Really shaken up. Did I do anything wrong here?

[seventymodules]

For past two years I have done the school run, I park on a street near the school. There is a detached house with a driveway and a patch of grass next to the driveway. I park in front of the patch of grass, not blocking the driveway whatsoever.

Once I drop my child at school I get collected by my workmate (we are cleaners so have company car) and then work till 3 until I have to return for school run and car.

This morning as I was getting out of the car the lady in the house came charging out, she said 'can you stop parking your car in front of my house?' I said 'it's a public road' and she said 'you park out here 5 days a week, if you refuse to move it I should make you aware that I will be cutting my grass today and any damage to your car is not my responsibility' said with a sarcastic smile on her face, she then walked back into the house shaking her head.

I've left the car but worried now she is going to damage it.

Am I being unreasonable parking it there? It's a public road and not on her property at all.

Hmmmmmmmmmm .......... 🤔

@Rillington

Legally you haven't done anything wrong. However you are taking the piss not varying where you park. That's really cheeky just to abandon your car there every day.

She's not abandoning her car she is parking there to go to work and get kids from school.

As a side question- why are people so weird about parking?

”It’s just ludicrous isn’t it? As if we’re not allowed to stop and get out of our cars unless we’re parked on our own drives or in a designated car park.”

And there will be snipers on the roof tops waiting for you to transgress, @AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken.

No, it isn't the woman can't cut her grass when OP is parked there.

She can. She said she was doing it today. So it’s obviously possible.

I really don't like looking out of my window at someone else's car.
How does such a delicate flower get through a day?

It's not a car park! It's a road, for driving on, not inconveniencing others when they can't drive on both sides of the road. *

Errr, have you looked at some roads lately?

I'm joining you lot who don't understand people! This thread is batshit.

On our small culdesac, one of the residents bought a massive trailer type thing, one of those where you can drive a car in and transport it to events. Approx same size as a bus if not bigger. As he only had a drive for one car, his solution was to park it on the street and therefore hog several spaces in one go. Now that was inconsiderate and luckily also against the estate covenants. Thankfully the twat moved in the end.

So, maybe this resident in OP's question needs a big transporter van like that parked there for couple of weeks, OP's car may not annoy her so much after that...

I’ve seen home owners move their cars from their drives to the road to stop this happening near schools, only to move them back again.

If this woman doesn’t work I can see it being annoying, so park outside a workers house who’s out all day. Not difficult is it?

@KaleSlayer
She can. She said she was doing it today. So it’s obviously possible.

Well, it would be nice to know from OP if the grass was actually cut today. She asked OP to move her car. If, the woman's lawn goes down to the road, it would be incredibly difficult for her to cut her lawn and not damage OP's car. Maybe this is what has made the woman irritated, for 2 years she has had to fit in with OP on when she can cut her grass.

I really don't like looking out of my window at someone else's car.

That’s fine. But that doesn’t take away their right to park there. I don’t like lots of things but if they’re not illegal then I have to accept them.

My neighbour has just returned from work and he’s parked outside my window as he does every evening.
MrUsernames, get my machete!

(Disclaimer: I don’t own a machete)

If this woman doesn’t work I can see it being annoying, so park a workers house who’s out all day. Not difficult is it?

Really easy, lurking around to see who goes to work all day and who stays in.

Parking here

I think if the woman asked the OP to move her car along the road so she could mow her lawn and the OP refused after 2+ years of parking there that is unreasonable. Especially as it seems that there are other parking spaces along the road. The woman is not fussing because she wants to park there, or she doesn’t want to look at OPs car she is just pissed off that it is a PITA that she can rarely access her grass to cut it. So I don’t know why the OP is shaken up when she refused to move, intends to continue parking there and 360 photographing her car every morning before she leaves.

Thiscantreallybehappening

Then she’d have been better to be polite and explain that to the OP. If I was OP and someone said, I’m really struggling to cut my grass with your car parked there, I’d be accommodating, maybe park in a different place sometimes if possible. Instead this woman decided to be threatening and basically say that she’ll damage OPs car because shes pissed off. Who acts like that? It’s threatening and unreasonable.

All legal etc etc but if it’s a ‘wide, quiet road’ surely sometimes you’d stop at the house before, or the next one down, bit obsessive to pick the same spot for over 2 years.

Some of the comments here are ludicrous. Getting annoyed about something that sits quietly on the public highway.

What's next, complaining to your neighbour opposite about their choice of colour for their front door?

I totally get where the owner of the house is coming from - it is SOOOOOO annoying not be be able to park anywhere near your own house

She has a driveway with space for four cars.

Also the woman probably wouldn’t have bothered if it was a 10 minute school drop off, but she knows the car and she knows it’s all day everyday.

@MiddleParking

No it's not, it's like teenagers standing on the baby swings every single time you go to the park.

How? Baby swings aren’t for teenagers nor for standing on. This parking space is for anyone who needs to park in to do so.

This is exactly why this parking spot is a problem.

People make assumptions to suit their needs.

Why do you assume baby swings aren't for teenagers to stand on? How can you be so sure they're even 'baby' swings? Because somebody told you? Because that's what you've always known?

Bigotry plain and simple. Here we have one person with the firmly held belief that the space outside their house is morally theirs to command, and another with the equally firmly held belief that it's public property and as long as it's 'legal' it's not causing any harm.

Both are right, and both wrong since morality and the law do not need to be coincident or aligned, and, in fact can be completely contradictory.

Perhaps Mower Woman should have calmly explained her issue ( if mowing the lawn is the issue 🤷‍♀️) rather than making threats of damage to legally parked cars.

@Lemonlemon88

People are wild aren't they? We live near some shops with a couple of small office buildings there too, people park on our street all the time and go to work all day. Do I care? No.

Same here, I couldn't care less (apart from then people occasionally park slightly across the drop kerb into the car park to our flats which makes it a bit tricky to get in and out).

Everyone is focusing on the parking, the woman doesn’t care about the parking, she just wants to be able to cut her grass. I think from the OPs original post it sounds as if the woman said that the car might get damaged by the lawnmower if the OP refused to move. That is true. It’s not a threat it’s a fact, why does the OP get to stop the resident from mowing her grass because she is pigheaded. Just move your car well away from the lawnmower and give the woman a break.

Perhaps Mower Woman should have calmly explained her issue ( if mowing the lawn is the issue 🤷‍♀️) rather than making threats of damage to legally parked cars.

Imagine that, eh.
But I think it’s likely that cutting the grass isn’t the problem, she’s just one of ‘those’ people.

It is incredibly annoying though not illegal.
In my situation there is a children's care home a few doors down and for nearly two years the workers for dsome reason have decided to use outside my house as their works parking space. Sometimes doing sleepovers so 24 hrs.
I have a drive but live on a really busy road during the rush hour. Recently one morning I tried to pull out three times and as my view was completely blocked since people park half on the pavement I was almost hit every time.
Enough is enough so when the opportunity arose and I was talking outside to someone a worker returned to their car. I politely told them of my issues and asked them to park elsewhere.
The very odd thing is that for some reason they avoid parking outside their place of work...infuriated me.