A parking one WIBU

[Vandalwatcher]

We live on a new build estate that has a few parking options. The v large houses might have a driveway but most have 2 allocated spaces to the side or back. Smaller houses might only have 1 allocated space. We also live near a big station and commuters park their cars here sometimes for long periods and some people rent their spaces out. This means all the main and side roads are packed with cars all the time. There has been a lot of petty and also serious vandalism of cars when residents have had suspicion the car isn’t local.

I live in a side street that doesn’t have any pavements or driveways and just enough room for 2 cars to pass. A lot of the houses are 2 bed so they only get 1 allocated space. Once residents have filled up their allocated space, everyone else parks on the same side of the street. It can be a little tight but we all just park where we can first come first served.

One house on the street has been designed to be sideways to all the other houses (all other front doors open onto the street). This house has a small hedge separating the gable end/side from the tarmac bit of road. It’s not a pavement, it’s not their land or an allocated space it’s just road. The gable end of the house has a couple of small windows, so you could see a car parked there if you looked out, but as there are no pavement in this street - and no one has a front garden, this is something we all have to put up with.

There are 3-4 of us in the street who might park alongside this hedge, leaving room for a second car in front/behind.

My neighbours and I have noticed a pattern of vandalism to ONLY the cars parked by this hedge. Flat tyres, food items thrown onto the car, bins left in the road for days meaning no one can park there. We have all now got doorbell cams. I am assuming it is the residents of this house who object to cars being there, but they could leave a note rather than vandalise a car.

If I do catch them doing something do the police even care about this kind of thing what would you do? AIBU to keep parking there next to someone’s house?

Police will care, yes, particularly if you have cctv footage of criminal damage. Might be worth popping a note inside the car re a dash cam being activated by movement.

Clearly it's not ok to vandalise someone else's property, but to fully understand the situation, may I clarify 2 points?

1. It seems from your post that you have no drineway and no allocated parking spaces, is that correct?
2. How many cars are there in your household that you require parking for?

Are people parking their cars directly at someone's window?

Why don't you park in your allocated space?

It's the public highway? Then you're not being unreasonable.

My absolute peeve is people buying houses with 1 space when they have 3 cars and then inconveniencing everyone else with their vehicles.

Mine is developers not including enough parking for the houses they cram into a site. Most couples now have two cars, one space isn't enough.

I have 2 spaces and we have 3 cars. We did not have 3 cars when I moved here. Children get older.. they become adults. We use our spaces but we have 1 extra car now. We are not always home at the same time so we fill up the 2 spaces first.

Most of the 2 bed houses only have 1 space and they have 2 cars. I also think this is the developer issue as we are all in the same boat. Some of the houses aren’t owned by the occupier they are HA or rented.

It’s a public highway.

The small window is separated from the car by a hedge. None of us have front gardens - we have a strip of hedge or 2 paving slabs, and no pavements so we all have cars parked by our windows and front doors. It is just the design.

Yes it's a nightmare round where we are too. It's a joke as it was marketed as being an environmentally friendly strategy to reduce car dependency and increase public transport use. Except they didn't bother with the public transport bit. In a rural village with no train station.

Dash cam /ring doorbell is your only option I think.

If someone left a note giving a reason I would be open to listening to their POV but they are just vandalising cars instead

Get a dash-cam and I don't think I would leave a note saying that the dash cam is activated by movement. Most people are aware that this is how they operate.

I'd get a dash cam and get evidence. Get all of the car owners that park alongside the hedge to get their own dash cams too and then you will have lots of evidence.

It's pretty obvious they don't like people parking right by their window. You have more cars than spaces. Just because you can park there doesn't mean you should, and doesn't mean they will like it.

Dashcam and keep us updated!

But I can park there, anyone can. They have now blocked off a public road with their bin and by vandalising the cars. There are no lines on the road. They can not like it, but they can’t actually control who parks there can they? Not liking something doesn’t entitle you to anything

Are you a good actress?

Could you knock on their door? Just wondering if you've seen who's vandalising the cars parking in this space? It's so strange because it's only that spot and so you thought maybe they know. You've set up the door cams and dash cams in the hopes of catching the person so fingers crossed...

That should stop them. They'll know why you're at their door.

That's not a bad idea OP - lots of fake horror and concern for them too as you think they must park there themselves a lot as well...

For those blaming developers for small numbers of spaces it is actually driven by the policy of the local authority. Developers are not allowed to provide more spaces than the policy allows for.

I'm sure they're devastated!

ok well as an update they still have their bin in the space and it’s intentional as they swapped it on bin day!

You can’t reserve a parking space on a public road for weeks (or forever) with a bin?

No you can't. Just put the bin back by their front door.
I don't know if it possible to install a dash cam type camera that will work when the car is not running? I would invest in one if possible.
Saying that, people on our road have drives and will even take their car off the drive and park it on the road if someone else in the street starts parking there. Buy a house with space for all your cars, or get rid of one seems to be our neighbours motto!

Yet another reason why I didn't even look at any new build estates when moving recently.

I came from a 2008 estate (rented flat), and each property got 1 allocated space. People would park massive work vans just willy-nilly round the place, making just driving down the road quite challenging.

I moved to a much older, established estate, where all the houses have driveways big enough for at least 2 vehicles and it's fantastic.