Petty neighbour - parking related

[Snufkins]

Not sure why I’m posting on here or whether it’s me being unreasonable or the ‘neighbour’

I live in a new build development, it’s not a cul de sac as such but there are other houses at the back and bottom and fields at the top. So technically anyone can pass through on walks.

My house is opposite a long road which makes a T junction, a sharp left takes you to the rest of the houses and a right to the few others. DP parks on pavement as at the moment we have a single driveway, cars can get very tight round the bend especially if icy so it’s all we’re able to do at the moment (we’re not in London so not illegal?).

A couple on their daily walk (I don’t know whether they live on the same block) have taken to slamming DP’s wing mirror when walking past. It’s showing some damage. I think I have seen them walk through my front garden during summer several times too to get past. The road is quiet, they could easily cross the road but there is room to walk on the pavement just in single file. There are cars and a van parked nearby on pavement and they don’t do the same to them.
We’re forking out over £10k to sort out our bog of a garden which has taken a while to save and DP now says we need to extend the driveway at the same time to stop this happening, can’t really afford both!

I instead want to confront these people but are we being unreasonable or them? I want to say we have CCTV (we don’t) to put them off but I am frustrated they are picking on us, especially walking on my property.

Park it on your garden. If you are going to get a drive, do it first.

You are lucky it is only the mirror and not scratches on the paintwork.

Are you absolutely 100% certain that other cars are blocking the pavement just as much as you are but they've just singled you out for hate?

You said there is no enough space for two people to walk side by side on the pavement because of your car. If that's the case, I can assure you there's not enough room a wheelchair or a double buggy or mobility scooter either.

Park on the road. That's what it's for.

Don't park on the pavement so it prevents them from walking there then. Expecting them to cross the road because you've blocked the pavement is CF behaviour. Pavements are for people, not cars.

Why didn’t you either buy a house with adequate parking or prioritise extending the driveway above redoing the garden?

There are a lot of new builds around here, and parking does seem to be an issue. The amount of people who think they can park where they like if it’s outside their house is amazing. This includes right on junctions, blind corners, inside traffic calming chicanes etc.

If you can be 100% sure that your parking is safe & legal then certainly confront these people. Otherwise, change where you park. Can you not park across your own driveway?

Tell your dh to fold the pavement side wing mirror in when he parks there. Or to park somewhere else.

Some of my neighbours do this, and I always walk across their front garden if there isn't enough pavement.

Ok thanks for the responses guess AIBU! I suppose I will extend the driveway sooner rather than later I’d rather do that then park elsewhere.

Sometimes I have to walk halfway up the road to collect my wheelie bin and inconsiderate neighbours are parked across the pavement making it difficult to get past with the bin. Purely "by accident" (of course) my bin has been known to bang against every car on these occasions.

Yep. Extend the driveway. In the meantime put a note on your car : " to whoever is damaging our car- smile you are on cctv". It might deter them in the meantime b

Sorry you’re in the wrong! You’re blocking the pavement. You don’t pay pavement tax you pay road tax. I cannot count the number of times I’ve been pushing the pram and had to detour back and forth and zig zag across roads because selfish drivers can be bothered to walk a small distance to park safely. There’s no law to say you must park outside your house. You don’t own that land. You are wrong. I can’t mention the number of times I’ve wanted to ram my pram into a car parked on the path, and if I were a different sort of person maybe I would have. MIVE YOUR CAR. problem solved.

I would say that if they are not doing to any of the other cars, the parking of your car, in particular, must be causing an obstruction. If there is only room to pass by single file it is highly likely the gap would cause issues to people using mobility, aids its easy to underestimate how much space can be needed. Just because these people do not use aids, it doesn't mean they are not aware of the issue.

I would definitely park elsewhere if I were you, or bring forward the works to expand your drive.

I’m slightly confused here. So you’re not allowed to park on pavements? How about streets with terraced houses and no drives, what is the way to go round that? Always assumed it was normal to park on the street! 🥴

Pavement parkers and drop kerb parkers drive me nuts when I’m with DD1 in her heavy powered wheelchair. It just isn’t safe to take it down a normal kerb. I’ve had to do massive detours just to cross a road or find an alternative route due to a parked car on the pavement.
DD2s chair weighs a ton. You really don’t want me crossing my fingers and squeezing past your car, particularly if she’s on the controls. It’s taken a solid metal security door off it’s hinges when we got the approach wrong.
YABU, although they are also BU to deliberately cause damage.

@Snufkins

For clarity there is room for a wheelchair or pram which the couple don’t use. The car is only partially on the pavement and if we were to park it elsewhere it’d be in front of someone’s house rather than my own. From my own window i can see 4 other cars parked on the pavement so I’m not the only one. But they don’t do the same to them, we’ve seen!

Parking in front of someone else’s house is ok. Parking on pavement is not ok.

@Bedtimeforever

I’m slightly confused here. So you’re not allowed to park on pavements? How about streets with terraced houses and no drives, what is the way to go round that? Always assumed it was normal to park on the street! 🥴

No you park on the road along side the pavement unless there is signage to saw it’s permitted. I know some area have such huge pavements you can park entire cars easily.

Hugely BU for no diagram! We all live a parking thread(more so if done properly with diagram).
Regardless whether the road is quiet or not, its not acceptable to force pedestrians of any kind into a road so you can park on the pavement.
Damaging your cat is also hugely BU, but I've heard of a few buggies being 'accidentally' scraped down a car causing £££ damage, woukd be difficult to claim/apportion blame.
Id look to extending your driver sooner tbh.

YABU for parking on the pavement. It is CF behaviour and if you are too precious to park your car on the road then you should have bought a house with a bigger drive way. Or make a new driveway.

Pavements are for pedestrians.

@Bedtimeforever

I’m slightly confused here. So you’re not allowed to park on pavements? How about streets with terraced houses and no drives, what is the way to go round that? Always assumed it was normal to park on the street! 🥴

Isn’t it the driving on to the pavement that’s actually illegal rather than the parking on it? Either way, yes, it’s definitely not permitted. People are supposed to consider their parking needs (ie do you need parking? Does this house have any?) before they move in.

You shouldn't be parking in the road opposite a junction, and also not park on the pavement. I suggest go on FB market place and state 'Anyone got any paving slabs they're no longer using and want to get rid of. Use those to create a temporary parking paved way to the side of your main parking space. Use this until such time you can afford to do it properly. If you need to bump up the kerb, make lengths of timber to half the height of the kerb. Job done.

@Bedtimeforever I take it you've never had a family member in a wheelchair/ had a large buggy/ been on crutches?

Sorry, when you say "slamming" the mirror, do you mean they deliberately whack it?

@sneakysnoopysniper

Sometimes I have to walk halfway up the road to collect my wheelie bin and inconsiderate neighbours are parked across the pavement making it difficult to get past with the bin. Purely "by accident" (of course) my bin has been known to bang against every car on these occasions.

Yeah, inconsiderate pavement parking is rife where i live too, i am afraid i am not very careful when squeezing past, i’m pretty clumsy ¯\\(ツ)/¯

When I walked my 3 dc to school, there were always cars parked on the pavement - mainly because the road was narrow, so they used the pavement as well. So the cars are nice and safe on the pavement This infuriates me - pavements are for people, and as there was a school and 2 playschools on that road (and an old-people's day centre) there were a lot of children and old people needing to use the pavement.

I made sure that I wasn't too careful when squeezing my buggy between the car and the hedge/fence/wall - I was not going to walk my 3 kids on the road. Roads are for cars. I had a thread about this, prob about 15 years ago and was told I should not be damaging property (cars) with my buggy.

You should not be parking on the pavement. If the wing mirrors get damaged, tough. Don't park on the pavement.

Tell DP to fold the mirrors in then they won't be able to

@Snufkins

For clarity there is room for a wheelchair or pram which the couple don’t use. The car is only partially on the pavement and if we were to park it elsewhere it’d be in front of someone’s house rather than my own. From my own window i can see 4 other cars parked on the pavement so I’m not the only one. But they don’t do the same to them, we’ve seen!

You said in your OP that there is room to walk past the car in single file. That means there is not enough room for a wheelchair to pass.