A parking one

[ThatchersCold]

I’m sorry for the slightly substandard diagram but hopefully gives you the idea.

Cars park along the main road which I have to use to get anywhere from my street. This has never been a problem until recently, when maybe a couple of weeks ago there was the unwelcome addition of the gert big van. My drawing is not to scale, by the way, and I don’t think truly expresses the enormity of said van.

It’s a long wheel base, high top van which completely blocks out any visibility to the left when pulling out of my street. It’s a busy road and now the only way to see if anything is to pull half way out into the road and cautiously peek, hoping that there’s nothing coming at that precise moment because if there is you’ll whack it (which I very nearly did the other day).

For context there are no parking restrictions along that road, and the van is parked far away enough from the junction that they are not parked illegally. However, it is definitely creating a dangerous hazard.

I was hoping maybe it was a work van that was there temporarily, but it’s been there 24/7 for a couple of weeks now.

I realise my options are limited as the van is parked legally, but I was considering putting a post on the local Facebook page (it’s a small community), pointing out that it’s causing a danger and politely asking if the owner would consider parking elsewhere. Or whether I should just suck it up as he’s technically doing nothing wrong.

YABU - who needs to be able to see at junctions anyway, just say a little prayer each time you pull out and hope for the best.

YANBU - have a little Facebook moan and hope the owner of massive van moves it

After a couple of weeks? YANBU in my opinion. Is it worth contacting the council to report it as a danger?

@Aliceinunderland I don’t know who I could report it to as he is legally parked so not sure if they’d be able to do anything?

Report to your council and see if they can help - they will sometimes work with the police and have commercial vehicles that areparked up on residential streets removed.

This is becoming more common as operators can't afford parking fees for their out of work lorries and/or trailers. It is no longer illegal (it used to be part of the code of conduct for lorry drivers/owners).

Oops! Posted too soon.

Not illegal but the operator could be requested to remove it as a courtesy to residents or safety issue.

At the very least your council should be made aware that it is happening, so they can stay abreast of the issue and act if it is escalating.

@CuriousaboutSamphire thank you that’s interesting. It’s definitely not in lorry territory, just a massive van, and I’m assuming it’s privately owned rather than a works vehicle as it never bloody goes anywhere.

Its causing a dangerous obstruction, the person who parked it there is selfish and quite clearly doesn't givee a toss. See it all the time here, parked on double yellows that are there to stop this in the first place. Winds me right up. If there is a accident then they should be held liable

Big van not moved. Maybe someone bought ti do as a camper conversion? as that's popular atm, so might be there a while

Commercial vehicles should be kept in yards

@Whammyyammy yes that’s my guess too.

I was taught on my driving lessons, at some junctions you have to ‘peep and creep’ .... so basically creep out extremely slowly, peeping (looking) constantly. There’s junctions all over like this ... in my mind it’s just the roads these days. The van isn’t parked illegally so I’m not sure there’s anything you can do do. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Ha that happens round here but the massive van had a label on the side of an alternative cemetery provider. I can only assume the bad parking is to drum up more business.

Peep and creep, but also use your audible warning device, you may have to use it for a few seconds everytime to ensure other road users know you are there.

I would report it to the council too and see if they can help. Especially as it's parked there all the time. You've got nothing to lose

I'd take a picture and get in touch with your local road traffic police unit (most seem to be on Twitter) and ask their advice.

Am very interested to see all the council and police replies - given that the van is legally parked ....

As others have said if it’s parked legally then peep and creep

Why's that @Frazzledbutcalm ? OP has said it's a busy road and there's nothing wrong with trying to prevent an accident before it happens.

It’s definitely worth mentioning it to the local council. There was a busy junction near where I go to work and they installed traffic lights.

vans near us were asked to move as they seriously restricted visability
its worth a go
they moved them quite quickly

Have you checked to see if it's taxed? Not that our council seem to do anything more than put council aware stickers on the increasing influx of abandoned vans in our area.
I'd only put it on FB if you don your had hat first. Community boards love a parking debate more than Mumsnet.
Maybe contact your neighbourhood officer? Their details should be on your local force website. It won't necessarily result in any action, but it might result in the van being moved to a less visually obstructive position.

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like it could well be worth reporting it, if nothing happens as a result then at least I tried!

Haven’t checked to see if taxed or MOTd but I’ll get the reg later and have a look.

They might think about putting double yellows there if it causes too much of an issue

I don't know, but I sympathise. We see a lorry regularly park up in our standard residential street.

Is that allowed?

I really wanted to vote YANBU because I love that you wrote "gert big van". But really, junctions with limited visibility where you have to creep forwards are ten a penny; it's unreasonable to expect this person to find somewhere else to park just because the road design is suboptimal.