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.

I started reading this thread open mouthed and bitterly disappointed that so many people were telling op to just be nice and avoid parking there because it’s the neighbourly thing to do.
Is this even Mumsnet, I wondered?! Where are the gin swilling, bossom hoiking, leopard print scarf wearing warriors of old who would rail at the injustice of an incorrectly issued note from an entitled CF neighbour? Who would fume at ops side at her husband apologising on her behalf WHEN SHE WAS IN THE RIGHT.
The kind of Mumsnetters who would offer to set up a just giving page to get an old banger to park their permanently through the sheer rage of the injustice done to op (and gin fuelled pettiness and bloody mindedness).
Alas my people are gone [crying]. Thank god a few turned up !!
I’d park there every day of my life, however inconvenient jus to to prove a point, after sending DH round to in-apologise and hand them the council regulations and relevant section of the Highway Code.

@IsFinnRogersDead

If it's not a dropped kerb it's just a patio with aspirations.

Perhaps you could print out your council's page about applying for planning permission for a dropped kerb and ram it through their door?

so true!

Before implementing a controlled parking system at least one London council anticipated a flood of dropped kerb applications and thus a reduction in the available on street parking spaces and subsequent income. They updated the planning permission requirements to state that the vehicle must be able to enter and exit the property in first gear. I believe some people actually installed a turntable to circumvent this requirement; the cost of which would probably have been more than a lifetime's parking charges.

The cost of £500 for a dropped kerb seems low, more like £2000+ where I live.

@DancingWithWillard they’re all on my thread from Monday, come on over!

If there is no dropped curb they have a tarmac garden, not a drive.

If I drive down the road that the OP is referring to and I see a parking space outside a house - there isn't a drop kerb, there isn't a car on the patio - how would I know not to park there? There is no drive. There is no car. It's a public road. I can and will park there.

@BecomeStronger

I think legally you're correct but if it was obviously being used as a parking space, it's unnecessarily inconsiderate to park in front of it.

If you really didn't notice, it's just a mistake.

This!

Clearly you are right and they are wrong. Your DH is also wrong.

I think I would be more annoyed at your DH than cheeky neighbours.

Don't doubt yourself. The key question is what to do about it. Options:

• do nothing and move on knowing you are right
• drop a note through their door explaining why they are wrong
• speak to neighbours explaining why they are wrong

@vanillandhoney

If it's not a dropped kerb it's just a patio with aspirations.

🤣🤣

I'd write this on a piece of paper and put it through their letterbox 🤣

@BlackRibboner

I think if there's no dropped kerb you can technically park there, but I would always check to make sure I'm not blocking access. If there were plenty of other spaces I can see why they left the note, but equally if there were no other spaces then tough luck for them really - they need to apply for a dropped kerb.

Superb!

Sorry - I quoted the wrong person - I meant to quote the person who said that its a patio with aspirations. Sorry

It’s a kerb!

We looked into dropping our kerb, spoke to local council over the phone for info, he looked on google at our house and three further along, one house has paved their front garden and park on it, they havent dropped the kerb, the man i spoke to said if they were to come out to survey for our kerb, they would issue a fine for the people using their ‘drive’ as it is causing damage to paving etc - so, think there is your answer.... go report the meanies 😜😂 x

We had our driveway paved after moving to our present property twelve months ago. There was no dropped kerb and on applying to the council we were told that it is illegal to drive any vehicle across the pavement to and from the property without the kerb being dropped. The reason for this is that in addition to the pavement being dropped, it also has to be reinforced to take the weight of a vehicle. We were warned that if we drove across the pavement before the work was carried out, we would be fined and expected to pay for any damage incurred - our neighbour actually admitted to driving across the pavement outside his house and confirmed that he was reported to the council, was fined and had to pay a hefty price for damage to the pavement caused by his car. Your neighbours are not within their rights to be driving across the pavement and could end up in similar trouble, so no, I don’t think you are being unreasonable. Interestingly, one of our options, as I am a disabled driver, was to have a marked disabled parking bay outside our house. This would have been much cheaper, but we were told that despite the fact we would have to pay for the bay, any other road users with a valid disabled badge would be entitled to use it !! Needless to say, although more expensive, dropping the pavement was a better option.

It’s not a drive unless they have applied for and paid for a dropped kerb.

if there is no dropped kerb it cant be used for vehicle access and is illegal - Not a driveway.
Happened on my street, highways came and gave a warning or its a 1k-10k fine depending on your council.
So yes you can park there and they cannot do anything. If anything needs access it has be signposted.

@IsFinnRogersDead

If it's not a dropped kerb it's just a patio with aspirations.

Perhaps you could print out your council's page about applying for planning permission for a dropped kerb and ram it through their door?

This 🤣🤣

It's not a drive if there's no dropped kerb so they can pave/tarmac/stone as much as they like, they have no right of way over the pavement. I'd be seriously pissed at my H apologising on my behalf. How dare he?

YABVU.
I'm not interested in the pompous attitude of "if you don't have a dropped kerb it's not really a drive"...... dropped kerb or not, if they have a driveway on their property then they have a driveway period.

Next time look where you're parking and don't park in the entrance to someone's house because that's what you did.

Dropped kerb or no dropped kerb. You should of checked where you were parking.

i would have thought parking outside someones drive is wrong whether there is a dropped kerb or not, maybe be wrong of course

I'm not interested in the pompous attitude of "if you don't have a dropped kerb it's not really a drive"...... dropped kerb or not, if they have a driveway on their property then they have a driveway period.

That's just your opinion, the law on the other hand tells a different story.

as everyone likes the patio comment so much I decided to steal it as my new name

When I park somewhere I make very sure I am not causing an obstruction so I wouldn't park in front of something that looks like a drive, dropped kerb or not. I also don't park opposite a driveway if the person has driven in, as they'll have to reverse out and that makes it difficult for them.

No dropped kerb no right of way to their house.

Just because a house has a hard standing doesn't mean it's a driveway

The were being unreasonable