Neighbours being funny over parking

[seabrooks1945]

We moved into our new home 3-4 months ago. It’s a beautiful house in a nice, quiet area with good schools. The only issue is the parking situation. We have a driveway that can fit 1 small car. I park my car there, and my husband has to park his bigger car on the street right in front of me, blocking me in. So far, we’ve just been shuffling the cars around to get in and out, but with work, kids, school runs, and all the activities, it’s becoming a hassle. My husband recently started parking on the road outside our neighbours house to make things easier, but every time he moves his car, they park their car there instead. They used to always park in on the driveway until now, so it feels a bit suspicious. Are they sending us hints? Do you think it’s a good idea for us to have a conversation about it? How would you go about it?

You're not in a position to put some underlay sheeting and gravel down??? And you run 2 cars, one being a land rover???

Pffff... What balls. I smell poo

Does your husband need his Defender?

Doesnt seem like a sensible car for an urban area. It also looks as though, from your diagram, that he actually parks in front of two houses thereby reducing the parking available on the road. Is that correct?

If I’ve got this right, you and your attached neighbours have both got cars which fit on your driveways but also have tanks bigger vehicles which are too big for your drives ? If the bigger vehicles could be parked on your drives, the two smaller cars could both be parked in front of your two houses without impacting your other neighbours.

Yours and your attached neighbours’ solution to this is for the bigger vehicles to take up two spaces each on the road, one out side your attached houses and the other outside your other neighbours’ houses?

Essentially, you and your attached neighbour have four vehicles taking up six cars’ spaces. Yes, I think your neighbours are sending you a message. With what message do you think you would start any conversation with your unattached neighbours ?

Whilst it is understandable (and, I'll confess, a little bit satisfying) to humorously criticise the OP for owning such a ludicrously outsize vehicle, there is a more serious lesson to be learnt here.

The fact that this very thread, upon learning of the type of vehicle, has chosen to react in the way it has is a microcosm of wider society, OP.
Put bluntly, unless there's a good reason for owning that type of car - and I'm guessing there isn't or you would have swiftly defended it by now - then you can take the response in this thread as a mirror to the response of your neighbours and wider society.

Whether it's fair or not, most people do not like vehicles that size (and, by extension, people who drive vehicles that size). They carry an implication of rudeness, ignorance, and entitlement, which rubs people up the wrong way.
That may not seem fair, it may not be fair, but that's the way it is.

Your only realistic chances for a peaceful life, I think, are to either get rid of the offending vehicle for something sensible, extend your own drive at your own cost, or park the offending vehicle in your driveway and your smaller one on the road and deal with any difficulties that arise yourselves.

I don’t think the neighbours have an oversized car, OP’s issue is her neighbours are parking their own (normal sized car) outside their own house and OP’s DH needs two spaces so they want the neighbours to not park outside their own house so OP’s DH’s car can go their instead.
They want the neighbour to only park on their driveway, because OP feels they deserve the space outside neighbours house more.

I mean I know people joke about entitlement from people with these types of car but OP you’re really living up to the stereotype!

I suspect you’re responding to a poster that likes to put OPs in their place whatever they say, if you were the neighbour posting in this instance, you’d probably still be getting their best snarky reply.

Maybe the OP's husband is a large, hefty, weighty gentleman who needs a land rover or hummer? One of those people who are on Channel 5 and need a crane to help them out of bed so that they can get to McDonald's and the council offices...

I feel sorry for the OP. They are in a terrible predicament where they can't afford to widen their drive, can't afford to change car, can't afford to do anything really other than fill a gas guzzler, insure a v expensive land rover and upset their neighbour.

I think the reality is they can. They just don't want to and have no respect for anyone.

They don’t have to park ‘elsewhere’ unless you mean their driveway, which OP mentioned they usually park in? OP didn’t say the neighbour had more than 1 car either

Is your house only the width of the drive? I don’t understand how there can be no space outside your house without being blocked in?

If your car is smaller why don't you park on the road in front of yours and husband park on the drive?

It doesn’t matter how many cars they have though, they can park on the road if they want. OP isn’t more entitled to the space outside the neighbour’s house simply because her car is bigger and she didn’t want her own driveway blocked.

They don't want you to park in front of their house, but since they know it is a public road and they can't complain so they started to do it instead. They're using a public road, you're using a public road. There is no need for conversation.

They will keep doing it for a while and once they're satisfied you've stopped they will start parking on their drive again. If you start doing it again, they'll start doing it again.

So surely that begs the question why ypu bought a house that wasn't really fit for your needs? A huge car like that is likely to obstruct visibility getting off the drive so perhaps it is just easier for them to park on the road, to reduce the likelihood of them having an accident pulling out with reduced visibility?

There's no point in speaking to them. Your neighbours are parking their car on the road rather than their driveway for one of four reasons:

1. They would prefer to look out on to their car rather than yours for visual reasons - nicer colour, smaller etc
2. They would prefer to look out on to their car rather than yours for psychological reasons - they'd obviously prefer no cars in front of their house but it's much less stress-inducing when the car in question is under their control, i.e. they know they can always move it if they want. My parents have this exact scenario (although with different cars each day) and this is their reasoning for blocking the space outside their window
3. They don't want their visitors struggling to find a space, so they park on the road to ensure there is always a driveway space for visitors
4. They are annoyed that you would prefer to park outside their house, rather than go to the effort of shuffling cars around. Or that you have an oversized car for your facilities.

Whilst no one owns the road, as others have noted with @seabrooks1945 DH taking up two parking spots, those neighbours are left inconvenienced if they have visitors or deliveries.

I would suggest OP goes back to only inconveniencing herself and have her DH park in front of their own house and do the car shuffle when needed.

I will never understand why people buy homes which clearly don't have suitable/adequate parking for their needs.

While it's annoying for you, I do think it's a case of tough luck. Yes, I know they don't own the road, but it is quite rude IMO to potentially inconvenience others.

They just don't like you parking outside their house. Simple as that. The thing is it's the public road, so not their personal spot.
If it were me, I'd try and vary where I parked if possible, just to try and show I'm not doing it to annoy them.

Christ no wonder they are pissed off. I would be too.

There’s a slope from the road to my house so a car parked outside blocks daylight into my living room. While I can’t legally do anything about it, it does irritate me. Your husband’s huge car would also annoy me. Your neighbours are probably feeling the same. We’ve replaced our front lawn with a gravel drive so neither of us park on the road. Is that an option? We did it ourselves so didn’t cost much. The kerb was already dropped so we saved there.
Although the van and tow truck now parked opposite makes it difficult to reverse onto our drive. They aren’t legally parked because it is a junction but I can’t be doing with the fallout of complaining.

Keep shuffling your own cars. Why piss off the neighbours. It will take you two minutes.

Seeing this diagram, and the fact he has a Defender, you're being rude IMO.

Others shouldn't be inconvenienced because you have an enormous car and didn't think through the parking arrangements when you bought your house.

Downsize your car or suck it up

But your reasoning is that you can't be arsed to move your cars.

OMG! I would hate having you as a neighbour! Clearly take it as a sign your non-attached neighbour does NOT wanting you parking in front of their house! We all have busy lives children/work/activities etc. Just carry on husband blocking you in and moving cars around! Suck it up buttercup

It's laughable that you dare to suggest that car manufacturers are making cars too big for our roads whilst buying the biggest fuck off car available....
It would annoy the hell out of most people if you have just decided you are parking it outside someone's house. You need to mix it up, park different places.