A parking one, felt threatened.

[ParkingAgain]

Apologies for the length
Years ago our street was made a clearway so no on street parking. The houses were awarded residents parking on various nominated nearby streets. We also have room for one car on our driveway.

We have a small manual car that our children share and use for learning to drive etc. that we park on a nearby street with a residence disk on display.
For various reasons the kids haven’t used the car for about 6 weeks so it hasn’t moved.

Today a rather irate man arrived at my door. I recognized him as a Dad of a kid in one of my kids activities about 10 years ago so I said hello.

He was firstly annoyed that my doorbell didn’t work. But then told me I needed to move the car as it was parked between two spaces. I was genuinely confused because there are no individually marked out spaces on the street. Both left and right side are both marked as one long continuous parking area.
I said this to him and he said there was a half car space either side of mine but this is just the way other cars happen to have parked after me.
He then said he knew the car was registered to my daughter who is studying abroad this term therefore it is abandoned and needed to be moved.
He added that he was fed up of coming home and having to park up the street and to park outside someone else’s house.

But what upset me was he kept saying “ I am asking you this nicely” I felt it was being said in a threatening way.

I just said I would think about it and closed the door.

My phone immediately buzzed with a text from a neighbour about a man acting suspiciously at our house and was everything ok?

Anyway spoke to neighbour after he left and decided to say it to police because I felt threatened.

Police said because the threats were not explicit it wasn’t an offence but they would call around and speak to him.

I am now worried that I over reacted. I could just have moved the car. I have moved it other times when people have asked me to if they are getting a delivery or something and want the space outside their house clear. I always move straight away.
I am also worried that I will have antagonised him and made it worse.
Car isn’t actually outside his house but it close but neighbour I spoke to said she thinks he has multiple cars so needs more than just the space outside his house.

Was I being unreasonable?

And yes I will add a diagram.

If you thought he would harm you then I think involving the police is legitimate. However if your instinct was that he may damage a parked car, then I do think it's an over reaction to contact the police. Also, from my experience of the police, they are very unlikely to visit him.

Public road and all that. But leaving it without moving it for 6 weeks is just a bit of a piss take.

You do need to move the car.

Not because of any neighbour having a problem (maybe move it closer to his house?), but because if you don't the hand brake can get seized on. We left our car in my mum's garage and it happened after 4 weeks.

I think he meant to intimidate you OP. He sounds very unpleasant.
As to the parking - if your car is taxed, mot’d & insured, there is nothing he can complain about. That’s just how it works on urban streets.
On another thread people would be urging you to record this with Police on the non-emergency number in case he escalates.
Try to put it behind you, but if he shows up again, then I would be calling the police while he’s there.

It’s not ‘someone’s street,’ it is designated parking for residents who can’t park on their own street. Nobody owns the road so you can park anywhere you like when you like as long as you stay within local parking rules.

OP, might be an idea to drive it occasionally anyway while your daughter is away and park in another spot just for peace of mind. If it is taxed and MOTd there is nothing he can do to get your car moved and it is not abandoned. That’s a ridiculous statement to make.

I think it was a bit much going to the police. You dont call the police just because someone is a bit rude or abrupt with you. I have a friend who contacts the police over every little thing. She wanted to call the police over another school mum who swore at her, until I talked her out of it.
I'd try and move the car a bit more.

1 - Your cars been there 6 weeks & its not even your street

2 - Yours cars taking up 2
spaces

3 - He literally asked you to move your car and said ‘I’m asking you nicely.’ & that’s threatening?

in response to that you called the police!!? Wtf!! MOVE YOUR CAR.

Do people really call the police over things like this? Wow.

Park the car you aren’t using on your drive, and use the street parking for the one you use regularly.

You were lucky the battery wasn't flat and needed to be jump started.

So while technically you pay car tax and can park it on a road for as long as you like.

I can’t tell you have awful a long term parked car is - especially if it’s in front of a house. It invites true rage.

So I actually think you are YAVVVU.

Oh they call for things waaaaay more ridiculous than this, believe me

I don’t really understand why you went to police. What did you tell them? “A man came round to say he was asking me nicely to move my car after it’d been parked on his street for 6 weeks?”

Yes, same. Then the car you do use won't be on the street 24/7 and will move as other cars move, not just fixed in place sometimes taking up two 'spaces'.

YABVU to waste police time like that when no threat was made.

Jesus wept 😶

OP might not be able to swap the cars easily... our more expensive car has to be on the drive for insurance purposes, (we can't park it on the street within a certain distance of our house) but we can park the cheap banger anywhere legal.

It is as much your street for available parking as those who live on the street. In fact, it is you who is inconvenienced by the clearway as you have to park a second car away from your house.

If your car is taxed, insured and has an MOT (as someone else said) you have as much right to park there as others with the residence disk. For all intents and purposes you are a resident for parking. You only have two cars. Maybe the chappie with the multiple cars is inconsiderate as he takes so much parking spaces. So what if he has to park on another street. This is what you have to do for your second car.

Move it up the few inches maybe, and take a photo. Just to say you have moved it; you don't have to answer to him though. I don't know about the police. I think the chappie had no right to bother you for legally parking on the road and, while not overtly aggressive, was a bit off. The other cars move creating the gaps. Why doesn't he knock on their doors? Then they can knock on his complaining about his multiple vehicles taking up more than his fair share of spaces.

Maybe move it back and forth a little. Get your other half to park you other car in the space while you give the parked car a little run.

He may have used the words that he was asking you nicely. There was nothing nice about it, though. He had no right to do so, and I think him confronting you for no reason was somewhat aggressive. He was being an entitled arse. You are also a resident and pay your dues for the car.

Last year, we had someone park a camper van outside our house for months while they figured out what to do with it. It was road-taxed and MOTd, so they were totally within their rights to leave it wherever they wanted on the public highway. We thought it was an eyesore. We knew whose vehicle it was. We didn't dream of hassling them at their own front door: what kind of arsehole behaves like that?

This man was well out of order just coming around to your house. But he was even more out of order by displaying anger towards you on your own front doorstep. And he was stepping well over any line a normal person should consider acceptable behaviour by saying "I am asking you this nicely”!

(BTW, there is a really clear implied threat here: that if you don't do what he wants, he'll stop asking you nicely and behave more aggressively instead. I'm not quite sure why so many people on this thread are refusing to acknowledge this - to me, screamingly obvious - fact. Maybe they've been lucky enough not to deal with a lot of agression in the past?)

Sod him. He absolutely deserved some pushback for his behaviour, and getting the police to have a quiet word in his ear seems completely proportionate to me. Hopefully he'll manage to keep himself more under control in the future as a consequence.

I don't think you have to move it however if it's likely to sit still for a while longer perhaps move it to the 'end space' if it becomes available. Would stop someone complaining about the gaps left in front and behind.

i was half expecting to be told I was being unreasonable. I have never complained to the police before so it was a big step for me. I was really shaken and so was my neighbour. Our texts over the years have been invitations for Christmas drinks so being concerned for my safety because of the actions of someone at the house is very unusual.
But now I have recovered from the confrontation I think the worst he would do would be scratch the car or put a nail in the tyres.

I didn’t expect to be told I was being unreasonable for allowing the kids car to be parked for 6 weeks.
I can’t switch it on to the drive because our other car is electric and needs to charge. It is also the only one DH cam drive. He can’t drive a manual any more for medical reasons. Apart from all that it would be a massive inconvenience to have to carry groceries from a car park in a different street. It would be way more inconvenient than it would be for that man having to park a hundred metres away from his house.

I know it would be better for the car to be driven every week or so. It is just an extra job for me. I would actually prefer to sell it as it is just a hassle but one of the kids is waiting for her driving test and wants me to keep it until them.

Bloody hell OP.

I sincerely hope that nothing major ever happens in your life - you'd clearly go into absolute meltdown.

I can't believe that you bothered the police over this!!!

GET A GRIP!!!!

I’m glad you called the police.

We live in London, people have parked trucks on our residential road, as well as commuter cars, and no one would think to say a word!

As long as it’s legal and not blocking anyone, it’s none of his business.

This really didn't need the police.

I do think it's unfair to leave the car parked in the same spot for 6 weeks without moving it at all. What you say about different sized cars and vans and this meaning you might end up with odd spaces is true, but if all the cars are moved then this is a fluid thing. If you leave one car stuck in a spot then it can cause problems.