Neighbours have decided that myself and NDN park some of our cars in another street to make it fairer for everyone. AIBU to ignore the request?

[SumoFarah]

I live on a street with unrestricted parking and few driveways. I know it might sound excessive but my family and NDN family have 7 cars between us. I can’t get a drive out in as the street is really narrow so I would need the space opposite to be empty in order to exit.

A neighbour on the street knocked on my and NDN to explain that our six cars take up too much space and means that:

1. neighbours who finish work late can never get a space so have to park on another street and walk
2. their weekend visitors can never get a space
3. on weekends they sometimes have to park in the middle of the road to unload their shopping and then go and find somewhere else to park

We we’re told that ‘they all’ think everyone should agree to use a maximum of 2 spaces to use as they wish and any further space needed should be used in the free car park about 1/2 mile away.

Also that the two teenagers (one mine, one NDN) don’t need cars as they are still in school so should have no need for cars anyway.

I get that parking spaces are at a premium, and can be frustrating when all the spaces are taken, but I don’t want myself or my dc to walk 1/2 mile in the dark (or the light, for that matter) just to placate the neighbours when there’s a space available. All our cars are pretty much used on a daily basis.

NDN told the messenger neighbour that it’s first-come-first-served. I do understand the annoyance but don’t agree with the suggestion because some houses only have one car and some houses don’t have a car, so should balance out in theory, but obviously doesn’t in practice.

Would I be unreasonable to ignore the ‘request’?

Suggestions welcomed.

Spot on.

Neighbour near me has 5 cars. 2 parents, 3x 20-something children of theirs.

They all work - in different places so car sharing isnt an option. Nor is public transport owing to location of workplace/s.

So them using the street is not an issue because if they werent using the spaces, other people would be. Whether the OP has 1 car or 1000, it is not for the other neighbour to dictate where the OP should / not park.

That neighbour is being a precious cunt. End of story.

OP - I feel sorry for the level of targetting you have needlessly suffered.

Yes, there will be exceptions, but I think it's a good general rule that if you have more cars than you can park outside your own property, then you will be causing an inconvenience to someone else.

I lived in an end-terrace which had been converted into two flats. There were actually SIX parking spaces outside the house and garden, of which my upstairs neighbour used one and I only needed one space sometimes for visitors and deliveries. I didn't object to other people using up four of the spaces. But I don't think it was arrogant of me to not to want to take three or four days off work just to have a sofa delivered, because for the first few attempts the delivery drivers couldn't park anywhere near the building.

In a previous post, I also mentioned how crossing the roads was unsafe, especially for schoolchildren, due to the cars parked on both sides and on junctions, and that on one occasion, a fire engine hadn't been able to get through. I was relieved when a residents' parking scheme was introduced, despite angry opposition from some of the multi-car households.

Absolutely they could - none of us on this thread can know.

But it seemed kind of odd to be assuming that they would be dangerous drivers, purely based on their age and/or whom they live with.

I never said anything about it being fundamentally wrong, maybe another pp?

Ah my bad, i thought it was you telling posters what they could or couldn't comment on, resorting to insults is not great

Agreed, I apologise :)

If our DC hadn’t all gone to uni and either took their cars or gave them up we’d have had several more than our drive fits, so I do sympathise. Our neighbours also have older /young adult kids now so our cul de sac is very busy.
You are paying as much road tax per vehicle as everyone else so have the right to park on the street. It certainly isn’t unreasonable for all the drivers to have a car each.
As long as you aren’t putting cones out and are working on ‘first come first served’ then it is fair enough.

I do think @Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingServicemakes a good point, with younger people needing to live in their parents home longer to save towards getting their own property, you are going to have more and more properties with 4 or more adults in them, nor just the “standard” of 2 adults. Housing stock built on the expectation of 1 or 2 cars per house (or none for older properties) will have to adapt.

Yeah, 7 cars between two households is ridiculous. And must be incredibly annoying to the family with one car who can't park on their road due to all those additional vehicles. I completely get their point.
HOWEVER, it's the nature of buying a house without an assigned space or a private driveway.
You are perfectly within your rights to do nothing. But a bit of neighbourly consideration, and perhaps taking it in turns within your own family to park elsewhere, would be appreciated I'm sure!

Yeah, 7 cars between two households is ridiculous.

is it? When both kids lived at home, we had 4 cars. When our neighbours opposite’s kids are back from uni, they have 4. It’s really not unusual or ridiculous.

I am the age where I have an adult child and one nearly ready to drive. Many of my peers have adult children living at home and older teenagers who are at college. It's not at all ridiculous to have many cars. I live rurally so cars are required to do pretty much everything outside of the village. We don't have the parking problem - most of the households with many adults have drives or availability of plenty of off street parking.

Amazing how many people are unloading on the OP telling them to park elsewhere and whatnot....

Not one of these people would do the same as they're demanding the OP do - peak bullshittery and pot, kettle, black moment in full swing.

No you don't HAVE to do anything. But a little effort would go a long way in neighborly relations. It's not nice having sour neighbors... I would make the effort where I could, even if it meant I was the one walking to another road to my car so my children didn't have to. I wonder where you live where it isn't safe for an adult to walk a short distance in the dark. I live in a fairly deprived (but gentrified) city center area and even I feel safe coming and going from my car a distance away. This really is the norm for a lot of people, especially in cities with higher crime rate and scarce parking, we deal with it...

Most people wouldn't have 7 cars! Why can't a household share a car, or two at most?

Because people dont all go to work in the same place - thats why.

I gave an example from my very own street earlier in this thread - suggest you read it if you havent.

🤦‍♂️

But the OP doesn’t have 7 cars, her household has 3. Given they have 3 drivers living in the house, that’s hardly excessive.

Car sharing only really works when you are going in the same direction for work. If you live in an area with shit public transport, it’s often much easier and cheaper to run a car.

Not if you have nowhere to park them all.

OP said she doesn’t even want to walk that far in the light! Although not legally required, from a neighbourly pov, if it were me and me or DC got back during daylight and they’re not going out again then I don’t see why that particular car/s can’t be left further away and the remaining 2 stay on the road to give the other neighbours a little relief.

But the OP doesn’t have a problem parking her car on the street, sometimes has to park on neighbouring roads, but she’s not found it a problem finding a parking space near her home.

And people are obstinately confusing the house (which doesn't drive and thus doesn't have any cars) and the residents of the house, who have one car each. The number of people (adults in the case of cars) is the pertinent factor.

Nobody would be complaining if a household of four adults consumed twice as much food as the household of two adults next door, and demanding that they should share all of their food - with one portion split between two - just because of the fact that they happen to live together in one house!

I'm sure they do sometimes go to one place together at the same time - in which case they would share one car for that journey - but the obvious nature of multi-generational (adult) living is that your paths will very often not cross and you're not often going to be going to the same place at the same time.

We're a married couple of the same age and even we need two cars because we travel to work in different places; so it's beyond ludicrous to suggest that a young adult will only ever be going to the same places as their mummy or daddy!

you are being unreasonable

Mo Farah and I have four Olympic gold medals between us.

🤣😂🤣

Half a mile would be nothing for mo

not originally no, you got up in arms when someone else said that question of car insurance being fundamentally wrong was irrelevant to the conversation, and after some back and forth you said you thought it was relevant to some people and an 'interesting question', as if it still requires a response from OP on the matter.

Unless 'the interesting question' you were referring to was something else?