Note left on car after parking outside someone's house.

[Thumbs]

Yesterday, a car was parked outside my house and there was no space on the pavement along my house so I parked around the corner.
There was no dropped curb so naturally presumed I could park there.

Spent my day doing things around the house when DH comes in saying there's a note on the car and that i've parked in front of their drive.
I read the note and it said something along the lines of
"Please don't park across our drive again, there are plenty of spaces on this street. Thanks."

I have never met this person despite living on the same street and never really took notice of their house to have known they have a "drive". Most of the houses on my street do not have drives apart from the odd one who has had their kerbs dropped.

But I was always led to believe that a 'drive' always has a dropped kerb. There is no dropped kerb outside their house.
Anyway I moved the car but DH told me it's obviously a drive even though it doesnt have a dropped kerb and he apologised to the owners of the house.

I feel stupid now because according to DH it was obvious.

@HasaDigaEebowai so surely you should know that it is not illegal to park in front of a house without a dropped kerb and that a lot of people have concrete front gardens. My front garden is half grass, half concrete, is everyone to presume this is my drive because it's half concrete? Despite not having a dropped kerb?

@CheetasOnFajitas my husband knows the man as he goes to his work. I've never met him, hence why my husband stuck up for him and parking his white van on his makeshift "drive"

The Highways Act 1980 – Section 184, makes it an offence to drive a vehicle across a footway, or verge, where there is no proper vehicle crossover.

According to my husband it was the girlfriend who wrote the note on my car as her husband was in work, but he went around to apologise.
I never knew this couple existed until yesterday, but my husband works in a tool shop which the guy visits regularly,
Which is why my husband went around to apologise

@HasaDigaEebowai so surely you should know that it is not illegal to park in front of a house without a dropped kerb

It isn't illegal. It is inconsiderate though.

I sense you just like to argue the toss though OP. You ought to have been a lawyer

@HasaDigaEebowai but it's not inconsiderate though? It's inconsiderate to park infront of a dropped kerb but not a normal kerb

IMO it's inconsiderate if you can see they park there.

@HasaDigaEebowai have you read the thread? I said I didn't know they parked they

@HasaDigaEebowai

IMO it's inconsiderate if you can see they park there.

But how would you know they parked there, that's the whole purpose of the dropped kerb. If there had been a car on the front garden then that's obviously a clue but otherwise are people just meant to always avoid parking infront of houses with paved gardens, just in case??

I've come to the conclusion that people use the term 'technically' when they have no leg to stand on...

It's not 'technically' at all, it either is, or it isn't.

It’s inconsiderate & illegal to mount a kerb and drive a van over the pavement

Surprised at the folks arguing technicalities. I’d never park across someone’s drive, dropped kerb or not. You know you’re blocking them getting in or out. Arguing well you can fuck off becayse you’ve no dropped kerb, for me is a bit cunty.

@Bluntness100 but as mentioned lots of time on this thread, concrete does not equal drive. Especially on a street were nearly every house does not have a drive

[quote Thumbs]@HasaDigaEebowai but it's not inconsiderate though? It's inconsiderate to park infront of a dropped kerb but not a normal kerb[/quote]
It’s inconsiderate if it’s clearly an area to park cars. Which it is. And your own husband says it clearly is.

Argue with him it’s not.

@Bluntness100 ayyy? What do you mean clearly an area to park cars? I live on an estate in which we all have front gardens that could fit a car on. But for whatever reason when the houses were built, the front gardens were not used as drives.

Each person on this estate has made their front garden however they want - some still have grass, some concrete, some fake grass, some half an half. Then you have 2 houses with a dropped kerb.

Without a dropped kerb, it is not "clearly an area to park cars'

It’s inconsiderate if it’s clearly an area to park cars. Which it is. And your own husband says it clearly is.

But the husband only thinks its a 'drive' because they said it was. At the time of parking it clearly not evident whether or not the owners consider their paved garden a driveway. If there's no car on it and no dropped kerb then how can you possibly know if its a 'drive' or just a paved garden?

@Bluntness100 and also my husband knows the man who lives in the house, but only as the man visits the shop my husband works in. I have no idea who this man is nor his girlfriend.

But because my husband says i'm in the wrong then I need to accept I am? Ermm no.

Legally I am well within my rights to park my taxed and insured car on my neighbours front, for 6 months , whilst I go travelling (outside current restrictions) but I don't because I'm not an inconsiderate twat. Technically you are correct, but is it not a case of pick your battles. Do you want to fall out with your neighbours over a dropped kerb.

I'm not sure why you have posted as you obviously know your 'highway code ' so crack on with it. Perhaps you could take some of the MN keyboard warriors round with you (who I suspect wouldn't dream of doing what they are advising you to) and ruin the relationship your DH has with the owner of that property and burn a few bridges with his GF too. Hoorah for the highway code and other rulez.

I've had similar with a 'widened' drive. I pulled over and parked waiting for a friend by a regular pavement, but the owner came out and said I was blocking their drive. Technically only the other half with a dropped curve was a drive and they had just removed their front wall to the other half.

I still moved even though I was technically fine to park there.

I expect it isn't the first time and won't be the last hence the note. They just need to drop the kerb.

Technically if there is no dropped kerb then it's not a drive. However I would say YABU to park in for my of someone's driveway (with or without a dropped kerb). Could they get out?

Legally not much could be done even if it's a legal driveway to be honest. It's a grey area of the law.

However, you would expect other people to be respectful and courteous and in this instance you weren't. Easy mistake to make then in a rush or in the dark etc so don't get down about it. If you see them just say sorry you didn't notice and move on.

Why is the law the technicality here? OP was fine to park there - there is no ‘technically’ involved.

If anything, ‘technically’ speaking, the front garden could be considered a drive, but it isn’t because it’s not legal.

@HasaDigaEebowai

The OP didn't block their access because they legally dont have any vehicle access.

That isn't always the point when it comes to being a polite member of society and I'm a lawyer! Technically it isn't a driveway but it's really inconsiderate behaviour. A bit like how it isn't illegal to sack someone with short service because you think they're ugly but you'd be a pretty horrible person to do so.

You being a lawyer isn't relevant.

The people being inconsiderate are the idiots claiming a drive. As has been said here several times, there are reasons why councils expect people to apply for dropped kerbs and not driving over pavements willy nilly.

We've already established it is illegal to drive on the pavements.

Pavements need to be reinforced to take the weight of a car, or the regular driving over it will cause the pavement to degrade far faster than the weight of pedestrians will do.

Also, the various utility pipes, etc underneath the pavement surface can be damaged as well. Another reason why pavements need reinforcing before cars drive over it. I don't see the neighbours of this idiot being happy if any resulting damage affected their properties, or caused disruption by repairs needing to be made. That wouldn't be very considerate of the neighbour, would it?

And if I had a partner who decided he needed to apologise for me, he'd be on a warning from me. I am an adult who is well able to apologise if I felt the situation warranted it. I would not be happy at a partner who felt he knew better than me and I would see that as a lack of respect for me making my own decisions, and I would re-assess the relationship accordingly.

Friends of mine converted their front paved patio into parking for their car. However before they did anything to their patch, they sorted the dropped kerb out with the council & even got a white access protection marking (H bars) done on the road.
Once that was all sorted & in place then they converted their front garden!

OP your husband clearly doesn’t want to lose a customer. That has clearly influenced his response but if he had half a brain he’d tell you that he agreed with you but was going to go and apologise anyway just to get back in the neighbour’s good books. But I am confused- would these people have even connected you and your car with your husband if nobody had gone round? It sounds like he would have done better to ignore it and they would never have realised any connection to him!

Also, your own front garden is identical, right? How does your husband explain away the fact that your garden is never used for parking and he has no problem with people parking in front of it?

It’s inconsiderate to claim that you have a drive (and therefore accrue the benefits of it) if you don’t actually have a drive. Clearly the house in question does not have a drive - just a paved area at the front of the house.

@Jocasta2018

Friends of mine converted their front paved patio into parking for their car. However before they did anything to their patch, they sorted the dropped kerb out with the council & even got a white access protection marking (H bars) done on the road. Once that was all sorted & in place then they converted their front garden!

I think you always get those markings with a dropped kerb.