Parking vans at home

toffeegirl

The OP asked for advise, not abuse. If you disagree, it is possible to do so politely. Forgive me if I am wrong, but the purpose of this forum is to help each other - not upset each other.

Personally - I respect their decision to ask for advise before doing something.

I am having some minor building work done. On Day One, I moved my car in front of my next door-but-two neighbour's house. The builder's van crossed next door / next door-but-one, as a delivery of sand etc was expected on my drive. Knowing that next-door-but-two have 2 cars, when I got home from at 6pm, I de-iced the car and reversed it in front of next-door-but-one (leaving my house space free for the builder early the next morning). It remained there for Day Two and I moved it back at 5.45pm on Day Three when I got home after the builders finished. Later that evening I had a knock on the door - from the police!!!!! - 'Nothing serious madam, its about your car... we've had a phone call..' Someone from next-door-but-one had phoned the council / police complaining that an unknown car was blocking their driveway and had been for 3 days (even a car hire company would have called it less than 48 hours!). Unknown?! Never!! My car is very disctinctive, everyone knows that its mine!! Even if this were true, ANY neighbour could have let them know whose car it was. They didn't ask. They didn't even bother putting a note on my car.

Having had an apologetic policewoman at my door, acknowledging that she had seen the builder's van there earlier, I was asked to try and park more 'considerately' in future...

And the best part of this tale - the people next-door-but-one DON'T HAVE A CAR - that's why I had parked there and not in front of anyone elses' house.

A quiet request for advise on the forum (no matter how daft you might think it be) is for me, a far better way to start resolving something on one's mind.

p.s. When the builders come back to finish off, I know where I'll be parking my car..... again. i.e. outside the house where no-one owns a car.....

Primrose

I don't think it's necessarily a snobbism issue here. The fact is that restrictive covenants do exist on many housing estates where caravans, motorhomes and vans larger than a car are forbidden. I don't know whether the houses in this case are covered by such a clause, but if somebody buys a property in such a location knowing these are the rules, they should be obeyed. They are imposed for certain reasons, i.e. trying to make the area pleasant for everybody who lives there, and if you don't want to obey the rules, nobody is forcing you to buy a property. In the case in question, it seems to be a situation forced by a temporary emergency, i.e. a fire where where the vehicles were normally stored. Probably any reasonable person would live with this for a limited time if an individual's livelihood was put in jeopardy, but normally one would expect the rules to apply.

Clive_Woody

bordercars wrote: »

I'd love to help out. i accept tesco vouchers and you can go via quidco. only problem i see at the moment. i would require at least 28 days survelliance and it would be in a white van, unmarked of course, apart from one or two crude remarks in the dirty back doors. give us a call

:mad: It gets worse. The lady who lives a few doors from us has a son who drives a Vauxhall Astra. We have been very tolerant of this car so far and it's affect on house prices, but I got home last night and to my horror the young lad had fitted green lights underneath his car!!!! :eek:


For the record I should point out we live in a very nice area where Chavs are thankfully absent. Well that is until now!!! Green lights under a car, I ask you!!! Well I was ready to shoot him on the spot for this abomination, but OH thought this unwise until we had spoken with the resident committee.


I guess my question is, do you do bulk discounts for multiple hits?

Debt_Free_Chick

Primrose wrote: »

I don't think it's necessarily a snobbism issue here. The fact is that restrictive covenants do exist on many housing estates where caravans, motorhomes and vans larger than a car are forbidden. I don't know whether the houses in this case are covered by such a clause, but if somebody buys a property in such a location knowing these are the rules, they should be obeyed. They are imposed for certain reasons, i.e. trying to make the area pleasant for everybody who lives there, and if you don't want to obey the rules, nobody is forcing you to buy a property. In the case in question, it seems to be a situation forced by a temporary emergency, i.e. a fire where where the vehicles were normally stored. Probably any reasonable person would live with this for a limited time if an individual's livelihood was put in jeopardy, but normally one would expect the rules to apply.

But if the "certain reasons" are "to make the area more pleasant" then surely that's a form of snobbery? Afterall, there is nothing intrinsically unpleasant about a motorhome, van or caravan compared with a car ... or 4x4 .... is there?

The point about restrictive covenants is that the rules can only be applied by the party imposing the covenant. So if the covenant is put there by the developer, then it's only the developer who can take action against those that "break the rules". A neighbour cannot use this type of covenant against another neighbour - they have to complain to the developer and if they've finished the development, they will generally not be interested. A covenant is really only a legal promise and it really depends on whether breaking the promise has any effect on the person who demanded the promise, in the first place.

I think most people are happy to "obey rules" but not if they're unreasonable or seem to serve no purpose.

This is, of course, a very personal matter - I can't see any issue with the physical appearance of a van or four vans parked on someone else's drive. It says nothing about me or how I live my life. I find it odd that others can draw conclusions "about the area" and everyone who lives there, based on four vans parked one drive .... but I am clearly in a minority

Having said that, I have to put up with tractors, other farm machinery and !!!!!! from a variety of farm animals and wildlife ... but I'm not sure whether to be embarrassed or relieved about what that says to others about the quality of life here

(I am genuinely trying to lighten the mood here as some of us really need to question .... deep, deep down ... what is so "offensive" about four vans parked on a drive).

SplanK

Clive_Woody wrote: »

:mad: It gets worse. The lady who lives a few doors from us has a son who drives a Vauxhall Astra. We have been very tolerant of this car so far and it's affect on house prices, but I got home last night and to my horror the young lad had fitted green lights underneath his car!!!! :eek:

what would you do if you woke up and spotted this on your neighbours drive lol


I had that car for well over a year like that and had 0 complaints appart from the odd comment about its loudness of the exhaust - which i sorted

Clive_Woody

SplanK wrote: »

what would you do if you woke up and spotted this on your neighbours drive lol

I had that car for well over a year like that and had 0 complaints appart from the odd comment about its loudness of the exhaust - which i sorted

Nothing....





Well maybe a little accident.

gordikin

toffeegirl wrote: »

The OP asked for advise, not abuse. If you disagree, it is possible to do so politely. Forgive me if I am wrong, but the purpose of this forum is to help each other - not upset each other.

Personally - I respect their decision to ask for advise before doing something.

I am having some minor building work done. On Day One, I moved my car in front of my next door-but-two neighbour's house. The builder's van crossed next door / next door-but-one, as a delivery of sand etc was expected on my drive. Knowing that next-door-but-two have 2 cars, when I got home from at 6pm, I de-iced the car and reversed it in front of next-door-but-one (leaving my house space free for the builder early the next morning). It remained there for Day Two and I moved it back at 5.45pm on Day Three when I got home after the builders finished. Later that evening I had a knock on the door - from the police!!!!! - 'Nothing serious madam, its about your car... we've had a phone call..' Someone from next-door-but-one had phoned the council / police complaining that an unknown car was blocking their driveway and had been for 3 days (even a car hire company would have called it less than 48 hours!). Unknown?! Never!! My car is very disctinctive, everyone knows that its mine!! Even if this were true, ANY neighbour could have let them know whose car it was. They didn't ask. They didn't even bother putting a note on my car.

Having had an apologetic policewoman at my door, acknowledging that she had seen the builder's van there earlier, I was asked to try and park more 'considerately' in future...

And the best part of this tale - the people next-door-but-one DON'T HAVE A CAR - that's why I had parked there and not in front of anyone elses' house.

A quiet request for advise on the forum (no matter how daft you might think it be) is for me, a far better way to start resolving something on one's mind.

p.s. When the builders come back to finish off, I know where I'll be parking my car..... again. i.e. outside the house where no-one owns a car.....

Advi(C)e..anyone?

mandi

capita_guy wrote: »

Try getting a life! It could be far worse if you decide to cause them problems. Any visit from the council now will be obvious it is from you since you have already mentioned it to them. I can understand if they were on your drive that you would complain. You are just typical of a lot of people today who have nothing in their lives other than to complain about others.

What a lovely way to treat someone that comes here for advice a certain smiley comes to mind :easter_os :rolleyes:

Abbafan1972

My husband works for a courier company and has an unmarked Mercedes Sprinter which he brings home and it is parked outside our house. We only live in a Terraced house and have driveway space for one vehicle, our Volks Passat.

OP - I think you must have lived on our street previously because a handful of our neighbours are nice to our faces but I know they moan about the Van behind our backs. Thing is, were not the only one that has a van parked outside, next door is renovating and he often has one or two vans outside as well, which we're not bothered about, as the guy is nice and when he is not there he lets us move our van forward into his space, to create more room.

Are you retired by any chance OP? The neighbours who complain here are all retired and at some point have had to make a living and they don't seem to realise we have to as well. Even if it means bringing a van home.

baldelectrician

I have a large white van, and it is well signed.

I am in the process of building an extension and I had informed all my neighbours before I started the planning process.

I have really good neighbours. My neighbour through the wall has a driveway but does not use is as she no longer has a car

When I have the builders round I park up the road, and have been asked and been given permission to use my neighbours drive.

My point is - try and get along. You might find the neighbour is a really nice person.