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

If it were truly a hazard, then there would be parking restrictions in place, like there are the country over in hazardous locations. This looks like one of those cases where you need to creep out slowly, hardly a unique situation. I am surprised OP that you have never had to do this before.

We used to have this regularly getting out of our road. Really annoying, but never occurred to me that it could be reported or acted on: You just had to go out slowly and carefully.

I now scroll parking posts to ensure there is a diagram before I waste my time reading 😂

Absolutely no harm in trying loch .... but, driving sensibly and cautiously also prevents accidents. In my head, the possible conversation just tickles me -

OP: I’d like to report a dangerous car.
Council: What’s it doing?
OP: Parked legally on a road.
Council: Legally you say? What do you want me to do?
OP: Well, I have to drive very slowly and cautiously so it’s a danger ...
Council: So you have to drive appropriately for the road conditions, being careful and sensible - just like on any other road and road users? ...

Speak to your local parish council. We had a similar situation in our village. Someone brought it up via a letter to a meeting of the parish council due to a commercial van overhanging the road from their drive. It caused an instruction to pedestrians and vehicles. The parish council dealt with it.

We had an issue with builders van's parking dangerously and a report via the Highways website was followed up pretty quickly.

If the van does block visibility for turning out of the side road, maybe you can request double yellow lines on the main road. We did that on our road. Only downside is that it took about a year to get the lines painted. You can talk to the council and they can talk you through the process

Try putting a polite “anyone know who’s knob this van belongs to “😂 chances are someone will know and maybe the owner don’t realise that he’s obstructing the rd .

2nd check if it’s taxed
If it’s not report to the council under abandoned cars.
They will normally remove it on the morning afternoon of the 15th day after you have reported it.
Tip - ring up 2 days before and tell them you can smell petrol - where I live it pretty much guarantees that they will remove it on day 15

We have this at the end of my road. When normal cars are parked there it’s ok because you can see through the windows to know it’s clear. But vans with no windows make it impossible. There are now signs up on the lamp posts saying that double yellows are coming at some point but the signs have been up for months and the double yellows haven’t appeared yet.

YANBU. Haven't read your post properly but 'gert big van' indicates that you're from Bristol/Somerset so you're clearly sound 👍🏽

Double yellows doesnt stop them round here, selfish arseholes

If it's parked legally they won't be interested. Here they park big vans on the actual corners. Big vans should be left at the workplace. They are the bane of my life.

Remember that the fact you've got a car bonnet in front of you means other cars will see you before you see them. Creep forward cautiously being prepared to stop instantly if you hear a horn.

My brother lives in a gert big van which he sometimes goes to visit our mum in, & it really rattles the residents. I would start off with a note on the van windscreen personally. If the van is parked legally you’re asking them to move it out of kindness to you because you don’t like peep & creeping, & you catch more flies with honey than complaining on FB as a first move.

Contact your local council, mention its impeding visibility and see if they can put up one of those large curved mirrors.

Rather less expensive than double yellow lines or traffic lights, significantly easier to install and improves the visibility at the junction to allow your creep and peep to be done somewhat less blindly!

Worth an ask.

Ask Council to look at and consider extending double yellow lines further from the junction. Otherwise nothing you do re legally parked vehicle unless it’s blocking the road completely. In that case report to Police.

@Poppynit yep spot on there .

Well, in an amazing turn of events, the the gert big van has gone! Has been winding me up for a fortnight and all it took was for me to start a mumsnet thread for it to be moved .

Ooh perhaps gert big van owner is a Mumsnetter?!