A parking one (with photo of pass-agg note)

[MindatWork]

Genuinely interested in people’s opinions on this one - I’ve just returned to my car (parked completely legally in a bay on the road, within the lines and well within the specified 2-hour time limit) to a beautifully-written passive aggressive note - A* for effort.

Whoever stuck it on my dashboard actually put it inside one of those yellow PCN envelopes, folded up so it looked like a parking ticket. Is this a thing people actually do now? Is it a mumsnetter? They have lovely handwriting whoever they are.

In all seriousness, there wasn’t ‘plenty of space further up the road’ when I arrived, and the spaces aren’t just for residents.

I’ve lived in a house like this before so I get it, and yes it’s annoying, but not really much you can do about it apart from say ‘ffs’ and go about your day.

I sympathise as I have a 2 year old DD so completely get the difficulty of hauling kids in and out of the car, but AIBU to thinking giving someone a fright by making them think they’ve been given a ticket (money is v tight at the moment) is - while pretty creative - a bit much?

I would red pen it teacher style with "D- SEE ME" in capitals at the bottom.

People who leave notes like this are, without exception, dicks.

Am loving all your suggestions (esp buying a new car and leaving the current one there 😆) but sadly it’s not somewhere I drive regularly so prob won’t be parking there every day. Today was actually the first time I’d ever even driven down the road!

It was definitely not residents-only parking, I’m always careful to check. It was a standard bay for permit holders (ie residents) or for anyone within a 2hr limit. The sign looked like this one.

I can understand their frustration but as others have said, am I supposed to do a full sweep of the road to try and figure out who does/doesn’t have kids before deciding where to park?

PS, my handwriting is shocking so I’m prob not a good judge....

Thanks all, you’ve given me a few chuckles

It absolutely winds me up when people think they have any claim over the road, just because it happens to lie directly outside of their house. If they're that concerned, they need a house with a driveway. Otherwise, so long as the bay wasn't marked as being exclusively for residents of those houses, you did nothing wrong and they have no right to even pass comment.

I, like many other posters before me, am afraid that I would simply have to park there as much as possible - possibly even asking DP to leave his car there at the weekend when he's off work, and driving him to it on Monday for him to go to work again - specifically to piss this guy off.

You can buy joke parking tickets with those cases.
I used one on someone at work for an "unacceptably dirty vehicle" on his van. I knew though that he wouldn't have any doubts as soon as he opened it that it was a joke.
he accused everyone except me until I owned up

This is hilarious! When this happened to me once, I actually knocked on the doors on the street until I found the person who wrote the note. I was sooo polite and friendly about it, and explained that I was visiting someone nearby so had to park. They were shamed

My NDN used to do this, she managed a shopping centre so had all the official looking stuff from work. She even did it to my visitors (even though we got on fine) . Barking mad!

Another entitled person who didn't buy a house with off road parking, so takes ownership of the road outside.

Throw note in the bin, and don't feel you cannot use that 'space' again, its public road and free for anyone to use.

You can buy those sticky penalty notice envelopes on Amazon (per x1000)...you aren't the first and won't be the just person to have gotten one if these little notes left for them.

The writer of said note is determined and commited

@HotSince63

Wow, I've just googled and you can actually buy those parking charge envelopes on Amazon.

I know what I'm doing on April Fools Day.

Oh yeessss, brilliant idea! I know a couple of wankers who would be suitable recipients.

... but they do say it's a residents bay. If it is - of course - then ...

The person who left that note is mental. MENTAL. sorry for caps but there’s not other explanation. I hope they’re a MNetter. Jesus wept!

... missed out an apostrophe and the parking sign. You're fine

I used to park in a quiet road outside some houses when dropping DS off for an activity. No permits, totally legally, I always parked considerately. Once on my return to my car, a lady popped her head out and asked me crossly not to park there again, as her daughter needed to get to the house with her baby. I could have understood if I’d taken the last space, or if it was her parking space, but there was probably another 15 spaces around me and I was the only car!

Some people are just really funny about people parking outside their house. My DM’s neighbours opposite have complained to her about people parking outside her (my mum’s) house. Not her visitors, just any cars. Cars there don’t block their driveway, but these neighbours like to drive up and sweep regally into it - cars parked outside my mum’s make the road slightly narrower, so they have to take more care when they pull in. Not sure what they expected my mum to do!

I used to park on a side street at the back of my university as it was closer to the library (which was at the top of a steep hill if you walked through the campus but up a less steep hill from the back entrance).
One woman stuck her head out the window one morning and screeched "are you from the college?" When I said yes she screeched "I'll be having words with them. You can't park there because the girl behind you can't get out."

It was a public side street, so the uni had no jurisdiction over parking, and there was a good half-car length or more between the back of my car and the car behind mine - I basically told the woman that if the driver couldn't get out of that space they weren't safe to be on the roads and walked off.

It's a valid point though some people do need to park outside if they have small children or disabled. I brought up 4 kids without a car, not sure why having a small child means you have to be able to park immediately outside your house. I think lugging heavy bags of shopping 2 miles from the supermarket meant I didn't need an expensive gym membership, win win.

@DuckonaBike

Leave your car there permanently. If necessary, buy a new car to drive about in.

Love this!

If it was a resident bay, then obviously YABU

As it is not, then ignore - or correct the mistake and stick the letter back next time you park there

@islockdownoveryet

It's a valid point though some people do need to park outside if they have small children or disabled. I bet the woman was pissed off that every time she goes out she can't park outside her own house and has to lug shopping and the kids down the street . Of course your not to know that but yabu to carry on parking there now that you know . I don't think it's rude just somebody who's pissed off with it you just got the brunt , park further down like the note said.

Buy a house with a drive if you want a guaranteed spot outside your own house.

People with disabilities can apply to the council to ask for a disabled parking bay.

Ah, someone with a Golden Womb has struck. I'd park there as much as possible.

@HotSince63

Wow, I've just googled and you can actually buy those parking charge envelopes on Amazon.

I know what I'm doing on April Fools Day.

Be careful who you prank. I know of an elderly woman who found a fake parking ticket on her windscreen and she had a heart attack in the street because she was terrified she couldn't afford to pay it.

She survived but it wasn't funny

Oh Op, how could you not have noticed that the non resident's bay was only for use by parents!

I know of an elderly woman who found a fake parking ticket on her windscreen and she had a heart attack in the street because she was terrified she couldn't afford to pay it.

Hmmm.

My elderly parents always say.
When you were little we had to get you and you brothers and sisters plus a heavy pushchair on the bus just to get into town.

When mine were little there weren’t parent and child spaces at the supermarket. I think they’re a good idea but I managed.

Whoever left that note needs to get a reality check.