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.

You are right, they are wrong. But I can see why your husband apologised to keep the peace (even though they are wrong and unreasonable).

@CheetasOnFajitas

You don't always get those H bar marking in front of a dropped kerb in my area. More common not to have them.

Wow I'm amazed by all of the comments saying YABU OP, not least because I have paid for a dropped kerb and still the world and his wife think it's absolutely fine to park across my driveway and block my car in.

@AlecTrevelyan006

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.

But when you can see that that area is plainly being used for parking, why obstruct it? It's so self-righteous to say "Well, you should have got your kerb lowered, I don't care if you have extremely valid reasons for needing to park near your house, I don't care if you need to get your car out urgently, because you were naughty and didn't get your kerb lowered I'm going to inconvenience you just as long as I choose to".

But when you can see that that area is plainly being used for parking, why obstruct it?

How is it plain?

*But when you can see that that area is plainly being used for parking, why obstruct it?

But that's the whole point of the OPs post, it wasn't clear that this paved area was being used for parking. You're talking as though the OP blocked their car in or something equally spiteful when in reality all she did was park against a kerb in front of a house with a paved garden.

This thread is starting to sound like some weird philosophical problem like if a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?

Or to be clearer if I park my car on a street in front of a stranger’s house, if there is no car in their front garden and no dropped kerb, how do I know it’s a drive? How can I know that leaving the car there is unreasonable and selfish?

Answer: I can’t. And anyone arguing that the OP was unreasonable to park there is missing this point or is a theoretical philosopher.

@Cygne

"I dont care if you need to get your car out urgently"

Nobody is saying they would block a drive with a car on. We are talking about drives without a dropped kerb with no cars on it.

[quote TurquoiseDragon]**@CheetasOnFajitas

You don't always get those H bar marking in front of a dropped kerb in my area. More common not to have them.[/quote]
Actually I am probably influenced by living in an area where all parking spaces are marked out, even though not allocated to individuals, because we have to pay the council for residential parking permits for our street. Dropped kerbs always have the H but, come to think of it, I suppose residential streets where it is just a free for all have no markings in the road whatsoever. I’m so used to London parking bays that seeing streets with no lines painted really confuses me!

@LittleMissLockdown

*But when you can see that that area is plainly being used for parking, why obstruct it?

But that's the whole point of the OPs post, it wasn't clear that this paved area was being used for parking. You're talking as though the OP blocked their car in or something equally spiteful when in reality all she did was park against a kerb in front of a house with a paved garden.

And her own house is exactly the same and she doesn’t use her garden for parking!

@HasaDigaEebowai

I agree with your DH. If they use it as a driveway you were U to block their access.

No. If they keep bumping their car over the pavement to park, they are acting illegally.

The OP was not.

And her own house is exactly the same and she doesn’t use her garden for parking!

Exactly. I just don't understand how people can say the area was clearly a parking space. I feel like some of them are reading a different thread with different information as they are so confident it was obviously a drive.

It's actually illegal to drive across the footway/pavement unless there is a dropped kerb.

Incidentally not all councils put an H bar across a dropped kerb. Some London Boroughs are actually removing them when roads are resurfaced.

@GladAllOver

It's actually illegal to drive across the footway/pavement unless there is a dropped kerb.

Incidentally not all councils put an H bar across a dropped kerb. Some London Boroughs are actually removing them when roads are resurfaced.

Why would they do that?

@CheetasOnFajitas I live on a couple of streets (the only ones in town) where parking is restricted. And yes we have H bars in a couple of areas. Otherwise, I've only seen H bars alongside dropped kerbs where there's a bit of a traffic issue. Most of our streets are blank, free for all, public parking.

So, yes it could be down to the different areas and how they approach parking.

Interesting, in that I wonder if you can get a parking ticket for parking in front of a dropped kerb with no H bar. I get that it is inconsiderate to park in front of one but I wonder if the home owners have any power to enforce it.

@OldCow1

My friend failed her driving test for parking in front of a drive. She didn't notice the drive because there was no dropped kerb

I call bull she failed for another reason and was ashamed to say.

We moved into a house with an H bar. Several others had them too. The council sent round notices to say that the road would be resurfaced and that when they did so the H bars would not be replaced. They said the bars had no significance because it was already illegal to block a dropped kerb.

@NameChange2PostThis

This thread is starting to sound like some weird philosophical problem like if a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?

Or to be clearer if I park my car on a street in front of a stranger’s house, if there is no car in their front garden and no dropped kerb, how do I know it’s a drive? How can I know that leaving the car there is unreasonable and selfish?

Answer: I can’t. And anyone arguing that the OP was unreasonable to park there is missing this point or is a theoretical philosopher.

Indeed.

"Could they get out?"

I'm guessing there was nothing parked there.

But as they aren't allowed to drive over the footpath, then it wouldn't matter if there was something parked there.

On a driving test, you're not classed as blocking a drive unless it's a dropped curb?

^^ yet people still pass their test and proceed to park across dropped kerb driveways, even though its illegal-yes it IS- and says 'disabled emergency access at ALL times! yes, MINE.

@Someonesayroadtrip

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.

@Someonesayroadtrip Could they get out? I know, I know 10 pages is a bit much. But it's quite clear from the original post that there was no car on the drive. Otherwise the OP wouldn't have parked there. She didn't block them in. She was neither disrespectful nor discourteous. She was not aware, because it was not clear that they used their front garden as an illegal drive.

Not as bad as some neighbours we had who told us not to park outside their bungalow, when I once parked around the corner - nowhere near their drive, which was around a second corner as it was a corner plot - but because they didn't want to look at our ugly car and 'people who can't afford a house with a drive shouldn't buy a car.'

Our council charge £80 to paint an H bar, and £40 if you want it repainted.

If there is no dropped kerb they have no right to drive over it so you could return the compliment with a note asking them not to in the future.