AIBU to park my van on the road?

[Vantopark]

My family and I live in a quiet village. DH and I have 2 cars between us which we park on the driveway. DH also has a separate work van which can’t fit on the drive, so he parks it down the road. He can’t park it directly outside our house because the road is narrow at this point and it would cause an obstruction. So he parks it legally on the road a bit further down where the road widens. It is not parked directly outside anyone’s house as there are no houses there, but it can be seen from some people’s windows at a distance. The parking is not at a premium, and there is always plenty of space left for other people to park there should they wish.

The other villagers seem to hate this. Their objection is based purely on the fact that they don’t like the look of it (it is sign-written). Not that it is obstruction anyone or using up valuable parking spaces (because it isn’t). They don’t have any objection to the other cars that are parked there. We’ve been asked repeatedly to move it, but as we haven’t obliged they are starting to get more aggressive, stopping me in the street to call me a ‘fucking selfish bitch’ etc. There are things I can see out of my windows that I would rather weren’t there, but I think that’s just village life isn’t it? There isn’t anywhere else that we can park the van in the village, anywhere else would be even closer to people’s houses.

YABU: yes you are a selfish bitch and the van shouldn’t be there

YANBU: You are legally entitled to park the van there, crack on and the neighbours need to get over it.

Thats surprising, most councils have a lot of restrictions on where you can park a camper van over night, there are a lot of local bye laws. Your neighbours may be unaware your in an area that allows it as the default assumption would be that it shouldn't be there.

You could tell your rude neighbours that "we'd like to move somewhere with a larger driveway, but I'm afraid that can't happen overnight, you arsehole".

It’s mad to think that people think that the OP should inconvenience herself and her small children in order to placate a bunch of unpleasant people who harass her in the street, because they don’t like to look at her DPs van. Which is a small van the same class as a car, so is going to be no bigger than a large Range Rover or similar vehicle. Which presumably would not attract any ire from these neighbours.

The van would take up to much room so if we parked it on the drive we’d have to park both cars in the village

I'd have thought the insurance on the van would be much cheaper if its parked on a drive overnight rather than on a random road, which is probably a factor in why most people do try to have them on their own drive rather than on the road.

"Generally people expect work vans to be parked at commercial premises, not on residential roads."

Don't think that's true at all. Work vans have always been parked outside houses and in residential areas. They are a common sight and always have been. I'm 50 and have never expected vans to be parked at commercial premises. I expect to see vans anywhere and everywhere...because they are.

Does anyone else generally expect to see vans parked at commercial premises? Are you surprised to see one in your street?

As far as OP is concerned it ends with her husband's van.

You can't go adding a fleet of HGVs to beat the OP with. That's just silly🪿

It absolutely blows my mind how pathetic some people can be, they're offended by the mere sight of a parked van but think it's OK to call someone a 'fucking selfish bitch'? Jesus.

Personally I wouldn't wash the van for a while so you can draw a massive cock and balls on it, and maybe 'I wish my wife was as dirty as this van'. Give the halfwits something to moan about.

Nope. Plenty of work vans around here 🤷🏻

If it's an IVECO you can do this.

Ha, that reminds me when we had a batshit pita living on our road. She bought herself a camper van and then asked a neighbour further down, who doesnt have a car (but does have an empty drive) if she could park it on their drive instead because she felt it would ruin the look of her own drive. She was extremely surprised when her request was denied.

OP said "I don’t really like the idea of walking them down the narrow country lane (no pavement) plus bags etc every time we go somewhere."

Which is understandable, but I do wonder if the van is causing more of a nuisance than they realise. It sounds like the van is parked on the narrow country lane, it could be obstructing vision of the road etc.

Would you like to have to add a journey each way to fetch your car before you could drive to work? Would customers be happy to have an extra half hour/full hour of labour time costs added to their bill for the tradesman to fetch and then return his van before he could start and finish his working day?

Quite a lot of tradespeople live in much nicer/bigger/more expensive houses than you might think they could based purely on their income - because they (and their mates with complementary trade skills) can do a lot of the work themselves - whether it's doing up a wreck that they can get for a bargain or large-scale extensions or conversions of an originally much smaller house.

You're right: it definitely is snobbery. Weird, really, as you'd think that what would potentially bring down an area might be clear signs of layabouts, dealers, petty criminals etc. - not proof of hard-working people, many with their own businesses.

Wind your neck in AntiqueBabyLoanSmurf……….it was only a suggestion! No need to get your knickers in a twist ffs!
Plus plenty of employees drive their own vehicle to work to collect a works van!

It sounds like OP's DH might have a LWB van; but the majority of the petty-minded people who complain about this will be targeting tradies with standard Transit vans. If you look at the footprint on the road of a Transit and compare it with a large family car, they're usually very similar; the van is just boxier to maximise the amount of vehicle space for that same footprint.

Oddly enough, these same snobbish people never seem to have any complaints about the neighbours (often themselves, actually) with massive Audi Q7s and similar, that require virtually the same amount of space on the road, if not even more.

The van is taxed, MOT’d and insured so can legally be parked on a public road.
Your DH has found a parking spot where the van won’t cause any issues with traffic.
If the neighbours don’t like the actual look of the van then they are a bunch of snobby twats. My DH has a van that is parked on our driveway as he is self employed too and none of our neighbours have ever been cussing us out under their breath.

If you get any further verbal abuse OP, I would keep a diary of it and speak to the police. I’m a gobby old cow so I would be loudly saying “sorry, I couldn’t catch what you were saying, can you speak more loudly and clearly?” and if the snobs do dare to repeat themselves I would then do mock loud laughter of the side splitting variety.
We don’t live in a village but I did when I was a kid. We’ve got people dealing drugs in our area unfortunately so your neighbours having to look at a work van don’t know how lucky they are!

Sorry, I didn't mean to come across quite as 'assertively' as I probably did!

Nevertheless, it's different if you have a work base from where you get sent out on assignments from your employer - say BT OpenReach or British Gas. For most SE tradies, their work base IS their own home.

People love to moan about vans, but they rely on the people that drive them to deliver their parcels and fix their homes. Do they think the workers who drive them shove them up their arses at the end of the day?

Leave your van where it is and visibly record the abuse. Start wearing camera if needed. Contact the police with the recording if it continues.

My husband has a van that he parks on our drive, a brand new smart one but even so I hate it being on my drive, big ugly thing, so if I hate the sight of my husband’s van on my own drive I can fully understand why your neighbours are pissed off at having to look at your van from their house when you have your own drive.

People are very funny about work vans.

I live in a (tiny, cheap) house in a village with quite a lot of considerably posher houses. When I first moved here no one else parked a car on the street; when I did there were a few delicate, tactful comments about how lovely the street looked when everyone kept their cars off-road, etc. etc. But then they settled down.

Later on I ended up in a job where I regularly had a flatbed truck parked outside so I could take it off to work. I am absolutely, 100% sure that some of the same people who had the vapours about a domestic car being on the road where pure horrified by the truck. But by then we had got to know each other and they were very nice and supportive and refrained from commenting on my hideous lack of class.

Jeez, some people have way too much time on their hands. Who gives a fuck? If it isn’t blocking light, who cares? Why should work vans stay at work? There are much uglier cars than work vans. I don’t want to look at a Tesla but I wouldn’t complain about it because I have a life and much more important things to occupy my brain. People in your village (and on this thread) must lead very dull lives.

When they call you a fucking bitch politely tell the you have them on record and will be contacting the police about harassment and verbal abuse.

People are free to like and not like anything - and if it's on their own property, they have full agency in controlling that; but it won't do you any good whatsoever to get het up about everyday items in normal, everyday, public places.

It's really rather arrogant when these people assume that the use of public facilities should be designed around what THEY personally do or don't approve of. The public road is owned/controlled by the council - and if they don't have any problem with how a member of the public uses their property, what on earth business is it of some random who happens to live nearby?

I mean, you're perfectly at liberty to find somebody's van ugly, or the colour of their front door, or even the person themselves as they walk past... but it's for you to deal with in your own head; not to berate and abuse them for doing something perfectly normal and acceptable.

Jesus. Park the van wherever you like as long as it is taxed and MOT'd. If the neighbours dont like it I would suggest they move to a private road or a gated community.

Are you a relative newcomer to this village, OP?

There are a few villages near us where they simply don’t like newcomers. They ostracise them and don’t welcome them. I wonder if that’s what’s really going on here.

Do people actually get annoyed to see a van parked on their street?

Jesus fuck. How fucking pathetic is that.