Parking infront of Driveway?

lucylucky

a1054966 wrote: »

No good either.

What makes you say that?

xangeleyes

Taken from safemotoring.co.uk

Parking over and blocking a driveway belonging to someone else is one of the most common reasons that people end up falling out with their neighbours. It's rude, discourteous and can cause a whole lot of problems, especially if access to the driveway is completely blocked in either direction.
When faced with this situation, many homeowners try to fight fire with fire and come out brandishing a copy of the Highway Code which in paragraph 243 requests that motorists "DO NOT PARK in front of an entrance to a property".
However, if they take things further and report the offender to the police - it often comes as a big surprise to find out that it isn't actually illegal for a motorist to park in front of a private driveway, despite what you think the Highway Code is saying. The important thing to pay attention to is the language used in the rulings. If 'Do not' is used, then this is advisory and should be followed - but there is no legal comeback if a motorist chooses to ignore it. However, if the rule states 'Must not' then this is a legal requirement and the driver must therefore obey it or if caught or reported, face legal action.

So, ultimately, this is down to a question of courtesy and respect between you and your neighbours. If you do suffer from a repeat offender who insists on blocking your driveway then do be careful. As you are not backed up by law, the best thing you can do is to approach them calmly and try to sort out the situation amicably. If they aren't interested, or continue to ignore you and park in front of your property, blocking your access, then unfortunately the only thing you can do to ensure that you have full access to your drive is to park somewhere else - perhaps, if you're a fan of irony and you can get there first, even in front of your own driveway. If you do this often enough they'll probably get bored and give up.

It does seem incredibly unfair that someone can do this when you have forked out for a home with somewhere safe to park your car off the road - and if you are blocked ONTO your drive, then you might find a kind police officer who will make enquiries for you, contact the owner and ask them to move their vehicle. However the police are not bound to act as according to the Highway Code every driver has a right to park anywhere on a public highway except those places which are expressly forbidden.

Bogtrotter

I used to live on a private road in Manchester quite a long time ago.

Before I lived there obviously they had the same problems as you are having so the residents installed wooden gates across the entrances.

Their solution was to block one end of the road with a permanently locked barrier. The other end had just an unlocked gate and if there were any problems the gate could be locked if necessary and a spare key left at a convenient place in case that the residents forgotten their own key.

Generally once the locals became aware they weren't welcome to park there (spent a few hours finding who had the key to let them out:)) they avoided the place even though 95% of the time the gate was unlocked even sometimes wide open.

sharpy2010

Every time it happens, stab all four tyres of the car. It won't be long before no one will park in front of your drive again.

Sooler

Add 'access only' to the no parking private road sign. then people will know they're entitled to use the road an park behind the shops

selbailey

Thanks for all your replies! I have spoken to the people that do it - they still keep doing it.. apparently the previous owneers spoke to the solicitor who owns the land and he said.. widen your drive.. how rude!!!!

anyway I think i will need to get onto the solicitors now and see what they suggest because its becoming a big problem!