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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not let people park across the drive that I don’t use?

213 replies

Blanketyblanket · 17/08/2020 18:48

My house has a drive that runs next to the side of the house. For some reason the previous owners of the house built a conservatory across half the drive so it is almost impossible to actually get a car onto the drive. I’ve applied for planning permission to widen the driveway as it would involve knocking down part of the garden wall which is over 6foot. Massive backlog with PP at the moment in the area due to CV so not sure when it will actually happen.

The town I live in is very touristy. Parking is a nightmare every summer but this year has been particularly bad due to fewer people going abroad. As a result I’ve often not been able to find anywhere to parks I for the past few weeks I’ve been parking in front of the gap for my driveway. There’s no pavement or dropped kerb, it’s just an opening in the wall. My house is the only one on my side of the street. On the other side are about 6 houses, all with drives, so everyone parks on the side of the street that my house is on.

I come out today to find I can’t actually physically leave my house via my door as there is a car completely across the entrance to my drive. I hadn’t parked there as I only park there when I can’t find anywhere else. I can leave my house via the side door but it’s 20 steps down to the gate at the bottom of the garden, it’s a pain in the arse and very narrow and very often that gate is blocked by a car too. That’s not normally an issue as I don’t normally leave that way.

I put a note on the car parked across the drive saying ‘please don’t park here, access required’. Came back this afternoon to find the car still there and a neighbour from down the road came out to shout at me that I had upset his guests, where did I expect them to park, I was being really selfish in thinking that I had my own personal parking space when it’s a public highway. Luckily another neighbour came out and told angry neighbour that it was just temporary etc as angry neighbour wouldn’t let me get a word in.

So AIBU? I know it’s a public road but I’d never park across someone’s drive. The drives on my road generally only for one car so a lot of houses then park their other car across the dropped kerb. Bit different in my case I guess as I have no dropped kerb and no car on the actual drive. I very occasionally park my car on the drive but I never would at this time of year as if someone even slightly overhangs my drive I’ve got no chance of getting out again.

OP posts:
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Original poster
Blanketyblanket · 17/08/2020 21:48

Honestly, angry neighbour wouldn’t let me get a word in. I was carrying a fast asleep 4yo and a bag of shopping and really couldn’t be arsed having a stand up row in the street. Luckily my very lovely but also normally very shy and retiring neighbour opposite have him a right mouthful.

I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. When I viewed the house the drive had gates but for some reason the previous owners took them with them when they left Confused. I haven’t replaced them as there’s no point until the entrance is actually widened.

The deeds show that the land is mine until it reaches the road, I don’t know how else to explain it. It’s also very, very definitely a drive - it’s an old farmhouse and the drive has clearly been in use for centuries, what is now the garage is an old stable but is now very clearly a garage. You couldn’t look at it and think it’s anything other than a drive.

I don’t really want to take photos as anyone that knows the area will know exactly where it is. It’s an old fishing town though with a conservation area that means that I definitely can’t get the council to paint lines on the road.

OP posts:
Beautiful3 · 17/08/2020 21:49

There is no dropped kerb, so people are allowed to park there and you should not be leaving notes. Get the drive sorted and the kerb dropped, and then people will stop parking there.

PigletJohn · 17/08/2020 22:17

"There’s no pavement or dropped kerb, it’s just an opening in the wall"

And you say you can't put your car there.

So it's not a drive, is it?

damnthatanxiety · 17/08/2020 22:20

@Beautiful3

There is no dropped kerb, so people are allowed to park there and you should not be leaving notes. Get the drive sorted and the kerb dropped, and then people will stop parking there.
Once again - There is no kerb. No pavement. It is a driveway. Not all roads have pavements and kerbs. That does not mean they don't have driveways
damnthatanxiety · 17/08/2020 22:26

I am not sure what the OPs road is like but here is an example of a road with driveways but no drop kerbs.

To not let people park across the drive that I don’t use?
Iknowthingsthatwillhappen · 17/08/2020 22:26

Im struggling to picture a drive without a dropped kerb, anybody got any images?

malmi · 17/08/2020 22:32

Another example

To not let people park across the drive that I don’t use?
LucyTamedOgres · 17/08/2020 22:35

Our area doesn’t have dropped kerbs, it’s like an open plan estate. Definitely drives which are clear but no pavements, so no need for dropped kerbs.

Original poster
Blanketyblanket · 17/08/2020 22:35

beautiful3 I cannot drop the kerb. There is no kerb. It goes drive, then road. If anything was dropped it would make a trench.

OP posts:
CasuallyMasculine · 17/08/2020 22:35

Most of the other neighbours further down the hill have put plant pots marking the edges of their drives/ gates. Due to the steepness of the hill where I am I can’t do that.

You can make a wedge-shaped stand for a pot with one side higher than the other so the pot can sit on the slope and still be straight.

Original poster
Blanketyblanket · 17/08/2020 22:38

This is the most recent street view image I can find. Hopefully not too identifying!

To not let people park across the drive that I don’t use?
OP posts:
Original poster
Blanketyblanket · 17/08/2020 22:39

The man isn’t normally there. Not sure who he is or what he’s up to. He’s not a pavement or a kerb and and I can’t paint lines on him.

OP posts:
Original poster
Blanketyblanket · 17/08/2020 22:40

casuallymasculine that sounds like a good idea, I’ll try that.

OP posts:
BlueSlice · 17/08/2020 22:45

The man isn’t normally there.
This made me lol Grin

ChloeCrocodile · 17/08/2020 22:45

YANBU, that is clearly a driveway and only an absolute knob would park in front of it.

Nikori · 17/08/2020 22:46

I understand. My house is similar. It’s on a narrow road and there’s no pavement, so my drive goes straight to the road. Of course they shouldn’t be blocking your drive. If there is no parking, they need to park further away and walk. Hope you get your PP soon!

Whatthebloodyell · 17/08/2020 22:47

I don’t blame them For parking there to be honest. You say that you rarely use the ‘drive’ or park in front of it so it’s not hard to see why they wouldn’t think it was a problem. It seems that the bigger problem for you is being able to access your front door rather than the drive, but I can’t
See from the photo where your front door
Is in relation to the drive so I don’t really understand the problem.

I would suggest that from now on you park on your drive or in front of it so that when the street is busy you aren’t taking up another space that somebody else can use.

Nikori · 17/08/2020 22:54

I’m guessing that if someone parks across the entire opening, then the OP cannot get through the opening and therefore cannot get on or off her property. With young kids and shopping, it’s not easy to navigate a lot of steps to go the other way round.

Dylaninthemovies1 · 17/08/2020 22:54

Am I right that your main issue is that you can’t get in or out of your own house if someone is parked across your “drive”?

Dylaninthemovies1 · 17/08/2020 22:55

So, if there was a fire or something you may struggle to get out?

CoffeeRunner · 17/08/2020 22:56

That photo really helps. I see what you mean “hole in the wall” now Grin.

purplemunkey · 17/08/2020 23:04

How does the person who parked the grey car in the google maps pic get out? Climb over to passenger side?

eastegg · 17/08/2020 23:05

This thread is fascinating to me, because I started a thread a while back after I parked outside a house outside my child's nursery, typical terraced London street, normal pavement with no dropped kerb, and the owner had a massive go at me for parking outside her house because she was 'about to get ' a dropped kerb but hadn't got it yet. She liked to stick her covered Ferrari on a gravelled area outside her house and park the car she used on the road outside her house.

The number of posters who handed me my arse for parking across what was 'obviously' a driveway! And yet lo and behold out come all the 'you haven't got a leg to stand on if you haven't got a dropped kerb' brigade on your thread OP, despite the fact there's no kerb to drop.

AIBU attracts people who want to have a go at the OP regardless of the merits. Fact.

They shouldn't be parking across your drive OP. I'm not sure what you can do about it though. If the same car does it regularly you should definitely have words.

Twigaletta · 17/08/2020 23:08

@purplemunkey

How does the person who parked the grey car in the google maps pic get out? Climb over to passenger side?
I was thinking that!! I reckon it's the man in the shorts, casually leaning saying 'Yep. That was me with my ninja moves' 😂
Original poster
Blanketyblanket · 17/08/2020 23:09

Most cars are longer than the gap in the wall is so I can’t leave the house that way if someone’s parked there. My main front door is just at the other end of the conservatory thing. There is another door at the other end of the house that goes down about 20 very steep steps and then through a tiny arched gate that I need to turn sideways to squeeze through. So totally impractical to use day to day.

I’m guessing the grey car driver would’ve had to climb out of the passenger side. Normally people just park facing the other way but you really have to tuck in tight to the wall to ensure other cars can still pass.

OP posts: