To be annoyed by a note left on my car?

[isabellaboo]

I went to pick my children up from their nannies in the evening. The street they live on is on a bend and on one side of the bend is two houses with two drives so you can't park there, the bend in front of MIL house has room to park but is always full as there are no drives for this area, as you follow the road around there are two streets where there is space on the road and most of these houses also have drives.

For context I'd had to park quite far down from the house I was actually going too but made sure not to block any drive or any house opposites drive. I left my car half on the pavement half off the pavement so if had a pram they could fit through. Didn't think anything of it as there were literally no other parking spaces and there was a car just opposite me on the other side of the road or else I would of gone there.

When I've come back (I'd been 30 minutes max) As I've been driving a piece of paper has come up my windscreen nearly flying into my vision, so when I've gotten home I've looked and there's a snobby not telling me to be more considerate. Absolutely baffled. I hadn't parked diagonally or in anyway I would find offensive in the slightest, was blocking no one in. I pay road tax and it's not private property.

I have young children and I'm pregnant so this has really rubbed me up the wrong way as I had to park a fair walk from my MIL in the first place.

I don't understand why leave a note and not just come and speak to me in person ( even though I honestly can't see what I did wrong) I understand it's annoying to have people park in front of your house as I live on a public street but that's life.

It's really wound me up. I know most of it is probably pregnancy hormones but AIBU to be annoyed by this? Or would this annoy anyone else.

Just needed a little vent.

I totally empathise about SPD and pregnancy, would have probably parked just like you but I wouldn't think it unreasonable to get a note either.

You have obviously never lived in areas with no off street parking. In many places the only way to make roads passable for vehicles is to park partly on the pavements on either side. If it was illegal, then hundreds of people in my are would be fined. As long as enough room is left on the pavement for a double buggy or wheelchair then it has to be a compromise.

‘me area’

Fat fingers! ‘my area’

@Seymour5 people parked on the pavement CAN always be fined, all it takes is for someone to complain and demonstrate it is impeding their way down the pavement.

Our school is on my street and at pickup/drop off people park all over the pavement because the road is narrow- meaning to do my own school run I have to take my non road legal wheelchair between the cars, out onto the road in the traffic while managing my son who has autism and adhd and has zero danger awareness.

One day there were traffic warden’s checking no one had parked on the yellow zig zag lines and they saw me and offered to give every car on the pavement a ticket… apparently even though they weren’t parked illegally they were blocking me reasonably using a pavement so they can be ticketed.

@isabellaboo you don’t know if there is someone like me living there and needing to go about my life with enough space to get a power chair and a child walking next to it down the pavement. I appreciate you didn’t want to loose your wing mirror to a car, but mobility scooters and big wheelchairs can take wing mirrors off too.

Ahhh parking wars!

My childminders street is a nightmare for parking. I parked in front of an old couples house. I didn’t block their drive way or anything and the older man came to the door screaming and shouting abuse at me. Told me if I didn’t move it he’d fucking ram it and me 😅

Next thing police were at the door politely asking if I could move my car….. nope absolutely not. It’s not an obstruction nor illegally parked. I explained about the tirade of abuse the guy gave me in front of my 4 year old and the policeman said what you want me to charge an old man? You know what officer, perfect please do!

Usually I’d let it slip however I was dropping my daughter off to head and say my final goodbyes to my gran and this couple were known for damaging cars that dared park anywhere near the front of their house. Not to mention they only knew I was there when I knocked my childminders door as their hedge is so high you can’t even see a transit van parked! When he seen my at the door he came out to check that my car was parked there and started 🤣

@EnaSharplesStout it sounds horrendous near that school. Selfish parking near schools causes problems almost everywhere. But responsible parking partly on pavements, ensuring access for wheelchairs and prams, plus room on the roads for vehicles is the only way in some areas. My neighbour uses an electric wheelchair on our pavements with no issues.

YABU for not supplying any kind of diagram.

YABU for expecting someone to hang around waiting for you to come back so they could talk to you in person, rather than leaving a note for you to read when you got back to your car (how were they supposed to know how long you'd leave it there?!)

YABU for parking on the pavement. and providing an ever-lengthening set of excuses for doing so, including "I didn't want my wing mirror being taken off by someone whizzing around the corner". If the street is really so narrow that another car/van wouldn't be able to squeeze past a car parked in the roadway, and it's got several bends (plus a bunch of elderly residents and presumably young children too) nobody should be "whizzing" so fast that they are unable to control their car/ avoid crashing into parked vehicles.

Why not ask your MIL to (a) bring the children out to the kerb for you to pick up/ drop off? (b) make an arrangement to use (or block) one of her neighbour's driveways for what you said was a very short visit? or (c) walk with the children to another place nearby where you can safely park/wait?

Could your mother in law apply for a dropped curb so you can park on a drive in her garden?

I've just watched one of my elderly neighbours in an electric wheel chair have to struggle onto the road, and down down that. Way too dangerous for him. Just because knobs in our road want to park both sides of the street so pavement park.

Honestly OP just forget it. You'll get the petty betties out in force on here, citing the letter of the law but unless you were blocking anyone or parked dangerously who cares.

It would save a ton of aggro on our street.

Do you ever read a thread and think you must live in a totally different world to the people commenting.

On my road if you do not park on the pavement no one could get down the road - and this is not just my street but the whole area of Victorian Terraced Houses - around 3000 houses so probably around 5000 adults. What are we supposed to do? What are the disabled supposed to do if they cannot park their cars within a mile of their home? And if i cannot park on the pavement i cannot park on my road. There is no alternative.

I use a wheelchair/mobility scooter so i fully understand the issues but parking over dropped kerbs is far more of a problem for disabled people than people parking on pavements.

RTFT, of course I have. It was annoying on a daily basis, dodging cars on the pavement. At last, they've brought in a Resident's parking scheme, and made one side of the street permanently unavailable for parking.

People who CHOOSE to own/drive private cars (its not compulsory) should take responsibility for behaving in a civil way.

Private cars are not essential; it is a choice. And it's a choice which takes up so so many finite resources - in this case -space. And the space that the OP's car takes up (like thousands of other car drivers) in this case encroaches on the very little space RESERVED for pedestrians.

It’s definitely not illegal to park on the pavement in much of the country.

private cars are a choice

Id say a necessity in reality for many particularly in rural areas without (or with extremely limited) public transport links.

Im self employed and work in people’s homes. How on earth can I travel between jobs and transport all my materials/tools required on a bus or pushbike? Or should I do all my profits on cabs?

Yes it’s my choice to be in this profession but you’d probably be up in arms if you couldn’t find anyone to carry out work in your home.

I agree, drivers should act responsibly.

It appears posters have made op the poster girl for all drivers who obstruct paths with their cars and are attacking.

In fact, op parked with consideration of other cars and pedestrians and there was room for a small bus to pass by on the pavement next to her car.

Its more likely the passive aggressive note was a result of a professional complainer who assumes the public road outside their home is theirs and gets unnecessarily territorial about anyone daring to stop there.
I have a couple of neighbours like this, one comes out in his slippers to verbally abuse anyone in “his” space. I think he enjoys it. 🤣

Right, why are people so pious about this? I don't own a car, but most of the people on my road and the surrounding area do. Everyone parks half on the pavement or they would block the road. It annoys me no end, but I'm aware there really isn't another solution other than to put double yellows along one side of the street and basically make every other person get rid of their car. It's not as if people can park somewhere nearby and walk, either - there literally is no parking. The road wasn't designed for car ownership, but practically speaking it's mostly a necessity for people nowadays.

Don’t let all the sanctimonious comments and the note bother you. There are absolutely circumstances where partially parking on the pavement and leaving space is the best option. I have a double buggy and it’s still possible to pass where I live as most people have to do this. Simply put, some people have nothing better to do with their time than get wound up over petty things. I do wonder how much farther they would have a pregnant woman with young children trek to make them feel better … ps. This happens outside my house daily and I just get on with my life, wouldn’t dream of writing a note 🤯🤔

It is an offence to park on the pavement.

The RAC would disagree with you.

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/legal/parking-on-the-pavement/

Parking half on the pavement is the norm on my street. There are houses on both sides. The street is narrow and if cars park normally on the road, on both sides there isn’t room for any vehicle ( except cycles) to get through. This would be extremely problematic regarding emergency vehicles. The road is a crescent, so you only need to be on it, if you live/visit/deliver etc. I don’t think parking on the pavement is bad, if you would otherwise block the road.

Well in Wales where I live you CAN be fined for causing an unnecessary obstruction including parking on the pavement.

YABU for complaining about the note and expecting the author to discuss directly.
If you do offend, you can't dictate the other party how they react. It is their choice.

YABU for using statements as "I left as much space as possible on both sides". That doesn't mean anything as it doesn't prove that it was really enough.

I don't understand one thing. If you consider your parking genuinely ok, why would you back off and never park that again? Either it is ok (and you can park there again, no matter someone's preference) or it isn't (and you can't complain abou a note).

Isn't it bad to block the pavement?

It’s not

So you’d rather block the road? Your opinion would change if you lived half way round the crescent and your house was on fire. No access for a fire engine, but hey everyone has parked correctly and not blocked the pavement.