Moving house contents - no where for lorry to park

tincat

Hi,

I live in borough of Richmond upon Thames. My road has no yellow markings, and there are about 15 houses on each side of the road (not very long). We are only about 5mins walk to a train station, so lots of people use our road as it has no residents parking. The road around the corner is the end of the resident's parking and is controlled.

We are moving the week before Christmas, and I am starting to worry about where the removals lorry will park as they will be packing our whole house up so will probably be a number of hours.

I can't get restricted parking through the council because the road has no markings. I will speak to my neighbours, but a lot of strangers park there too and I would have no way to speak to them. According to the council it is illegal to put your own signs up or traffic cones to prevent others parking.

What options do I have? How do other people in busy London streets manage this?

If they block the road, it is possible for cars to reverse and go around another way to wherever they are going, but that would be annoying, so not sure what arrangements I need to put in place.

Or do I just put my head in the sand and hope the removals people know what they're doing and how to cope?

Thanks

peter_the_piper

dustbins/cones when you get a space? I assume that there is space before the commuters get there.

dacouch

Can you not park your car and another family members car in a large enough space for them or knock on you neighboors doors and explain the situation to them?

peter_the_piper

Reading between the lines I assumed it was commuter parking so is a bit more difficult.

Owain_Moneysaver

Can you and a few neighbours park some cars the night before, spaced out to make up the space the lorry needs?

Cazza

When I moved a few years ago, my partner and I parked outside the property the day before. Two cars, with an annoyingly large space between them, just slightly too small to park another car in. If you've got a massive removal lorry, I'd try to see if I could rope in a friend or two's cars too. Start casing the road now, so you know what time the gaps start to appear ;-)

Coupon-mad

tincat wrote: »

Hi,

I live in borough of Richmond upon Thames. My road has no yellow markings, and there are about 15 houses on each side of the road (not very long). We are only about 5mins walk to a train station, so lots of people use our road as it has no residents parking. The road around the corner is the end of the resident's parking and is controlled.

We are moving the week before Christmas, and I am starting to worry about where the removals lorry will park as they will be packing our whole house up so will probably be a number of hours.

I can't get restricted parking through the council because the road has no markings. I will speak to my neighbours, but a lot of strangers park there too and I would have no way to speak to them. According to the council it is illegal to put your own signs up or traffic cones to prevent others parking.

What options do I have? How do other people in busy London streets manage this?

If they block the road, it is possible for cars to reverse and go around another way to wherever they are going, but that would be annoying, so not sure what arrangements I need to put in place.

Or do I just put my head in the sand and hope the removals people know what they're doing and how to cope?

Thanks

Your road is very very similar to mine.

I had two large kitchen appliances delivered on separate days (long story!) last week and simply made sure my own car was parked outside on one day (then I moved it for them; I squeezed my car in next to a tree instead). On the other day I stuck 3 cones (from a builder friend) partly on the kerb & road, plus my wheelie bin. Told the delivery guys on the phone to look out for that space as it was for them, then I ran out when I heard the lorry arrive.

There is no other answer really and I was aware that the cones were technically blocking the highway (tough, I had reason to do it).

tincat

Hi, thanks for suggestions. I could try blocking some parking space and ask a couple of neighbours to do so too. Unfortunately, because we're near a station and the high street, we get commuters at all times overnight it is really busy, so even if I stayed up all night there is no guarantee of getting a space outside.

I have lived here for over 5 years, and there are only 3 or 4 cars on the road that I recognise anyway (I don't take notice of cars at all).

What I did think, is that directly opposite our house is another road which also has parking restrictions (the one around the corner is on the way to the station and the road opposite us is on the way to the high street). I was thinking if the council will allow us to restrict bays on the road opposite.

There is about 15 - 20m maximum from our front door to the restricted parking area, so not too far for the delivery men. If I manage to nab the parking space outside our house, then I can move it so they won't have to walk around / through cars.

I'm going to send a form requesting that from the council as it's the only safe thing I can think of. Unfortunately it's quite expensive:


Parking suspension prices from 18 May 2011

Administration fee : £92
Additional Charge per bay per day
Category 1 - A1, A2, H, M1, Z2, Z5: £30
Category 2 - B, C, CB, D, ES, F, G, HM, KC, N, M3, M4, M5, M7, M8, M9, S, S1, X, Z1, Z3: £19
Category 3 - B1, E, J, KA, KB, M, T, Z4: £8

I'm not sure what category the parking will fall under, but off to look now.

Coupon-mad

tincat wrote: »

Hi, thanks for suggestions. I could try blocking some parking space and ask a couple of neighbours to do so too. Unfortunately, because we're near a station and the high street, we get commuters at all times overnight it is really busy, so even if I stayed up all night there is no guarantee of getting a space outside.

Same here, not London but there's a station round the corner, parking restrictions on other roads but not mine. I simply had to block a space before the damn commuters & local shop workers arrived. If that's the night before then sobeit.

tincat

Same here, not London but there's a station round the corner, parking restrictions on other roads but not mine. I simply had to block a space before the damn commuters & local shop workers arrived. If that's the night before then sobeit.

I know, but there are a few pubs on the high street, and we find people park here, and then if they have a few, get a bus or the train home, leaving their car on our road, so it is really hard to get a space. On some days it's fine, but others not and there's no rhyme nor reason to it so I just don't want to find that the day we move it's impossible.

It looks like we would pay the £8 per bay per day rate, so if I book 4 bays that should be enough. That means that it'll cost £124 that I hadn't really factored in .

Oh well, I am going to be frantically busy that week so would rather not stress about it and just pay. It would be just my luck that I book everything, pay, and then on the day my road is completely free:rotfl:.

I'm just waiting to hear back from the removal co to see if that's what they'd suggest, and then find out from the council if I can book those bays. I don't see why I shouldn't be able to, but I realise sometimes 'computers say no'.

I'll update when I know. Thanks

Buzby

Why the Council and not the police? If uncontrolled, the Council cannot legally do anything. The police however, can. Their cones can be dropped and carry he weight of a fine and towing for the obstruction.

Speak to you local Inspector and seek his cooperation. The best you'll get is a morning or afternoon use, but as the street fills in the AM, they may only do the former. It's worth a try, as my local bods were most helpful.