I'm a bit wary of putting this in AIBU in case I get ripped to shreds. I mainly want advice as to the legality, but if anyone has faced similar situations and has any tips for handling it, feel free to chip in.
I live in an area with no parking restrictions. Most houses have a drive with dropped kerb, but some areas have straight bits of road where it's the side of one house so you can fit two to three cars along it.
The roads are always packed with cars. It's an area with quite a few multi-generational households, so there are 4 or 5 cars to a house with 1 or 2 spaces on the driveway. It's also near a school and reasonably near a tube station, so gets traffic from those.
I can nearly always find a parking space outside or pretty close to my house, barring special events like a religious festival or someone having a wedding party. So it's busy but not dire.
Last week, NDN suddenly acquired 6 transit vans. They are now parked on our road and the next road along. All legally parked, not blocking any driveways etc. He's had them decorated as for hire (professionally decorated, not just a scrawled sign) with a phone number to contact.
I'm getting really pissed off, because the road was already busy and now has 3 vans permanently taking up space that is in short supply. The vans are parked there 24 hours a day without moving, so no one can even nip in and take the spaces. I do understand that I don't have any kind of legal right to park near my house and he has as much right to own multiple vehicles (on top of the ones his household already runs) as do any of the neighbours. But to me it just feels completely different from, say, the neighbours on the other side having relatives over to visit and a couple of extra cars for a few hours.
Is he doing anything wrong? It doesn't seem fair that he can just set up a new business hiring out vans (he does have form for being a bit of a Del Boy character with several small business ventures on the go at any one time) and use up valuable residential parking space instead of having to sort out a commercial parking place.
If he isn't doing anything illegal, there's not a lot I can do. He's pleasant enough to chat to, but has no truck with anything like 'neighbourly spirit' or playing by some unwritten code. He pushes things as far as he can and just waits to get caught (e.g. there have been other matters where police, immigration, council officials and so on have become involved). So there's no point suggesting I knock on the door and ask politely.