To want the car to move!

[honeyandbutterontoast]

Looking for honest opinions here because I’m aware this may make me seem like an AH.

I live in a road where the majority of houses don’t have drives. We park on the road. I knew that when I bought the house, it’s not permit parking but there is usually space for two small cars in front of my house. It has never been a problem in the time I’ve lived here, occasionally if there’s a local event I’ve had to park up the road for a few hours if I’ve been out, or for an evening.

Four weeks ago I came home from work to find a big car taking up both spaces outside. So I parked elsewhere. The car is still there.

Nobody has been to it, or moved it in that time and frankly I’m getting annoyed. I have to now park a long way from my house (else I’m in someone else’s space), which has been annoying with heavy bags of food shopping, or if I’m going out with the dog/DC. It’s meant if my mum has visited she’s also had to park elsewhere, again not ideal.

But what can I do? No point leaving a note as nobody has been to the car in that time (it’s right outside my window so I would see). None of the neighbours know who it belongs to either. It seems a stupid thing to get stressed about but I just want to be able to park outside my house!

@Tallerandtall what a strange link to make, between GP surgeries and parking!

The point is the time this car has been there. 4 weeks. Not moving at all, day and night. That’s a long time to leave a car in a spot that you know is likely to be needed by people who actually live there. So although the residents may not have a legal claim to the space, they surely have more of a moral right to the spot than a random person who wants to ditch their car for a month! That’s not entitlement, it’s common sense.

And as a GP, I would never complain about not getting antibiotics for a sore throat!

It isn’t necessarily abandoned. We have four cars and it’s quite normal for one to sit without being driven for a month or so.

It might be someone who live in a street nearby on a main road or bad parking that has gone away or can't drive for whatever reason and has left their car in a safe place. Somebody from the main road near us used to do that probably because of the likelihood of the car getting scratched or the mirrors damaged on a busy road

The highway is not your personal parking space

As not moved for a month report to the council that it's abandoned...some poor person might have had their car stolen.

This thread is mental. People just deciding they know better than the actual law then encouraging criminal damage.

100% this. Very well said. 👏

This is a case of 'just because you CAN do something, it doesn't necessarily mean you should!'

Well said too. And yes - what a ludicrous and nonsensical post by @MumblesParty

Got naff-all to do with the issue in question!

But yeah you're right, what kind of selfish arse parks their car directly outside someone house 24/7 for FOUR WEEKS FFS?! Breathtakingly selfish and thoughtless behaviour. Sadly, some of the posts on this thread illustrate that society is becoming more and more self-serving, mean-spirited, pig-headed, and downright bloody selfish!

Sorry @MumblesParty I meant to say ludicrous post by @Tallerandtall ^

@honeyandbutterontoast

I may be entitled but I think we should think of others a bit more. I don’t own the road of course, but neither does the driver of the car that’s there.

Amen to that! The person who is hogging the space 24/7 for 4 weeks doesn't own the space on the road either! So why have they taken it for this whole time?!

Basically why are people accusing YOU of acting like you own the road, but not the selfish arse who is hogging the space outside your house?!

Are you near a station? Maybe consider lobbying to get CPZ. We live v near a station, and more often than not I couldn't park anywhere near my house till parking restrictions were brought in.

I totally understand your annoyance but how do you have the headspace to keep an eye on who and what is parked outside your house with a view to rushing off to get your car to move it into 'your' space?

What a waste of fuel/fumes - and you have to be constantly 'on guard', planning whether it's worth it to leave your own house...? That would drive me insane.

We live on a terraced street also, double yellows both sides. There are neighbour grumbles but that's all they can do, parking anywhere no yellow-lined is legal. It's difficult to get out sometimes but you just park where you can. I don't mind a walk. If I have shopping/kids then they're dropped at home (hazard warning lights on) and I go and park. There is space for cars/buses to get around me. You absolutely have my sympathies but for you sake, OP, don't engage with craziness/illegal suggestions and accept that you can park wherever you like too.

There are about six along the street outside my house that haven't moved for months. I completely feel your pain. They don't belong to anyone in the houses in our row and never move. We'd all love to park at least near our houses.

If you are 100% correct that this vehicle is not taxed, get it towed away. This untaxed vehicle has no right to be on a public road.
I have done this, and apart from getting my space back( even though it is not rightfully my car parking space) l did feel a bit smug, if it's OK to say that...

Report the car to your local authority as abandoned and they can ticket it. If the owner doesn't contact them in seven days, they can arrange to have it towed. If he contacts them and says it's staying put, nothing further can be done. Unless it's breaking the law or is evidence in a crime, police won't be interested. However, as inconvenient as this is, there's nothing stopping anyone parking outside your house for as long as they want as it's a public highway and you don't have any parking rights regardless of your reasons for wanting to park outside your house.

I used to live on a road like this, and occasionally people who did not live on the street would use parking on our street to leave cars and vans they were going to work on or were not using - my neighbour got the biggest mouthful from a couple of lovely types when she challenged them for leaving a beat up van outside our houses for a month. They were not going to park on their street, they said, because it made it hard for them when they needed to park their car. She reported them to the council and the beat up van was gone within a few days.

Maybe they can just park wherever they choose because yanno, it's not illegal?

If you (general) make a habit of vexatious reporting to the council you may find yourself on a list. Don't get on that list if you can help it.

The council will not arrange for legally parked vehicles to be towed, however much someone might want them moved.

I can completely understand the frustration op. We live in a similar street where we are all considerate of one another. Occasionally, we may have to park in front of other people's houses but we try and move them ASAP. A new family moved in back in the summer and the son is an inconsiderate twat. He once left his car outside our next door neighbour's for 4 weeks. He was using another car and made no attempt to move the first one. Our next door neighbour at the time was recovering from cancer. Rhis meant tjat for 4 weeks she had to park up the street or on another road. You just need to be thoughtful of others. Some people are selfish.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe

That's what I said, but the service is based on speaking to a complainant first and ascertaining the nature of the nuisance, how long the car has been there etc. To be classed as a vexatious complainant by a council, you have to do a bit more than use a service more than once, especially if the Council has a duty in law to provide the service. Council officers will tell you well before they ticket a vehicle if your complaint is justified and will also tell you if a car has been claimed after ticketing, but not by who. If a vehicle has been ticketed once and received a response from the owner, they will not ticket the car again even if it remains in the same spot and yes, local authorities can remove cars legally parked, but deemed to be abandoned on a public highway. Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978, they have a legal duty to remove abandoned vehicles.

Indeed. I inferred from your post that this was your go-to solution and were advising the OP accordingly. Apologies if that's not the case, it is how it read.

Why don’t you make the drive to your house bigger to accommodate both cars?
We paid for a drop kerb and a drive so we didn’t have the same predicament as you.

I only have the one car. And no drive. No front garden to make into a drive so a drop kerb would be no help.

We’re the same. So are our neighbours which is why we respect one another’s’ spaces. No offstreet parking is the price we pay for living in a 400 year old house.

Sorry I must have misread someone’s else’s post and thought it was yours.
What is at the front of your properly if there isn’t a garden?