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.

Oh dear. I am enjoying this thread WAY more than I should be 🤣🤣🤣

I don’t get why you are driving to the school. If you have to leave the car there. Why not leave your car at home and walk. Or drive back home. How far away is your home from the school?

Besswess88 me too. I had the Covid Jab yesterday and feel terrible, I’ve really enjoyed this thread today. If I’m still rough tomorrow I may spend the day staring out of my window, see who’s parking where 👀

@AngelDelightUk

Tbf it would annoy me, could you walk your children to school and then be picked up? All day every day is taking the pee a bit

I agree with @youvegottenminuteslynn

In what way is it cheeky? What possible impact does it have? Are home owners concerned that somehow the car owner has gained partial ownership of their property? Like when dogs pee on lamp posts to mark their territory? Is it literally a pee thing?

I genuinely cannot see any issue with someone parking outside a property on a public road, even if they do it all day every day. Why would anyone care? There’s always a car of some sort parked outside my house in full view of my front window. If it wasn’t there, I’d get full view of a car parked outside the house opposite me. For a bit of variety, I can look at the cars parked outside of my neighbours’ houses. My whole street has cars parked either side, and lots are people who don’t live here - they have to buy a parking ticket.

@Penistoe

I don’t get why you are driving to the school. If you have to leave the car there. Why not leave your car at home and walk. Or drive back home. How far away is your home from the school?

But that’s irrelevant.

She could be driving 20 miles and then parking near a train station.

Doesn’t matter why.

She can.
She does.
She isn’t the problem.

Weird threatening home owner is the problem here.

It's legal, but it's slightly irritating if someone parks outside your house every single day, especially if they're not even a neighbour. I'd alternate between spots if it were me.

But the other lady was totally unreasonable to go straight from zero to threats of criminal damage.

But why is it irritating? What’s irritating about it?

Weird threatening home owner is the problem here.

Yep. It's the weird THREATENING thing.

@MMMarmite

It's legal, but it's slightly irritating if someone parks outside your house every single day, especially if they're not even a neighbour. I'd alternate between spots if it were me.

But the other lady was totally unreasonable to go straight from zero to threats of criminal damage.

Why is it annoying though, if they aren't blocking your drive and you already have multiple spaces on your private drive?

Nobody seems able to explain!

@MMMarmite

It's legal, but it's slightly irritating if someone parks outside your house every single day, especially if they're not even a neighbour. I'd alternate between spots if it were me.

But the other lady was totally unreasonable to go straight from zero to threats of criminal damage.

Why though? Why is it annoying? What about it is annoying?

Goodness it’s like debating on Twitter with a TRA!

Why is it annoying if someone parks outside your house every day?

Try asking if you can borrow a space on her driveway

It’s annoying if someone does it every single day because we are still creatures of territory, like in a David Attenborough programme!

It’s perfectly legal for the OP of course. And really not nice of the woman to threaten her.

But it’s like you can stand outside of someone’s house every day and it’s legal but it would feel a bit - encroaching. We are base creatures at heart!

I wouldn't care if I was the hone owner. I might be more bothered if it was a big ugly van but still wouldn't say anything.

Ok, so that’s a bit of an explanation- thank you. But the road isn’t anyone’s territory, so I don’t understand how that’s logical. Would people feel differently if it was a different car every day?

@Rejoiningperson

It’s annoying if someone does it every single day because we are still creatures of territory, like in a David Attenborough programme!

It’s perfectly legal for the OP of course. And really not nice of the woman to threaten her.

But it’s like you can stand outside of someone’s house every day and it’s legal but it would feel a bit - encroaching. We are base creatures at heart!

That makes sense.

Op should carry on parking. And at every opportunity we should do the same to others. Some clearly are having difficult shaking off the primordial soup now they’ve dragged themselves from the swamp so we should help them learn to control their territorial base instincts. As they must control many other base instincts.

It’s not their tree to pee on! Sooner they accept that the better.

@Rejoiningperson

It’s annoying if someone does it every single day because we are still creatures of territory, like in a David Attenborough programme!

It’s perfectly legal for the OP of course. And really not nice of the woman to threaten her.

But it’s like you can stand outside of someone’s house every day and it’s legal but it would feel a bit - encroaching. We are base creatures at heart!

It's not like that though is it? Because standing outside someone's house for no reason is differently to someone parking for good reason - to leave their car somewhere safe while they are away from it. Both are legal - one is strange because it's not typical behaviour (standing outside someone else's home all day) and one is typical behaviour (needing to leave your car somewhere safe when you're not in it).

But at least we’ve established it’s the home owner who is being a wanker and not the Op!

This has kept me entertained all day, a one sided account of parking a car and a subsequent confrontation. 🏠🚘

I should get a life.

@AssassinatedBeauty

It is barking mad that people think it's somehow "taking the piss" for people to park on roads which have no parking restrictions!

I intensely disliked not being able to park outside my house when I lived in a semi-detached with no drive, only on-street parking. It was close to a train station, so often used for daily parking. Sometimes I would have to park a couple of streets away, and walk back to my house with two small children, bags etc in the pouring rain. But I knew that when we bought the house, the parking wasn't restricted, that's just the way it was. It wasn't the fault of the people parking there.

This. 100% agree. It is insane that people agree that this woman is justified in being annoyed ir that you have done anything wrong OP. Please keep parking there and if she confronts you again ask her calmly what her problem is.

@Didyoureadtheinstructions

This has kept me entertained all day, a one sided account of parking a car and a subsequent confrontation. 🏠🚘

I should get a life.

I hear watching cars out of your window is all the rage!

OP I haven't read the whole thread however public roads are PUBLIC roads. Park wherever you like as long as it's legal. Too many people think they own the road outside their house. They are wrong. It's all a big parking lot.

@Thiscantreallybehappening

sent too early, maybe the woman has put up with obstacles and bad parking by OP for 2 years and today she decided to say something.

Presumably there was a very long period this and last year when OP wasn’t parking there because the schools were closed? (Or did you have a keyworker place OP?)

Need a photo. My driveway is really wide but the camber of the road means that if people park close to my kerb I literally can't see anything and it's tight to get out. It's always a fucking van. I