AIBU - parking one!

[oblada]

So yesterday drove into work after dropping kids at school. I have a (paid for) permit for a carpark but it gets full up quickly on Wednesdays so I usually cannot park there. All the other carparks around are the same. So I have to resort to parking on the road on that day. I parked on a fairly busy but very wide road. Perfectly legally. Enough space on the road for cars to cross and trucks to pass. I went on the pavement slightly to make sure of that. Everyone else around does the same. By the same token i also made sure there was enough space on the pavement for prams and wheelchairs. There is a wide strip of grass after the pavement so there is plenty of space but in any event i ensured there was enough 'pavement space' for anything with wheels in effect. I was in between 2 dropped curbs for drives. Left space on each side to ensure i wasn't. Blocking or hindering anyone. Massive drives there so no issue. The houses on the road have huge front gardens so I'm not right in front of someone's window and certainly not preventing them from parking as they all have massive drives anyway. It's in Wilmslow (posh).

Despite the above someone saw fit to remove the tyre pressure cap from my front tyre and put a stone in the valve. I didn't see straight away so drove off then of course stopped. Had to call recovery and the tyre is ruined so i need so spend the money replacing it (quite a recent tyre too of course!).

So i expect IANBU in wishing a slow and extremely painful death to the mindless that who did that, no?
Anyone can shed any light on what exactly offended them by my parking there? It's not like i have any option!! I can't take the train to work, there is no other place to park other than more residential areas (further afield) where the same issue would occur. I have 3 carseats in plain view in the back. I'm obviously not doing this for fun, i need to go to work, i come too late to park because i take kids to school...

Drives me nuts! (Literally)

*or caused

I actually do know what i’m Talking about despite not being in a wheelchair as I had to push my dads chair along a lot so I know what width is required. It’s sometimes necessary to pull up slightly so as not to impede the road and as long as there is space for a wheelchair then everyone is happy.

But at least i felt confident that cars could still drive smoothly on the road that way.
This is the problem. You don’t want to impinge on car drivers, but you’re happy to do it to pavement users? You take over space designed non car users, for the convenience of car users? Why is that ok?

If you want to insist you are doing the right thing, why not call the police to check? They will let you know.

@CallMeSirShotsFired
Different scenario, pavement is next to the road, car is blocking the pavement not the grass. In your picture, I can walk beside my daughter on the pavement, in her walking frame or wheelchair. If there is a car partly on the pavement I can’t. That means I have to have her walk in front of me, which means I can’t check for obstructions, or stop her wobbling and risking scratching the cars, watch for car doors opening and hitting her (that’s happened with pavement parkers) Or she needs to walk behind me, which means I can’t keep an eye on her. Or I have to walk on the grass which is usually not the best terrain for walking, muddy, rutted, covered in dog shit.

Parking on the pavement isn't illegal though

You can still be ticketed for causing an obstruction though. With traffic offences, it’s too simplistic to say “it’s not illegal”

Thanks speckledust. I genuine feel quite aggrieved as i was doing what i felt was best for everyone and i did check all around in terms of space. To the best of my abilities. I still can't figure out why someone would do that. I'll check my tyres every time from now on and of course won't park there again...

@yabbers My post was in response to the OP commenting "There is a wide strip of grass after the pavement so there is plenty of space but in any event i ensured there was enough 'pavement space' for anything with wheels in effect"

That's really shit Op. You clearly tried your best to park considerately. I feel we're turning into a nasty vindictive society .

i do hope all the pavement parkers don't mind getting scratched or banged by wheelchairs.

i do hope all the pavement parkers don't mind getting scratched or banged by wheelchairs.

Again, what do you propose people do in this situation? I outlined it above but nobody has given me a satisfactory answer yet!

On my road, houses don't have garages or drives, it's terraced houses with on-street parking only. If every house has one car and parked fully on the road, you wouldn't be able to drive a normal car down the street, let alone an ambulance or a fire engine.

Every single street in our town is the same, unless you park on the town centre streets which you can't do without a residents permit, or without moving your car every two hours to avoid a fine.

Where do you suggest I park in this scenario? Like I said above, the nearest place with free, entirely on-road parking is in a town seven miles away!

To the best of my abilities. I still can't figure out why someone would do that.

Because, as outlined by many of the responses on this thread, people think it's okay to mindlessly vandalise cars that are parked perfectly legally on the road.

You can still be ticketed for causing an obstruction though. With traffic offences, it’s too simplistic to say “it’s not illegal”

But that doesn't mean it's okay for random passers by to vandalise your car! Why do people seem to think it's okay to dole out (illegal) punishments to complete strangers off their own back?

Where I live is an absoloute rabbit Warren of roads where not one is remotely wide enough to allow for cars to park on the pavement. One road is a busy bus route and quite regularly the bus will be stuck beeping until someone comes out and moves their car half onto the pavement so it can get through. It’s also a road closely connected to a local primary so come 3pm lots of buggies/pushchairs are then on the pavement side stuck because of the cars parked! It’s a lose lose situation for everyone sometimes and aside from not parking remotely near to where you live there isn’t always a lot that can be done. I guess my point is not everyone parks on the pavement in an attempt to be deliberately awkward so no OP you didn’t deserve the criminal damage.

If they couldn't fit next to me then they would have had more issues down the road where the pavement is very narrow
“Because they are restricted down the road” is not a good reason to restrict them further. It’s hard enough as it is without people making it harder

As long as you weren't obstructing the pavement for wheelchair users etc then it is perfectly legal to park two wheels on the pavement. If you were parked fully on the pavement and caused an obstruction to the road traffic (as someone suggested hmm), that would not be ok.
She has no idea if she was or not, if it’s a standard size pavement, parking on it causes an obstruction. Not “perfectly legal” There is no specific law, that doesn’t mean it isn’t an offence.

The OP said the road is wide. Cars and trucks can pass each other. If it is a fairly busy route in a city, any issues with parking being an obstruction to traffic flow would be dealt with by road markings. It isn’t an obstruction if cars simply have to slow down or wait for traffic to pass, it is an obstruction if cars can’t pass safely. There does seem to be this weird perception that you must never do anything that might slow traffic a bit but taking up a pavement is ok.

Where do you propose we all park? How do you propose people with wheelchairs get about? If there is a problem with parking, lobby your local authority to make better provision.

I can’t park near my work all day without it being hugely expensive and shifting my car every three hours. Should I just find a pavement somewhere to dump my car?

I live in London, and we have signs on the roads near us instructing cars to park with 2 wheels on the pavement and 2 on the road
This is a relatively new initiative and is a good one. It is only done where it has been assessed as not causing an obstruction to pavement users, and the assessment includes whether there are alternative walking routes or where the aren’t generally used much, if at all. That doesn’t mean it is safe to do everywhere.

[OP said]ensured there was enough 'pavement space' for anything with wheels in effect"

Except she wasn’t sure about double buggies.

But that doesn't mean it's okay for random passers by to vandalise your car!

At no point did I say it was ok. In fact, I actually said it wasn’t. I can point out why the OP shouldn’t have parked there, without being ok with what happened to her car.

Yabbers - but i didn't park thoughtlessly at all!!! I actually very much consciously checked around my car to ensure space for everyone! That's what is driving me nuts! I stepped back and check space on the road/space on pavement/not too close to drives!!!
I said there was enough space on the hard pavement for anything with wheels ie for prams and wheelchairs in my view. People can walk on the grass if need be but yes i agree wheels should be on pavement and i made sure of that.
At the end of the day some of the pavements around me and around there are, on their own, much narrower than the space i was leaving which I'm pretty confident was sufficient. Yes i could be wrong. But i was not thoughtless.

don't know where you live, but parking with two wheels on pavement or grass verges is illegal in the London boroughs. not true. South East London near me there is a main road where all the parking is outlined on the raised pavement

You parked legally, and by your description considerately- Id park again, lay in wait and then film the git who does this again and threaten with the police.

How do you propose people with wheelchairs get about? If there is a problem with parking, lobby your local authority to make better provision.

How do you think they can do that? Short of building a carpark in a farmers field or knocking down rows of houses, there is nothing they can do. I live in an old mining village in the middle of nowhere, we are surrounded by farmland - there is nowhere for us to expand to, so I'm not sure what you expect the local authority to be able to do about that?

Of course I sympathise with wheelchairs users and people with pushchairs or limited mobility but what is the solution? There is nowhere else to go! I need a car to get to work (no public transport) so I need somewhere to park it. Even if I did lobby the council and get the situation changed, that doesn't solve the problem immediately, so again, where do you suggest people park?

You are taking the opinion that car users trump pedestrians/ wheel chair users though.

I’m regularly walking with a double buggy and another child under 5 holding my hand. Pavements are wide enough for us to walk safely down the road. Pavements with cars parked on them are not.

So either the car owner has to park further away or I have to potentially endanger myself and my children by walking them down the road rather than the pavement

It isn't only London that clamps down on pavement parking.

A local council has been trialling fining people who park on the pavement to good effect and it looks like it will roll out to another.

You are taking the opinion that car users trump pedestrians/ wheel chair users though.

No, I'm asking what the solution is when here is nowhere else to park. I can't park further away because every street in my town is the same - either it's double-yellowed so I can't park there, or the only way to park is partially on the pavement else cars can't get past, let alone emergency vehicles.

I'm not saying I trump anyone else - I'm asking where else people are supposed to park? In the next town over and walk seven miles along a dual carriageway?!

"Again, what do you propose people do in this situation?"

what do you expect wheelchair users or buggys to do?
go in the road?

what do you expect wheelchair users or buggys to do?
go in the road?

You're still not answering my question. Where do you expect cars in that situation to park?

If you buy a house without adequate parking the solution isn’t to park on the pavement, the solution is to live somewhere where you can park safely or go without a car

How do you know it was even to do with your parking ? Maybe someone just felt like being a dick

adaline i have no idea. but it is up to the car owners to sort this, not leave people who need the pavement having to walk in the road.
pavement
/ˈpeɪvm(ə)nt/Submit
nounBRITISH
a raised paved or asphalted path for pedestrians at the side of a road.
"he fell and hit his head on the pavement"
synonyms: footpath, paved path, pedestrian way, walkway, footway; sidewalk
"I had parked blocking the pavement"

How do you know it was even to do with your parking ? Maybe someone just felt like being a dick

Tbh I think this is probably more likely