To ask my NDNs to stop parking their crappy cars outside my house?

[RishiRich]

Of course there is a diagram.

TLDR: neighbours I don't really know are taking up all the on-street parking with abandoned (but usually taxed) cars, their own cars and work vehicles. WIBU to ask them to cut it out?

Long version:
Background info: I live on a fairly busy road. Both sides are terraced. The houses on the other side of the road all have drives. Their side of the road has double yellow lines. The houses on my side can't have drives as we're up a steep verge. Some people have a parking space around the back of their houses, reached via unpaved access roads. There's also on-street parking on my side of the road. Parking is a problem as there isn't enough room for everyone and visitors.

One house over the road is an extended family with several adults. They have a car each, plus 2 work vans and a fecking minibus. They have 3 parking spaces on their property but that's not enough for all their vehicles. When there isn't enough on-street parking, they park full on the pavement on their side of the road. It's usually overnight. Sometimes they get ticketed but that doesn't seem to bother them.

So far, so annoying. We've both lived here for over 10 years. They're perfectly nice and we wave but we don't have a chat because we live either side of a busy road.

Last year, they started buying crap, broken down cars with bits missing and parking them on the road. They then leave them there for weeks. I didn't realise it was them at first and reported all the cars as abandoned. Some of them were taxed, some not. Some got towed away. Some disappeared and were replaced by new crap cars.

Now they're taking up over half the parking spots on our stretch of the road. I've checked and they're all taxes but just sitting there, slowly rusting.

WIBU to ask them what they're doing with all these cars and tell them it's causing a problem for visitors?

If it's a public road with no parking restrictions, they're not doing anything illegal by leaving cars there - selfish, yes, but not illegal. So if you do ask them, they obviously won't be obliged to do anything.

That said, if you have your own parking space(s) then it's only really when you have visitors or deliveries that they're actually inconveniencing you, and in most cases I'm pretty sure a visitor can happily park round the corner and walk for 30 seconds to your house. And if deliveries can be managed in flats or streets where there's no parking, I'm sure they can be managed for you too. I would maybe be more concerned about the fact that they're clearly running a business from their home, for which they don't have permission, so that might be a better route to go down if you want things resolved legally.

I might make enquiries with the council about seeing if they can apply residents parking with permits for homeowners..that way might be a way forward maybe?

I can’t wait until we get proper laws in this country whereby a person has to name a nominated parking space before owning a car.

Think about the permits and faff that people have to go through hiring and using a skip on a residential street

Yet without a CPZ anyone can park as many broken vehicles as they like as long as tax etc

You’ll be waiting a fuck of a long time. That’s like wanting the moon on a stick with a free unicorn.

My NDN did something similar, except the vehicles he had were all hire cars and vans for a company he'd clearly set up. They took up every available parking space for three surrounding rounds. You daren't go out anywhere with your car, because there'd be no space by the time you got back. I quietly fumed about it but someone else obviously reported him for something (he's got in trouble before for undeclared small businesses) because they disappeared after a few weeks. It was bloody annoying while it lasted though.

It is tremendous!

If they are running a business eg car repair or car sales the council can get involved because you can't do this from the street or your front garden - you can sell or repair your own vehicle that's it.

@SavoirFlair

So those of us in areas with councils with lack of foresight to demand developers put in lots of parking can't have older kids or jobs? We have 4 cars and only 2 parking spaces. We need cars because they cancelled the bus service last year!

Top marks for diagram!!

I think it's fair enough to ask them if they plan on always buying cars that are being sat in the road long term because you need to sort out parking yourself. That will open the conversation. How do the other residents feel?

Have you considered as a street approaching the council for parking permits and having the road done that way?

Perhaps each house gets 1 free permit and you lay for the rest? They may not want to pay for 6 extra permits a year and so it'll discourage them. (Although maybe not if they don't care about tickets? )

Great diagram!

You need to try reporting this to your local authority as "illegal vehicle sales, trading and repairs". You'll find out how to do this from your LAs website. It's a £100 FPN per vehicle and the LA will remove the vehicle as 'evidence'.

You can make a start on this now by beginning a diary that records which vehicles are parked where. The LA will probably ask you to record this once you get in touch.

So, just to confirm;

1. Its a public road.
2. The owners of these cars live on thst Road (not thst it matters.
3. The cars are fully legal to be on road

I'm failing to see the problem, except entitlement of public space.

Have you considered as a street approaching the council for parking permits and having the road done that way?
Be very wary of trying this. Our local council tried to impose that on our street as a solution to a parking issue as a result of one neighbour campaigning about not always being able to park outside his property (he'd built a workshop in place of his off-road garage, without planning permission - but that's a digression). We read the detail and discovered their plan was to make it worse - they wanted to provide parking permits to properties on adjacent streets. Yup, they wanted to increase the number of vehicles entitled to park on the street rather than reduce it. Of course, the revenue from the permit sales would have been very welcome to the council. Having a permit within a permitted parking scheme is no guarantee of being able to park.

I have no advice at all but can I say that's the best diagram I have ever seen. Excellent work.

Ha we have similar issues on the other end of our road. Facebook is full of who’s is this, that and the other car. Afaik parish councillors are attempting to get the county council involved a police and dvla are not interested. Some are taxed/mot but most are being used as metal sheds. Doesn’t help when we have several ‘garage mechanic’s’ operating from home, as well as from industrial units. Suspect it will end up being a residents permit holders only (which will be charged for).

Just because you can do something, doesn't mean that it's the right or fair thing to do.

Some great advice on here though. I'll check it all out.

You get a first for the diagram

I particularly like the emotion on the faces of the houses opposite you. It really draws you in.

I don’t have any advice but that is an excellent diagram and they are most definitely being unreasonably selfish.

@DogInATent Where I live is permit parking which has lots of different permit zones, each of which covers a couple of streets. It works quite well - other people can park on your street but you can park on their street too so it evens out.

I have no advice but I really like how you draw cars.

Excellent diagram. Very clear.

I am no help. Your neighbors are inconsiderate. Threads like this make me love my HOA even more.

I like your drawing. Your emphatic red colouring-in expresses the pent up anger very well!

I think there should be a rule about work vans on residential roads - they block so much space and most of the people who have them have other vehicles too.

Some people have to keep their work vans at home because they are on call out (my ex-husband was one such) and tradesmen often have to carry lots of expensive tools on board their vans. When a carpenter friend started parking his van in a car park at the request of neighbours, it was broken into and the cost of replacing all his tools ran into thousands.

Most vans don't have a much longer wheelbase than a big car, so I don't really see how they take up a lot more space.

My neighbour had a bit of a moan about my ex parking his work van in our drive, ffs. She said it stopped her being able to see along the street.

My town is nearly all pay & display parking or residents' permits only, except for a few outlying estates.

For some small developments in the town centre, the council have made a rule that those addresses will not be eligible for residents' permits. Every few months, there's a post on FB or the local online forum from someone who's moved into one of those properties asking where they can park...

Ah, but the catch with what they wanted to impose on us was that the streets invited to participate and then be entitled to park on our street had zero/minimal on-street parking. And the scheme would also have removed the current parking restriction (no parking 0900-0930) that prevents 24/7 parking. It was most definitely not a solution that benefited residents, the council had form for over-selling parking permits 150% vs. available spaces on another scheme.

Is there any way you can query the roadworthiness of the vehicles? The neighbours will need a current MOT certificate to get the car taxed and insured. If you suspect an illicit motor repair business, start keeping records as suggested by PP's.