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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask not to park outside our house

255 replies

aibuhun · 06/12/2018 17:12

We live on a tight street so if you get back late you will not be parking on that street or you will have to park right at the bottom and walk up (our street is long 5 min walk at least).
Sometimes OH pops to the shops in the evening and someone will take the spot right away so in the morning I have to carry two DCs bags coats right to the bottom. DD is 10 weeks old and DS has just turned two and he hates walking!

I'm getting fed up now and I never say anything as I know you can't fight over a spot but would I be unreasonable to ask them to not park there when I see them pulling up?

They are never neighbours either they are always people visiting Angry

OP posts:
Touchmybum · 07/12/2018 19:01

Your OH needs to stop late night trips to the shop?!

Ated · 07/12/2018 19:06

Concrete over the front garden or if you are lucky, find a house with a large drive or front garden to park on. I ended up removing my front garden with 300 tons of soil, as it formed a slope and now I have room for 6 cars. It's worth it to save the hassle.

pamhill64 · 07/12/2018 19:29

Unfortunately you have no legal right to park outside your house, just in the road. How about getting a cheap stroller and bunging the kids in to get to the car or ask hubby to be more organised and get out of the (expensive) habit of popping out to the shops in the evening

HTKS · 07/12/2018 19:36

I admire your grace under fire OP. Some right haranguing twats on this thread. I feel sorry for their friends.

Feckitall · 07/12/2018 19:38

OP you have my sympathies...

We all know there is no rights on a public road but common courtesy would be nice..

The 4 houses opposite have been demolished and 14 built in their place...all have 1 space each for parking...so the new owners are parking their second and 3rd plus cars outside ours..over our dropped kerb...blocking us in...Why, oh why buy a new house shoe box with no parking if you have multiple cars...

DH is having daily radiotherapy, we leave early..If the twats do it again I will be hammering on their doors at 7 in the morning!

tinpanali00 · 07/12/2018 19:46

I used to live in a street of big Victorian houses that were mostly converted into flats, or had multi-generational families living in them. Lots of cars, no off street parking. I was a single mum with a young child who hated walking, and a baby. When the car was at the end of the street, the baby went in the sling, the boy went in the umbrella buggy or on his trike, I walked down the street and put them in the car. If I needed to take more than I could carry, I stopped in the middle of the road outside my flat, put the hazards on, and went in and got the stuff. Everyone did it.

NotBeforeCoffee · 07/12/2018 21:25

Don’t be that person.

gordan · 07/12/2018 21:39

We lived in Victorian terraces. One family parked their car but then the dad also had a taxi. Then they used to park their cousins and friends cars and leave it for days. Their friends or cousins didn’t live there. That was so selfish. I can see how annoying it can be.

coconutpie · 07/12/2018 21:51

Has a penguin bollard been suggested yet? Grin

PeppyPiggy · 07/12/2018 22:02

I totally get how annoying that would be, especially with the baby. You are moving soon, it's not that bad. When my DD was younger I lived in a part of town where they were legally allowed to do noisy road work type things at night outside our building up until 11 pm (because of the extreme importance of the works they were doing and because it was in a town centre main road or something) they then they would start doing building works in an office block opposite me at 5am in the morning, meaning that neither me or my baby were ever allowed to have even 8 hours sleep it was so upsetting and I had to pause my uni studies because I was a living zombie. We have to just put up sometimes. Your situation is not bad just annoying so try not to focus on it, don't give them evils, enjoy the good things about your home before you say goodbye to it x

FrustratedBeyond · 07/12/2018 22:05

Dont sorry OP - my husband calls me the parking dragon as I want to rip people's heads off for parking outside my house as its at the end of our cul-de-sac but they have spaces outside theirs... So i have to park outside theirs and walk back on crutches - they know I've had cancer surgery on my knee recently yet still do it!

purplebunny2012 · 07/12/2018 22:37

YANBU. Yes, get cheesed off (like I do when neighbours' visitors park in "my" space), but you have no right to tell them they can't park there as it is not your space

AntiHop · 07/12/2018 22:43

Yabu. I don't have a car. I live 5 mins walk from the bus stop. Walking home for 5 minutes hasn't killed me yet.

celticprincess · 07/12/2018 23:15

I feel your pain. We have a similar situation. However to add to the equation each house has a back yard/driveway leading to the public road that anyone can park on. Some have gates across their drive, others are just open, some park on their drive and some use them as enclosed play areas for children. No one has a dropped kirb. Everyone parks half on the pavement and half on the road as it’s such a narrow road. I’ve had several issues. My gates have been blocked to a point where I’ve not been able to open them to get out of my yard (gates were inherited and opened out not in). I tried parking on my yard and closed the gates but then couldn’t get back off because cars parked across the gate space or in such a way (opposite and next door each side) that the gates couldn’t open enough to get the angle to get the car off the gate. I tried putting notes on cars when I was forced to park at the end of my street and had to make a choice as to whether to carry my children back or the shopping - leaving the other in the car/house alone whilst I went back for the other. At the time I had a baby in a car seat and a toddler. One day I squeezed into the spot outside my house and the neighbour’s visiting relative came and started on me at my door accusing me of aggressive parking as I had parked too close to their car - their car was half over my gates and my next door on the other side was parked on his drive. The space was tight but it saved me making the baby/shopping choice.

Anyway, last year I eventually took off my gates and my yard is open like a driveway. Neighbour with aggressive relative has gone and new neighbour has no car meaning there’s a bit more space now. Y kids are older so we can all walk and they can be left in the house if I need to nip back to the case. It’s annoying when I’ve got the heavy shopping and it’s pitch black and raining and I’ve arrived home to a van or car across my driving meaning I’ve got to squeeze through to get into my house. Those people get notes as they are blocking actual access. Oh, it’s a terrace and going up the street and round and down the other side isn’t an option really. Once a guy came and knocked on my door after I left a note. I was expecting trouble but he was really apologetic and said he would use the car park at the end of the street. Yes we have a car park at the end, only holds a few cars and after a certain time of night is filled with vans off an estate opposite who aren’t allowed to park on their driveways due to covenants!!

I did contact the council and they just said there’s nothing they can do. I can ask people to move if the block access but as long as I can get to my drive I have to pay elsewhere.

acegod · 08/12/2018 00:33

There is one way. Drawing disabled lines and putting a disabled sign up. Obviously if your not disabled you might get a ticket though.

MarilynSlumroe · 08/12/2018 00:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

longwayoff · 08/12/2018 07:00

Or you can use public transport and get shopping delivered. Thousands do it every day.

Teacher22 · 08/12/2018 07:15

There are worse problems than occasionally not getting the parking space directly in front of your house. If you kick up a fuss the local council might be minded to paint double yellow lines all down your street in order to make revenue for their paid parking areas.

Thirty years ago when we first moved to the area there were plenty of parking spaces in nearby Uxbridge and now I cannot think of a single one. The local council pursues penalty fines aggressively too.

I should let sleeping dogs lie.

Wednesdaypig · 08/12/2018 09:36

So did op ever say why her dh used her car knowing he might not get back in and impact her morning? His own car was only round the corner and it was a trip for cough mixture and not an emergency dash to A&E which would be understandable.

manicmij · 08/12/2018 09:36

3 children under 3 years (twins), no car for me, long road, just had suck it up. Had a driveway btw!

QueenArnica · 08/12/2018 09:56

I feel your pain OP as we had similar in our road but YABU, inconvenient and annoying as it is they are doing nothing wrong.

The game changer for us was the introduction of residents permit parking, totally amazing!

Original poster
aibuhun · 08/12/2018 10:46

@Wednesdaypig oh car isn't nearby that's the thing it's not convenient when you just want to pop to the shops. His car is parked a good little walk away.

What is a 10 minute drive to our nearest Asda would take forever having to walk there get the car drive to Asda park the car again and walk back home it doesn't make sense.

OP posts:
ViragoKnows · 08/12/2018 10:50

Work out how to buy most things online. Its only four months.

Woolyheads · 08/12/2018 11:14

So long as you own the land they are parking on that’s fine.
I do. And I do ask people not to park there.

GabsAlot · 08/12/2018 11:46

i moved into our house 19 years ago when i hadnt even passed my test so didnt bother me-now i have a car and apart from us everyone has two each in a cul de sac

annoying but not alot u can do-at least your moving