep all my shopping all the way home.

God that felt good.

AhhhhThatsBass · 18/01/2018 23:16

Spent about £3k and the best part of a year arguing with the council to get a dropped kerb. By god do we use our drive.

FartlekNewYearHell · 18/01/2018 23:17

Oh Rebecca, I forgot about the cones. She gets her son to put cones up in the road in front of the drive (and a little bit along the pavement) when she leaves so that the space is there when she comes home. The cones were up the other day and ALL THREE cars were parked elsewhere in the street. The bloody nerve.

limitedperiodonly · 18/01/2018 23:21

Drives are a developer's way to convince people that an estate can accommodate more cars than it can. They build houses with 'drives' which are no more than a 30ft run up at the most and charge a premium for a house with a 'drive'. In most cases it's not a drive but a parking space for one or two cars and not generous enough to park them side by side but one behind the other so you frequently have to move them. I can see the attraction of parking on the road.

They then leave the residents with the problems of having to manoeuvre on and off them while knowing there is unrestricted parking on the public road and that most people these days have more than one car so will use it.

If you live in one of these places that's what you have to put up with.

mishfish · 18/01/2018 23:22

My neighbours are the same, they have one driveway but 2 cars. But they park both on the road. It wouldn’t be a problem except the think that the bit of road belongs to them and park like idiots so only them 2 can park there even though if parked properly you could get 3 cars to fit their. Sometimes if someone is parked there when they get home one of them will park on driveway but as soon as other car leaves, he comes out and moves his car onto the road.

This is exactly what I came on to say my PARENTS do! I’d be furious if I were their neighbours

Lifechallenges · 18/01/2018 23:22

My neighbour opposite drives me nuts with this. They have a lovely big drive and mid size car. Instead of learn to park on a drive which involves reversing either in or out, they park on the road. They park (badly) right opposite my drive making it's really really hard to get in and out. IMO if you can't reverse onto or out of a big wide drive you shouldn't be driving at all. Why not just learn to reverse too???

InvisibleLlama · 18/01/2018 23:26

Feckin camel twets

MrMa · 18/01/2018 23:28

I take great joy in calling the local council parking enforcement team when some CF parks infront of my dropped curb driveway just because they don't want to pay the extortionate hospital car park fees. Still cheaper than the ticket they get though.

MrMa · 18/01/2018 23:31

Titsywoo does the village green have a preservation society?

MammaTJ · 18/01/2018 23:32

Well, the HA put a fence up on the garden side of my drive. It has a wall the other side and is too narrow to actually put the car on, then even open the drivers door. DP does park on it, leaving the arse end out. We live in a very quiet cul-de-sac, so although there is room for one walking on the path, anyone who would have to go on the road is not too inconvenienced. The drop kerb is large, so makes quite a distance all level with the road. The only problem with this is the people opposite have three cars. They insist on parking them all in a row in front of their house, making it really difficult for DP to get out of our drive. When I say insist, I mean insist, to the point of having knocked on my door once when my sister parked outside my house preventing them from doing so, and insisted she move it (she refused).

He used to park on the main road opposite our house in the other direction, but the lady over the road got a BF with a car, new people bought the house opposite and they have cars, so there is no longer room there for him.

Original poster

RebeccaBunchLawyer · 18/01/2018 23:33

Fartle, you get me! It’s sooo annoying! Why do I care? My friends, family and colleagues just don’t get it!

OP posts:

BrutusMcDogface · 18/01/2018 23:36

I don't get this at all, and nor have I ever seen it round where I live. We always use the driveway.

Candied - really, your insurance is cheaper if you park it on the road, than the driveway?! Wtf!?

throwcushions · 18/01/2018 23:41

Rebecca, you should tell your neighbours that if they park the car in the garage you have to wash it less frequently! Plus less accumulation of crap! I have never really thought about this before. Cars parked on the road are a total nightmare round here, I never twigged it's because the buggers aren't using their drives (or in the case of NDN because they appear to have four cars for three people )! Now this will annoy me!

StressedtoHellandBack · 18/01/2018 23:59

I think we have every type of parking idiot on our street. We have the must park in sight of our windows household. There is a house with a long drive and still at least one if not two cars are parked on the road. We have ones who leave out the bins so that no-one can park near their house or driveway. We have 3 families with two cars at least and park on the road rather than get a driveway.
I really do not understand what these people get out of parking like idiots just to make it difficult for others to park. They must have such boring lives if parking badly is their idea of the high life.

NewYearNewUsername · 19/01/2018 00:03

My garage is basically ornamental. We parked a mid size hatchback in it when we moved in and discovered that you can get in the garage but you cannot exit your car...

We use our drive though. It's a decent size as well. Next doors is next to it but we can easily open car doors fully without bashing each other's cars.

Everyone on my road uses their drive.

SockUnicorn · 19/01/2018 00:05

@RebeccaBunchLawyer I dont use my drive as its narrow and i cant be arsed. Plus then someone will block me in and it takes longer to get out.

NewYearNewUsername · 19/01/2018 00:05

Empty driveways and insane parking would drive me mad.

I understand if the drive is too small/a struggle to access etc but some of these stories are madness.

Learn to fucking park if you own a car.

safariboot · 19/01/2018 00:11

My car insurance is cheaper if I say it’s parked on the road outside the house, than on the driveway!!

I got the same when I asked for quotes. (Hypothetically, since I don't have a drive, though I could get one).

As for why people have drives and don't park on them, the simplest answer is because other idiots will block them in. I bet more than half the time that's the reason. It'll probably only take one or two instances of being late for work before you decide it's not worth risking that happening again.

Weezol · 19/01/2018 00:41

The beautiful thing about cones is that they are light enough to pick up an lob into the owner's garden. Cones are CFs fly tipping on HM Highway.

Try it. It's very satisfying - more so if there's a decent hedge to clear when throwing overarm.

Talkingfrog · 19/01/2018 07:48

When we looked for a house one of the criteria was drive or garage. The only time we don't use the drive is when we are going back out again within the hour.

The street isn't that big and all have a car do everyone does the same, apart from next door neighbour. They use the drive for the one car it takes, but have three or 4 cars so park the others in the road. As close together as possible and causes no problem to us (other than being careful when we pull out), but can sometimes make it difficult for neighbours the other side.
I can't understand why people have a drive and never use it. I wonder if they have declared off road parking on their insurance.

jainaproudm · 19/01/2018 08:16

My drive is ridiculously narrow (literally 2 inches either side of my tiny Hyundai), on a blind bend, and very steep - it's practically impossible to get on/off in the dark, and I have only been driving 6 months so maybe I need some more practice. I've parked up there 3 times (in the dark because it's winter so it's dark when I leave the house/get home) and I've knocked my wing mirror or scratched my drivers side door each time. My poor car doesn't deserve this treatment, so I park outside my house instead.

PiffleandWiffle · 19/01/2018 08:18

Whoever comes home first parks on the road, leaving a guaranteed space for the second one home.

Simples...

EggsonHeads · 19/01/2018 08:18

That's really weird but then again so are U.K. Driveways. They are often too short/too narrow/just as shitty and impractical as the house that they belong to.

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