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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Parking, was I in the wrong?

54 replies

Louise01000 · 16/10/2019 20:30

I honestly don't think I was but I'm a fairly new driver so maybe I am...

I had to nip back into work this evening to pick some stuff up. No parking spaces in the car park so I parked up on the verge. Only two of my wheels were over the kerb to allow emergency vehicle space on the road as the road is quite narrow. My wheels were parked up on the grass, not touching the pavement and there was plenty of space for wheelchairs and pushchairs. I made sure of this. It wasn't a dropped kerb, I wasn't blocking a drive way and there were no double yellows or anything.
Anyway I was gone for 5 minutes and when I got back to my car a woman came out of her house that I was parked in front of and told me not to park there as she didn't want parking on the grass. I didn't challenge her as she was elderly and I was paranoid I shouldn't have parked there.
Was I wrong?

OP posts:
Sallyseagull · 16/10/2019 21:32

YABU.

Where I live you would get a parking ticket for doing that.

The lady probably didnt want the grass ruined.

supersop60 · 16/10/2019 21:36

Near me, people have put rocks and/or posts into the grass verge to stop the grass being churned up.
On my actual street, everyone parks half on the pavement, or nobody would be able to move.

Chloemol · 16/10/2019 21:57

Yes you were in the wrong. Councils dont like people parking on verges as it damages them, and often they have services running just underneath. Some residents also look after them as part of ‘their garden’ on behalf of the council, keeping them mowed etc.

Cherrysoup · 16/10/2019 21:58

Grass belongs to council, not lady, so she was BU.

Mollpop · 16/10/2019 21:58

You were wrong, but when people have said this you just make excuses 🤷‍♂️

ErrolTheDragon · 16/10/2019 22:01

Grass belongs to council, not lady, so she was BU.

Why was the lady BU to not want publicly owned grass spoiled? That's an odd attitude.

NoProblem123 · 16/10/2019 22:03

Got to be honest, I was all ready to jump to your defence on this one - and then you mentioned grass.
Unless you’re at horse trials please don’t park on the grass !

Original poster
Louise01000 · 16/10/2019 22:04

No I'm open to hearing opinions. I addressed some of the questions like why I couldn't block someone in or park further.

OP posts:
darkcloudsandrainstorms · 16/10/2019 22:13

There is no legal right to park your car on the road.

Roads are for driving on.

What is wrong with you people.

Do you not understand that eventually nobody will be able to drive anywhere.

It is all one big car park.

UrsulaPandress · 16/10/2019 22:16

Parking on grass verges gives me the rage. Park elsewhere and, you know, walk.

Pinkyyy · 16/10/2019 22:17

Don't park on grass. There's a reason roads aren't made of it.

IncrediblySadToo · 16/10/2019 22:19

You can actually get ticketed for parking up on a pavement area.

Depends where you live!

YANBU. Obviously it’s not ideal if it churns the grass up, but sometimes you just have to pick the least problematic option. Leaving room for emergency vehicles is more important than the grass 🤷🏻‍♀️

She wasn’t BU to ask you not to park there, you were NBU to have parked there - it’s just life!

DontLookBackIntoTheSun · 16/10/2019 22:22

Nobody should park on the grass verges. The street environment should be looked after for the benefit of everyone; churned up verges look terrible.
Cars should stay on the road. If you can’t park without blocking the road for fire appliances then you should park someone else and walk

AthollPlace · 16/10/2019 22:24

This is exactly why we’ve placed rocks along the edge of the grass outside our house, to prevent people churning it up with their wheels.

TresDesolee · 16/10/2019 22:27

My road is really narrow, with grass verges, and every single verge has a car parked on it pretty much 24:7. There are parking officers who patrol nearby (double yellows at top of the road) and nobody has ever been given a ticket. I’ve been parking on the grass verge outside my house for 13 years... (and no, there isn’t a lot of grass left)

Sillyscrabblegames · 16/10/2019 22:29

Parking on grass verges is a nono, it's banned by many councils! You get a ticket where I live

ArseDarkly · 16/10/2019 23:00

Let’s just get rid of all the grass, tarmac it over so the cars have somewhere to park when they can’t be bothered walking.

Exactly. Typical of the totally selfish attitude of so many drivers.

Winteriscomingfast · 16/10/2019 23:03

Grass belongs to council, not lady, so she was BU.

How do you know that? the grass outside our house belongs to us.

CampingItUp · 16/10/2019 23:04

Verges are not for parking on
And
Not finding a parking space is not the go ahead to park anti-socially.

ChevalierTialys · 16/10/2019 23:20

The Council has to spend a fair bit of money every year fixing grass verges because motorists parking there make them unsightly so yes it is unreasonable to park on them.

ChevalierTialys · 16/10/2019 23:20

Also this doesn't count as a proper Parking Thread unless there is a diagram. FYI.

StoneofDestiny · 16/10/2019 23:24

Where I used to live, it was my responsibility to maintain the verge outside my property. I wouldn't want people parking there and putting ruts in the verge as it would make it more difficult to mow. Besides, roads are for parking on, not verges, and people who take a pride in maintaining their verges don't want them wrecked by people who don't have to do the work maintains them.

stucknoue · 16/10/2019 23:31

Everyone does it here, I don't like it because people sometimes block my car in but it's certainly allowed legally

VenusTiger · 16/10/2019 23:33

Yes it’s annoying and grass becomes unsightly, but, it’s not her grass. It doesn’t belong to the homeowner.

VenusTiger · 16/10/2019 23:38

@winteriscomingfast if the council cuts it, then it doesn’t belong to you. It’s a service strip that belongs to the council.

You can actually park on it so long as you’re not encroaching the pavement.