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

[RebeccaBunchLawyer]

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?!

This happens on my street a lot. Several houses have had their tiny gardens tarmacked over to make a parking space, but still park on the road. They make the dropped kerb bits as wide as possible to bagsy as much of the road as they can, thus actually reducing the amount of parking spaces available by creating their driveway.

And then there's the ones who have garages, some double garages, that they never use. Instead they park both their cars on the road. These are the people most likely to moan about how difficult it is to park on the road, or about other people having too many cars, or even worse a van

Funny thing is that the on street parking really isn't that bad here unless you come home late at night, or on a Sunday afternoon when everyone seems to come round for dinner. What the neighbors mean when they say the parking is bad is that they can't park directly outside hair house and might have to walk 20 paces

There are only 2 cities in the U.K. Where it's illegal to park on the pavements. It's likely that the twatish poster doesn't live in one of them.

You're right. Sorry, it was the third reply where they spoke about taking care to not turn their body. The placement of 'not' in that particular twat's sentence is important.

MN'ers tend to be sticklers for rules such as recreational drug use or 72mp/h on a motorway yet vigilantism with parking is acceptable for some reason.

In case you were wondering, our cars are always in the garage and 3 of which I would never drive up a curb. I do love cars (and mine in particular) which is why I think the twattish damaging of cars buy twats should be called out.

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.

I think part of the reason drives are so narrow is that cars used to be smaller. When you compare a new Fiesta to a mark 1 Fiesta, the difference is huge, and new Passats are much bigger than the 1996 one I used to have (I know this, because I could fit mine easily between the pillars in the underground car park at work, but someone who has a new has about 1" to spare on each side).

Our house was built in the 1930s. I don't know how much later the garage was built, but you'd struggle to get anything bigger than an Austin 7 in it (which is why it has 2 motorbikes in it and no cars).

To save their driveway for visitors?

We have just had new neighbours move in and they are parking across their driveway as they can't get their car on it. The previous owner had a small car, and they have got an estate.

What is annoying about this for everyone else is that by parking across their drive, they have removed one of the few passing places on our road (they are also just before a bend), leading to vast amounts of standoffs and beeping.

The idiots lovely people three doors bought their house, paved over the front garden and made three parking spaces. They park their three cars on the road which makes it virtually impossible for next door to get off their drive with any visibility and hard for me. There was a row the other night because next door drove into their car when trying to get off their drive.

My NDNs have a garage and a drive, but parked on the road to stop anyone parking outside their house. He's had to stop driving now for health reasons, but one of their sons leaves his car there because he only has one parking space where he lives and he needs that for work van.

I came home one day and the space outside their house was vacant so I parked in it. Son then had to park his car in their drive. I didn't use my car for a couple of days, and when I popped out for half an hour, the son's car was moved from their drive and was back in the space outside their house.

We leave our motorhome parked on the street because our drive slopes. This means that all the coolant in the fridge settles to one spot, and it takes about 2 days of being level before it works properly. DP leaves his car and 2 of the motorbikes on the drive though, so there wouldn't be any more space if the MH was on the drive.

I guarantee that your neighbours hate that you leave the motor home on the street rather than in your drive (whatever your reasoning).

We have a double garage and a large drive. But the garage is full of equipment for husbands job (self employed). And I do mean absolutely rammed full. And the drive fits several cars but only all nose to tail. So if we both park on the drive we end up moving the cars around each morning, to access the trailer in garage or the car/truck behind. This is difficult and time consuming due to small child which can’t be left in house alone. Plus the drive is narrow so can’t open door of cars very wide so can’t get car seat out or shopping bags and you get filthy as you end up rubbing along the side of the car and house which is always filthy (rural). We would widen drive but then would lose precious garden space...

Alot of people now do not park on their drives because if you have a decent car it increases your risk of a house break-in (to get your keys and thus your car). That is why your neighbour will be parking his porsche on the street and is also why car insurance is now more expensive if you park on your driveway rather than the road.

That is why your neighbour will be parking his porsche on the street and is also why car insurance is now more expensive if you park on your driveway rather than the road.

Is that for all cars or just Porsches? It's hard to imagine that anyone would break in to my house for the keys for my old skoda.

A friend of mine has a truly terrifying drive. Narrow, onto an unusually thin and steep road and with only a kerb seperating the drive from a drop. She actually practised parking on it before buying the house! I respect her parking skills!! I have a drive and always use it.

Yes, happily dungeondragon, I think you will be safe parking your skoda on the drive without fear of a break in

The more expensive car insurance for driveway parking though is I think for all cars, irrespective of how desirable they are to thieves

I live in a typical Victorian house - terraced with large bay windows. A lot of people have paved over their front gardens to make a driveway because they are frustrated with the parking situation. We haven't done that - we have a tree and a planted up front garden. The other day I was round at my friend's house and usually we sit in her kitchen, but I went in her front room and was really struck how awful the view is out of her bay window - totally dominated by her great big black Volvo parked inches from the window. You can't really see past it and it totally dominated the room somehow.

On a road which I frequently drive down, I would estimate more than half the households park their vehicles on the road when they have adequate driveways. This parking extends to within a couple of yards of the T-junction on both sides, with the effect that drivers turning into said road are immediately confronted with usually a parked large van or VW Golf or a bus picking its way down the middle. Great !

A few folk on our road have removed their garages and converted them into rooms and getting rid of their driveways and then parking all their cars on the road really close to the junction. Or annoying across the top of our driveway making it awkward to get out of our drive.