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.

It depends how many drivers there are per house, if you have 4 people of driving age then yanbu.
Our neighbours one side have 2 drivers and 4 cars-usually 3 are on their drive but sometimes only 2, the other side also only have 2 drivers and at one point had 5 cars, again most on their drive but at least one on the road, meanwhile DH and I have 2 cars and both are on our drive!

You are so very unreasonable. I would hate it if you were my neighbour.

Why can’t you walk 1/2 a mile in the dark?

Easily done - we have 3 cars but when the youngest is 17 that will be 4, and when the eldest two visit there are currently 5 cars here (on the drive though). But that said if we were parking on the street we would definitely try to put a couple of them further away.

It's a public street and anyone ca park there. If you have 3 separate people living there that all drive that is different to say a couple having 3 between 2.

Personally keep parking where you are legally parking.

I'm on your side OP. When my brother and I were still living at home we had a car each because we lived in a village with fuck all public transport and had to get to and from work and college somehow. Our parents had a car each for same reason = 4 cars.

One grumpy old mare from a few doors down tried to tell me once I shouldn't park in a certain part of the public road we all lived on because our family had too many cars. I ignored her then proceeded to park right outside her house for the next 2 weeks.

You're doing nothing wrong. Tell your neighbour to jog on.

I now live near a beauty spot and our unpermitted road is absolutely rammed with cars on sunny days. We just have to deal with it!

Where’s the voting? Did you not want to see the 100% YABU OP? Well, YABU.

2 car spaces per house is absolutely fair and you would be unreasonable to say no, you need 4 spots to yourself and Sheila two doors down has to park a street away. How can you not see that’s selfish?

🤣🤣🤣 love that!

It's annoying but then this is why my top priority when I bought a house was off road parking.

If you choose to live in a house without parking then you cannot expect to always be able to park.

Unless the government limits households to one car if you don't have a drive way (ohhhh parking tax for additional cars!!) then the neighbours just need to get on with life and accept it's annoying.

Same reason the people with no driveway who want to try and police public spaces can't just move to a house with a driveway if they want to guarantee parking because their house can't I'd imagine

I just read your updates where you say you have 3 cars (I assumed you were the worst offender, but it sounds like your NDN is worse). In that case, you are actually no worse than my annoying neighbours with 3 cars. They also seem to think it would do their young son an injury to walk or get the bus. As a measure of whether YABU, I think it's generally worth considering what the situation would be like if everyone behaved like you, and in these type of cases that would mean the road being impassable. So yes, obviously, YABU, and your neighbour's solution is very reasonable.

My next door neighbours (a couple and their 7 year old son) have at least 5 cars. Their drive is big enough for 3.

I might sometimes think they’d be better off living somewhere with a big driveway, but it’s not really anyone’s business. If they park on the road in insured and taxed vehicles, it might be moderately annoying (as it causes traffic to back up and pass in single lanes), but they’re within their rights so 🤷‍♀️

3 cars in your household? That’s hardly excessive! I think every house on our street with older children has at least 3 cars. Honestly I’d ignore it.

We have to pay for parking permits where I live. 25 for first car, 125 for 2nd, 250 for 3rd. I never looked beyond that.

We live on a road that was most def not designed for cars. We usually pull slightly in (it’s a cul de sac) and take a view as to whether we can get in to get parked but if we can’t (which is the norm given we keep unusual hours) then we reverse back out and park as close as we can - usually 3 or 4 roads over. It just is what it is.

its first come first served on the road tbh. End of. My car is actually outside my house tonight but only because the space was free when I got home earlier - it’ll be there till 6am Tuesday when I take it out for work 2 hours away 😈

Hmmmmm odd

3 cars is not unreasonable, but I’d probably do what you suggested and try and park one further away. Could you definitely not get a drive put in?

Whilst of course the laws of the land allow anyone to park as many cars as they desire on a public road, to actually do that is enormously selfish.

It doesn’t matter how many people come on this thread and try to explain it properly to the numpties who’ve misread it, OP will go down in MN history as the owner of seven cars.

If I were your neighbour I’d totally seethe privately over this, I’d quite possibly talk about you to the other neighbours and I’d definitely cold shoulder you in the street. You’d never get a Christmas card and god help you if you ever asked for a favour….however if the parking was unrestricted I’d never ever ask you to park your army of cars elsewhere! 🤣

Tell them to F off, I have 3 cars in my house, all used daily, we park where there are spaces - there are no ‘owned’ spaces and no drives.
Park wherever, I do have to stop and drop shopping - but really, it’s a 10 minute job.

7 cars, are you all Uber drivers?

Think I'm in the minority here but I wouldn't make my kids park further away. It's just tuff for your neighbours that they don't get home quick enough 🤷🏻‍♀️

Haha! Insurance for the 3 we have is already over £5k a year, so I’d faint if I had to pay twice that with 7 cars!

I’d surely just move to somewhere with a drive, as probably be cheaper!