Parking (with picture)

[EvilTwins]

I run a business which in school hours delivers a post-16 course to a group of 16 & 17 year olds. It’s state funded and whilst we’re not on a school site, we are part of a (virtual) School. I have a studio near the town centre where I live. 3 doors down is a guy who runs a garage. He parks his cars (some of which he’s fixing, some of which he’s selling) all down the street. I’ve asked him a number of times not to park in front of my building - I need a clear emergency exit and disabled access. He consistently parked in front of my exit up until about February, then stopped but this morning I found two cars blocking both my main door and emergency access. I left a note (I couldn’t see him) and about 10 mins later he hammerd on my door and was very aggressive. Luckily none of the students had arrived at that point. So what can I do? AIBU to be really pissed off with him?

Ask the council to paint double yellow lines or at least a white line

Is there not a pavement between you and the car?

Can you get zig-zags painted?

There is a half width pavement - it’s a narrow lane. The pavement is dropped all the way along.

You need to approach the council to look into parking restrictions if this is causing exits to be blocked.

He’s a twat. Definitely worth exploring if the council can help.

If he is aggressive with you again for asking him not to block your door, report him to the police.

In that case, deffo twat.

Defo get the council involved.

Where I live you call call up and report bad parking, they'll then send a warden round. Parking impending safe access and egress, plus blocking disabled access by parking like this isn't right.

If you need clear access you need to get the council to agree to that and put in parking and stopping restrictions or change your access. It's your responsibility to make sure your property is suitable for the business use you intend to put it to, not everyone else's responsibility to make sure they don't do something perfectly lawful that happens to be bad for your business.

But is he legally allowed to park there?

Are there any actual parking restrictions ?

If he is parked on the road then that is alright isn't it?

From what you’ve said it doesn’t sound like there are any parking restrictions so my opinion is that you don’t own the road and he has the right to use that space. He’s a twat for being aggressive though.

Suggest you take it up with the council and ask for dropped curb for wheelchair access/double yellows in front of your door. Failing that, maybe it’s not the most suitable premise for your business and you need to look for somewhere that doesn’t allow public parking right in front your entrance.

You shouldn't need to but I would agree with PP approach council or you'll have this hassle indefinitely.

It doesn’t look like there are any signs or markings to stop him legally doing it? So as annoying as it is you can’t stop him.

You need to talk to the council about marking it if needed

OP says there's a dropped kerb all the way along, so he's parking illegally. Report him every time he's parked there, don't engage with him yourself.

So by that logic step nobody should be parked on the whole road

From the photo that doesn’t look like a dropped curb in the conventional sense... if parking IS permitted on the road and there are no signs/lines denoting restrictions then she cannot insist that the area outside her door is kept clear and she needs to take it up with the council. If parking is not allowed along the road at all then that’s an entirely different story and one that should have been mentioned in the OP.

If he is exhibiting items for sale on the highway he needs a Street Trading Licence. My understanding is that Councils (at least in England and Wales) will not grant a STL to motor traders.

As an example, from the LB Richmond website: 'The sale of motor vehicles from the public highway is an improper use of the highway entitling London Borough of Richmond or the police to take action to have the vehicles removed and/or the current owners prosecuted.'

There are no restrictions, so I don’t think it’s illegal, just bloody inconsiderate. He goes ballistic if anyone parks anywhere near his premises (shoppers sometimes do) so he’s a massive hypocrite. I don’t think I said he was parking illegally, just that I was massively passed off with him.

The “get somewhere more suitable” isn’t much help. It was hard enough finding somewhere ground floor with a wide enough door for access in the first place! I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a neighbour to afford me the same courtesy he demands (robustly) himself.

I logged a complaint with 101 in February so I think I’ll go back to them. Not about the parking, but about the aggression and attempt to intimidate.

Massively pissed off with him that should say.

If they they are parked all along the road, and he owns them, shouldn't they be road taxed? Or have a SORN if not (and NOT be on the road).
www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax

I would follow up WhollyFather's advice too.

YANBU to be annoyed at him being hypocritical, but if he wasn't parking there someone else easily could (those shoppers that park in front of his place some of the time, for instance) and it would be totally unreasonable to expect them to park elsewhere. So if you need that access clear you haven't got somewhere suitable for your business, regardless of how hard it was to find.

I have “please do not park here” “access required” etc signs and shoppers actually don’t park there - they take notice of the signs and are more considerate. He knows what happens there in the week and doesn’t care. Bottom line is, if there was a fire, it would be more difficult than it should be to evacuate the building.

But those signs aren’t legal. It sounds like you have an issue with the premises not being appropriate for the purpose rather than anything else.

You can’t stop someone parking where they are legally allowed