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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

If you have a driveway why do you not use it?

36 replies

SMLSML · 21/02/2025 22:39

Exactly that - our neighbours have a driveway that fits 3 cars at a push in one long line, so you have to move cars around if you want to get on and off the drive, same as ours. Since they moved in they put one car on the drive and leave the other on the road all the time. We're on a new estate where cars aren't meant to be parked on the road at all as it's pretty busy round here. Life's too short to be totally bothered by it but I don't see why they can't use the drive as they're parked on a T junction causing a small obstruction. I believe they do it to save time swapping cars round. Would you do the same thing? I only ask as we've always just moved the cars round 😅

OP posts:

TickingAlongNicely · 21/02/2025 22:43

Because they are too lazy to move one car if they need the other

Whycanineverthinkofone · 21/02/2025 22:47

Sometimes people do it to reserve the spot in the road outside the house.

we kind of have a drive, but it’s very narrow and the gate posts are a squeeze. We live on a tight road which not only has cars parked both sides, it’s also a bus route. We tend not to use the drive as more often than not once there’s a car parked opposite and two parked either side of the dropped curb we can’t swing round enough to get in or even worse, out.

LaineyCee · 21/02/2025 22:49

Really, really bad at parking?

TSHconfusion · 21/02/2025 22:49

We park one car outside the house and one on the drive to save time swapping the cars around. Never thought it would annoy anyone else in a residential area

Tumbleweed44 · 21/02/2025 22:50

To annoy the neighbours 😂

maddening · 21/02/2025 22:53

This was the reason I excluded any drive that required parking in a line, ours is 2 spaces side by side and we only use the drive - if ds gets a car (currently only 14 so no need yet) then we could lose some of the garden by the drive to accommodate that.

CandelabraCat · 21/02/2025 22:55

I don’t have a driveway, so have to park on the street, but driveways that are intended for 2+ cars are usually 2+ cars wide. If there’s a legal parking space on the street then I wouldn’t unnecessarily block a family member in. What if they need to get out of the drive when I’m out or asleep or something?

TeenLifeMum · 21/02/2025 22:58

Mil and fil have a garage but don’t use it and instead park on the road outside their house… because otherwise other people park there and this bothers mil 🤷🏻‍♀️

pinotnow · 21/02/2025 23:01

As you imply they don't use it as they can't be bothered to move the cars. I don't use mine as it's horribly steep and people have parked right up to it and opposite in the past, making it almost impossible to get off so I avoid the risk of being stuck now. But it's only big enough for one car which is all I have so I park across my dropped kerb. This is illegal apparently but I've not had an issue in 13 years.

Coldwatergloves · 21/02/2025 23:02

You've answered your own question really - it's inconvenient for them to shuffle cars about, so they'd rather just keep one on the road. Either they don't realise how annoying that is for others, or they think their convenience is more important.

We only have one car which is lucky as that's all there is parking for around here - it seems to be an issue everywhere that households have more cars than there is really space for, especially now young adults are staying at home for longer so a household could easily have 3 or 4 cars but only space for 1.

bubbletubble · 21/02/2025 23:03

We have a shared driveway which can fit two cars front to end on our side and same on the other side however I can't get my daughter out of the car if both of next doors cars park on the drive as the shared driveway is quite narrow. We live in a small cul -de-sac and most people park one on the drive and one outside their house - it's kind of an unwritten rule that no-one else parks outside someone else's house!

Mudflaps · 21/02/2025 23:04

maddening · 21/02/2025 22:53

That's what I did, I reduced the lawn by half and extended the available parking area so I could park on my drive and bf could park beside my car at the weekends. My house was on a corner of an estate and I'd seen cars parked on the road damaged from trailers, trucks etc. Only stayed there four years and moved back to the countryside, I recently had to move my car because I parked it under a tree and it was covered in birdshit, some thanks for all the food I'd been giving them!!

MferMonsterSearchingForRedemption · 21/02/2025 23:05

Because mine is a weird shape, very narrow and not easy to get into. Even the best parkers do not like it. I'm a shit parker so I have no chance, and reversing out is also a nightmare. All the other neighbours have decent driveways, but our end one is shit.

Also, I live next to a busy health centre with barely any parking spaces. Although it is perfectly legal to park outside my house, it pisses me off how close they get to my hedge and block the small path to my front door.

I prefer to park outside mine, half blocking the driveway and leaving enough space for people to easily get to the door.

Littletreefrog · 21/02/2025 23:05

Moving cars about is especially a pain if someone works shifts. DH and I have a car and work during the day DS has a car and works shifts so sometimes works nights. We would have to wait up and move out cars so he could park with us able to get out in the morning or he would have to get up in the morning to move his car to let us out. Much easier if he just parks on the road.

gollyimholly · 21/02/2025 23:08

Our driveway is at a very steep angle. On days it is very icy weather, we don't park on the driveway but on the road outside the house which is flat. Or if my dad is coming, we will park our car on the road as he has mobility issues and it's just more easier for him to be able to park on the driveway and not have to walk too much to get to the house. On all other days though, our car is in the driveway.

socks1107 · 21/02/2025 23:13

Because it's so steep, I burnt through two clutches in three years. We both park on the road now

MumBikini · 21/02/2025 23:14

We've got a nice big driveway that we have always parked the cars in. However, we recently started an Airbnb and I don't like to park the guests in so keep my car on the road now whenever we have guests. To be fair, my car is still parked outside our property - next to our garden, but I am pretty sure the neighbours have no clue why we've suddenly started parking it on the road and who knows, maybe they r annoyed! But we r allowed to.park there and it's in front of our own garden, so 🤷

I presume people who choose not to use their drive have good reason for doing so, even if they don't share their reasons with the neighbours! You could ask? It sounds like your neighbours aren't allowed to park on the road though and are breaking some rules??? If that's the case you have a point.

anonny55 · 21/02/2025 23:27

We have the same driveway and just move the cars around. We find it so irritating though but still do it. Everyone on this estate just park on the road because they can't be bothered and it does my head in when there's cars all over the road as it makes it even harder for me to reverse out and let DH of the drive etc as there's cars everywhere and tight road as it is.

Luckily we're moving out next month and requirement of the new house had to be NO , one after the other driveways, not ours and no one else on the road. We went round a few times before buying to make sure people didn't just park everywhere and all looks fine over the past 9 months our house has been being built😆

SeenYourArse · 21/02/2025 23:27

I have a similar issue with my neighbours, they have a 4 bedroom detached house with a driveway for ONE car! They have 3 cars of course, and a huge front lawn next to their driveway that serves no use other than to be mown occasionally. They park their other two cars SO badly outside other neighbours houses often half blocking driveways. They need to widen their drive to fit their cars as they have another child who will also be driving in a couple of years meaning 4 cars, this isn’t a lack of money situation as they go on multiple expensive holidays per year. It’s a lack of awareness or giving a shit that they annoy everyone with their selfishness.

AspiringMermaid · 21/02/2025 23:43

I live on a new build estate and I park my small car on the road, while DH parks on the long drive. We do this just to save time, both cars only have one key, and we have wildly different schedules. It's legal to park on the road (not on a T junction), there is always space, it's a quiet dead end... Having said that I really hope I'm not pissing off my neighbours🤔Maybe tell your neighbour it's annoying? They might be oblivious

Twilight7777 · 21/02/2025 23:48

For me it’s because it’s quicker to get things from car to front door

SnowflakeSmasher86 · 21/02/2025 23:52

Mine has gates which are triple locked from inside for security. To park on it would require me parking on the road, coming into the house, going out the double locked back door, undoing the 3 bolts on the gate, starting the car again (not good for a diesel or for battery life if done often), driving onto the drive, closing and locking the gates again.

Or I can just park on the road.

Given the frequency that some twat parks across the gates/drive blocking access, I’d also run the risk of being stuck on the drive unable to leave.

PocketBattleship · 22/02/2025 01:57

socks1107 · 21/02/2025 23:13

Because it's so steep, I burnt through two clutches in three years. We both park on the road now

How steep does your drive have to be to eat two clutches in three years? Are you sure your hill starts aren't the problem here, do you need extra lessons?

Quite a lot of y'all seem to have made poor housing choices, TBH.

Wingedharpy · 22/02/2025 02:11

TeenLifeMum · 21/02/2025 22:58

Mil and fil have a garage but don’t use it and instead park on the road outside their house… because otherwise other people park there and this bothers mil 🤷🏻‍♀️

My retired next door neighbour moves his car out of his garage at the crack of dawn, every morning, to park it on the road in front of his house, so no-one else can park there.
Then he moves it back to his garage late evening, to put it to bed.
He used to have a cone collection that he liked to randomly distribute along the road too, but I think he's been pulled up about that as it seems to have stopped of late.

Tarkan · 22/02/2025 02:20

Because Amazon delivery drivers ignored our sign that said to use the side path and not the driveway gate and they broke the hinges so we can't open the gate for our car anymore.

Other delivery people saw the sign and didn't force hinges the wrong way. Amazon said they would investigate for us and nothing happened.

If the neighbours want to pay for a new gate so we don't park on the street then they can do so.

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