To ask how to best handle this car blocking my drive?

[Parkingdrama00]

I live near to a football stadium and the team are currently playing. Somebody has parked right across my drive and blocked me in. I assume they have gone the match.

You need a residents pass to park round here and it doesn't look like they have one. Looks like I'm trapped until they come back.

What's best to do? Can I report them to the council? Leave a note? Confront them upon their return. Or is all of that pointless?

I wanted to go to the supermarket which will likely be closed by the time they're back.

That's a load of nonsense. In reality the reasons I gave probably had no bearing on the car being towed as the guys who towed it said they tow cars all the time on match days.

As for drunk people knocking on my door I can pretty much guarantee they will be an out of town Liverpool fan as locals tend to have their parking arranged and Wolves supporters probably came on coaches etc. If they knock on a random door in Anfield causing trouble because they blocked a drive then it won't be me that's needs to be worried about it.

Well.done. I am utterly sick of people thinking their needs are greater than anyone else's. It's rude.

And they may think twice about behaving like a selfish dick after sorting out collecting and paying for their own car. They could have just parked in a suitable place (may have had to walk a bit further) and this need not have occurred.

They inconvenienced you.
You inconvenienced them.

This is the most excellent parking thread I've read in my years of being on Mumsnet. Usually the car is driven off when the OP isn't looking and there is no proper ending. I'm hoping he's phoning the Police to report his car being stolen 😀

Nope. No. Au contraire.

It's an obvious and deliberate dick move to block someone in on their own drive. The very definition of thoughtless, selfish and anti-social.

Unfortunately, the likelihood of being caught and punished for doing something like this is usually pretty low. So it actually makes sense as a deterrent for the punishment to be massively inconvenient and onerous.

If you don't think you're likely to get caught and if the consequences of getting caught are trivial, then you are liable to take the risk. If you don't expect to be caught but, if you are caught, the consequences are significant, then you are much more likely not to do it.

To assume makes an ass of u.

It was more than likely a kopite.

Well, he won't do that again. And he'll maybe warns others.

Ps did you see what scarf he was wearing op?

@MJconfessions What resources is the OP wasting? A 5 mins phone call to organise a tow truck to stop illegal parking?

I dont think the police will go belly up financially because of that. And the car owner pays the bill for towing, not them

It will end up being a very expensive day out for the driver!

Round here, a car is considered "towed" if any of its wheels are lifted off the ground.

So, half-way = towed, quarter-way = towed, if any wheel is off the ground, either in the air or on the ramp, that's considered towed.

Fabulous outcome, OP, well done for taking action. Zero say for the selfish twat who parked over your drive. I’m utterly fed up of our new neighbour whose workmen and his own vehicles constantly park over ours so we have to go out and ask them to move. No way should you have to seek permission to use your own drive or have some idiot block it.

If he can afford to watch Liverpool play then he can afford to pay for parking.

I’m a wheelchair user. I live close to a school. Used to have parents regularly parking across my drive, which has a dropped kerb - on a couple of occasions in the past, when I’ve been blocked in or out the regular school run PCO patrol have organised for cars to be towed, and I now have a plate on my gatepost warning that a disabled person lives here and blocking the drive will result in the vehicle being towed. I can honestly say that’s the only thing that’s stopped their selfish behaviour.

If I can’t get into my driveway I either have to find a parking space during school run - almost impossible - and park up and wait for them to come back, or try to park then wheel the chair all the way down to my home. I have regular hospital appointments and have missed a number because I’ve been unable to get out of my driveway when some inconsiderate berk has parked across it. Do you think having the vehicles towed would be unjustified in my case ? My point is that parking like this can have significant consequences for others, and the perpetrators neither know nor care - until they are presented with significant consequences themselves.

The thing about emergencies is that you don’t know when they will happen. They come out of the blue and being able to jump in your car and leave your drive is sort of necessary.
If you’ve never had someone block your access or an emergency where you need to leave asap then maybe you don’t understand why the OP was concerned.

I'm not saying I think @Parkingdrama00 was wrong to call the police. I'm not saying that the car should not have been towed. I am just capable of seeing the other side of a situation and feeling a little sympathy for someone who made a bad decision that has spiralled into a huge problem. Their probably rash decision to block a driveway will cause inconvenience and expense way beyond their expectation and I can imagine that they didn't forsee it at all.

They're learning an expensive lesson, and to be honest, their mates will probably be glad that they've learned it for them.

Exactly op, i really wouldn't want to be an out of towner going on the bounce in Anfield!!! (Not suggesting that you or your neighbours are rough btw, just i only live a few miles away and know the script!!!)

People mentioning drunk people turning up. If he turns up drunk banging on the door, OP has prevented a drunk driver being in the road.
Double win.

The police got involved because the driver was breaking the law of the land. They put in motion a normal procedure supported by any football club on matchdays. The driver will reclaim his car and that will be that.

Football fans are neither "drunk" nor unreasonable. They are normal people, working people, families, children brought up with their local traditions and community.

The driver has no proof that the OP made any call or had anything to do with it.

Nobody who was at the match will give a toss if the driver has had his car removed.

Just googled and it’s a mix of this, and that once the car is hooked to go on the truck it’s ‘towed’. In cases where drivers have turned up and actually got into the car to avoid it being towed the police are called to remove them !!

The police didn’t call tow because the OP lied. The police called tow because the CF parked illegally and OP reported it.

There was no waste of resources because the police don’t tow, the tow company do and they’ll have made a nice load of money out of it.
You do realise OP called the non emergency line don’t you and this kind of thing is exactly what they are there for, non emergency crimes.

Also I doubt they’d be drunk if they were driving. I’d really hope not. If they were, at least they won’t kill anyone driving home now.

Also no one will know the OP called the police. Traffic wardens do work on a Sunday and may have been the ones who reported. The CF will never know.

Do you realise now how silly your post was?

Whilst everyone else is happy to watch on with popcorn, the truth is no one here or on the neighbourhood group chat will protect you if things go south

You've obviously never been to Anfield my dear 😉

But they didn't make a bad decision, they chose an illegal action.

Action = Consequence.

No sympathy for them 'not thinking it through' and having to deal with the consequences.

I'm managed my whole life to avoid being towed, because I don't park like a cheeky fucker.

The thing is, this level of shit parking occurs every single day near to schools. People park across driveways, in driveways, on the corner / junction, on the zig zag markings et c. Without a doubt they are entitled and selfish. They claim to be looking out for their kids but give no shits about everyone elses.

I would bet my house on the fact that some of those people are also Mumsnetters.

Report it to the Police if it stopping you getting onto the public highway (not necessarily onto a private road).
If they stop you coming off your property, which you say, the Police can fine them for "Obstruction", so you could report it via 101.
If they were stopping you getting onto your property, not so helpful, as they'd expect you to park on the road until you can get in.
If the Police handler tries to fob you off with "ring the Council. It's a parking matter", say no, you believe "Obstruction" comes under the Vehicle Construction and Use regs! (Bizarrely not the Road Traffic Act)!
I am not a copper, but worked with some in a previous job and they told me that is what to use.
I have had to report it myself when someone was parked on some double yellow lines across our drive/alleyway, and they attended.

Read the thread. or at least the OP's posts. It's been towed.

There’s no need to be rude. Just because you disagree with the post, that doesnt make it silly.