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.

Why would they continue to park on the pavement (without blocking wheelchair access!) when the car is getting keyed if it's not for a reason? Most likely because the road is too narrow if they don't. Surely we all know roads like this.

who gets their car scratched
& then parks in same spot & gets scratched .
& then parks in same spot & gets scratched .
& then parks in same spot & gets a wheelie bin on top of the car .

the OP!

the first occasion was a few months ago
was this first occasion the first time you’d ever parked there?

They said in their OP it’s a main road, not like it’s a terraced street.

I thought it's illegal to park in the pavement. We got large pavements here and all the cars that park in them get a ticket.

I'll be honest, in some parts of the north of England where there are a lot of terrace streets, "two wheels on the pavement" is endemic - it becomes such a habit that people do it even when they don't need to. Knackers the pavement.

Yep. I'd be doing this

It can make life quite difficult for other people. People are not allowed to park half on the pavement where I live but when there’s no spaces they park on the pavement outside my gate. Last week a car was about 8 inches away from my gate and we couldn’t get out, had no idea where they lived and I was having heavy machinery delivered for a renovation that had to all be lifted over their car. It did seem a little selfish especially as they weren’t even doing it outside their own house. It may be ok parking on the street outside yours but is it meant to be just on the road surface, rather than with two wheels up on the pavement?

You really should consider CCTV, regardless, as this can become extremely expensive over the years. If asked, you can say what's happened and say you don't have any idea who it is.

So I presume there is a sign saying that is permitted then. 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.

I’m not making it up.

"So I presume there is a sign saying that is permitted then. 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."

That may well be the rule but we all know that ,outside of London, most residential streets have people parking partly on the pavement sign or no sign.

I never said that wasn’t the case, just that for London it is something entrenched within the Highway Code.

I would 100% get a camera. There’s no way I’d let them away with it. If they have a problem with how you park they can knock on the door and kindly ask you to park somewhere else / make sure there’s more space. What you are doing isn’t illegal but what they are is. Catch them and call the police.

Depends on the borough, surely? I parked 2 wheels on the curb when visiting friends as my borough tells you to but theirs bans it so I quite rightly got a fine. Should have researched!

It is. Not everyone adheres to it. Especially on narrow streets where parking entirely on the road makes it hard for cars to pass

In my narrow street (in Bristol) if we DON’T all park with 2 wheels on the kerb there’s no room for bin lorries, emergency vehicles, any sort of wide truck. Still leaves enough room for buggies and wheelchairs. Even then sometimes the bin lorries can’t make it.

i understand why its necessary at times, but pavements are for people, roads are for cars

That is so awful. 100% get a camera on your property and hopefully catch the culprit. I would also ask neighbours and see if they have any footage? Of course you may end up speaking to the disgruntled neighbour!

Pavement parkers are my personal pet hate so inconsiderate and annoying i always wonder how on earth they passed their test or did they get their license in a macdonalds happy meal

Let them park outside to unload but if staying for a while or overnight move round corner, as although may be legal likely causing a nuisance.
Or set up CCTV … make camera visible and will be a deterrent if nothing else.

It's not legal in this part of Scotland either.

Parking with wheels on the pavement is dangerous for visually impaired people, because it is normal to expect pavements to be free of obstructions.

As a mobility scooter user, I have lost count of the number of times that I have had to find alternative routes, had to cross roads without dropped kerbs (which can be dangerous) because a pavement has been blocked by a parked car (and even worse, a dropped kerb blocked).

Mine is a small scooter - bought so that I can lift it in and out of the car unaided, so as a driver, I do understand why people are tempted to park on pavements. It is best though, to avoid if possible. By all means drop off stuff in front of the house, but if there is more suitable convenient parking available elsewhere, please, for the sake of disabled people in particular, move the car as soon as you can.

Where I live, the pavements are narrow and people still insist on parking almost their entire car on the pavement (the two wheels left in the road are right next to the pavement!) I've had to walk into a main road with my baby before as I wasn't able to get past

I'd continue to park there if you're confident it's legal and not obstructing anyone, with either a camera on your house or one in the car. Presumably it's a man doing it if they have the strength to lift a wheelie bin with rubbish in onto the roof of a car! Of course there will be women capable of doing it, I'd just think it's less likely.

I think it's not technically legal to park on the pavement?
But if it's kind of 'standard' on your road then it seems odd that your family are being singled out specifically.
Do you know if any other cars in the area have been keyed?
Is there something specific about the spot that you park in that might impact someone's access?
I think at this stage you need to use a camera as it does seem a specific issue with your family/that parking spot.
Not sure I'd pursue this legally since you're potentially parking illegally anyway but I think I'd want to know who was doing it in case anything else happened in the future.
I think going straight to keying a car is unusual, normally a passive aggressive note on the car comes first!

Well the Highway Code doesn’t list boroughs, it just says it is the law unless signs indicate otherwise.