To leave a gap when parking

[BelleMarionette]

I got a note on my car this morning: 'You took up two spaces with your car.. so inconsiderate. RETAKE YOUR TEST'

I assume it was from yesterday, when I had to park on a residential street, because my work has stopped issuing parking permits to staff, as no capacity. Even if they were available, they are prohibitevely expensive at about £100/month.

It was an unrestricted street for parking, with plenty of spaces available. I parked leaving 2-3ft from the car next to me, to allow space for them to pull out. I have previously had abuse from a neighbour for parking 'too near' their car, even though there was a gap, so I am aware about leaving space, should drivers not be confident.

Aibu for leaving a gap when parking on the street? Obviously different if bay parking, and I would never take up two bays.

I think 2-3 feet is perfect! If I had only a foot behind and in front it would take about 16 manoeuvres to get out, and if you don't have a camera or sensors that's hard. Note, that does also depend on your car's turning circle. My old one that would have been doable much more easily.

How does the note writer know no other cars have parked or left since you parked
If the other cars surrounding OP haven’t moved whilst the note writer has been out then surely it’s fairly obvious?

A 3ft gap is pretty big. I'd leave that gap if it wasn't busy but if you prevented someone else parking I think YAB a bit U.

3 ft is a bit much

Unless you've been watching all day, how do you know which car parked first?

Nobody needs 4-6ft of space to pull out. Half that is enough unless you lack the ability to actually put full lock on your steering wheel. If everyone left massive gaps like that you'd get like a 3rd less cars parked.

You did nothing wrong. This person clearly hates non-residents parking there at all and is letting off steam.

2ft at each end is the absolute MINIMUM recommended gap when parallel parking (according to the AA and RAC).

Another common rule of thumb is 1.5 car lengths (that's the one I was taught when learning to drive) so a 14ft hatchback would end up with a 3.5ft gap at each end when parked.

People who think 2ft is too much: (a) you're wrong, (b) maybe get out a tape measure so you realise just how small a distance 2ft actually is.

Ironically, if this angry resident did "retake their test" and parked with less than a 2ft gap they would probably fail!

3 foot is only a metre. A quick google suggests 1 metre is the correct amount of space to leave.
driverknowledgetests.com/learners-permit-questions/car/general-knowledge/511-how-close-can-you-park-to-another-vehicle-when/

You should park like they do in Spain. This seemed the norm. They must use a forklift to get out of the spaces.

1.5-2ft is sufficient, I would generally leave slightly less as I have a camera so can just better

You are being very unreasonable. People park outside my house all weekend to walk their dogs but I don't own the road so have no bad feelings about it

2ft is reasonable. Not everyone has parking sensors to pull out in very tight spaces.

Spain clearly has a very different parking culture to the UK. Don't they park up in neutral and then nudge the other cars out of the way when moving off?

If you parked 2-3ft inside the end of a marked bay (reducing the total space in the bay by around half a car) then that is v unreasonable - could that have been the issue?

Spain clearly has a very different parking culture to the UK. Don't they park up in neutral and then nudge the other cars out of the way when moving off?

Maybe, but they were all like that all down the street. You would have to push six cars forward and six back to get three feet of space at each end of your own car.

I'll take you Spanish parking and raise you French parking. Please note that in Spain it is common to bash other cars when parking, hence why my Dad bought a 20 year old car to park in his Spanish street as he was fed up of neighbours ramming his car to fit in tiny spaces.

Posted too soon...

Then you get a passerby to help you get out or just take your time.

People park in London like that. Though due to all the restrictions I rarely park in areas of London where parking is like that now.

I am with most others. 2-3ft is too much. 1 foot is plenty
Most people can get out 1 foot either side of their car easy.

I don’t think any car could come out of a space without a huge effort if they left one foot gap ? That’s the length of a ruler yes ?

I used to live on a street with one big residents parking bay. If we all parked nicely we could get 5 cars in but there was one old codger with a c-class mercedes who always left a huge gap between his car and the one he parked next to.

So if he got the end space all was well. But if he had to park in the middle we effectively lost a space. It was bloody infuriating especially as due to the road layout the next set of bays were quite some distance away.

I didn't ever resort to leaving a note on his car but was sorely tempted on many occasions and I think one of my neighbours actually did start doing so.

I'll raise you portuguese parking. Went to Lisbon and cars were parked with 2 inch either side on crazy steep hills. 😁😁

@mrsbyers 1 foot in front, 1 foot behind you can get out does usually take a couple of cuts though.

Only issue is if person behind (or in front) parks closer than that.

DOI: long term city centre resident reliant on on street parallel parking. I'm normally crazily clumsy but can reverse park like a ninja.

Street parking where I live (permit but still ovove"subscribed") and its blooming annoying to get back to no parking space but a number of half spaces. But I get that there may have been several car changes during the day and that some of them will have been tradesmen vans taking up bigger spaces than the car that parks there later or that people with passengers need to avoid the trees.

I'll take you Spanish parking and raise you French parking.

The British equivalent…

m.youtube.com/watch?v=tf4TIWECZ30