To expect commuters to park in a carpark rather than outside my house?

[feelingabitfestive]

bought my house a couple of years ago. Like every other house in the street, everyone with a car has to park on the street. None of us has a garage or driveway. This didn't bother me much when we bought the house, as we only have one small car which we use at weekends, the rest of the time dh and I catch the train to work.

What does annoy me and sends my blood pressure spiralling is the fact that commuters take full advantage of the fact my street is a 10 minute walk to the train station, by parking up every morning. There is ample station car parking but it costs about £3 a day, hence why people park for free in my road. Every morning commuters in their cars arrive in droves to park for the day. What upsets me is the fact that DH and I made the choice to buy a house near town, so that we can walk to the train station. We could have bought a nicer, cheaper house outside of town and do what everyone else does, ie park in my road, but we didnt. I feel angry that the commuters who park in my street are benefitting from living somewhere nicer than me ie outside of town and yet benefit from my street.

Was on the train coming home last week and almost lost it. There were 2 blokes having a chat. First bloke says to his mate "do you want a lift home, I'm parked in the station carpark?". His friend says "no thanks, I've parked for free in xxxxxx road, it's very convenient". I end up confronting the bloke and getting myself in a sticky situation.

Everyone else including my dh tells me to just accept this is the way things are, but morally surely this is wrong!

My first time posting here

OP - I want to go against the norm here and sympathise with you - I dont live near the station but have a local high street shop who uses our residential street for a park and ride - the delivery van arrives and picks up all the staff who happily block my access and visibility as they feel it is there right to do so - I have managed to discourage them travelling illegally in the back of the van at least......as at one time there were allegedly picking up the staff of the shop next door too. This is a busy and crowded world and yes of course there are more important things to worry about but for me we need to be reasonable and considerate to each other - not the message I hear from some of the I have paid my roadtax so I will do what I like responders on this thread - I would like to think people think is there reasonable - not always the case I know.

Do you really blame them?

It's a total PITA. We are in the same boat. I like to be able to park in my street but often I just can't. But I'm afraid unless you press for residents parking and be prepared to pay for it, there is nothing you can do.

The person who has parked their car outside my neighbours house for the past three weeks so they could go on HOLIDAY has returned from their holiday and driven off. My neighbour who is 85 politely asked why they'd parked in the street rather than the airport carpark or at a friends, and was told by bloke that he'd been ski-ing and thought it would be cheaper and more convenient to park in our road especially as all his friends had told him about how its the only road around for miles that isnt resident parking!!!! I'm sorry but surely no-one else finds this reasonable behaviour? We're talking parking to go on holiday rather than to commute, or does it make no difference to some? Would be interested to hear thoughts...

"staff who happily block my access and visibility as they feel it is there right to do so"

that is completely different though. if they are blocking access then they are completely in the wrong.

"
we need to be reasonable and considerate to each other - not the message I hear from some of the I have paid my roadtax so I will do what I like responders on this thread"

surely it is reasonable to expect to get what you paid for with your road tax i.e. the right to park on any public street where there are nio parking restrictions.

i see nothing unreasonable about parking on a public street (blocking access is unreasonable and completely inconsiderate.)

where as i'd consider those who think that they have more rights to public property than others by virtue of where they live are completely unreasonable and inconsiderate. i really can't see how anyone would think it reasonable for one person to dictate where they have a right to park and where they don't when it is public property.

You can't really blame though can you - saving themselves a bit of money every day. Car parking really adds up.

When helping at DD's school 3 days a week I have been parking on a nearby cul de sac; one of the only road in the vicintity which isn't limited to resident permits or 2 hour parking only. The owners of the houses don't like it. It is very obvious they don't TBH. But what else can you do? There is no school car parking. The other roads are too limited on who can park and when and for how long. Yes there is a car park a few minutes walk away but it is pretty expensive, esp for a daily thing. So I park for free.

When I move to my next job in January I will have a similar problem, so yes again I will be parking outside someone's house every morning. I have no qualms whatsoever. I am not blocking people in their drives, not on the pavement, not blocking a road - and I am allowed to park there.

"I'm sorry but surely no-one else finds this reasonable behaviour? We're talking parking to go on holiday rather than to commute, or does it make no difference to some?"

i'd like to know of one good reason why it is unreasonable, as i can't think of any. the fact that it's outside your neighbours house is completely irrelevant. they both have exactly the same right to park in that spot.i really don't understand where the mentality of ownership of public property by virtue of it's proximity to your house comes from.
i think the guy going on holiday was completely reasonable.who is he harming by having his car parked legally regardles of how long it is parked for?

well the guy was harming my 85 year old neighbour who has difficulty walking and resents not being able to access his car because someone has parked up to go on holiday. Surely if someone can afford to go on a three week ski-ing holiday and drives a brand new BMW they can afford to pay for a car park?

Hmm it seems most people on here have their own parking or park outside other peoples houses rather than pay a couple of quid, so can't really relate at all. It's been interesting hearing everyones views but I stil think I'm not being unreasonable.

I am sympathetic, we have to park on our street and luckily its usually ok. I have lived somewhere that it was virtually impossible to park anywhere near and that is very stressful, for many people its not a case of wanting to park in front of their house its wanting to park within a 10 minute walk!

Whay are the council refusing residents only parking when other streets have it?

"well the guy was harming my 85 year old neighbour who has difficulty walking and resents not being able to access his car because someone has parked up to go on holiday. "

as i've said blocking access is a completely different matter all together and if that's the case they could not possibly be parked legally. if they are parked legally then it doesn't matter a damn who's house they are outside as the residents have absolutely no ownership of that space.nor does the reason for their being parked there as you don't have to justify yourself for availing of public facilities.frankly it's none of the 85 year olds business why he was parked there.

smurfgirl- the council has said that our street is not close enough to the train station to qualify (its about a 10 minute walk) and that other streets are closer to the station and so do qualify.

They seem to ignore our argument that because we're the only road that isn't resident permit parking now, all the overflow commuter cars are now crammed into our road. It's worse at night when people park to go clubbing/to the pub as they usually wake my toddler when they're slamming their car doors/revving their engine at 1 or 2 in the morning. The toddler of course then wakes up the baby so the whole family is pretty much exhausted! It gets worse over christmas when people seem to go out more so the thought of it getting worse is making me feel decidely unfestive...

I sympathise,our street is the same only its mostly residents who have two or 3 cars per house.
My DD age 3 cant walk far and we also have a 12 month old,it drives me demented as i have to leave one in the house/car whilst trekking down the road to the car/house with the other.
Absolutely sod all we can do about it though,if we applied for a disabled bay they are not legally enforcable anyway so whats the point?

So move.
To the nicer cheaper house further out that you mentioned in your op.
Then please come back and tell us that of course you get up early enough to drive to the station car park before it gets full, and you pay the parking every day.
They didn't build the station after you moved there, sorry but its a put up or shut up.

You pays your money you takes your choice imo. If a drive/parking is important to you buy a house with it. You don't own the street outside your house!

So yes, YABVU.

I sympathise. You should get the neighbours together and campaign to the council for parking that restricts commuters. It means it would be illegal to park for an hour during the day say 12 to one. That would end commuter parking completely but you would have to pay an annual charge. It would definitely be worth it. It's no fun struggling with shopping and children and sometimes very dangerous - - who do you leave in the car? who do you leave in the house? etc. The annual charge isn't usually very high.

In the meantime, it's curtain twitching and dashing out to move your own car to block the space in the morning.

Sods to all the people who say "it's not your road". Well duh. But if you have small children it's worth getting organised and sorting it out with the council.

at some of the nasty responses on here. I am sympathetic festive. If I were you though I wouldn't post in this section, as from experience, its not the most sympathetic part of mumsnet...

Quite right Mrs DW. The same team would be having a go at a woman who left a three year old alone in a house while she brought in 18 Tesco bags.

From a hundred yards down the road from her house ..or heaven forfend left him strapped in the car.

"so move"

what's that about?

From a practical pov, why not get your groceries delivered? That's what i do - otherwise I'd have to double park to unload.

Blocking someone is completely different and def not on. Infact I think it is a road offence isn't it? You could call the council and have a warning notice or poss even fine issued to the car owner.

I think parking for 3 weeks holidasy is a bit off TBH and def not something I would od.

But daily parking have no problem with.

blocking access is a different issue to parking on a street with no parking restrictions.

I used to live near a busy commuter station in greater london. My next door neighbour used to use OUR and his bins to "reserve his space" and used to shout at commuters and put rude notes on their cars. He was the unreasonable one. That street NEVER had restricted parking so he should have considered that before buying. It was a pain sometimes but we know that that was the comprimised we made in order to live in such a central area (as we couldnt afford a place with allocated parking) Plus putting our bins on the road was illegal and we used to get the blame from the council.

It's not nice but where do you park if you go and visit a friend, their street or the nearest car park.

It's really annoying - have same problem here, all of the car parks in our town have recently started charging so everybody tries to park in our street instead. The annoying thing about it for us is that there is nowhere for us to park our cars once you take out our street - you can't park in the carparks overnight after all.

I'd like residents only parking and it's being reviewed atm, but unfortunately there are far too many people that get a say but don't live on streets like ours to ever get it passed.

YABU, no-one has the right to park outside their own home, it is a public road.
I used to park in a street near a train station, mainly because the station in the evenings was swarming with yobs who loved to smash car windows.
I parked by houses where it was safer and the car park was free!