Or does he just think he owns the road?

[JustPurple]

We live on a dead end of a road on a housing estate where each house has a drive for 2 cars. My PILs have visited once a week since our baby was born 8 weeks ago. They park on the road but opposite next door (which is the last house down the dead end).

This week, next door have stopped them as they parked up and told them they can't park there because it makes it difficult for him to get two cars onto his drive. Now fair enough, PILs can park 20ft further down the road so they're opposite our house instead but AIBU to think they can't dictate who parks where on a public road?

For background, next door does, and always has parked his car diagonally on his drive. He's never even attempted to get two on there. Furthermore, the myriad of work vans and visitors' vehicles that descend on his place almost daily always park in that spot, next to it and opposite our house. We don't complain. We just accept that parking is at a premium and dodge parked vehicles on the way onto our drive. I'm sure he only has an issue because he sees that bit of road as his and wants sole use of it.

Edited to add:

I've sketched a quick diagram to explain what I mean a bit better.

Surely parking outside our house would make things more difficult for everyone?

next door are being cuntyfuckers, clearly the space opposite the hosues should be filled up in the most logical way first come first served.

Ten out of ten for diagram :D

He is being unreasonable! Nobody dictates who parks on a public road. Unless permit controlled of course.

"forbidden zone!" that's hilarious We also have a forbidden zone. Husband respects the forbidden zone. When I have learnt to drive I will not, on purpose. Public road, parking is at a premium. No one died and made him God. Park on the forbidden zone and revel in it.

Tell him what you told us in your last paragraph.
Roads are public not private. He is an eejit.

Excellent diagram
Of course it is a public road and there is no legal claim over it.
However, if there is room elsewhere and he is offensive, then won't it just be nicer for your parents to park outside your's?

I'm on fence, yes he doesn't have any rights over the road but parking at the bottom of the cul de sac would make manoeuvring more difficult. Plus I think if they are your visitors then the

They should be parked opposite you if possible so the inconvenience of getting on and off your drive is passed to you. If you can accommodate him I would. Obviously if there is no where else for them to park then it's another issue.

I'm being really British about this and just quietly seething rather than pointing out the error of his ways!

Our visitors can (and probably will) just park outside our house in future. It's just annoyed me that he's lied about a second car being parked on his drive. It just doesn't make sense - an extra car outside of our house is more in the way if anything.

He definitely just wants to place the forbidden zone in a state of perpetual dibs, right?

My husband wants to know if he'd be unreasonable to take a chair outside and sit in the space all night 'just cos'.

Another 10/10 for diagram OP!

Say this:

'Oh yes of course CF neighbour! We should have been more thoughtful. I'll tell them not to park there in future. Please could you tell visitors to your house not to park opposite our house also, we have the same problem as you when your visitors park there lie lie lie Cheerio!'

That should piss them off nicely.

Love the forbidden zone! I’d like it if your DH did camp out there just cos he can, what with it being a public road and all.

I do think your visitors should park outside your house though if there is spaces.

They should park on your drive. And you should park permanently opposite your drive and just far enough forward that it’s impossible for anyone to get into the space opposite his.

And you can’t move it because you can’t leave the baby. Such a shame. You were just ensuring your parents could park without obstructing his drive.

Well that escalated quickly. My BIL (who didn't get the forbidden zone memo) visited for an hour at Easter.
In an act of retaliation, next door have taken to parking, neigh abandoning, their car in the middle of the dead end so nobody can park outside their house. God forbid their view is sullied for 60 minutes once a week. Obviously I have had to update the diagram.

It is interesting to hear the split of opinion on whether we should have visitors park outside our house rather than 20ft further down at the bottom of the dead end. I guess people do feel like they have some rights over the road in front of their houses even though this isn't enforceable in law. I though the were being thoughtful by parking at the bottom out of the way rather than causing a bottleneck further down the road.

New diagram attached

I’m on the fence here too. While I am firmly in the you don’t own the road outside your house camp I do think the neighbour has a point. It rather depends on how it was put to you.
If it was ‘would you mind parking a little further along as it makes it tricky to get on the drive’, then fine. If it was ‘oi, cuntychops, don’t park outside my fucking house’, then not fine.

It might be nothing to do with the view. On some roads, having a car parked directly opposite a driveway makes it very difficult to manoeuvre. Not impossible, but difficult. Your guests should be making it more difficult for you to use your drive, not your neighbours.

Yanbu. Naturally I imagine people would park at the dead end. It's not like your visitors are parked there for days.

Th issue really isn't that parking on the far side makes it difficult to access the drives. The issue is that next door want to park one car diagonally across their drive and have the bottom of the dead end available to park two extra cars for their frequent visitors.

They often park cars two abreast opposite our drive and that does make it a bit difficult one has very little effect.

I don't think it's unreasonable to ask them to park outside your house when visiting you. I also don't tend to park in dead ends as it makes it difficult for people to turn round. Also I know parking opposite driveways can make it difficult for the owner. If there is no where else to park then I also don't see them problem in parking where you can (if the only space left is opposite their house then park there rather than in the next street!)

He's only gone and put a no parking sign up on a fence that doesn't belong to him in relation to a portion of road that is public.

He continues to park there every day and last night, 3 additional cars were there meaning his visitors had taken over the whole street. Being a public road, we accepted this instead of acting like entitled idiots. I'm not sure why this has annoyed me so much!