AIBU to park my car here?

[Ravenclawsome]

We moved into our current house a couple of years ago.

The set up is quite strange in that for some houses our drives are "split", with the public footpath in between.

This is not the case for houses that front straight onto the road, but only for those of us with landscaping areas between the house and the road.

We have a main drive, then the public footpath, then a bit that runs through the bushes to allow vehicular access to the road.

In all cases these extra sections are on the deeds as owned, rather than a ROW and some people pave them to match the rest of their drive.
Ours is not paved (just the original tarmac with edging blocks) and is wide enough to easily fit a car, though we don't usually park there.

We live on a corner so cars cannot be parked on the road outside without it being dangerous.

It quickly became apparent after we moved in that our lower drive is used as a shortcut by pedestrians coming from a footpath opposite. We have no problem with this.

They cross the road at a diagonal and cross the drive to the footpath as it's a shorter route and wider pavement than the other side.

This is all for background. But my AIBU is this.

We have had a major leak in the bathroom. The entire thing has to be ripped out, dried and redone.

The insurance company has provided a massive mobile bathroom for us.

But it's on the main drive and I cannot fit my car on there too.
So for the past couple of weeks (and for the foreseeable future) I have been parking on the lower drive. The car fits entirely on our owned section between the bushes and is not impeding the public footpath between the two sections.

This means pedestrians cannot currently use it as a shortcut and I've had a fair few people make nasty comments and complaints about how I shouldn't block the "path" - essentially they've come to think of that section as a public path.

So am I being the unreasonable one here?

Diagram included as it's parking thread law.

As long as you aren’t blocking the public footpath that bisects your drive, you aren’t being unreasonable to park on your lower drive.

Are you in Eastbourne? Very usual set up there.

No - YANBU. Let em moan OP

It's your drive, of course you're not unreasonable to use your own drive. I'd make it clear if I heard anyone whinging that they had been using my land up til now.

I think I know where you mean you have been parking, but if I am right in where I think you mean, I don’t see why it would be a shortcut for anyone? So maybe I don’t understand, perhaps diagram needs your car and the shortcut v long way round marked up. 😊

Your problem is that you (and previous owners) have allowed the public to use it for so long that it has effectively become a public right of way. Your only option if you want to "reclaim" it is to park there all the time, and hope someone takes you to court - this will establish whether it's OK for you to park there in future, or whether you must leave it for the public to use.

It's still your drive so of course you can park on it and tell that to anyone who says otherwise.

Forgot to say - excellent diagram, OP. Props to you!

Are you sure you own the full-length? You need to keep the footpath clear.

Maybe plan to pave it to match your drive, as your neighbours have? Not an immediate solution, but would help in the future.

What did you say to the people who made comments?

YANBu. Next time someone mentioned it set them straight and say you own that bit of land and it’s not part of the path so stop being so lazy and walk around it.

It put something on it permanently so they couldn’t cut across it now too.

If course you can park there!

If people comment say ‘you misunderstand: this section is my land. You can check in the land registry if you wish. This is the public footpath….’

In fact I would put up small signs either end of your lower drive that say ‘private property’ . Simple ones that stick in the ground. To stop the idea that just because they use it as a shirt cut they have a right to it.

My parents used to live in a development with this layout and most houses would use the extra bit of driveway as parking for visitors. I’d say it’s fine as long as you leave the full gap for the footpath. I’m surprised it’s never come up as a thing before if the road isn’t safe to park on, what do your neighbours/visitors typically do when they have visitors, tradesmen etc?

Lovely diagram. Park there it’s yours! Just rely it’s your driveway not a path. You could go full on penguin bollard and chain to make the point or just pave it like neighbours.

Surely it's fine as long as you leave space for the public footpath.

@Aprilx

I think I know where you mean you have been parking, but if I am right in where I think you mean, I don’t see why it would be a shortcut for anyone? So maybe I don’t understand, perhaps diagram needs your car and the shortcut v long way round marked up. 😊

I've marked up my original diagram to be clear. Red is my car. Blue is the path of the pedestrians.

There are no houses on the far side of the road. They have to cross the road to reach their houses. They prefer to cross ASAP as the path on the far side is very narrow.

As long as you're not blocking the footpath, it's fine.

You're under no obligation to keep an unofficial shortcut free for people to use.

@LIZS

Are you sure you own the full-length? You need to keep the footpath clear.

We own both sections either side of the path. I'm sure of this as we checked when we bought to see who was responsible for upkeep. Our section is bigger than most others - ours and three other neighbours can fit full estate/SUVs on our, couple of others can fit small hatchbacks and anyone else who has one only has about a metre or so.

@LakeShoreD

My parents used to live in a development with this layout and most houses would use the extra bit of driveway as parking for visitors. I’d say it’s fine as long as you leave the full gap for the footpath. I’m surprised it’s never come up as a thing before if the road isn’t safe to park on, what do your neighbours/visitors typically do when they have visitors, tradesmen etc?

It's only really us and the neighbour on one side that it affects as as our drives are the only ones used as shortcuts.

So you are parking on the end of your own drive without blocking the footpath?

Standard setup in our area and perfectly allowed. You just have to leave the gap the width of the path. Don’t be the jerk that blocks access for someone in a wheelchair or a 3 year old on a bicycle. You can have cars on any other part of the drive.

Totally fine OP. We have similar set ups around here. Some homes have three cars and use the full length all the time, leaving space for the path. I’d be a little worried about people trying to squeeze past my car but you’re not in the wrong

Oh and by access I mean a person traveling along the path, not cutting in from the street

We have driveways like that near me. They are all still Tarmac like the pavement but some of the extra bits are too short to fit a car on due to the curve of the road. I've always assumed they belonged to the houses. However, if I was crossing the road then I would use the driveway to get to the road as the alternative would be walking for the length of the entire block (about 20 detatched houses) to access the road.
Nobody here has done anything to the extra bits of garden though - they are all just grass, which makes me wonder if it is maintained by the factor rather than householders. So if all the driveways were in use then I would cut over the grass because it doesn't look garden-y.

Are you allowed to block off the other end with a hedge or a row of pots as that will make it a clear demarcation for the future whether you are parked there or not .

Your property. You park there.