Parking law and land ownership

[FeistySheep]

Hi folks,

Posting in Scotsnet to avoid all the masses of completely irrelevant replies pertaining to English law...

We have a driveway which we do not own, but we have a right of access over it in our house deeds. The driveway has a bellmouth onto the road, which is necessary because the road is a narrow dead end and people use our driveway to turn in (which is fine).
But there is one woman who works nearby who is constantly parking in our bellmouth. She is not the landowner just to be clear! Technically we can still squeeze out, but when she is there:

• a fire engine/large delivery van etc could not get in
• we cannot use our trailer
• no other road users can use our driveway to turn, meaning they sometimes have to reverse all the way to the top of the road and reverse out onto the main road.

As far as I am aware, the law does not give her permission to park there. It is not public highway and is not a designated parking space, so presumably she cannot do it? Does anyone actually know where I can find the relevant piece of Scottish law?

I have written one very friendly note asking nicely, and explaining the reasons why her parking is causing a problem. I saw her read it. That was last week. Today she is there again, so I have left a (polite) unfriendly note! I highly suspect it won't work however, so I would like stronger language to put in the next one! Can I threaten her with the police? Would the police say it isn't their business? How else do I legally force her to stop parking there?

Just so as not to drip feed, if she didn't park there she would need to park elsewhere and walk for 3 minutes to get to her work instead. Her work does not have designated parking. She does not have a blue badge indicating she is disabled. She may say she can't walk that far, but does that actually affect the law? Do even blue badge users have a right to block driveways?

Many thanks for any suggestions / legal advice! :)

Could the council mark it to say its a no parking zone?

We had this problem a few years ago. I did, on a couple of occasions call the police, who contacted the owners to ask them to move their cars. It worked, they didn't park in my drive again, so It is worth a try, especially if she is causing an obstruction.

Could you park something or put something in the space for a few days so she has to find somewhere else to park? It may put her off coming back.

Alternatively, if you know where she works contact her employers and tell them one of their employees is parking in your drive when she comes to work. This may embarrass her enough to stop.

It is a difficult one being a civil and not criminal offence, so realistically your only hope is to make it too difficult for her to park.

Thank you both for the suggestions!

Council no good at all - they won't even fill the giant potholes, let alone care about a car parking in someone's drive

Her employer knows, unfortunately. He is sympathetic but clearly won't go as far as telling his employee not to park there.

I don't think parking something else there will work, as how could I then argue that she shouldn't do it too? We did try traffic cones, but she moved them.

Will try the police then, if all else fails. Good to know that that is an option if she can't be persuaded to see sense.

Thank you :)

Would the land owner be sympathetic? He could put up signs and if those fail she could be given a ticket. It is a lot of hassle though.

Probably won't make much of a difference because she's ignored notes, but when I come across cars who've blocked cycle routes and I have the time I lift all their windscreen wipers. Non-damaging but inconvenient for them.

You could also attach your note saying not to park there onto each of the windscreen wipers with wire tags or even cable ties , so that it will take her a bit of time to get on her way again.

If you do it every day, she might get the message

But then, I can be wicked

@prettybird love it!! But I'll probably end up in a shouting match if I do anything antagonistic like that Not good for my stress levels... pregnant! It does me and DH good to think of epic ways to take her car out though... giant pit, tank, woodpecker attack, you get the picture...

Will try the landowner, thanks Callisto. They are pretty difficult to get hold of and unlikely to care, but will give it a shot :)

I know you've said you don't own the drive, but presumably the person parking on the drive (or the police for that matter) don't know this?

If so, I would be very clear that they are parking on your drive & report every time.

The police might be interested if you ensure they know that it means vehicles can't turn and have to then reverse out on to the road. We once owned a piece of land for which we sought planning permission - one of the conditions was a bell mouth so that cars could turn and not have to reverse on to the road.

Write with lipstick on the windscreen...no parking please

Bugger to get off 💋

Park where she parks for a while. If she repeatedly turns up and discovers she can’t park there she might find somewhere else

She moved your cones .. stencil no parking private property on the road .. what does the land owner say? Do they care ? Otherwise it will have to be gates that open inward right at the edge assuming the road cant be parked on, but means not turning for others, but I guess they can't with her there either 😖

Thank you everyone! I will try some of your suggestions (maybe not the lipstick)!

@FeistySheep

Thank you everyone! I will try some of your suggestions (maybe not the lipstick)!

The lipstick is ace and been mentioned loads of times on here 😇👌

Block her in and don’t answer your door when she returns

Did you sort it out?