Parking Ettiquete

michaels

My road of small terraces has parking bays marked and a residents scheme (which applies oly between 1.30 and 3.30PM). After about 5 in the afternoon it becomes very difficult to find a space close to my house as people from surrounding roads with no parking park on the road as there is no restriction at this time and also because some households have more than 1 car (the council do not restrict the number of permits sold to the number of spaces).

My wife and I have daughters of 2 and 6 months. Both often sleep when they go out in the car. For this reason my wife likes to be able to park close to the house so she can carry them in one at a time without leaving one in the car out of sight while she carries the other one in and then leaving one alone in the house (I am sure she worries too much about 'child-snatchers' etc but it is a real worry for her). To facilitate parking close by she puts our bin out in the marked bay in front of our house to 'hold' the space when she goes out.

Recently a group of residents have taken to moving the bin and parking in the space deliberatey - this is making my wife very unhappy often reducing her to tears. When challenged they have been abusive and called us 'selfish' (I must stress it is only a few of our neighbours, others are very supportive).

My perspective is that we are only doing this while we have the young children because it is a big problem for us to park further away. When we only had one child and before that when we had none we parked wherever and didn't complain. People sometimes try to hold spaces for builders and deliveries/removals and we don't consider them unreasonable. An elderly person on the street always does the same to hold their space because it is hard for them to walk far and we don't object. If the (childless) people who are objecting wanted to hold the space in front of their house then we would not object. I find it hugely selfish that they want to make life so difficult for my wife just to avoid having to walk 50 yards further along the road occaisionally but they obviously see it differently. Does anyone here have any comments - am I being unreasonable? I really struggle to see it from the other perspective, I wouldnt hesitate to walk a bit further at the supermarket rather than park in a parent and child space or to give up my seat on the train to someone who needed it...

WeirdoMagnet

A friend of mine is in the same position when she goes shopping with her 6 month old. She told me she typed up a note in her front window, which worked. I can't remember the exact wording, but she politley explained the problem, and asked for a little consideration.

Jet

Have you tried explaining why you want to hold the space and your partners worries.

Perhaps if they knew how much it worried you - they might be a bit more understanding.

derrick

You cannot hold spaces, if the road has no restrictions, anyone is entitled to park as long as they are not causing obstruction, what right do you think you have to create a personal parking space on a public road?
Everyone would like to park as close to their house as possible, but it is not always possible, live with it,the roads are overcrowded, it's a fact

michaels

Georgina and Jet, thankyou for the constructive comments, unfortunately the 'thanks' button is not working for me today.

derrick wrote:

You cannot hold spaces, if the road has no restrictions, anyone is entitled to park as long as they are not causing obstruction, what right do you think you have to create a personal parking space on a public road?
Everyone would like to park as close to their house as possible, but it is not always possible, live with it,the roads are overcrowded, it's a fact

Derrick
I am not claiming any entitlement I am just asking for people to show consideration, just as I do each time I don't park in a diasabled or parent and child bay at the supermarket or give up my seat on the trai or tube. I thought in this country people were generally polite and considerate to others needs but I can see that not everyone thinks this way.

nej

Someone near my house used to mark his territory by putting a cone or two on the road to save his space. Given that he had off-street parking as well but often chose not to use it, I used to take great delight in moving the cone back onto the pavement. He had no kids or anything, was just a selfish git.

Sorry to say but you have no rights here. Do you have a front garden you can convert to off-street parking? And remember when you are parking in front of someone else's house because your preferred space is taken, you are doing the same to them.

As an aside, there's a similar(ish) situation on my road now. Opposite my house there is a disabled parking bay, put there for the owners of the house opposite. They used to park their car there and not often use it. Sadly, one of the couple passed away a year or two ago. Now their (elderly) children visit very frequently and are also registered disabled, so they park in the disabled bay. Unfortunately somebody from the block of flats down the road now parks there all the time (he has a disabled badge but looks fairly young and fit), forcing the visiting older couple to park further down the road and hobble down to the house. It's not directly my problem, but I sympathise for the oldies. Can the disabled space be "Registered" to that house, or is it always going to be a free-for-all?

ollyshaw

nej wrote:

(he has a disabled badge but looks fairly young and fit)

I have personal experience of blue badge prejudice, there are other legitimate reasons for being disabled aside from being old.

Olly

derrick

nej wrote:

As an aside, there's a similar(ish) situation on my road now. Opposite my house there is a disabled parking bay, put there for the owners of the house opposite. They used to park their car there and not often use it. Sadly, one of the couple passed away a year or two ago. Now their (elderly) children visit very frequently and are also registered disabled, so they park in the disabled bay. Unfortunately somebody from the block of flats down the road now parks there all the time (he has a disabled badge but looks fairly young and fit), forcing the visiting older couple to park further down the road and hobble down to the house. It's not directly my problem, but I sympathise for the oldies. Can the disabled space be "Registered" to that house, or is it always going to be a free-for-all?

You could always report them for misuse of blue badge if you think they are not entitled to one:-
The following is taken from taken from HERE

15 Misuse of a Badge

Misuse of a Blue Badge is a serious offence:

• Your badge can be withdrawn if you misuse it or allow others to misuse it.
• It is a criminal offence for non-disabled people to use a badge. If they do so, they are liable to a fine of up to £1,000.
• It is a criminal offence to drive a vehicle displaying a Blue Badge unless the badge holder is in the vehicle, or the vehicle is being driven by someone other than the badge holder for the purpose of entering or leaving an area (which is accessible only to vehicles displaying a Blue Badge) in order to pick up or drop off the holder.

16 Misuse of a designated Blue Badge bay

Non-disabled people who park in a bay designated for Blue Badge holders are liable to a parking fine.

mcfisco

The trouble is I bet most people have got a good reason why they need to park outside their own house.
Unless you want start getting into debating who has the most valid reason, you need to accept the fact that parking is at a premium in your road & live with it or move.

Jet

mcfisco wrote:

The trouble is I bet most people have got a good reason why they need to park outside their own house.
Unless you want start getting into debating who has the most valid reason, you need to accept the fact that parking is at a premium in your road & live with it or move.

I live in a road where parking outside your own house is not always possible - generally when I have a boot load of shopping to unload. :rolleyes:

What offends me more than someone parking outside my house is people who park badly by taking up the space of two cars by leaving large gaps that are not large enough to park another car in.

I know that they have every right to do so, but feel that they are being inconsiderate. I will always make sure I do not leave huge gaps even if that means I'm not parked right outside my front door.

angry

Where do you draw the line?
Can you "reserve" a space if you're going to be unloading some furniture from your car?
How about big bags of laundry?
What if you know you've got to be up very early in the morning?

I suspect they aren't actively trying to make life more dificult for your wife, they just don't see why they should have to park far away.

Another thought: Your wife might be out shopping for a couple of hours, and somebody might want to park outside your house to unload furniture, so they only have to walk 10 metres instead of 200; they might be gone in half an hour. From this point of view it seems like you are being very unfair - making their life far more dificult, stopping them using a space that you are not even using yourself.

Maybe that would never really happen, but I can easily see why your neighbours might get upset...