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Original poster

Parking in private car park - not worthy of a diagram

30 replies

Timefortea99 · 26/09/2017 20:51

I live in a block of flats, each with a designated car space. There are also 4 visitors spaces. We are fairly near a station, and lots of offices and periodically we get people who decide to use the visitors spaces to save paying for parking and who work nearby or commute into London, or who live elsewhere and leave a works vehicle over the weekend etc.

Most people stop doing it when you leave a note but recently we had two at the same time. One never came back after a note, the other has ignored the note and he parks there Monday-Friday. What is really galling is that everyday he parks across 2 spaces (presumably to protect his precious car) so it only leaves 2 spaces free. If the other spaces get filled other visitors park in one of the designated spaces, which is also annoying but not the main point here.

We do have a property management company - but will they have anyway of finding who owns the car, and can they do anything about it? We did have a sign up saying no parking, you will be clamped, but I have never known them to - and I think it is now illegal to do that anyway.

Any ideas? (Tempting as it is to hire a skip and put it behind the car, I want to get the cheeky fucker to stop doing it.)

OP posts:
dementedpixie · 26/09/2017 20:54

Full the spaces up with cones?

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 26/09/2017 20:56

Can the rest of you block him for the night?

specialsubject · 26/09/2017 20:56

Two let down (deflate, not slash of course) tyres and a note. Job done.

pinkblink · 26/09/2017 21:03

Can't you & neighbours park there and get any visitors to park in your spaces

whathaveiforgottentoday · 26/09/2017 21:19

Blocking him seems the best option. If you've asked nicely, seems the appropriate course of action. It inconveniences them without causing damage. Probably best to block him in with an old car and maybe put a camera on just in case they come back when you're not there and you don't get to see their reaction

Original poster
Timefortea99 · 26/09/2017 21:24

He would just move the cones.

I think he would just move into a designated space if the visitors ones were full.

This is not a friendly block of flats. There is only one other flat who sorts stuff out (recently had a rat infestation!) and a lot of them are rentals with high turnover. We are not busybodies but nobody else seems to care if the intercom breaks, the guttering is blocked. So, just us and the other flat get stuck in. I don't really want to use our cars to block him in like that - he is that cheeky there is no telling what he would do to the other cars if he was thwarted by us. I was hoping that the property management company could do something but fear they might be toothless here.

OP posts:
chipscheeseandgravy · 26/09/2017 21:25

Wait for him to park his beloved car (I assume BMW or similar) and then proceed to invite some family round, block his car in and claim to not know anything about the cars.
Then obviously provide updates on mnet

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 26/09/2017 21:27

I that case just pester your management company until they do something about it.

can they really not clamp him?

chipscheeseandgravy · 26/09/2017 21:27

Ahhh cross post.
Could always check to make sure his tax and mot are up-to-date (Anyone can do this online) and if not a friendly mention to the police.

AntagonyAunt · 26/09/2017 21:38

The property management company can employ parking enforcement who can ticket any cars who don't have permission to park there. They may add the cost of this service to your service charges though.

Original poster
Timefortea99 · 26/09/2017 22:30

It is a BMW!

Apparently the law changed on clamping. It doesn't really happen often enough for the PMC to employ parking enforcement. Usually they move once they know they have been rumbled. But Mr Entitled is staying put - 5 days a week, all day, and in 2 spaces!

My DH was all for scratching the car but I talked him around.

Might just have to report it and see what happens.

OP posts:
wowfudge · 26/09/2017 22:36

Ask the management company to fit a lockable barrier to the car park or drop down bollards of some sort to protect the spaces. Make it their problem to resolve.

wowfudge · 26/09/2017 23:08

I've thought of something else: can you drum up enough friends with cars to park in the visitor spaces so there's no room when he arrives. Send someone out to tell him he can't park there if he looks as though he's going to leave his car.

AlexanderHamilton · 26/09/2017 23:10

I regularly block people in at work when they park in our private car park. I guess it helps that we have CCTV though.

5rivers7hills · 26/09/2017 23:39

Can you sign up for something like this?

www.flashpark.co.uk/HowitWorks.aspx

5rivers7hills · 26/09/2017 23:39

Also let down air / scatter bird food on top of his car

RNBrie · 26/09/2017 23:45

I'd buy a4 size lables and write "private parking asshole" on them and then stick one on the windscreen right where he'd need to see out. So he has to spend however long peeling them off before he can drive home every single time.

subsy1a · 27/09/2017 00:01

A deterrent often mentioned on these threads is encouraging kiddies smeared with sunscreen to "love" his car! I say his as I think most women are better mannered than this, even when parking a Beamer!

wowfudge · 27/09/2017 08:54

Advising the OP to damage the guy's car is not helpful. It seems to me that the OP has seen him park so going and talking to me might work?

SomedayMyPrinceWillCome · 27/09/2017 09:01

There are companies that will issue legally enforceable parking tickets.
You will need permission for them to put up signs & authorised (yours & neighbours' cars & visitors) can be given free permits.

The company will keep the majority of any revenue but if your priority is to deter parking rather than making money for yourselves, this could be a solution.

5rivers7hills · 27/09/2017 09:56

It seems to me that the OP has seen him park so going and talking to me might work?

He has been told. He still does it.

Mosaic123 · 27/09/2017 10:39

Is it worth asking the Police for advice? Perhaps they would be willing to send a letter to his home? (I might be very naive here). In the long run, a barrier with some kind of code will be helpful.

AllToadsLeadToHome · 27/09/2017 11:08

Private tow truck? Could you get the car removed to a pound or something?

Cling film the car.

parklives · 27/09/2017 11:13

I agree with the non-peel sticker on the windscreen (although maybe not A4 size!) every. single. time.
They will soon find somewhere else to park, it will probably only take a couple of days of stickers.

sleepyhead · 27/09/2017 11:15

Depends on the layout of your car park, but we eventually got a lockable bollard.

We don't use it all the time, but it deters regular cheeky fuckers as they never know when they're going to get locked in.

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