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.

7 cars - well I can see why people get upset ! You are taking more than your fair share - morally wrong even if legally fine

Yabu and unreasonable.
I have experience of having to park far away due to lack of parking space.
Very unfair

I don’t see the issue, 3 cars are needed so 3 spaces are needed. I lived on a road which sounds similar in regard to parking, if I had to park further down the road so be it. You know the road you are moving into, hence I wouldn’t likely move into house now where the parking is shit or if I did I’d have to suck it up.

n/a

I don’t see the issue. There are a lot more cars on the road these days 🤷🏻‍♀️. Those saying you’re selfish are baffling. If one household had 4 cars and parked on the street, it’s tough shit. If the car is road legal then no one can say a word, as frankly, it is nothing to do with them! First come first served. I wouldn’t dream of asking my neighbour to move to an alternative street to park, if I can’t park on my road, I park the next street over and move on with my day, if you don’t like it - move house. Bigger things in life to worry about.

Unless you’re disabled, park half a mile away, you are being very unreasonable

If you want that many cars, move to a house with a fricking driveway!! It’s very unfair. My neighbours also have 4 cars. Dad has one, 2 adult kids and a work van. Terraced houses and parking permits to park. Luckily we don’t have a car, but it does get annoying when we have neighbours and they can’t park.

But why can’t they move to a bigger house if they want 4 cars and know that the street wouldn’t be able to accommodate?

How ridiculous. They can fuck the fuck off with their request, even if you do have too many cars, you can't go dictating what strangers do or don't do, provided they're not breaking the law, which you're not.

You all pay road tax, park on the road. Why do they get to decide who parks there? 3 cars for one household is not excessive. It's one car per person in your case. Different if you have 3 just for you.

Because they aren’t moaning about it, their neighbour is. They are entitled to park their vehicles there, end of.

It was very clear it was an issue that both OP and NDN are contributing to.
All households having one or two cars and one person getting upset about OP having 3 would seem unreasonable, but I presume most have 1 or 2 and OP and NDN have 7 between them.
3 isn't a crazy number - 2 parents and 1 older teenager.

Before anyone launches into me - I live in a one car household.

Interesting.

The house opposite me has five cars, and occasional visitors. The one next to them has three.

It can be hard to park on the road. I don't think anyone thinks anything about this at all though.

We do all have drives, but five car house can park two on their drive (they had it made wider to have a charging point put in), and three car house can park one.

I can park three on my drive, because the houses my side are set back further from the road (smaller back gardens).

If I ever have to park on the road, it can be a challenge, so I often park round the corner in those circumstances. But it's never occured to me to think my neighbours are bell ends for it.

Glad I have someone to blame now though, that makes me feel better.

I used to live on an estate like this. It was made up almost entirely of Victorian terraced houses, and needless to say, hardly any of them had driveways. I didn't even have a car, but I hated the parking issues. It was frustrating trying to get large items such as furniture delivered, as the delivery drivers usually couldn't park near enough. More importantly, having cars parked on both sides of the road (and on junctions) made crossing the road more dangerous, especially for children. There was also an incident with a fire engine being unable to get through.

I don't understand why some of the households had so many vehicles. We were a 15 minute walk from the town centre and only a five minute walk from the railway station. Also, why could none of these adults car-share? I usually walked to work, but for a while, I worked in another town one day per week and just took the train. The trade-off of living close to the centre was fewer parking spaces.

Anyway, we ended up with a residents' parking scheme with a maximum of two permits allowed per household. Some residents were furious, but they only had themselves to blame.

Oh yeah....just move house!
It is entirely plausible that children grow up and have their own cars.
Moving house because you are breaking some unwritten rule about how many cars a single household can park on a public road is crazy.

I think most house holds would have 3 cars wouldn’t they? Myself and dh have a car each for work and 4 children so inevitably they will learn to drive.

No, in many areas families will leave on a public transit route to at least one adult's workplace, and will share one family car.

Even where both mum & dad have a car each most teenagers have to be insured on a parents car & do not have their own to drive.

How many cars are actually yours? The NDN cars are not relevant to your decision.
Do you have 4 cars for 4 people? Hoe many can fit outside your house?
Having said that, I wouldnt want to be leaving my car every night at a free car park. But then neither do your neighbours and they are also entitled to park as they wish.
Can you coordinate to drop each other off at the free car park?

Oh yeah....just move house!
It is entirely plausible that children grow up and have their own cars

But maybe they need to look at using buses and trains. This is often urban victorian streets that have no driveways etc. There will be public transport options. Or perhaps need to look at how lifts can be shared to reduce the need for 4+ cars for one household. The pollution must be awful.

I live rurally. The kids cannot wait to learn to drive!
Most of the time it's just my car in my parking space. When my adult son comes home he drives...in his car...and parks in a visitor parking space.

You are being very unreasonable.

I agree if public transport is available.
I live in a village so car parking isn't such a issue, but the nearest towns also don't have reliable public transport and the old railway line has been used as a pleasant running/walking/dog walking trail since the 50s.

We live on a road which is basically all off street parking with resident/visitor permits during the week. Parking can be a nightmare at times. I don't know of anyone with more than 2 cars but generally if people have a skip outside or trades in with more than a couple of vehicles, they tend to park their own car elsewhere so as not to inconvenience others by taking too much space up on the road. So I can see where your neighbour is coming from tbh.

We have 5 cars in our house and the teens/twenty year old park a short walk away out of respect for the neighbours.

They would stand on a bus or a train for several of our neighbours due to their ages so it would be odd, imo, not to be considerate in the street.

Love it. Well said

Sounds like a precursor to the neighbours seeking residents parking so unless you want to risk the cost of permits, some of which are limted per household, I'd try being more considerate.