Parking - what is reasonable to expect of neighbours?

bluep

So we've just bought a new house which is an end of terrace on on a corner. There is unreserved parking along the side of house fence which is parallel to the road (pavement in between), then we have a double gate in the fence (made out of fence material but clearly a gate you could drive a car through) then at the end of the fence, is a lowered curb, a piece of land which is ours (just big enough to turn a car onto and park) and our garage door. This isn't a busy town road - its a side street and there are usually other spaces easily within another 20m-50m.

So today we turned up with some stuff to move into our house to find that a car had parked across our double "fence gate" and partially across our garage entrance - only by a foot but it was enough that I had to pull diagonally onto the foreland and couldn't swing into the garage. Actually I was planning to reverse into either the garage or the back garden gates so we could unload.

Am I right in thinking that its forgiveable/fair enough to park in front of the gates as after all the curb isn't lowered (although its one of those roads where everyone parks with two wheels on the pavement and two on the road, so no clear distinction between road and pavement anyway), and you might not notice that the gates were there (or assume they aren't in use). But the garage?!!! As the curb is lowered and its clearly a piece of private land and someone's garage door.... I have to admit it annoyed me.

So I was thinking of getting a "Please do not park - garage in use" sign but can't find one that is politely enough. It's not in constant use 24-7 as they all seem to say...but I want to be able to a) pull into my garage at any point in time of my chosing and b) being able to get my motorbike out at any point.

What would be not too shirty but enough to make someone not park there? I think for the gates in the fence I'll laminate a sign saying "Please do not park - access required today for delivery) to stick out there on days when the sofa/fridgefreezer etc... are being delivered in the next few week.

RedFraggle

If the curb isn't lowered in one place and there's no white lines at either I don't think there's much you can do. You could pay the council to lower the curb at the gates.

da_rule

A sign might be an idea. Some places will print signs up for you so you can make it as polite as you like.

Parking in front of a dropped kerb is an offence for which a Penalty Notice can be issued. Councils only act on this after receiving a complaint. You could apply to the council for a drop kerb (and maybe a white line) to be installed in front of the gate.

AdrianC

If the kerb isn't lowered, then you don't have any legal vehicle access over it in the first place.

Flying-High_2

How long has the house been empty?.... Maybe they thought s it's empty they'll park across the gate?...


Regard other posts about lowering kerbs..... Before I went back on the spanners I used to contract to a LA and regularly used to dip kerbs.... 2 dippers and 3 flats is the norm for a Single drive @ £90 a kerbstone charged to the resident.

Strider590

Sounds like the usual "we've parked there for years". Good luck on this one, these never go well.
A friend had this when moving into a house where the elderly owner used to let the neighbours park their cars on his drive. Friend bought the house, moved in and the neighbours refused to move the cars.

specialboy

OP, as you may have realised by now the only way to prevent paring across your double gates is to have a dropped kerb put in, this is the only way you can access your property too.

photome

everyone is addressing the gates and kerb that isnt dropped but I thought the major issue was the access to the garage where there is a dropped kerb.

First course of action is speak to neighbours they may not have known you were moving in

bluep

photome wrote: »

everyone is addressing the gates and kerb that isnt dropped but I thought the major issue was the access to the garage where there is a dropped kerb.

First course of action is speak to neighbours they may not have known you were moving in

Yep that's right - not too fussed about the double gates (we'll only need access for moving stuff in like the sofa etc... on specific days hence the idea of a laminated sign saying access needed for delivery today - people should be fairly nice about it as its a small residential area and there are other places to park.

The ongoing issue is the garage. The previous occupant was doing up a camper van so it was pretty permenantly parked in the garage and not driven in and out. We intend to use the garage much more (not daily but I'd like the ability to use it when I chose) and there IS a dropped curb in front of it.

Gloomendoom

Flying-High wrote: »

How long has the house been empty?.... Maybe they thought s it's empty they'll park across the gate?...

I had this problem when I moved into this house. The previous occupant didn't have a car so my neighbour's visitors had got used to parking in front of my drive. It took about a year before they got the message that my drive was in use.

da_rule

As I said, parking in front of a drop kerb is an offence which the council should take action on. But this is a bit extreme. You could out a sign on the garage asking people to keep the area clear. Also, is someone does park over it perhaps you could put a polite note under their windscreen along the lines of "Hi, we now live at XXX. We understand that the previous owner did not use the garage but we will have to. Could you please not park in front of it."