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)

*Stinkytoe

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* ok that works if you live so ewherewith good transport links. How do you propose mil getsva weeks shopping without a car and no computer to do online shop? She would need two buses to her nearest doctor. That’s not really an answer. They bought the house 40 years ago so it’s not like a sudden decision. Also if you need your car to commute like DH it’s not an option either. He works out on a remote site with no public transport, car -free isn’t the answer and all the streets round about are exactly the same.

Well a computer is a lot cheaper than a car

You might want to find out what happened in this council parking review, started in August and specifically targeting Wilmslow - maybe parking on the pavement is now or soon will be banned in Wilmslow...

Not that that gives anyone the right to damage a car, even if it was illegally parked.

Forgot the link!
www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/council_and_democracy/council_information/media_hub/media_releases/council-clamp-down-on-nuisance-parking.aspx

Rustybear - but i didn't block a drive or cause an obstruction.
Parking in wilmslow is dire everyone knows that. All the car parks are full by 9.30am and earlier on some days (Wednesdays). The local authority needs to do sth. But damaging my car when I'm parked legally and (to my knowledge) considerately isn't on surely.

@srinkytoe mil and mentor her neighbours are over 70. To her a computer isvsomething scary that she wouldn’t know how to use and as thevtrabsoirt in her area iscawful (not all of us are in big cities) should they all just stay in all day doing nothing? Going to church, thrvsupermarket, the gp would all be out of reach. A computer may be cheap but having DH take her shopping (he has to park outside to do so) is cheaper and better for her. It’s fine i’ll Tell everyone to get rid of their vehicles, sotbin every day striating at the walls. Kids won’t gettonthe local schools, no one will get to work! Down the road lives a gp who is one call a lot and does house visits to his patients....he can just do that on foot I suppose even if the person is 8 miles away!

From the link (my italics) “It will also look at the possibility of enhanced enforcement measures to clamp down on illegal or irresponsible parking, such as on pavements or blocking driveways.

It is possible they will bring in a measure to stop parking on pavements- any local authority can do so. Also, from the link posted by myimaginarycathasfleas,
“It should also be noted that unless you are accessing your property via lowered kerb driveway, it is an offence to drive on the pavement.
The above provisions apply even if you only have one or two wheels on the pavement and they also apply to motorcycles.” As you can’t park on the pavement without driving on it, you may find enforcement officers getting picky...

And I did say it doesn’t give anyone the right to damage a car.

OP wasn't parked on a pavement. She was on a verge.

Pavement: a raised paved or asphalted path for pedestrians at the side of a road.
Verge: an edge or border.

I got the impression it’s pavement adjacent to the road and then grass between the pavement and front gardens which seems an odd setup.

Is it? It's exactly the arrangement where I live: front fence, grass verge, pavement.

(Goes away worrying that I live in an "odd" area )

Thanks to those who have been kind to me! :) still very annoyed by the whole thing but hey ho! Live and learn! Learning that people can be real that's at time!

Argh it should read 'people can be real twats at times!

I live in a new build area and they made the Rd so narrow that if a car is on it, a van can't get past .. We each have 1 parking space.. No surrounding roads to park on..

We were told to park on pavement / verge by the LA.. They then came and put 'v' on certain parts of pavement for visitors parking / second car.. It does not obstruct the path for access. Everyone is fine with this.

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

Don't be so utterly ridiculous

Some people would leave their work/drastically change their childcare arrangements/walk for miles or sell their house rather than have to park legally on the edge of the pavement LOL :)

I used to be part of a wilmslow mums thread on facebook which always had parking photos on it. Check to see if your car is featured on that?

Don't be so utterly ridiculous hmm

To be honest I think you’re the one being ridiculous if you think your right to a car trumps a disabled persons right to move along the pavement

I never said that, did I?

I've asked you what the solution is in that situation and the only ideas you've come up with are move house or get rid of the car - how is that not ridiculous?

If I got rid of my car I'd have to quit work and then how would I pay for this house (or any house)? And the reason I live where I do is because it's dirt cheap! I can't afford to move.

The council can't do anything because we live surrounded by farmland and there's nowhere to expand to. The town is full.

But by all means continue to suggest people give up their entire lives and end up broke and unemployed over the way they're forced to park their cars!

Illegal to park on the pavement or verge here. It is a street by street rule.

Are you sure that you were parked legally?

What's the relevance of you having child seats visible in your car?

terrible, but you shouldn't park on the kerb.

Loadofcrap - a lot of things are technically irrelevant in any story you may tell but including them makes telling/hearing a story more interesting. It is also human nature to cut some slack to parents of young kids/pregnant ladies/elderly people. Not always and not necessary but God if we had to do everything rationally all the time that would be boring.

Fever - yes i am.

Brownzy - can you send me the group name by any chance? I've requested to join a wilmslow group but waiting to be let in. Didn't find any mums group.

Gth - like never? Even if not doing so would impact on traffic but doing so does not obstruct pedestrian as the pavement is wide enough? It's a silly and baseless blanket rule.

I know Wilmslow, I know the kind of streets you are referring to - big period houses with large drives and big wide pavements. If the pavements weren’t so wide nobody would need to park on them!
If I’m picturing the right kind of street there’s no way you would have been blocking buggies or wheelchairs.
But you do get some people who just don’t like people parking outside their houses and they think if they cause damage/leave a note/shout at the driver, they won’t return.
There’s a guy on my mum’s street who scratches any car left outside his house, twat!