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Original poster

What would you do?: parking work vans in the road

32 replies

joelallie · 25/07/2006 13:48

What would you do: parking work vans in the road.

We live in a cul-de-sac of Victorian terraced houses. Parking is crap here ? totally bloody awful. The only reason I get to park at all is because I get home at 4 ? if we take the car out after that time we have to park miles away or on double yellow lines when we get home. It?s getting worse as more people move in with several cars. However atm the main whinge is that one of our neighbours who works as an engineer for an leccy distribution company. He has taken to parking his works van in our road ? when I say ?van? it?s the size of a small lorry, the length of 2 cars plus a hoist on the back and wider than any car. It is p*ssing me off . Not keen to mention it to him as parking is a very volatile issue round here . But there is a ?How?s my driving? phone number on the back of the vehicle. Wondering if I could ring it and let them know that one of their vehicles is routinely left in a residential street at night with presumably a load of tools in, and inconveniencing everyone. My DH won?t park his van out there for that very reason.

Or would that be horrible and sneaky and should I speak to the nightbour directly and risk getting a thump?

OP posts:
Scoobydooooo · 25/07/2006 13:50

So where does your DH park his van & where is the neighbour suppost to park his?

What i mean is, is there somewhere else he could be parking?

yorkshirelass79 · 25/07/2006 13:51

Message withdrawn

SaintGeorge · 25/07/2006 13:54

Is it taxed?

If so not a lot you can do about it really. Speak nicely to him but if he opts not to move it then that is his choice.

Sorry, but if it is a public road then he can park whatever vehicle he chooses.

beckybrastraps · 25/07/2006 13:56

My dad was a gasman and he used to park in our road. Someone complained to British Gas that having the van was "lowering the tone" of the place. Where else was he supposed to leave it?

Original poster
joelallie · 25/07/2006 13:58

Scooby - DH parks his van in our garage at the back. This neighbour has a garage but rents it out to another neighbour for a motorbike. Not that his van thing would fit in there - it's huge.

SG - I know there is nothing anyone can do legally. Just wondered what his employers would think about it.

OP posts:
poisson · 25/07/2006 13:59

rign the company

poisson · 25/07/2006 14:00

they are a real eyesore
some new states haev clauses ayign no parkign of caravans of vans

beckybrastraps · 25/07/2006 14:01

An eyesore!!!

Taking up too much space, fair enough, but an eyesore...

ProfYaffle · 25/07/2006 14:02

I used to work for the Highways dept of our County Council, we had really strict rules about people taking vans home, it was something to do with insurance and where they were parked overnight and there's a tax liability on the employee if they use it for personal use.

We regularly had members of the public ringing in to complain about vans parked on residential street and we used to always investigate it as in some cases they were being taken home without permission.

Doesn't mean that's the case with your neighbour but you never know.

poisson · 25/07/2006 14:03

GREAT
fo course they are an eyesore
evidence if hte proletariat of ocurse

CountessDracula · 25/07/2006 14:05

Oh god I wish we had a van instead of my neighbour's sodding great 4x4

piglit · 25/07/2006 14:08

I'd do anything to avoid having a dispute with a neighbour. Having said that if it's really p*ssing you off perhaps a phone call to the company might be the answer. If they don't have a problem where he parks it then there's not a lot you can do but as others have said there might be a policy not to take vans home. Good luck - I used to hate all that parking shenanigans when we lived in London.

Original poster
joelallie · 25/07/2006 14:09

ProfYaffle - that's what I wondered really. There must be some expensive tools in there for a start. As to where else he should go? Don't know but as you don't see these vans parked all over the place there must be somewhere else to leave them.

Don't give a sh*t about it being an eyesore or lowering the tone - he'd struggle to make it much lower than it is already TBH.

OP posts:
CristinaTheAstonishing · 25/07/2006 14:18

Insurance of tools is his problem. If it doesn't bother you about being an eyesore then what exactly is the problem? Is it that it takes up too much space and makes it difficult to maneouvre around it? Would you take up the issue with other neighbours who have more than one car and also take up too much space?

BTW take care when parking on double lines, they are there for a purpose, usually safety. You might be reducing someone's visibility when they comes out of a drive, side street etc.

I think I'd ring the company (and that's because i'm a scaredy cat rather than sneaky).

poisson · 25/07/2006 14:18

oh but it LOOKS so

manual

CristinaTheAstonishing · 25/07/2006 14:23

Yes, very blue collar, dahlings, but she said she ain't bothered by that.

poisson · 25/07/2006 14:25

grr
NO ONE bit

Tinker · 25/07/2006 14:25

Not read rest of replies yet but have same problem. Bugs the hell out of me. Especially when you get one stuck in front of your window all evening

CristinaTheAstonishing · 25/07/2006 14:26

Now, if it were the Ocado delivery, different issue altogether

CheesyFeet · 25/07/2006 14:29

Next door but one runs a market stall - plants & flowers. Horrid family from hell (she sits in the back garden effing and jeffing at her 3yo). They have a caravan on their drive that her brother lives in from time to time, so their two transits are always parked on the road. Tis a total pita, especially when people come to see us and can't park anywhere near our house (we have a drive but our cars are on it). Nothing we can do though.

Original poster
joelallie · 25/07/2006 15:41

ChristinatheAstonishing - I appreciate that yellow lines are there for a purpose but what are you supposed to do when you get home with 3 kids in tow and you can't park anywhere else? They are for the last 20ft of the cul-de-sac so that vehicles can turn. My view is that if you can't reverse a vehicle the length of a street you shouldn't be driving at all! There are no entrances to obscure.

I don't tackle most residents who park several cars - it's inconsiderate but as has been pointed out, not illegal on a public road. But I think that it is distinctly odd constantly leaving a huuuge vehicle like that with the companies logo plastered all over it on a small residential street.

Anyway....there's 2 now. He's come home with the big bugger and meanwhile a little version has also appeared. I'm going to ring....

OP posts:
CristinaTheAstonishing · 25/07/2006 17:33

Don't get angry with me for pointing out what double yellow lines are for. I find that many school mums have no idea they are there for their children's safety too (we live opposite a school, you see, we each have our own bugbears) and I find it very hard to get out of the car park when I have zero visibility into the main road. Many drive big 4x4 so not a chance to see into the main road.

foxinsocks · 25/07/2006 17:57

we have a parking issue round here but the road belongs to everyone. He's probably not taking up any more space than someone who has 2 or 3 cars parked on the road. It used to really piss me off when I arrived back with the kids and the 19 yr old estate agents with their greased hair and their ridiculous drug dealer looking Audi TTs parked up and down my road (we are behind the high street and near the station with no resident's parking) but as someone else recently said on a mother and child parking thread, you have to become Zen about it. If he didn't park it there, no doubt someone else with 3 cars would go and dump their cars there.

If you really want things to change, call your council and ask them about a resident's parking scheme or if there are any rules about the size of lorry allowed to park on a small residential road (we have some sign up here that says only lorries under a certain amount are allowed on the road between certain hours - but the roads are narrow here).

You have to rise above these things and not allow them to take over your life!

CristinaTheAstonishing · 25/07/2006 18:58

FIS - i like your idea although I don't think a residents' parking scheme would help much in Joelallie's case, as it is another resident's oversized car. DH also went to the police station and spoke to the school about the parking problem round here. Now there's a holiday scheme run at the school and guess what, ppl are still parking on double yellow lines and they've got plenty of space now. The police have had many complaints and they are going to start issuing tickets from September onwards. It's a shame though that it has to come to this. I'm not a very confident driver, which is why I feel I need all the space/visibility I can get.

Original poster
joelallie · 26/07/2006 10:54

ChristinatheAstonishg - not getting angry . Just explaining the situation. It is THE ONLY situation in which I would park on the double yellows.

foxinsocks - we've looked into residents parking (beleive me we've looked into everything) but it doesn't guarantee you a space, simply gives you the right to park in your street. Unless a traffic warden is about a car without a permit could use the street and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Plus they wanted £200 a year - not too bad if it meant you could always park but it doesn't. And they don't restrict the number of permits issued so in our street with about 60 parking spaces they could potentially issue 100 permits. Not really going to help.

And it's hard to be zen about it when there is literally nowhere to park your car. Might also add the the driver of said wagon-of-Satan also owns a car and a motorbike both of which are parked on the road.

OP posts: