Aibu about parking & new neighbours

[Parkingshmarking]

Nc for this. Newish neighbours in house opposite ours. The have a driveway with room for 2 cars, mine only has room for 1. Ds1 home from Uni for Christmas & his car is parked on the street outside our house, opposite theirs. Also Ds2 girlfriend here sometimes & her car also parked on the street outside. Notes were left on both cars last week by neighbours saying 'do not park outside our house'. Yesterday Ds1 had friends over so his car + 2 others parked on street. When I left hot work at 4pm neighbour was outside waiting for me, cue rant about cars & how I'm being 'disrespectful' not telling my son & any visitors not to park there. Felt very intimidated & was actually dreading coming home from work last night in case he was waiting for me. Having a tough time generally atm & feeling a bit emotional & vulnerable. Moved here a few years ago to escape a violent ex-p & just want to live a quiet life & not feel intimidated or worried to leave my home. Aibu?

If you are not blocking the road or driveways then you are ok

As long as it is legal to park on the street and you aren’t blocking their driveway access, just ignore them.

If overnight street parking is illegal (it is where I am) then figure out another place for your son’s car because they will report him if they have any grounds to do so and you don’t want him to end up with a ticket.

They haven't the right to dictate who can park there. Streets are public use.

My last house was like this for parking, except we didn't have drives, it was first come first served. There was usually etiquette; ie you considered the space directly outside your door to be yours but if you had a second car or visitors, they should park further away.

Didn't always happen though and one guy opposite me had a huge works van too and took the piss totally (I totally enjoyed speaking to him as he had spoken to my mother once when she was visiting, as I left there for good).

They haven't a leg to stand in, but they can definitely make things difficult for you. If you start to feel intimidated or harassed then call 101. I don't think K there's much else you can go.

Overnight street parking is not illegal - I've actually never heard of that!

Told colleagues at work & they all said call 101. Don't want to bother police with something so trivial but really feeling like he could make my life miserable

Did they say why exactly OP? Are any of tbf cars making it difficult for them to get on or off their own drive?

The not tbf

He sounds like a miser. If he is threatening or you feel threatened I would call the police. You are fearful to leave your own residence and that is not right!

As long as the vehicles are parked legally and not blocking he has not say in it. He can pound sand.

The cars are parked on your side of the street, yes? Not unreasonable. But maybe ask him what is concerning him, can he get in and out of his drive ok?

No you should not feel intimidated. I would definitely call 101 and the local PCSO will have a word with him. I hope this will be helpful.

As long as there are no restrictions and you are not parking in front of a dropped kerb you can park where you want. He is probably just finding it a little more difficult to get out of his drive with cars parked opposite and doesn't like it. It is like that where we live and DH sometimes has to do a bit of manoeuvring to get out of the drive but as more people get cars then this will happen, we have two cars and all the neighbours around us have two so it is quite busy for parking up our street, some have drives but can only fit one car on, some fit two on and some have no drive.

If he is threatening I would report him

Overnight street parking is not illegal - I've actually never heard of that!

Some places (not usually residential streets) will ban people from sleeping overnight in vehicles whilst parked up - and therefore, camper vans are de facto banned/frowned on, even if they're not actually occupied. However, I've never heard this to be a thing with ordinary cars (especially those with clear windows all around, where a sleeping person would be very obviously spotted).

So sorry your neighbour is making you feel like this, mine did exactly the same. They thought we were too young to move in to their area!

As PPs have said already, if nothing is being blocked and it's all legal then continue. If you concede just because you feel intimidated they will use it the next time an issue arises. Having said that they should not be acting in an intimidating way either.

Do you have nice other neighbours you can talk it out with?

As long as you're not restricting direct access to their dropped kerb (if they end up forced into taking tighter angles for manoeuvring than is convenient for them is neither here nor there), you have every right to park there.

You may have unwritten/verbal friendly agreements with your neighbours, but you're under no obligation - and neither is the driver of any other road-legal car who happens to be passing/parking up.

If I'm at the front of a queue of 100 (otherwise local) people outside a remote Highland bakery 500 miles from my home, which has 100 loaves to sell for the day, I'm entirely at liberty to buy the lot every single day - and throw 99 of them straight in the bin - should I wish to, as long as the shop is happy to sell them all to me. It wouldn't be considerate, wise, cost-effective or in any way sensible, but I nevertheless am fully entitled to do so.

Parking on public roads is no different whatsoever. If it's a legal parking space then it's a legal parking space for ANYBODY with a road-legal vehicle. Even if you're a blue badge holder and the council reserve a disabled parking space on the road outside your house, it's reserved for ANY blue badge holder who wants to use it - not just you.

If he's just a bit thick and/or entitled, I'd speak to the neighbour about it and explain this. You could even act dim yourself and ask to see his deeds to check that the section of road is included as part of his own property.

If he still doesn't accept it, or is the intimidating bullying sort, I'd just tell him to raise his complaint with the police or the council and have them deal with me if I'm doing anything illegal and let them have a good laugh at his expense. If the latter, it may be worth leaving a motion-activated dash cam in the car, just in case of reprisals.

He’s an idiot and bully

He doesn’t own the street

I'm confused, is the road just normal parking with no restrictions/yellow lines etc? If so, no problems with anyone parking and tell him so if he harasses you again

I have had this at previous homes. Some idiots think they own the street. It’s first come, first served. Park legally and safe. Don’t block his drive. I wouldn’t call 101 unless he threatens you. Just ignore him.

Agree with everyone else - if it's a public road with no parking restrictions and they're not parking across a dropped kerb then the neighbour can fuck off - he doesn't own the road and has no right to tell anyone that they can't park there.

If it's just that he can't swing as much as he'd like to get into his own driveway, then tough bloody nuts to him! And if he has another go, let him know that ANY dings found on your son's car (or any of his friends' cars) will be laid at his door if no one else claims responsibility.

What a dick he is!

ALso, don't let him bully you - I can see that him being a nasty overbearing arsehole is probably triggering memories and responses in you from your abusive ex, but this horror has zero power over you. Stand up to him - you will feel better afterwards if you do.

Can you do a diagram? In principle anyone can park as many cars out on the street as you like, providing they are legally parked and not blocking anyone's access. Also it sounds like he was unnecessarily aggressive about the whole thing.

But, yes just to add a bit of fair perspective to everything, I used to live in a street where one household had 5 vehicles and only had a driveway for 1, and subsequently they took over all the spare parking spaces in the street and it does get a little irritating if I'm honest, regardless of whether it's legal or not. Although in your case it sounds like having several vehicles parked in the street was a one-off because your sons had friends over. Also I would never have complained to my neighbour with 5 cars because as I say, they are legally allowed to park there, and street parking is on a 'first come, first served' basis.

He is not a bully for expressing his view on the car parking. And a total over reaction to call the police. Having said that anyone has the right to oars on a public road and I would have reminded him of that.

Are your vehicles blocking access to his driveway? I do think some people can park in a dickish way parking directly opposite a neighbours dropped kerb on a narrow road when there’s plenty of space to not do so quite directly.

If it's a public road anyone can park on it - as long as the cars aren't blocking driveways

But that's a LOT of cars outside your house.

It''s dickish to park in such a way as to make it difficult for others to get in or out of their drives. Is that what's happening?

We had this too when we moved to our house. Day 2 of living here and my SIL parked on our side of the road which is opposite their house. They have a drive with space for 2 cars. Within seconds of her entering our house the doorbell rang and an old lady was so rude and rather than politely asking her to move her car she demanded it. SIL was shocked at the rudeness but obv moved it. Fast forward 4 months and this happened literally any time anyone parked there. Visitors essentially were scared to visit us! Eventually I called their bluff and explained that legally people can park wherever provided no double yellows or blocking drive and as cars were not across their drive (or even on their side of the road!) it was totally legal. I also mentioned that the way they approached us and our guests was intimidating and plain rude and that had they asked politely they'd likely find people more receptive to their complaints. They've never asked us to move again. Tbh I think no one had ever stood up to them before, but I figured this is my forever home and I won't let this couple bully my visitors and us for the next 10-15 years! Best thing I ever did! Their excuse for being so rude was that "we're not young folk" which I think is pathetic. Old or young the rules apply equally and manners should be universal!