Cars being keyed / wheelie bin

[Sara249]

We live on a main road. When we have family to visit, they have (legally) parked outside our house with two wheels on the curb and two wheels on the road. As buggy users ourselves with young kids, we are sure we always leave enough room for prams.

a few months ago, my parents stayed over and noticed their car had been keyed. I wanted to think it was perhaps just an accident and someone had scraped the car going past. But then a few weeks later, my sister stayed and parked in the same place (but again leaving space for a buggy) and her car had been keyed. So now we thought this must be deliberate. A week or so later, our car was on the curb this time as we had my parents staying to help with the baby and we woke up to our car being keyed. So that’s 3 cars now that have been keyed, all having parked on the same place.

this has made us feel pretty cross and upset, as our guests are always parked legally. It’s a busy main road but street parking is legal and we don’t have alternative parking for them.

this morning again my mum had stayed to help with the baby (we have a newborn and toddler so hence us having a bit more family help at the min!) and had parked on the road, and we woke up to a wheelie bin sat on her car roof and all the rubbish had fallen off onto the ground on the road.

my husband found it at 7am and took it down, but did take a picture.

it’s so frustrating as clearly this local person HATES us parking on the pavement, but it’s not illegal for our guests to do that. And what they are doing in response with the keys and now this is illegal and is surely criminal damage.

we have no evidence of who has done it though but my hunch is it’s clearly the same person each time.

part of me wants to continue to park there, but I equally don’t want any trouble with this anonymous neighbour as with 2 young kids we don’t want a local enemy! But a petty small part of me wants to set up a camera on our drive way (on our property which directly backs onto the pavement) and try and see if we catch the person doing it when our guests next park there. But this feels like the smaller person route!

I will just get our family and guests to park on a side street off the main road and walk to our house, but it is slightly frustrating we feel we have to do this as they often have lots of bags and stuff to stay over.

would you try take it further and get evidence etc? Or just choose the easier option and stop people parking there?

also please let me know if you agree with this neighbour, happy to hear the alternative view but we genuinely think we always leave enough room for a pram and / or wheelchair. And clearly this person isn’t a wheelchair user to have got the full wheelie bin onto the roof.

It may be 'legal' but the Highway Code says that you shouldn't park on the pavement unless signs say you can.

I think it's now illegal throughout Scotland to park part way on the pavement. While I disagree with the methods, it's very clear that you are annoying neighbours. That rarely ends well. Find another parking spot for visitors who stay for a while.

Why don't they park with all wheels on the road? Either there is space for their car or there isn't. If the only way there is space is to encroach on the pavement it sounds like there isn't really a space

Are other cars on the street being scratched?

Wheels should not be on the curb. Just because a pram can get passed it is unlikely that a wheelchair, a double buggy etc can pass.

Your guests need to find somewhere else to park.

However they should not damage the cars but they are probably frustrated that you keep parking there.

Personally I think pavements should be for pedestrians and mobility scooters/wheelchairs. Yes some are really wide and allow off road parking. But others are not and people block access by parking on them.

Park round the corner and spend an extra few seconds walking to save yourself £££££ of hassle.

And bring overnight bags that don't weigh a ton.

Of course you need a camera, and a sign saying CCTV in operation. It's criminal damage.

Even if you were in the wrong, this isn't robin hood, there are proper channels and procedures. What next, shooting people who litter? They could have just left a note.

Does your area allow for parking on the pavement ? My area only permits this when there are signs up indicating where it’s permitted.

Do you leave enough room for wheelchair users as motorised scooters are much larger than prams ?

Does anyone else on the road do this or just you ? Obviously there no justification for keying peoples cars, but sounds like your

What next, shooting people who litter?
Don't give me ideas

Carefully placed CCTV.

Although I don't agree that the cars should have been keyed, was there sufficient room for an actual pram (not a pushchair) and room for wheelchair users?

We have had many inconsiderate drivers park up on the kerb, leaving room for a basic pushchair but a pram or wheelchair not so much. I was actually advised by the police officers to send photo evidence to the police, which I have done in the past and although they may not have got a fine, I do hope being contacted by the police showed them the error of the ways.

Just to add in my instances, a car has been parked on the kerb and I couldn't pass with my pram and there was no path at the other side of the road to cross over to. So I had to take to walking on the road with said pram, toddler and pooch in tow!

@Sara249 people could temporarily park as they currently do, to drop off bags and passengers and then go and park on the side street. Surely that's the most pragmatic solution to avoid continuing damage to vehicles and/or further escalation of this dispute?

If you don't want to do that, then maybe set up CCTV as previous posters have mentioned to see if you can get any footage, or if the signs about the CCTV are enough to put this person off.

Once it has appropriate signage, and it follows jurisdiction law.

@Sara249 i would get a camera rigged up. park totally on the road and see what happens. the bin on the car is ridiculous. it is obviously a neighbour. is there a neighbour who feels you are taking their space?? ask if any neighbours have ring doorbells and see if your car is visible because whoever put the bin on top was not just passing!

Thanks for the responses.

Should have said we’re not in London and lots of other cars park on the curb, leaving enough pavement room too. When I moved in we questioned whether we were allowed to to save my elderly parents a bit of walk, so did the research to make sure we were allowed. Totally understand the access concerns and I take the mobility scooter access v seriously it’s just we have a double buggy (massive buggaboo donkey one) so always conscious that we do leave ample room because I know our double buggy can get through with room either side, and since the car keying incidents we have made sure to either park on the side street or leave loads of room. Last night with the snow and ice they parked out front. But hear your comments and we won’t continue to park there.

It’s just so frustrating that they’ve damaged all of our cars and now the wheelie bin (which wasn’t taken by the council this morning as a result of it being on top of the car with rubbish strewn off the back! so just an added faff having to get the council to come back and take it) all of that type of stuff is harder isn’t it when you have little ones so even getting to the garage for the car repairs has taken time, so I do sort of want to go down the CCTV route to try see who but it’s not worth the added effort and we’ll only end up pissing them off even more whoever they are.

and I am a bit unsettled by the thought of someone being so irate with us that they have the strength to lift a full wheelie bin onto the car in icy conditions early this morning!

It's not just London where it's illegal to park on the pavement. The Scottish Govt already changed the law about this, and the Welsh Govt is considering doing the same.

Rule 244 of the Highway Code states: "You MUST NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement in London, and should not do so elsewhere unless signs permit it."
Does this pavement outside your house have signs explicitly saying that pavement parking is allowed? If not, your local council could issue you with a fixed penalty notice (and if I was your neighbour, I'd probably hope they did, to you and all the other people who are supposedly doing the same).

If it's so 'legal' to park on that stretch of road, why do you and your guests insist on driving up onto the pavement rather than leaving all four wheels in the roadway?

It's an inconsiderate thing to do. Pavements are for pedestrians, who may well be visually impaired and find it hard to navigate around multiple parked cars. Pavements are not designed to cope with cars that weigh a tonne (or even heavier vehicles) and this damage can make them less level/ more hazardous for pedestrians.

If you have a driveway, and you're expecting overnight guests with loads of lugggage, why not park your own car round the corner in this side street before they arrive, and make their lives easier?

I'm still not clear why you park with your wheels on the pavement? Is it a very narrow road? I get the rage when people park on the pavement.

You need to leave enough room for a wheelchair to pass easily, not just a buggy

I hate pavement parking but come on, it's standard in lots of places and to ban it on terraced streets like mine would mean whole streets of people would be unable to park/have cars. Which might be ultimately a good thing, but it's not going to happen any time soon.

Op do you know roughly what time this happens? Can someone sit in the car in the dark to surprise the culprit? Or watch from your window and run out. I suspect you have a single cranky pants neighbour.

Definitely get a camera regardless of how you park. If your cars are the only ones being keyed despite others parking in a similar manner, it is specific to you. Do report all incidents to the police.

Because sometimes parking on the pavement means everyone can park and leaves plenty of room on the pavement and so it's the sensible thing to do?

I doubt it was a lone person lifting a whole bin onto a car roof. By all means get a camera though it’s primary purpose is meant to be recoding your own land and it may happen to catch public land not just public land. But you risk more manage to your car just to catch them and they might not have a visible face or you may find it’s a few neighbours together.

I think street parking should only be by signs. We not in London live in a no Verge/path parking and the amount of people who don’t actually realise and will tell you it’s fine but if the warden comes down a nice £80 fine he rarely does which doesn’t help people not realising.

Get yourself a plug in outdoor ring camera, £50 on amazon now

I'm planning to get one - plug it in inside and then stick it on an outside window sill

If I'm correct you get a one month free trial then you can pay for 24/7 recording

Sorry this has happened op

It’s illegal here too.its not just buggies that need past mobility wheelchairs can be wide too.

I get it, OP.

I live in London and am actually basically required to park on the pavement, on a busy road, because the council has put in restricted parking and drawn the line for it to exclude my home and a few others (as in theory we have driveway parking - but only for one car). This means we can't even buy parking permits for nearby streets.

In any case, no one should ever key your car or put a bin on it when you are doing something that is legal. I would film them tbh.

You say a lot of other cars park on the curb too - are they all getting keyed or is it just yours?

If all the cars were getting keys every night surely there would have been something done by someone! If just yours I suspect it's about something else other than the parking