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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Another parking one…

26 replies

ponyclub1234 · 20/04/2022 19:42

Parked outside a small business today on a road. There is only enough space outside the business for max 3 cars then the rest of the road has double yellow lines. I could’ve parked much further up after the double yellow lines but I was running late & there are NO signs whatsoever to say this part of the road is privately owned or there are parking restrictions.
I returned later to a note on my windscreen ‘please do not park here again. This is private land for use of the business only. If it happens again we will contact the warden’. If this didn’t make me fuming enough they had moved their huge industrial bin directly in front of my car & their wheely bin on the other side. Luckily a lovely man was passing who offered to help move it with me otherwise I don’t know what I would’ve done.
Checked again. Definitely no signs! Was I in the wrong???

OP posts:
BiscoffAnythingIsTheWayForward · 20/04/2022 19:46

I would email your local council and ask them, personally. If it is a road maintained by the council as a highway and there are no signs up then I would assume the business is in violation. Could it be there is a sign or road markings that have worn away and therefore you wouldn’t have noticed? I’d be tempted to email the business also to point this out.

Sexnotgender · 20/04/2022 19:48

Definitely email the council.

StoneofDestiny · 20/04/2022 19:51

I'd have taken a pic of the bins etc and would check with the council. If they are in the wrong I'd make sure they were told officially

Original poster
ponyclub1234 · 21/04/2022 10:09

Thanks email has been sent to the council!

OP posts:
Original poster
ponyclub1234 · 21/04/2022 10:10

@StoneofDestiny

I'd have taken a pic of the bins etc and would check with the council. If they are in the wrong I'd make sure they were told officially
Really wish I'd thought of taken a photo I think I was that taken aback!!
OP posts:
ApolloandDaphne · 21/04/2022 10:13

Were you parked on the road or was it spaces you have to come off the road for directly facing into the business?

elfycat · 21/04/2022 10:23

I'm glad you emailed the council. I hate people who land-grab and then get arsy about it - and for some reason the people who shout the loudest are often the ones in the wrong IME. Even the possibility should be called out.

My father had a complaint from the next door neighbour (small post office/shop) about his customers (petrol station garage) parking on 'their' land nevermind the customers that left their cars on our forecourt to go to the shop

DF had lived there for years, and knew the shop front area was an old bus stop (which had been moved 50 yards down the road) and would therefore not belong to the shop itself. He got all the information and presented it to the neighbours, and said he would report any further harassment to the business or customers to the council.

We have a beauty salon in the road we live in now. They claim the area out the front as 'their' parking and have signs on the building saying customer parking only. Another neighbour got proof it wasn't and is simply part of the road. He almost exclusively parks there now. She shouted at me once for letting my children talk too loudly as we walked past - it was disturbing her customer's peace - so occasionally I park there too.

BuanoKubiamVej · 21/04/2022 10:24

Were you parked on the road itself parallel to tge kerb, or were you pulled off the road and in a parking bay at right-angles to the road.

If the former and if it was a public highway they they have no rights to the road and anyone can park there. If you had pulled off the road and had parked on private land then it is trespassing, which is a civil matter but not actually illegal.

Toponeniceone · 21/04/2022 10:26

.

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 21/04/2022 10:29

No diagram. Just saying.

My2favboys · 21/04/2022 10:31

Oh I have one to add to this.. there is a house near us that has public parking right outside their door. It's also close to the very busy tourist business I work in. They complained to us about people parking in the spaces outside their house. We doubled checked with council and informed them as long as the cars parked are taxed and insured then they have every right to park in public spaces. During a particular busy period when we hosted a big event they put cones out. I moved them and parked my car in the space. Should of brought a house with a drive way if they are really so worried about parking.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 21/04/2022 10:34

Send them an official letter informing them that you tripped and badly injured yourself whilst walking over the section of dangerous poorly-maintained road, which you are grateful that they have now confirmed to you is their private property and thus their liability, and you are currently awaiting confirmation from your GP as to the full extent and seriousness of the injury.

Ask if they wish to discuss a compensation offer to settle before you consult your solicitor to begin legal action against them. I wonder if they might hurriedly respond to deny all ownership of the land, so buy a cheap just-legal old banger and leave it parked there permanently take that as your absolute evidence that you may park there at any time you wish, if there is an available space.

Original poster
ponyclub1234 · 21/04/2022 12:01

Hope this helps. So they are claiming they own the whole area in blue (there was room next to where I parked my car to get past)

Another parking one…
OP posts:
Seeline · 21/04/2022 12:04

Is that area carriageway or pavement?
Was there anything like bricks, cobbles etc set into the ground to indicate that it might be in separate ownership?

Post a google streetview extract!

IncompleteSenten · 21/04/2022 12:05

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 21/04/2022 10:34

Send them an official letter informing them that you tripped and badly injured yourself whilst walking over the section of dangerous poorly-maintained road, which you are grateful that they have now confirmed to you is their private property and thus their liability, and you are currently awaiting confirmation from your GP as to the full extent and seriousness of the injury.

Ask if they wish to discuss a compensation offer to settle before you consult your solicitor to begin legal action against them. I wonder if they might hurriedly respond to deny all ownership of the land, so buy a cheap just-legal old banger and leave it parked there permanently take that as your absolute evidence that you may park there at any time you wish, if there is an available space.

Ooh I like that!

BuanoKubiamVej · 21/04/2022 12:38

If it is actually private land then it was wrong to park there - you wouldn't park on a private driveway of a house even though that doesn't have "private land no parking" signs up so the lack of signs isn't really a good excuse. On-street parking which you have every right to doesn't usually look anything like private-land parking.

Tbh given that it is right by a junction it looks like it probably is private land because public highways tend to be double yellows around corners for 10 metres from any junction unless it's a really minor road.

If you care sufficiently to want to invest £3 in resolving this, you can pay that amount on the Land Registry website and get all the documentation for the ownership of the site including a diagram showing where the private land ends and the public highway begins.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 21/04/2022 12:43

Can you get a satellite photo of Google maps? From that diagram it sort of looks like it might be private.

Original poster
ponyclub1234 · 21/04/2022 12:50

Response from council received...

'Good Afternoon

The section of road you have highlighted is public highway. Please find attached plan showing the extent of the public highway in brown.'

Diagram is attached. I knew it, i'm almost more annoyed now I know I was well within my rights to park there! So what do I do now?!!!!!!

Another parking one…
OP posts:
jcyclops · 21/04/2022 12:54

If you've seen any of the recent stories about holidaymaker's cars parked on people's drives then you will know that even if it is their land, there is nothing the landowner can do, and the police or wardens have no power whatsoever to intervene. It is a civil matter of trespass, and if there is no sign or road markings then they would have no chance of success against you in a civil court.

Sockpile · 21/04/2022 12:56

Park there again with the email clearly displayed on your dashboard.

Alternatively forward the email to the business.

SiliconHeaven · 21/04/2022 13:01

Park there again with the email clearly displayed on your dashboard
ooh yes, and let us know

BuanoKubiamVej · 21/04/2022 13:06

ponyclub1234 · 21/04/2022 12:50

Response from council received...

'Good Afternoon

The section of road you have highlighted is public highway. Please find attached plan showing the extent of the public highway in brown.'

Diagram is attached. I knew it, i'm almost more annoyed now I know I was well within my rights to park there! So what do I do now?!!!!!!

Print that out including the diagram and write to the business owner "Having sought clarity with the council I have received confirmation that the land in question is public highway, not private land. Any properly registered and taxed vehicle can park on public highways if there are no signposted restrictions. Please do not post agressive and untrue notes on the cars of members of the public going about their lawful business. Doing so again would constitute harassment."

AllOfUsAreDead · 21/04/2022 13:07

Well now that you know its public, you could wind the business up by doing what @WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll and see how they respond.

But probably better to just send them a copy of the email and proof and state that they should stop threatening people or if could end them up in a lot of trouble.

ClaudiaWankleman · 21/04/2022 13:09

I'm astounded and very jealous that you can get a response from your council in two hours. I'm still waiting for confirmation of a replacement wheelie bin damaged in storm Eunice.

donquixotedelamancha · 21/04/2022 13:14

Print that out including the diagram and write to the business owner "Having sought clarity with the council I have received confirmation that the land in question is public highway, not private land. Any properly registered and taxed vehicle can park on public highways if there are no signposted restrictions. Please do not post agressive and untrue notes on the cars of members of the public going about their lawful business. Doing so again would constitute harassment."

This is what I'd do too. Then I'd park there as often as possible because I am a petty minded dick and the wheely bin thing was ridiculous