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Original poster

To think that there are too many parked cars on the roads these days?

214 replies

JammyRedRooo · 17/02/2022 19:58

Its absolutely ridiculous in my area. Whole swathes of road are basically one lane only due to the amount of parked cars. It makes visibility when driving really difficult.

Half of the houses have empty drives as well!

You can't turn into my cul de sac on the correct side of the road because of the row of parked cars all the way up to the junction, it's just so dangerous.

I know you pay a premium for a house with parking, or households often have more cars than spaces but I find it so infuriating and unsafe.

Anyone else?

OP posts:
Whatthebarnacles · 18/02/2022 18:23

@glitterelf

I hear you. Me and my DH both drive however we share 1 car yet our neighbours around us have multiple cars each with one of the houses having 4 cars yet only 1 driver in the house. It's ridiculous especially when they all want to park their cars where they can see them.
This 100%. Far too many on our street are a married couple with a car each (no kids), or worse... a couple with a car each, an adult kid with their own car and their live in partner with their own car too. We've one car with a special needs child (no disabled bay as our car is a company car and therefore not registered to our address which is a stipulation in having a bay unfortunately) and getting outside our home is near on impossible. Even getting parked in the same stretch of road is a difficulty most times! Fwiw none of these houses have drives just a small road. IMO there should either be some sort of environment tax on the second/third cars at any one address. That would help! Or every road with no drives should have permits for no more than 2 cars for example.
Lockheart · 18/02/2022 18:25

@PinkSparklyPussyCat Well I pay enough each year to use the road so I'm bloody well parking on it! I don't really have a lot of choice, I need my car to get to work and I can't afford to buy a house in this area with a driveway. No one needs a pool or trampoline confused

You pay as much to use the road as anyone else does - road tax does not exist and the upkeep of them is funded from general taxation. The tax you pay on your car is an emissions tax, you're paying to emit fumes, not use the road.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 18/02/2022 19:19

I do know that @Lockheart. Do you take everything seriously? Anyway, as I said I have no other option so I'll continue to park on the road and emit fumes otherwise I won't be going to work.

How much council tax do you pay? And do you think other don’t pay council tax?

What on earth are you on about? What has my council tax got to do with it?

Jesus Christ, you can't make a lighthearted comment without someone jumping on it!

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 18/02/2022 19:21

Far too many on our street are a married couple with a car each (no kids)

Yep, that's us. I need my car for work and DH is a self employed handyman and so needs his to go to jobs. We have no choice but to have 2 cars.

BABAHOTEL · 18/02/2022 19:22

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

Far too many on our street are a married couple with a car each (no kids)

Yep, that's us. I need my car for work and DH is a self employed handyman and so needs his to go to jobs. We have no choice but to have 2 cars.

And I presume you're paying double road tax for the privilege ? Honestly the face people can't see why some people need a car each and others don't, just astounds me!
ivykaty44 · 18/02/2022 19:25

BABAHOTEL

No body pays road tax, it stopped in 1937

Car tax is payable on some vehicles but electric cars don’t have to pay and there are other vehicles that don’t tax applied

BABAHOTEL · 18/02/2022 19:28

@ivykaty44

BABAHOTEL

No body pays road tax, it stopped in 1937

Car tax is payable on some vehicles but electric cars don’t have to pay and there are other vehicles that don’t tax applied

Oh pedantic and anal you! But you get my drift? You own two cars, you need two cars, you pay for the pleasure! No one else's business, if you've got no kids and two cars.

Not everyone can afford or has the right set up for an electric vehicle, don't you know?

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 18/02/2022 19:28

@BABAHOTEL, you'll be told off in a minute for calling it road tax!

Unfortunately some people don't seem to understand why others peoples' situations are different to theirs. I would love a house with a driveway (I hate leaving my car on the road) but it ain't gonna happen in this area!

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 18/02/2022 19:29

Damn, I was too slow!

BABAHOTEL · 18/02/2022 19:29

[quote PinkSparklyPussyCat]@BABAHOTEL, you'll be told off in a minute for calling it road tax!

Unfortunately some people don't seem to understand why others peoples' situations are different to theirs. I would love a house with a driveway (I hate leaving my car on the road) but it ain't gonna happen in this area![/quote]
You're two late, the anal have beaten you too it!! GrinGrinGrinGrin

Imagine why any couple could need a car each, they should be shot!

BABAHOTEL · 18/02/2022 19:41

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

Damn, I was too slow!
It's ok, I'm sitting on the naughty step with my dunces cap on. I'm just waiting for @ivykaty44 to say when I can move, I think I may get 100 lines to write, saying

It is not road tax

etulosba · 18/02/2022 19:52

So essentially, poor people shouldn't be allowed to have a car? If you aren't rich enough to have a house with a drive you shouldn't be allowed to have a car?

You are making the presumption that the only place that a car can be parked off street is on a house’s drive. There are other options.

I own more vehicles than I can park off street at my home, so I rent space elsewhere.

BABAHOTEL · 18/02/2022 19:56

@etulosba

So essentially, poor people shouldn't be allowed to have a car? If you aren't rich enough to have a house with a drive you shouldn't be allowed to have a car?

You are making the presumption that the only place that a car can be parked off street is on a house’s drive. There are other options.

I own more vehicles than I can park off street at my home, so I rent space elsewhere.

That's not really practical for a lot of people though is it? It's also a matter of cost and affordability, so comes back to the same thing... only the rich should have cars.
Porfre · 18/02/2022 20:04

@LampLighter414

Reminds me of that news clip during summer 2020 where the woman on the busy beach who'd travelled for a couple hours to get there was complaining that too many people were coming to the beach now restrictions were lifted a bit... err hypocrite?
Agree.

Very MN

"I've got a driveway, so I dont see why all these others have to park on the street, why cant they just do what I do and park on their drive'
Not understanding that most of these parking on the road don't have anywhere else to park it.

The other argument- "I live in London with excellent transport links, why can they all just use the bus or a tram like I do?"

Original poster
JammyRedRooo · 18/02/2022 20:15

@Porfre I accept that some need to park on the road out of necessity, absolutely. I wish public transport was such that it wasn't the case but I accept it.

But see how many posters have commented saying their neighbors have more cars than adults, use their driveway for other things etc - I'm just highly doubting that all these cars are absolutely vital.

OP posts:
Porfre · 18/02/2022 20:16

When I loved on Manchester I didnt need a car.
I'd walk to the bus stop catch the bus, get another bus/ tram and could go anywhere- and if you have a pass it would be very cheap.

Only if there is adequate/ cheap public transport will people use cars less.

etulosba · 18/02/2022 20:22

So essentially, poor people shouldn't be allowed to have a car? If you aren't rich enough to have a house with a drive you shouldn't be allowed to have a car?

They are allowed to have a car. I’m not rich, never have been, but I have been paying for extra parking for over 30 years.

It’s a matter of priorities.

BABAHOTEL · 18/02/2022 20:26

@etulosba

So essentially, poor people shouldn't be allowed to have a car? If you aren't rich enough to have a house with a drive you shouldn't be allowed to have a car?

They are allowed to have a car. I’m not rich, never have been, but I have been paying for extra parking for over 30 years.

It’s a matter of priorities.

You can afford to pay for extra parking...... like cry you! Had it ever occurred to you that others can't afford that??? You know, they may have less money that you?? It's a mad concept, but it might just be the dare? A matter of priorities? Maybe they prioritise feeding their children a life paying for additional parking? Which would you choose?
BABAHOTEL · 18/02/2022 20:28

Loads of auto corrects! Lenses out and didn't get my glasses! 😂

Daddydog · 18/02/2022 20:57

100% agree! Recently moved from an area which the demographic was people who tended to live in multi generation families. Except all the houses were terraces/semis and one by one each got ridiculously extended. Everyone had 3/4 cars per house. There were originally no driveways, just front gardens and shared drives leading to garages behind each house. Garages became anex for grown up kids and front gardens became drives with dropped curbs so even less road parking! No one ever actually parked a car on their new driveways - instead they parked on street just to retain their spot! It was a road you would find a rude note on your car if you dare park there! When we were selling up, we had to ensure viewers didn't park in a space and end up with a rude note on their car or worse. Wonder what will happen when everyone has EV, it will be fights over spaces with street charging next!

HiDay · 18/02/2022 21:26

Parking where I am is on the drive or visitor parking. We have two cars on our drive.
My DS just couldn't have a car - simple - as there was no space to park it. I knew the limitations when I bought the house. No way was i going to model selfish behaviours in allowing my son to park where it took away from others.

HomeHomeInTheRange · 18/02/2022 21:47

Thank you, you are the third person to make this point and I've responded up thread 🤷🏼‍♀️

You have said that dropped kerbs are good for pram and wheelchair users.

There are properly sloped kerbs for people needing them at junctions, where parking is not allowed.

It remains a fact that a dropped kerb essentially becomes a stretch of road ‘bagsed’ by people with drives, a stretch of public road that can’t be used by anyone else. So for a one car family with a drive they are as much part of the problem as people without drives.

IMO household with numerous cars on a bigger drive are very much part of the wider and more important problem of more pollution.

So yes, better public transport and more disincentives for people to drive. But you don’t seem to see yourself as any part of the problem, and you seem to see public transport as something that only people without drives should use.

ivykaty44 · 18/02/2022 22:01

Oh pedantic and anal you! But you get my drift?

Oh dear being rude and insulting as you didn’t like being corrected 🙄

BABAHOTEL · 18/02/2022 22:04

@ivykaty44

Oh pedantic and anal you! But you get my drift?

Oh dear being rude and insulting as you didn’t like being corrected 🙄

Being defensive as you've been called out as anal and pedantic?

I've honestly sat on the naughty step and done my 100 lines, saying it's not fake road tax and hadst since whenever....

GrinGrinGrinGrin

OldTinHat · 18/02/2022 22:07

I live on the edge of a market town. My house is 200yrs old. There are no such things as driveways anywhere near me, everyone has to either park on the road or pay £250 a year for a permit in the closest public car park half a mile away.