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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Parking one! Pic included. Am I being petty?

262 replies

Larafromthe80s · 22/02/2022 17:09

We have a drive which can fit 2 cars 1 infront of the other and a space on the road outside our house.
Next door have the exact same.
Both houses have 2 cars and neither of us double park on the drive unless someone random has used our road spot. We never take each others road spot out of courtesy.

Anyway a few weeks ago a family moved in on the street next to us, they have 3 cars. They also have 2 spaces on their drive but only use 1, then their other cars keep parking outside ours and our neighbours houses.
It wouldnt be such an issue but my husband's job means he's often called out to work throughout the night so we dont like playing car jenga, hence the fact for 7 years hes always parked on the street outside our house.
Anyway today the son's been parked there, hes gone out tonight so I've moved my car into the spot so my husband can have our drive when home.
However the family have just literally came and stood outside my house smirking and shaking their heads and now I'm really worried I've started a war but also conscious that I may have been really petty!
AIBU to be getting annoyed by this?

Parking one! Pic included. Am I being petty?
OP posts:
Zingy123 · 22/02/2022 20:31

@Quackpot that's not the OP's land.

vixeyann · 22/02/2022 20:32

This is the sort of parking that causes issues in our village within a narrow street. People have off road spaces and then still park on the street and if you dare to park there they think they have the right to take issue. It's a public highway and, even if it makes your life easier, you do not have an automatic right to nab it.

ScreamingBeans · 22/02/2022 20:34

You're all mad.

The sooner car clubs are a normal thing to cut down the number of cars needing to be parked on every road, the better.

Mellowyellow222 · 22/02/2022 20:34

If the car is taxed and insured they can park where they like.

I too laugh at people who think the spot outside their house belongs to them. It doesn’t - anyone can park there.

My parents are elderly, a neighbours son left his car, that he no longer uses, outside their house for two months. Yes it was a bit unneighbourly but there was nothing they could do.

SarahBennettAdvice1978 · 22/02/2022 20:45

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

BlondeWidow · 22/02/2022 20:48

to stop them using both ours and our NDNs

Altogether now; "THEY ARE NOT YOURS OR YOUR NDN'S SPACES!"

You really don't seem to be taking this information on

ivykaty44 · 22/02/2022 20:51

Personally I think it's a bit rude

How can it be rude to legally park on the road?

no one is doing anything wrong parking on the road, presently its free to do so and if there aren't permits or time restrictions then anyone can park their car at the side of the road

InaccurateDream · 22/02/2022 20:57

They’re not being rude but you can use the space too. Whoever gets there first.

I can see both sides as my ndn used to park on the verge in front of my house to avoid having to play car jenga even though they could get two on the drive. She could’ve parked closer to her home but preferred to park as close to our drive edge as possible. Totally legal/fair play etc except it did really annoy me :D

Seeline · 22/02/2022 20:57

So is your second parking space actually the pavement?
If you don't own the land, are you sure you have the right to park there?

DontStopMeNow1 · 22/02/2022 21:04

I agree that anyone can park outside your house, but I think they are cf's to not use both spaces on their drive. You are not being unreasonable.

Ogel · 22/02/2022 21:12

Yes you are being petty, anyone can park there.

ChocolateDeficitDisorder · 22/02/2022 21:26

I live in a corner house in a cul-de-sac and we have no space outside our house other than our drive entrance. When we moved here there was a long drive for 2 cars but we didn't fancy playing car jenga so we sacrificed the front garden for more parking.

Now we easily have 3 cars on the drive and nobody has to move until we want to. It's a small price to pay for a bit of grass that nobody sits on.

LookItsMeAgain · 22/02/2022 21:31

To all of you saying it's petty because "anyone can park there"....so in effect anyone including the OP can park there? Is the OP covered by
being 'anyone'?

Nsky · 22/02/2022 21:35

Get your husband to reverse onto drive , yours in font of his

Hshuznw · 22/02/2022 21:44

I couldn’t vote. You are massively unreasonable for thinking the spot outside your house is yours. It’s not. Not at all.

However, if you needed the spot and it was free, there was nothing wrong with what you did, albeit you were petty.

Hshuznw · 22/02/2022 21:45

@LookItsMeAgain

To all of you saying it's petty because "anyone can park there"....so in effect anyone including the OP can park there? Is the OP covered by being 'anyone'?
Well yes, except OP seems to see it as hers and set out to reclaim it.
worriedatthemoment · 22/02/2022 21:59

Its a road space anyone can park there you included but re: drive why doesn't you dh just go on last if he is the one likely to be called out
It will just be a case of who gets the space first

worriedatthemoment · 22/02/2022 22:03

@MrsTophamHat its not fairly accepted that a space outside someones house is theres , it a space on a public road and no one has a right to it, your boundary ends and thats the trouble that people assume its their space or should be left for them

PearPickingPorky · 22/02/2022 22:38

The space in front of her house is there for anyone who wants it.

OP is not obligated to leave it empty, at her own inconvenience, to suit some random guy from another street.

YANBU, OP. It's not his space. It's not yours either, mind, so while you can't get annoyed of other people use it when it's free, you are also perfectly entitled to use it for the reasons you have said.

Againstmachine · 22/02/2022 22:43

You have one space but are trying to claim three. You don't own the road or the grass verge you can't dictate who parks there.

That's what I'm getting from the updates, there is a public footpath between spaces which to me sounds like it isn't the OPs.

Sounds to me like the OP has one space in total.

CailleachGranda · 22/02/2022 22:47

@LookItsMeAgain

To all of you saying it's petty because "anyone can park there"....so in effect anyone including the OP can park there? Is the OP covered by being 'anyone'?
Well yes.
ittakes2 · 23/02/2022 02:53

I don’t think you are being unreasonable in what you have done but at the same time people like you who think they ‘own’ the road in front of their house get my back up. You actually said ‘our road spot’ - your sense of entitlement is appalling. It’s not your road spot or anyone else’s - we all pay a fortune in council and other taxes for us all to use the roads.

londonrach · 23/02/2022 06:26

It's not your road spot...yabu on this. It is a space outside your house that anyone can park on. Re moving your car into the space yanbu. I do think you started a parking war though

2022newyearnewname · 23/02/2022 06:42

I think you're getting a rough ride here. I believe you're saying your road space as a "this is the space I use" rather than actually saying "this is my space and he shouldn't park there"

I also believe your AIBU is simply "was I ok to move my car when my drive was free" in which case, yes you were. As everyone has said, it's public. And you have as much right to park there as the car from the other street. Therefore by moving your car there, you were just doing what the other family do. You are not being unreasonable.

There are two spaces on your road and you and NDN don't like to block your other cars so like to use one each. The new family have three cars therefore they take up both spare spaces, which I think is a bit cheeky (although also allowed) but they can't be pissed when you do the same.

They should really be the ones double parking on their drive then only using one of the spaces on your street - if they get there first - rather than taking both and expecting you to double park.

Shame you can't make the space between into a second drive and apply for a longer dropped kerb, then nobody can park in front 😅

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 23/02/2022 09:38

I can see both sides. I think unless you're in a really busy area, whilst not written in law, it's fairly accepted that the space outside your house is 'yours' and i would be annoyed if someone was parking there all the time. If it was just a visitor or something, I wouldn't mind.

It's only 'fairly accepted' by people who like to make up their own rules that just so happen to suit them at the expense of others.

The spaces belong to/are controlled by the council, so you have no justification whatsoever to be annoyed at somebody with an equal right to the spaces getting there first - any more than you would have justification to get annoyed if a neighbour/friend/stranger asked to borrow my lawnmower and I agreed, when you believed that you had a right to have MY lawnmower reserved so that you could use it at any time you might want to.

People really do need to understand that they have their own property, which is exclusively theirs to decide how to use; and the council have their property, which is exclusively theirs to decide how (and by whom) it can be used.

It's totally irrelevant that part of the council's property happens to be close to your property - your NDN's property might well actually be attached to yours, but that still doesn't give you any rights to decide how it's allowed to be used, just because it happens to be very near to yours.

Trying to dictate or specify how the council can/should allow use of their property is as ridiculous as if the council were to tell you who should be allowed to park on your drive or sit in your front garden. How about if they noticed that you've been occupying your drive exclusively for years, so now it should morally be somebody else's turn to have use of it instead?

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