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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Why does my neighbour park like an a-hole? (Diagram)

98 replies

Whitescarf · 28/01/2019 08:11

We've only been living in this house a month and it's our first house so maybe we're being UR, idk.

Basically we live in the end house and have two vehicles, one long van and my little car. If possible, DH parks his van right outside our house cause expensive tools etc, and I'll park either next to him if there's space, or a little further away if there isn't. (Or i occasionally park infront of DH's van depending on how bad my SPD is that day, but there is still plently of room for neighbour to get out)
Now the past couple of weeks, CF neighbour has been leaving about a 6ft gap behind her car, so she's quite close to either my car or DH's van, and not using her entire parking space.

This means that DH can't get out of his space properly, and luckily today my car was parked next to his so he could move it to get out. If it had been a neighbours car, he would have had to knock on their door and ask them to move cause he wouldn't have been about to get out, or ask CF to move her car.

So, is she being UR or not?
At first i thought there may not have been enough room for her to get out, but I've seen her leave her space several times with no difficulty when both DH's van and my car are parked in front of her!

And if she is, what can i do about it?
Would i be UR to do the exact same bloody thing she does so she'll have difficulty getting out?
I'm 7 and a half months pregnant with severe SPD at times, also very hormonal and just want to shout at her to park properly (however understand this is not very neighbourly).
We're also not the only house with two vechicles, incase that's an issue.

Any help would be appreciated 😊

OP posts:

Seeline · 28/01/2019 09:57

Just for info:
A public car park generally has parking bays 2.4m wide by 4.8m long. Where bays have a 'road' between them, that road is generally 6m wide to allow cars to be able to enter/exist the bays relatively easily. These standards have been in place for at least 30 years, and you will know from using eg supermarket car parks, that for modern day cars these dimensions are often on the tight side.
I would check to see what the actual dimensions are before you start complaining. Does you neighbour have a clear 6m behind her car and end of your car/your DH's van depending on which is parked where?

mobyduck · 28/01/2019 10:03

You have only been there a short while and you are already a pain in the arse to everybody. Good luck to you!

Gromance02 · 28/01/2019 10:26

I wouldn't want to have the view of a big van outside my house. Very occasionally DH has to leave a large van in our drive and I am conscious of what an eyesore it is. And that is on our own drive! I don't blame your neighbour.

MidniteScribbler · 28/01/2019 10:35

It's not the neighbour who is being the a-hole. If you park like in that first diagram, you're being the CFer.

SoupDragon · 28/01/2019 10:41

Since when is parking so that it blocks someone in not being an arsehole?

There are faults on both sides.

Xenia · 28/01/2019 10:48

We might need a bit more information - eg private road? We have one and we allow no parking on the roads at all. Public road with no private allocated parking - is it residents' parking? are there yellow lines if you are outside a space?

If it is just park where you like then it may not be an offence for her to protect her ability to get out. I would not be happy if a neighbour had a massive van. Can he not park it at work? It is the big van and bringing work home which seems to be the big in all senses issue here?

Oysterbabe · 28/01/2019 10:50

I think she struggles to get out when you park as per the first pic so she's parking like that to stop you doing it.

ladylunchalot · 28/01/2019 10:55

Op, did you not realise that parking would be tricky there before you bought the house? I don't know how many houses we discounted because there wasn't enough parking for our 2 cars, sometimes 3.

Do your other neighbours struggle to get parked?

TheClaifeCrier · 28/01/2019 11:49

Amazed at some of the snobbery on here about work vans in residential areas. I'd bet half of you who are complaining about have no problems with a Chelsea tractor that's probably similar in size to a standard van.

What exactly do you propose a self employed van driver who works from home do exactly? Hire a parking space somewhere and buy a second car to commute to the parking space? Do you think they are loaded with money to do so?

Or perhaps you'd prefer it if they didn't work at all and claimed benefits instead?

We don't have a van by the way. Just one small car in our household. So I don't have a stake in this. I'm just not a snob either and recognise that people need to earn a living.

Frouby · 28/01/2019 11:57

Simple solution is you or dh park your car/van in front of her house until she comes and knocks on and complains. Then you can say that you do this so he doesn't get blocked in as she parks like a cuntinconsiderately.

That's what I would do. If she's an arsehole she isn't going to listen anyway.

They aren't designated parking spaces so she can't do anything other than park reasonablely or look at the van every day.

SaveKevin · 28/01/2019 11:59

I think the ops dh has to park far back so someone can’t get in the back of his van to where his tools etc are
Ultimately keeping the van in a safe space is the most important thing as that’s his livelihood

BlackCatSleeping · 28/01/2019 12:06

I also think it’s to stop you parking behind your OP. It seems quite a passive aggressive move. I think you need to talk to them and agree that you won’t park there if they will agree to park back a bit. All you can do, I think.

GinDaddy · 28/01/2019 12:18

I echo previous posters in that the OP is talking about “spaces” as if every house has an allocated space outside it.

That’s just not realistic. It’s first come first serve...

And by you both taking two “spaces”, no thought is given at all to the the poor house in between you and said neighbour of yours.

Of course no one owns the space on the public road outside so it’s whoever gets there regularly first.

LakieLady · 28/01/2019 12:46

High vans are a real annoyance in residential areas, she may feel you're the CFs.

Yes, it's so cheeky expecting to live in a house AND have a high-sided van, so you can do your job and pay for your house.

While vans aren't pretty to look at, some people need them. I bet no-one minds when someone turns up in a big van to fix their boiler or unblock their bog, but some people still manage to find it objectionable when the owner of said van moves into their street.

blueskiesandforests · 28/01/2019 12:53

LakieLady it isn't the beauty or otherwise if the van, it's the fact they block visibility. The way our neighbor parks his means that we can't see properly to exit our drive. They have a drive but never put the van on it. If they'd put the thing in the drive (in our case) we wouldn't care, but they prefer to out the car on the drive so there's more room for their dog on the drive apparently...

Our neighbors van is for some silly car pimping business, they're not saving the day for any domestic emergency.

LakieLady · 28/01/2019 12:57

Would it be more acceptable if your neighbour was a plumber, blueskies, or in some other job where they might need to get out in an emergency?

blueskiesandforests · 28/01/2019 13:03

LakieLady yes, the van has totally daft artwork on it, I'd prefer a plumber

Seriously though I'd just prefer someone considerate - the van makes it impossible to see properly to pull out of our drive. They have a drive too and if they'd only put the van on it there'd be no problem!

Vans parked in the street block visibility. Luckily our road is quiet but that doesn't change the fact I can't actually see that nobody's coming from behind the enormous van!

Not many people park on the road in our village and the few other vehicles parked on the road are fiesta size things, no Chelsea tractors.

user139328237 · 28/01/2019 13:11

No tools should be left in the van overnight in any case so it shouldn't matter where it is parked. Ideally the van would be parked away from houses if at all possible within a few minutes walk and that would solve the problem completely.

LakieLady · 28/01/2019 14:25

None of the van drivers round our way could do that user139etc. A few minutes walk from here and you're into residents' parking territory, so no chance of parking further away (and also why parking is such a nightmare: no more than 2 permits per household, the number of permits issued exceeds parking spaces by around 30% so people who live nearer town often park up here).

At least 2 of them are on call, too (highways lighting person with a cherry picker lorry and Captain Shit, so called because he works for the water company, dealing with blocked sewers). My XH was on call when he lived here too, and his company had a rule that signwritten company vehicles had to be parked "at or near" the driver's home address. And he had tools on board at all times, his van was a mobile workshop and there's no way he could have brought all his stuff in, he had bench tools, a generator and all sorts!

Nearest lorry park is 10 miles away.

I don't get the visibility issue, either. I pull out round our motorhome every time I go out, and have never come close to hitting anyone, or being hit by them. Indicator on, pull out slowly, if anyone's coming they know I can't see and sound their horn. And that's parking on the "wrong" side of the road (there's only room to park on one side of our road, so all the cars are on the same side - I dread to think what chaos would ensue if someone decided to rebel and park on the other side!)

I'm afraid I think that there's an element of snobbery involved about vans in some cases. And I think that's why some estates have rules about "commercial vehicles" being parked overnight. They think it lowers the tone!

And is a van really much uglier than a Chelsea tractor or a big MPV? Can't see it myself.

blueskiesandforests · 28/01/2019 14:50

LakieLady ah you have a motorhome, so an absolute vested interest in defending parking massive visibility blocking vehicles on the street!

How can you say you don't get the visibility issue in the same paragraph that you write that drivers know you can't see past your enormous visibility blocking vehicle so sound their horn when driving down a residential street, disturbing everyone! Sounding a car horn isn't meant to be a planned way to get out of a driveway or space every day, it's for emergencies! Its massively entitled to inflict that on everyone!

In most places luckily motorhomes aren't allowed to be parked long term in residential streets.

We had a cheeky fucker park a massive bus on our road in a position which made it dangerous for school children walking to the bus stop to cross because it blocked visibility. He didn't even live particularly near by - right at the other end of the village. We complained to the council and had to send them photos showing it there 3 consecutive days, then they would address it. Its never been parked there since. The driver lives on a farm and presumably he parks it there now, no idea why he didn't before, perhaps too muddy or something...

Gromance02 · 28/01/2019 15:30

Lakielady So you do have a large vehicle outside your home for long periods of time? That would do my nut in. Even if it was on your drive.

SoupDragon · 28/01/2019 17:32

I don't get the visibility issue, either.... if anyone's coming they know I can't see and sound their horn.

😂😂😂 so, it causes visibility issues.

FabulouslyFab · 28/01/2019 17:39

My neighbour has parking for two but chooses to keep a SORNed car with four flat tyres on his drive and parks his flipping works van wherever he can - new estate, very narrow roads.

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