car parked outside my house for weeks

[Ceci03]

I know I know, there's nothing that can be done, it's a so-called public road, although it's a very small little cul de sac estate. It's right outside my house, where I would park. There are 3 spaces. this car is in the one nearest to me. I live beside a school so it's manic twice a day and I often cant get a space when I get back from dropping ds so end up parking round the corner then moving my car when it calms down again. He's taking up a precious space for school mums too. Just having a moan I suppose. I checked and it is taxed so police wont do anything. I just wouldnt have the nerve to park right outside someone's house for weeks on end. Apparently he lives round the corner and it's been going on for years. Different neighbours have asked him not to but he's said h'es not breaking any laws. Trouble is there are only 3 spaces, and the rest of the cul de sac is no parking 8-9.30 and 3-5pm so if you have a workman in, or visitors there's one less spare space for them.

Maybe one of these?

@LittleMysSister

How is legally parking a car on a PUBLIC road anyway selfish? Wheb you visit family or friends in other areas, do you park on public roads in residential areas? Of course you do. So somewhat hypocritical

Come on, you must see there's a difference between dumping an unused car for weeks in a small cul-de-sac with only three available spaces and parking in a public road for a limited time when you visit a friend or relative?!?!!!

Not at all. If the road has no set time limit then its fine. Residents can't make up their own time limits for people legally parking on a part of public highway thst doesn't belong to them.

He can leave it there for aa long as he chooses.
Why do people thst don't have off road parking think they can dictate who can and can't use the public highway near them baffles me.
If parking is so precious , buy or rent a house with a drive and not expect everyone else to make allowances for you.

What I really don't get is why residents' parking zones are so unpopular when the alternative is this sort of stressing about other people legally parking in your street. They're the obvious answer but any time the council suggests putting a new one in there are bigger protests than for the Iraq war. People confuse me.

If you want a reserved space, you need to get a property with sufficient parking for your needs. You cannot take a property with insufficient parking, and then try to dictate who may or may not park in the on road spaces and for how long, as if you own them

That's right - the man in question needs to get a property with enough space that he doesn't take up a public space for weeks on end. It's not a first come, first served on occasions like this - it's 'person who buys a car they don't need regularly gets to plonk it on a public space so no-one else can get a turn of it for weeks'. That's not the way first come, first served works.

The OP hasn't actually said she expects full use of the space - she even mentions that people picking up from the nearby school can't get using it. She just wants an equal opportunity to use it - which she can't get because he's using it as his private space.

@longestlurkerever

What I really don't get is why residents' parking zones are so unpopular when the alternative is this sort of stressing about other people legally parking in your street. They're the obvious answer but any time the council suggests putting a new one in there are bigger protests than for the Iraq war. People confuse me.

People object to them because it comes at a cost. They want sole rights to a public highway free of charge

@longestlurkerever

What I really don't get is why residents' parking zones are so unpopular when the alternative is this sort of stressing about other people legally parking in your street. They're the obvious answer but any time the council suggests putting a new one in there are bigger protests than for the Iraq war. People confuse me.

I think residents only oppose them when they will have to pay for permits. I'm sure most would be pleased to have them if there was no charge.

@SirChenjins

If you want a reserved space, you need to get a property with sufficient parking for your needs. You cannot take a property with insufficient parking, and then try to dictate who may or may not park in the on road spaces and for how long, as if you own them

That's right - the man in question needs to get a property with enough space that he doesn't take up a public space for weeks on end. It's not a first come, first served on occasions like this - it's 'person who buys a car they don't need regularly gets to plonk it on a public space so no-one else can get a turn of it for weeks'. That's not the way first come, first served works.

The OP hasn't actually said she expects full use of the space - she even mentions that people picking up from the nearby school can't get using it. She just wants an equal opportunity to use it - which she can't get because he's using it as his private space.

Exactly this, OP is not trying to hoard the space for herself, she is fine that it may or not be available...but not when someone leaves a random car there for weeks on end so it's never available to anybody else at all.

@SantaSue

Maybe one of these?

But why?

He's parked legally and appropriately in an off road space that he's perfectly entitled to park in.

How is that "parking like a cunt"?

If he was parked illegally or causing an obstruction, then it would be a different matter. But OP's only objection seems to be that she wants that public space left free for her own personal use because that would be more convenient for her.

I have one. It does cost but it is a very low cost compared to the overall costs of running a car. I used to live in a street without where you had to drive around and around looking for a space which was more annoying (though not annoying enough to be angry at the people legally parked there!)

We had this a little while ago and was so strange as their were baby things in the back. It turned out it was a women escaping domestic violence and she didn’t want her car parked outside her mum house who lived somewhere in the local area. It made me feel bad that I was getting annoyed at the car sat there for weeks never moving.

But OP's only objection seems to be that she wants that public space left free for her own personal use because that would be more convenient for her

She hasn't said that (unless I missed that post) - she just wants an equal opportunity to use a space in her street which she can't do because he's using a public space for his private use for weeks on end.

@SirChenjins

If you want a reserved space, you need to get a property with sufficient parking for your needs. You cannot take a property with insufficient parking, and then try to dictate who may or may not park in the on road spaces and for how long, as if you own them

That's right - the man in question needs to get a property with enough space that he doesn't take up a public space for weeks on end. It's not a first come, first served on occasions like this - it's 'person who buys a car they don't need regularly gets to plonk it on a public space so no-one else can get a turn of it for weeks'. That's not the way first come, first served works.

The OP hasn't actually said she expects full use of the space - she even mentions that people picking up from the nearby school can't get using it. She just wants an equal opportunity to use it - which she can't get because he's using it as his private space.

No, the man in question has the right to park his car on the road for as long as he likes, as long as he abides by any restrictions put in place by the council.

The OP/other residents/MNers don't have the right to put arbitrary restrictions in place for their own convenience.

If her preferred space is not available, then OP simply needs to park somewhere else (in front of someone else's house no doubt!)

I haven’t read the full thread but I’d find out who he is and try and arrange a viewing on the car if it’s for sale, or ring and ask if he’s got that particular make and model in stock of a similar age

I just think there's a massive difference between parking a car on a public road and leaving a car you don't use parked in an area of limited parking for weeks on end.

Surely if this fella wants to leave at least one of his cars parked somewhere indefinitely, it's not unfair to hope that he'd have a bit of consideration and choose somewhere where there is a bit more space than what OP has described?

It's not like he lives in the cul-de-sac and wants to keep an eye on his car, he could have parked it somewhere with less impact on the people who live there and likely rely on those limited spaces.

Obviously he's within his legal rights but it's also really inconsiderate when there is no reason he needs to be in one of those very few spaces as opposed to another road with more room.

No, the man in question has the right to park his car on the road for as long as he likes, as long as he abides by any restrictions put in place by the council

Yes, he has the legal right to do that - that doesn't mean it's fair or right, and I wish there was some law that could be passed to limit this ability to assume a public space for your private use. The OP is well aware that nothing can be done about it, she makes that clear in her OP, but it's incredibly annoying and I don't blame her for being pissed off.

He's taking up a precious space for school mums too.

Come on, you must see there's a difference between dumping an unused car for weeks in a small cul-de-sac with only three available spaces and parking in a public road for a limited time when you visit a friend or relative?!?!!!

It's emotive language, referring to it as 'dumping', though. If the driver of a taxed, insured, roadworthy car parks it in a public space, why would you call that dumping? Do you dump your own car ever time you park it somewhere?

Do you really believe this?? Someone with a massive house and driveway, with multiple cars, is permanently taking up one of only 3 parking spaces in a small residential cul-de-sac where they don't even live, and it's OP who's out of order?

I think PP's point was based on somebody telling others how they 'should' feel to do something perfectly normal and legal.

People need to realise that the private houses on a street have no link whatsoever with any suitable parking that there happens to be on the public road adjacent to the houses.

I live very near to a park, but I have no more or fewer rights than anybody else in the town (or from further afield) to use the benches or equipment - it's public, for anybody to use, and entirely first-come-first-served. If I can never get a free bench, I'm not going to start demanding the postcodes of everybody sitting on them and telling them off for occupying 'my' park if they happen to live further away than I do.

@minitwister

We had similar. Call 101/111 (brain not working!) and tell the police you are concerned it's been abandoned. They won't tell you who owns it, but they will try to contact the owner and suggest they move it.

The one opposite our house was gone within the hour.

Wasting police time !

If you want a reserved space, you need to get a property with sufficient parking for your needs. You cannot take a property with insufficient parking, and then try to dictate who may or may not park in the on road spaces and for how long, as if you own them

That's right - the man in question needs to get a property with enough space that he doesn't take up a public space for weeks on end. It's not a first come, first served on occasions like this - it's 'person who buys a car they don't need regularly gets to plonk it on a public space so no-one else can get a turn of it for weeks'. That's not the way first come, first served works.

But the man isn't wanting a reserved space and moaning that he should have the right to it - he's simply looked for an available public space and used it. If it hadn't been available, he would have looked elsewhere until he found one that was available.

If somebody is fortunate enough to find a public space that happens to be right outside their own house and then leaves their car parked there for weeks on end, do you also believe them to be bad/selfish for not moving it when they don't need to and allowing all of the other road-users a turn?

We have a drive that's big enough for our vehicles, which we always use, so maybe we could kick off about all of these 'selfish' people insisting on parking on the road and blocking the free, unimpeded passage for drivers like us. We could do that, but we'd be entirely wrong to do so, as it's a completely normal, legal use of the public road.

It’s not selfish, it’s not illegal.
It’s just that he is taking the place you somehow see as YOUR place with no more reason than that.

In which way does it make a difference whether it’s always the same car parked there or a different one every day?

Do you really believe this?? Someone with a massive house and driveway, with multiple cars, is permanently taking up one of only 3 parking spaces in a small residential cul-de-sac where they don't even live, and it's OP who's out of order?

See, this just makes the poster look jealous.

The fact the owner has a big house etc.. has nothing to do with them leaving the car there. It could easily be a pensioner who is unwell Atm and isn’t driving.
They do live there, just in that little bit of road. It’s not as if they were coming from the next town.
Etc…

There is nothing wrong with leaving legally a car parked in a street. It sometimes makes it harder for the OP to park.
But only because she lives next to a school. You just have to see numerous threads in here about schools to see that the issue isn’t the car parked in front t of her house, it’s the school.
The car itself causes no issue. There are still spaces available for everyone to park!

While it is perfectly legal and there is nothing you can do about it, it doesn't stop it being annoying. People like this know they're being CFs but don't care.

Our neighbour regularly leaves his massive white van directly outside our house for weeks . He knows it blocks light into the room I work in most days but he doesn't give a shit. If that space isn't free he parks across an access gate which is also a passing place for traffic because, and I quote, he doesn't want to park it somewhere 'weird' in case it gets broken into. He also refused to chip in for communal CCTV but I bet he'll be the first to ask to see it if his van gets broken into. Apparently he's just bought an old run down motor home that he plans on bringing home to work on so we've got that to look forward- cheeky fucker.

I would put birdseed on his car.

It's emotive language, referring to it as 'dumping', though. If the driver of a taxed, insured, roadworthy car parks it in a public space, why would you call that dumping? Do you dump your own car ever time you park it somewhere?

No, I only used 'dumping' because it's left there and not driven. Which to me is the only problem in this whole scenario tbh.

Obviously the spaces aren't allocated and anyone can legally use them, but I'm just not surprised OP is annoyed when this person leaves an unused car parked there for weeks.

As I said, we have this in the flats where I live and obviously there is nothing we can do about it as legally nothing is wrong. But it does feel frustrating when you're having to always carry heavy stuff all the way round the building and never get a chance to park in a space right outside the front door purely because someone has decided to take that space permanently for a car they never use.

I just think it's inconsiderate when there are other options available to you that don't impact others (although obviously in OP's case I don't know whether there are or not).

We have a small road near where we live and they are all massively territorial about parking. I used to occasionally park there if needed but avoid as I reckon they'd do what people on this thread have suggested and damage my car. It's a public road and perfectly legal. There are usually spaces as well so I don't see what the problem is.

They do periodically put up a 'private road no parking' sign up but highways come and take it down again.