Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think it's embarrassing to put cones outside your house?

119 replies

Oby1802 · 22/04/2024 12:17

I have a neighbour who does this.. they aren't elderly or disabled but every time she leaves for work she gets out the cones and puts them in "her" parking space.

It's just a road so it's not an owned space.

I find it so cringe worthy and entitled? I couldn't personally bring myself to do it.

Does anyone else's neighbour do this? I've never said anything because really it doesn't make much of a difference to me except occasionally when the road is full and I could potentially have parked closer to my house if her cones weren't in the way but it's not worth moving them and falling out over! But I do find it a bit ott.

OP posts:
bravotango · 22/04/2024 12:23

My neighbour does this with the bins. YANBU.

TTPD · 22/04/2024 12:25

I'd move them if they were in the only space left.

If I was feeling grumpy I'd move them even if there were other spaces around.

WhatNoRaisins · 22/04/2024 12:26

My grandparents did this with furniture when we were due for a visit 😂. I'm surprised it was never stolen.

MagpiePi · 22/04/2024 12:29

It is an offence to block the public highway unless you have a permit from the local highway authority.

I'd be tempted to move them to a skip and park in the space, and they say it was like that when you got there if she kicks off. And keep doing it.

AutumnCrow · 22/04/2024 12:32

The only time people get away with this in my street is when they are moving, having big deliveries, getting a skip, or waiting for an ambulance - i.e. have good reason. We all know each other so it's all fine. Also people tend to put a sign up saying what's happening, either in their window or on the cones / plank on bricks / whatever. All very Corrie.

If anyone were to take the piss then they would be told so. After that their cones would disappear.

Harvestfestivalknickers · 22/04/2024 12:34

We had a neighbour who did this. DP took the cone back to the council yard.

PeaceOnThePorch · 22/04/2024 12:35

I’d move them and park there if I was you.

Redherringgull · 22/04/2024 12:36

On my previous street three people used to do this. It was a small but ordinary, public road. We'd just move them out the way and put them outside their front doors.

nervousweddingguest · 22/04/2024 12:38

I believe legally u less the cone has been placed there by a police officer, highways department or other such official... you are in your right to m

nervousweddingguest · 22/04/2024 12:38

nervousweddingguest · 22/04/2024 12:38

I believe legally u less the cone has been placed there by a police officer, highways department or other such official... you are in your right to m

Ooos hit send before I'd finished... you are in your right to move the cone...

Deliadidit · 22/04/2024 12:39

YABU to not move the cone and just park there - as you say, she doesn’t own the space!

sanogo · 22/04/2024 12:40

Somebody does this a few streets away, when I go past on my bike I kick them over

Divebar2021 · 22/04/2024 12:41

She doesn’t own the road and I suspect she / they don’t own the cones either. ( unless they ordered their own they’ve been swiped from somewhere )

Pleasestopkickingme · 22/04/2024 12:42

My NDN thinks he owns the street. He currently has two cars - one that he doesn't drive. He ended up with two cars when his most recent marriage went tits up and I assume he had to ask for his car back (she was driving it.) Anyway, the car he doesn't drive has been parked outside his house for months and hasn't gone anywhere. He has a drive for his other car. Since he's previously been territorial about the road outside his house, I reckon he's deliberately not got rid of the car so nobody can park there. He's a petty, officious wanker who has form for this sort of thing. He once knocked on his window and waved my mother away from parking near his house Hmm not his worst indiscretion by any means but who does that?!

mammaCh · 22/04/2024 12:46

As she doesn't own the street, if you need to park there then just move the cones.

FlyingPizzaMonkey · 22/04/2024 12:46

Hide them. She’s at work so won’t even know.

MissUltraViolet · 22/04/2024 12:52

The petty in me would win and I would move them and park there just for fun.

I live on a terraced street and parking is a nightmare, can't leave your house after 6pm or you're screwed. I have a few neighbours around me that like to play musical cars. If they have to park anywhere other than outside their own home they peer out their windows for hours then run out and move their cars whenever the space opens back up - even in the middle of the night, even if its just to pull it up a foot or two.

Have I ever taken one of 'their' spots and not gone out back out in the car for a day or two on purpose? Perhaps.

Caffeineislife · 22/04/2024 12:52

It's very entitled and a bit daft. They should have bought a house with a drive if parking outside their house is so important to them.

The only time it is really ok to do something like this is if you are saving a space for an emergency vehicle (fire engine, ambulance, first responder) that is enroute, if you are expecting a large delivery of an item, if you are expecting delivery of a skip or building materials which require lifting off a vehicle with special machinery. Then as soon as the delivery or emergency vehicle has left the cones are removed.

drspouse · 22/04/2024 12:56

Definitely move them. They are blocking the highway.

I've moved neighbours' recycling bins "oh they must have blown in the road. Oh you have a disabled family member? Did you know you can ask the council for a painted space?"

Elephantsareace · 22/04/2024 13:03

People usually get sick of this and move the cones to the nearest road works/tip/pavement 10 streets away. After a couple of times the twatty neighbour gives up.

NuffSaidSam · 22/04/2024 13:09

I'd take them! Just for a laugh.

snorlax99 · 22/04/2024 13:10

I wonder if you live near me lol someone just round the corner from me has suddenly started putting 2 cones in front of their house to keep the parking space. It is an end terrace, the road is a public road and they've got no right to do it. Gets my back up every time I go past. Parking and visibility is a nightmare round there, so these bloody cones don't help. So selfish.

TeenLifeMum · 22/04/2024 13:10

I’m petty so I’d move them.

nervousweddingguest · 22/04/2024 13:11

i do admit that my sister used to do this... she acquited a road cone (i assume stole it from some road works or other), she lives in a terraced house on a very busy street within a city where parking is a big issue.

as soon as hubby went to work, out she would go and place the cone and as soon as he came back from work he would move the cone and park.

my sister has some pretty serious MH issues, and part of this was her OCD.. and she needed to see his car from the lounge window!

as i've said and most have said its petty, they don't own the road and its not an excuse for doing it, and no amount of telling her not to do it convinced her she couldnt do it.

just a thought that there may be underlyine issues at play

BIossomtoes · 22/04/2024 13:12

TTPD · 22/04/2024 12:25

I'd move them if they were in the only space left.

If I was feeling grumpy I'd move them even if there were other spaces around.

I did. I had a neighbour who did it. I moved them every single time. She got tired of it first.