Public road parking disputes

Bufger

So i'm having a bit of a dispute with some of my friendly neighbours over the road. Nobody in our street has any dedicated parking, only a few have driveways and all the garages are at the rear of properties.

We have 2 cars, we usually park 1 outside of our house if the space is there and the other down a side road (no double yellows/permits/disabled areas etc). A few times we have had to park both vehicles down this side road, on one occasion a lady knocked on our door and asked us to move a vehicle as we were in her space - again there is no dropped kerb/driveway etc. I moved it forward slightly so she could park behind. Since then we've had cars from these 2 families trying to block our cars in by parking so close behind and infront of us but i can always get out anyway. One of the families has 4 cars and the other has 2 so its not like we're owning the street with our whole 2 vehicles!

last night the same happened but i told the lady i wasnt moving my car as i pay my car tax and its a public road. I informed her that nobody had ownership for individual spaces in this street so she would have to walk the extra 10ft to her house from where her car was parked. This as you can imagine caused a big thing as she was very upset! (sad i know).

Last night the 2 sets of neighbours were standing out on the street for a long time (i only noticed when i went to take the dog for a walk but they could have been there ages). They were talking about the cars and what they should do about it and to me it seemed like things will slowly escalate into stupidity. Obviously this isnt something that i want as there isnt anything worse than having neighbour disputes. Also my missus is pregnant so i dont want her to have any extra stress!

How can this situation be diffused? I dont think they see the sense in the fact that its a public road and they have no dedicated parking space and i dont think they'll come around to that. There is plenty of room for us all to park so i dont see the problem - its just they have an invisable line somewhere.

Is it worth contacting the council and getting them to send out a letter informing the street of parking restrictions/freedoms so they might see sense? If i think the big dispute is starting and could escalate is it worth registering it with the police so they can nip it in the bud right away? I'd happilly talk to both families but i know they wouldnt talk to me, they're not the confrontation type and i can tell that they're intimidated and wouldnt want to talk freely (they only ever stare and make my missus feel uncomfortable but if im out there they either go in their houses or turn their heads - im quite a big muscly fella but im a big softy really)

Sorry for the long rant - never had neighbours hate me before but this just seems like a few people have nothing else going on in their lives so they sit and get worked up about a parking space!!

maninthestreet

The police probably won't be interested unless there is evidence of a criminal offence.

DaveF327

There isn't really a lot you can do as you did the right thing, firstly by complying with her request in the interest of neighbourly relations, secondly by informing her of the true situation. All you can do is to break the bad news to them in the nicest possible way.

If it were me, I'd offer to move the car at my convenience "after dinner" or "after this programme's finished", whilst making it clear very politely that the public road is first come first served. I'd be happy to suggest a nearby alternative place for the neighbour to park before actually moving the car. That little bit of voluntary compromise does help neighbour relations, but unfortunately, there are many who just cannot comprehend common sense and will never be satisfied. At least go to sleep at night with a clear conscience that you made an effort.

anewman

Sadly too many people believe they own the street outside their house. It only shows you that they're thick idiots with nothing better to do if they spend their time asking people to move cars, try blocking cars in, and plot with each other for ages in the street over it, instead of parking 10ft away and walking. Sadly I highly doubt they will ever see their own stupidity or be convinced that they don't own the space outside their house. It's up to you if you want to park further away to try and appease them (thereby making them think they're wonderful people who own the street and they've won) or to park wherever you want and risk them getting up to their stupid games which if they have to discuss after trying to block you in might involve letting tyres down or worse. The council won't send any letters, and even if they do will be completely incomprehensible and unrelated to the point made. You may want to get a CCTV camera to point at your car, unfortunately as you won't get the same parking space each time you may have to move it and a decent one which can see well in the dark would cost a bit and would have to be placed on the wall outside (the IR light would reflect off glass).

poet123

We actually do own the street outside our home, then we pay the council for permit parking rights, then we watch as the parking wardens ignore our street for 3 reasons;-
a) too far to walk from their base ( according to the rules, they cannot forced to walk that far, so need a van!)

b) they cannot handle the daily confrontations with parents who collect and drop off for the school in the road.

c) according to a warden I accosted re this issue, they were told off by a senior council member for bothering with the street at school time because his wife parks here to pick their kids up!!!

So. we pay around £75 pa to park our cars on our own land, and did so, in the now obviously mistaken hope that it would be policed. Complaints get a lone warden for a couple of days, then back to normal.

Bufger

Thanks everyone for your replies. In the end i decided to write a letter to the occupants of both addresses.

It basically quoted the highway code in relation to public street parking and at the end i mention basic parking etiquette and that i would be willing to discuss it with any of them if they wished. I also put in a phone number for the local council parking regulations department if they wished to check on the regulations and a number they could call if they wished to apply for a residential parking permit scheme (which they wouldnt as they have 4 cars they would have to pay a permit for!).

I dont mind if they come and discuss it with me. I'd rather them not stress out my pregnant wife which is why ive delivered the letters. Now if they have a problem i would hope they would come and speak to me so we can sort it out instead of them acting like children

Thanks again for your replies. I appreciate the responses.

Oopsadaisy

Simples, just burn their houses down [whilst they are all out at church obviously].

Oopsadaisy

Step 1: Say 'Oh yeah, no worries, I'll do it as soon as 'insert name of programme' is finished'.
Step 2: Wtach program, then 'forget' to go and move car.
Step 3: Repeat steps 1 and 2 ad infinitum.

mikey72

Suggest they could just park a few of their cars in front of your house when you go out if their street is full.
If they have six between them there will always be a few spare, so that'll free up some space for them