You don't have a right to park outside your house!

[LendAnEar]

Burgh! Why is it that people feel that they have some God given right to park outside their home and can demand where other people can/can't park?

I parked on the road yesterday afternoon, in front of another car, getting the perfect spot, just before the double yellows start. There was a bin on the road behind the other car, I assume to reserve a space . It's difficult to find a parking spot so I was happy I got a space.

As I get out of my car another car coming towards me slows with their window down. A woman proceeds to shout "Excuse me, you're not allowed to park there, you need to move. I'm expecting a delivery".

I was annoyed at the way she spoke to me, condecending and assuming because I look young, that I don't know where I can/can't park. I replied that I can park there as it's a public road and I'm not on the double yellows. Lady repeats that I can't park outside her house all day and that I need to move. She has a delivery coming. The house she's referring to has an empty drive!

I simply say tell the woman I'm parked legally and not moving before walking away. The thing is, if she had been polite from the start and not so entitled and asked nicely if I would move then I would have. I just hate that people think they have a right to tell other what they can or can't do

Now I want to be REALLY petty and park there every time I'm in the area but then again now I'm worried something will 'accidentally happen to my car which isn't worth it 🤷🏼‍♀️

I'd go down the apparently dim route and, when somebody tells you that it's 'their' space, act impressed and say "Now THAT'S useful, I didn't know you could do that! How much do the council charge you to allow that? You'd think though, after taking your money, they'd at least be able to mark out that it had been privately rented. Tssk, councils, eh?!"

Alternatively, when neighbours come and tell you off for parking in the public road outside their house, wait until they walk on the public pavement outside your house and then run out and tell them that they're not allowed to walk there as it's the pavement outside your house. When they look at you all gone out and tell you that it's council owned and anybody can walk there, ask them why the space in the public road is only for the person whose house happens to be nearest to it and yet the pavement between the two is for anybody to use. if you're feeling particularly in the mood, get some traffic cones and scene-of-crime tape and wait there with them when said neighbour is approaching!

@00100001
Being incapacitated/ disabled is very different from witnessing it as an outsider.

The other day I parked outside on the road, outside my nan's. About half an hour later, the NDN had the AUDACITY to knock and ask if I could move my car forward a bit, so she could fit her car in.

I got my keys, moved the car forward and she pulled in. We exchanged a friendly 'thank you' wave, and I went back in to finish my cuppa with my nan.

I am still raging like the flames of hell.

There's a world of difference between asking people nicely or leaving a friendly note to ask if people could kindly leave the space free tomorrow as you're having a removal lorry there and running out shouting at people that they have to move NOW!

Even with delivery lorries, surely it depends what they're delivering, doesn't it? 12 pallets of block paving: totally reasonable; a telly that the delivery driver can bring to your door and be on his way again in 20 seconds, even if he does have to very briefly park in the middle of the road and block it for a moment: much less reasonable.

DH's Aunt lives on a narrow residential street near a town centre and bus/train station (links to airport). Some people park on the footpath outside her house/gate for as long as 1-2 weeks. It blocks people from using the footpath and her bringing her bin to the kerb. She leaves notes and in some cases has left the air out of their tyres.

Catandstuff22 Then thems the breaks I’m afraid.

When I moved into my current home the neighbour's son would park in a way that managed to take up just short of three spaces. With gaps just a couple of inches too short to get a car into. It was really annoying but I just parked on another road and walked. (Though it did come up in casual conversation with his dad eventually and it stopped.) His car wasn't that fancy that it needed all that space but even though he didn't live there he had every right to park there.
I had a man just a few weeks ago hop out of his car outside my house and ask me if I minded him parking there. I laughed and said we don't own it, he's cool 😂.

1984isnow

I don't get why that's so outrageous? If she asked nicely and it didn't really make any odds to you.

Not saying it was the case for you, but I cannot stand it when people park in such a way as to leave a whole load of empty spots, each of which just big enough for 95% of the length of a car.

@Evilmorty what?

So knowing that, you park the car outside so your neighbour next door, who may have kids or shopping bags to bring home, has to park a long distance away to avoid inconveniencing your visitors???

If the space in front of your own house is free, then obviously you park there, and you are inconveniencing no one?
You can't wait all day for the space to clear out though, parking is on a first-comes served basis I am afraid.

I doubt anyone specifically targets their neighbours space when they need to keep their drive free

@Mummyoflittledragon ... What's your point?

You have no idea how able bodied I am.

And all I was ever saying was that the person is not entitled to sole use of the space. Which is true.

OP - the disabled space "ownership" is the next level up of entitlement to a particular space in the road

I disagree. Such spaces make a huge difference to those householders. They’re of no special advantage to others - not wider, and nearer only to the requester’s front door - and it’s politer to avoid using those whenever possible.

1984isnow
not sure why she had to ask you and you could park with consideration to start with?

Catandstuff22 if you can’t afford a house with a driveway you have to suck it up. You can’t randomly start claiming public places as your own just because you can’t afford a driveway.

"But the resident isn't ENTITLED TO THE SPACE!"

The resident is entitled to it, because they have approached the council to have a space designated to their property and they have paid for it. I don't think anyone with a minor disability would go through the procedure of getting a designated disabled space.

@FriedasCarLoad

Yes.. you're correct.

But the resident still isn't entitled to sole use of the bay

A couple my in-laws used to know had a peculiar hobby whereby, every time the man had cause to go anywhere in the car, his wife would stand in the space with a broom, physically occupying and sweeping the space until he returned.

Strange priority for the use of your time, I would have thought: spend an extra 20-30 seconds walking from and back to your car next time if you can't park in the absolute closest spot or otherwise make your Missus waste an hour or more of her time and energy standing in a dirty, fume-filled public road.

If it's a dropped kerb you're breaking the law by parking on it without their permission (classed as obstruction)

If it's not dropped then you're doing nothing wrong and they were BU

@00100001
I’m also not a fool. I’m not going to right fight you. I am able to advance search.

@Crackerofdoom

I am sorry to say, it stayed there for the whole 6 weeks I was unable to drive.

That made my day ** he sounds awful!

But the resident still isn't entitled to sole use of the bay

but it's a mindset - Either you are a normal human being, and you try to park anywhere else or won't even consider stealing their space at all, or you are just a CF thinking "screw them, it's legal I do what I want" and you make no effort.

Blue badge space rules clearly vary from place to place.

In my council no one is entitled to sole use of a blue badge space.

People have applied and paid assuming this was the case to end up having them removed because they were getting parking tickets as the application clearly states they can only park there for three hours at a time with no return for one hour and they are never only for one persons use.

People have contested parking fines on the grounds they've had a space installed and paid for it and lost. People have also complaining about not being allowed to have sole use and lost. The terms my council gives are clear any blue badge holder can use the space and for no longer than three hours at a time and yes, they do check and see how long someone parks there.

People are ridiculous when it comes to this.

My friend is a police officer, she was outside a house guarding a murder scene once and two neighbours asked her to weigh in on a parking dispute!! She told them to do one or she’d book them both for wasting police time!

My god there is loads of cheeky fuckers around, I wouldn’t park in a disabled bay nor would I move parking cones, my df puts cones outside his house to save his parking spot and people are always moving them, difference is he owns half the road. I love it when the cheeky fuckers start arguing that they have the right to park anywhere if they want , well you fucking don’t so fuck right off

I suppose if you live on a road where people park all day for work and so you can never park on your own road you are going to be pissed off. Then you get the inconsiderate individuals who park so tight in that you can barely get a pushchair down the pavement and the ones who try to reserve a space.
Parking never brings the best out in people.