To think we can park here?

[ShopTattsyrup]

AIBU to just ignore this letter and keep parking?

I live on a very short stretch of street that is just 4 terraces at the back of a church. Opposite our houses is the car park for the church and for it's church hall.

All 4 families who live on this stretch know eachother fairly well, no drives or garages and so the unoffical rule is that you park outside your own house and if you have a second car you park on the other side of the street behind the church (where there is space for two neatly parked cars while allowing a good clearance of the dropped curb entrance to the church car park).

Last week we all got the same letter, seemingly from this church, asking us to refrain from parking on the side next to the church as it impedes entry to our car park.

Now one of my neighbours has lived here for >20 years and the existing parking arrangement has never been an issue. I've lived here for 3 and the street is more than wide enough to have cars parked on both sides and drive comfortably through the centre. There's no double yellows etc.

What makes me think this letter is a load of bollocks is that the letter is signed from "St Christopher's Church" - surely if it were official it would say From Rev. John Smith or similar? Or be from the council?

She said it looks like it's from the church. So she replies to the church. If it's not them, they'll say.

If no restrictions then yanbu but be aware they could lobby the council to bring them in.

Are they perhaps meaning they are having trouble getting into the road that leads to the car park?
The way the diagram is drawn it suggests that two cars are parked right up at the junction of the road.

No, she's said it's signed from the church, but she suspects it isn't. Which is likely correct.
She doesn't know who it's from.

I don't think that's the point at all. The point is that someone who regularly uses that carpark entrance is having an issue with her (and/or her neighbour's) parking, and it doesn't really matter whether the letter has come from a vicar or a board or a parishioner to be quite honest. The collaborative, neighbourly thing to do would be to try to sort it out peacefully before it escalates.

Right - but in order to do the neighbourly thing and try and find a solution we would need to speak to someone.

If it said "from Doris at no. 42" or "from the Archbishop of Canterbury." It would be easier to do so.

Right! So go in on Sunday and ask. "Anyone recognise this letter?!"

Was it sent in letter headed paper OP? If not, it's likely not genuine and, like a PP pointed out, probably a disgruntled parishioner who can't drive very well. If you're truly not blocking access then ignore it.

Right so you entirely agree with met she doesn't know who it is.

And yes it matters. How do you collaborate with unknown people, for a start?

Fair point, that's more my artistic endeavours I think. 😂

The cars are able to park in line with the houses/cars on the other side of the street - so with maybe 2 or 3ft before the corner. The road on the right that you turn onto our street from has double yellows all the way up along the side of the church.

I'd be slightly worried that if you don't take a kind and collaborative approach people will just start parking on the road in front of your houses in retaliation. No one owns the highway and if it becomes easier to park there than access the church carpark its a risk

Well, if you call me saying that I think it comes from someone who uses that car park and it doesn't really matter who "entirely agreeing with you," then yes, I do 😆

And... as I've said three times now... go in and ask. It's not that hard.

I can see that turning into the car park might be tight as there is only a car's width space on the road. And visibility might be a problem when exiting from the car park. Not of t is ideal. Maybe you need to negotiate with the church, explain your challenges and hopefully reaching a compromise.

Could it be that sometimes, larger, vehicles i.e. hearses need to enter the car park?
YANBU and any decent person would have left contact details for you.
I would take a picture of the letter first and then, as suggested by pp, write can we discuss on the other side and address it back to the church.
If it is just that they have someone who can’t manoeuvre their car maybe they need to stop driving. Maybe they just want to leave these spaces free for people attending a service.

I don't know why people are encouraging you to try and find someone to reply to. Just ignore it.

It is very rude to write a letter without proper contact details to reply. A proper letter would come from the PCC or equivalent with the name of Chair on it. I'd contact the vicar (minister, etc) and explain how roads work. Chances are that church parking impacts residents more than vice versa.

Just start parking in the church car park. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Nope - no headed letter paper. Just typed on A4 and just the one paragraph.

Dear resident,

Please refrain from parking on the side next to the church as it impedes entry to our car park.

regards, St Christopher's Church.

The church may have a website or facebook page that will give a phone number for an office administrator/church warden/vicar. You can phone and ask what is causing the problem. From your diagram I suspect people are having trouble seeing what is coming up the road due to the parked cars. There may be some way of amicably sorting out the issue.

I know our church has letterhead that is used for correspondence, if your letter doesn't have it may have been an 'unofficial' letter written by a parishioner rather than coming from the church office.

Alternatively you could mail it back to the church together with a note stating 'I thought you should be aware that people are sending stupid letters out under your name' but that would probably escalate the situation in a bad way.

I'd try to contact the church to find out whether it was from them or not. I work in a church, and

a) we wouldn't send something like that out. Yes, it's inconvenient to have a hearse try to turn around in a tight space, but that's not the problem of people who have legally parked on the road outside.

b) if we send out any letter, it would be on headed notepaper and signed by a named individual, with contact details to get back to us on.

Either it's not from the church, and in that case they might be interested to know that someone is writing in their name, or it is and then you can tell them to up their communications game and talk about the actual parking situation.

Thank you for the insider perspective! Good to know and reassuring.

I've never actually seen a hearse use that car park to be honest, only cars. They have a street entrance on the other side of the church on the road parallel to us so I presume they use that door for wedding cars or a hearse.

If you're parking legally and not blocking access to the car park, I would ignore the letter.

In a lot of car parks they have white lines either side of the entrance which you shouldn't park in because it blocks the view of the road and drivers can't see to pull out safely. I appreciate you say there is good clearance of the entrance.

However, this reads as though someone is pretending to be from the church. Most churches have letterhead and would certainly have contact details. It would be rude not to put Rev Kate Smith (for example) as the sender.

I wonder if the CF parishioner has asked the vicar about it and s/he's said, they're doing nothing wrong and I won't intervene, and that's why the CF parishioner has written this underhand note.

As PPs have said, reply on the back of the note. If it is a line of sight issue, then maybe allowances could be made. Otherwise it's a CF concerned parishioner.

Oh dear, you dont get it at all, do you?

If you're parking safely and legally, I would just ignore it. Could be at some point someone has parked over the dropped kerb and they were annoyed by that. If they follow it up, I'd just reply with that - you've never parked illegally or unsafely; pity if someone did at some point, but you're pretty confident it wasn't you.