Neighbour complaining about my parking

[nightmareparking]

Diagram attached, it’s shit sorry!

I moved into my flat in October. It’s a block of flats. There is off street parking available, but it’s not allocated to anyone and is on a first come first served basis. Some families have several cars and others, like myself, only have the 1.

Shortly after moving in, I encountered difficulties with parking. I usually finish work later, and by the time I get home, most of the spaces are taken. I began parking on the street adjacent to the flats, but it got damaged in February (likely by a group of kids as other drivers in the village have experienced similar issues). Subsequently, I resumed parking outside the flats again.

Occasionally, I find myself parking on the corner (highlighted) when there are no other spaces available. I understand that reversing past can be challenging for some people, but with careful and slow driving, it is possible. I have done it myself. When I returned home on Sunday, the son of my neighbour approached me and asked if I could avoid parking on the corner because his elderly dad has difficulty reversing past. I apologised and explained that I typically park there because there are often no other spaces available when I get home. I also mentioned that I can no longer park on the street because my car was damaged the last time. He agreed and asked if I could avoid parking there when possible.

I returned home this evening and he approached me again voicing his complaints. I proposed that his dad could park on the corner if that worked better, and I could take his spot (highlighted) at the front. But it seems he wants / needs to park closer to his flat. I’m feeling a bit lost about what to do and he refuses to talk to the other neighbours, even though they have several cars. It feels like I’m being pressured to park on the street. I’m 26 and he’s in his 40s (I know him a little through a friend), which makes me feel a bit intimidated.

Should I just go ahead and park on the street, even if it risks my car getting damaged again? AIBU to park on the corner if there are no other spaces available?

Annoyed for you! So difficult when others have several cars , and you have not even one allocated numbered space each. Incidentally is there a way of contacting the lease owner or developer and getting this done at all? Where would all the extra car owners park then I wonder? Does the son also have a car as well as his father, if so how greedy to take 2 spaces I would feel like telling him! Grab a space and commute to work for a while?

That grass verge appears to be causing a lot of the problems. Pity there isn't a management company for the entire block that could oversee removal of the useless grass strip and marking out proper bays. You'd probably still get more vehicles than the space can accommodate, because people want a car each (and nobody wants to park on the street if they can avoid it). But you'd get more cars in, proper manoeuvering space and nobody has to reverse out.

Why don't you lobby for that @nightmareparking? Hassle to set up and an additional expense but end result is better parking and your flats worth more.

Can the other cars not do a 3-point turn (or 15 point if needed) in space they are pulling out of? That seems easier and safer than reversing past all those parked cars, round a bend then out onto a road.

Tell him to do one.

I love it when posters repeat the same failed 'gotcha' over and over.

Op has made it clear every vehicle has to reverse out, regardless of how she parks.

The way I read it every vehicle parked has to reverse out. As would an ambulance.

From the diagram I’d say the grass verge prevents that.

I wouldn't be giving it much head space to be honest. It's not your fault his dad cant maneuver out. Your swap suggestion was fair enough and he's declined it. I would continue to park where you are, unless they can come up with a real alternative solution

Not sure thats relevant... if its a narrow gap and a standard car has to reverse out, then a fire appliance isn't going to get in, again wherever the OP parks.

Some parking areas were built when fire appliances and ambulances were much much smaller and won't be fully accessible now, and may not even need to be anyway.

Perfect example of why context is essential.

ALL vehicles have to reverse out regardless of whether OP is parked there or not.

Every car has to reverse out if they drive in, there’s no turning space at the end, the farthest you can get from where the op is. And If they reverse in, they can drive out. They can’t reverse out, because there’s no turning space,again at the end of along or all the places the ops car isn’t. This aspect of the parking space has nothing to do with the ops parking.
an ambulance can get in, and it reversed out.

Perhaps you don’t know, but it’s really pretty bad form to reveal someone’s very near address on the internet, particularly if you’re just trying to prove yourself right about something parking related.

Yep, bad form.

Reported for outing the op. Disgraceful!

Everybody should be reverse parking into the spaces. That would remove the need to reverse down the road when exiting a parking space.

The double yellow lines on one side of the road, but not on the other, indicate that parking is expected along the outside edge.

This is the old man's problem, not yours.

If you look at all the OPs posts, it looks like the cars are all parked parallel to the roadside, not in bays.
The road itself is a dead end - only one way in/out.
Cars either have to drive in and parallel park and then reverse all the way out, or vice versa.
The fact that there is insufficient space to do a 3+ point turn to prevent having to reverse the entire length of the road and round a bend with the OPs car parked across it, indicates that the road must be quite narrow.
There are no parking spaces.
Cars just park on the road side.