Neighbours parking on pavements and overgrown hedges (photo)

[applesauce1]

I walk into town every day with my baby in his pushchair. Every day, I am met with this obstacle. One neighbour has this tree growing so low and wide that it would hit my baby in the face while in his pushchair, so I can't duck under. Possibly the same neighbour or their NDN has the white car, who always parks on the pavement. In the photo, they've left a generous amount of path compared to usual. Most of the time the car is much further onto the pavement than it is on the road.

The house over the road often has vans in who, without fail, park on the pavement. Usually, my best route is to either go around the van on the neighbours garden, or walk in the road.

I have a feeling people do this because it is a bus route. If people park legally, the bus driver just leans on their horn until someone comes and moves the car onto the pavement.

So my AIBU is, who should I be annoyed with? What would you do? Should I be annoyed at all? I can usually get a quite chance to push my baby in the road, but people drive very fast and often on the wrong side of the road (due to parked cars) on this estate, so I always feel vulnerable doing that.

@LoudBatPerson You don't need wide roads. You just need roads not built in poor areas a 100 years ago and more. Terraced housing built for poor people about a 100 years ago is always on narrow roads because poor people were not expected to have a horse and carriage.
Parking partly on the pavement is illegal in London, but everywhere else it is legal.

YANBU but I wouldn’t make a fuss if it’s a generally quiet residential street.

Here is a road I had to walk down with my twins in a side by side buggy in the middle of the road practically - it’s very busy, and presumably because of the buses the cars park in the designated parking but up on the pavement.

This is but Watford General Hospital as well, often there isn’t enough room for people in wheelchairs to go past

Sorry for the hijacking rant!

If it becomes illegal to park on a pavement, that would mean whole areas where no one could own a car.

I once lived in a terrace with a right of way along the bottom of all of our gardens and we all,got a letter saying we had to cut our bushes and trees back as they were becoming an obstruction. We had two weeks to do it.

I used to hate this when I had my twins in their side by side double pushchair. It was very heavy, and I found it difficult and dangerous to go round the car via the road.
Glad to hear parking on pavements is shortly going to be illegal everywhere - I already thought it was. It's certainly inconsiderate.

Will the council actually do anything if I submitted pics of the regular offenders? Some of them are precious about their car so don't even leave enough space for a single pedestrian to walk past.

Would they do anything?

@purplepoops if you are not in London, it is not illegal, so no.

@jennymanara Sorry, I should have been more clear about the bus thing in my OP. If cars park on the road on both sides, the bus sometimes can't pass and beeps. I think this problem is exacerbated by people parking on the corners too. My MIL makes a point to always park correctly on our road and the bus can always pass her car.

@applesauce I kind of guessed that. But it depends when the photo was taken. So if both sides had cars parked up but most left for work 20 mins before you took the photo, then I can understand them parking where they are. Of course if there is always alternative parking spaces, then the car parked by the hedge is being selfish.

My parents live on a new build and their neibour was parking on the pavement, someone complained to the council and I think he got a stern letter and a traffic warden was seen patrolling the area, but he stopped doing it immediately, so a complaint to the council might work.

The sooner they bring in a law making pavement parking illegal everywhere, the better imo

I agree. There are certain housing developments which were built with pavement parking in mind, but those aside, there is absolutely no need and it is an absolute scourge. Especially when people drive onto the pavement inches from where you are walking!

@jennymanara - Most of London's roads were built before car ownership was common before the car was even invented, and most are very narrow indeed. Much of it for low incomes too, who were not expected to have a car even in the later built post-war re-build. The roads were not designed for car parking, however, it became apparent years later, when car ownership- became more common, that pavement parking caused a huge obstruction, so was banned.

It does work to prevent pavements being blocked, and ensure that those people with disabilities can get around and go about their daily business (as well as people using prams, etc). Car owners have no right to prevent people from using the pavement and I believe that many areas have completely overlooked their responsibility to make the streets accessible for all.

Just because it is legal elsewhere, doesn't mean it is not causing huge problems. If London can manage the ban and has done for several decades, so can other areas.

If it becomes illegal to park on a pavement, that would mean whole areas where no one could own a car

Even better. Greener living and all!

@jennymanara Photo was taken an hour ago. The car (and the hedge!) are there nearly all day, every day. There's definitely room on the drive.

I'm cross on behalf of wheelchair users particularly.

@loudbatperson I can see it working in London as public transport is so good that people do not need a car. I would have to move if it became nationwide.

My pushchair is so heavy, I'm not fast at getting it up and down pavements or up the hill when in the road

Car parking issue aside, you need a different pram if you can't even push the one you have. Jesus Christ.

@purplepoops Sure great, I could not get to work at all. Those areas will just have even more people living in them out of work.

@elessar well they could buy/rent a house with a drive or garage or permit parking... I can't park outside my house, in fact often I have to park a couple of streets over. But I chose this house and have to live with it!

I live in a village in the Peak District with terraced cottages, narrow roads, and no car parks. There is also one bus that comes around about three times a day but doesn't go anywhere useful. We all park our cars on the pavement. It would be great if the public transport infrastructure was good enough to not need cars, but all investment happens in london.

I could not park a couple of streets over. The whole area that I live in the middle of has streets where people have to park on the pavement.
And no I can't just afford to buy a house with a garage or driveway ffs.

I don't actually know what we do. I can't get to work without a car. So maybe I would just have to uproot family to another area, schools etc??

@jennymanara - Well maybe the nationwide wide ban (if it does come into force) will be a catalyst for more investment into public transport outside of London, which has such a good one, as we need it as if everyone drove everywhere, no one would get anywhere!

The availability of London's public transport is needed as the city isn't designed to handle cars. If other areas had a better level of transport, it would be better for pavement users, better for the environment and reduce congestion all round.

If it becomes illegal to park on a pavement, that would mean whole areas where no one could own a car.

of course you can own a car. You just won't be able to selfishly dump it where it causes other people serious inconvenience and leads to crumbling of the pavements.

Drivers, almost by definition, are utterly selfish bastards.

Eliza9919
what about wheelchairs?
these threads always shock me. the amount of posters who think it is ok to park on a pavement, causing an obstruction and putting people at risk.

@loudbatperson hahaha sure, and pigs might fly.
I lived in London for a few years and did not have a car, you really don't need one there. Not at all comparable to other areas of the country.

@mrpan of course it means you can't own a car as you would have nowhere to park it.