Street Parking

this_charming_girl

Evening everyone.
I hope some one could shed some light on a situation that i am involved in please?

I live with my Grandparents and back in March my grandad unfortunately passed away.
He had a motability car and a designated disabled parking bay outside our house.
The car was given back a week after he died and we also notified the council that we did not need the bay anymore, as my grandma does not drive.

We were then quite shocked to receive a letter from the council telling us a neighbor had phoned and complained about us having the bay just two weeks after my grandad died!
We obviously phoned the council immediately and repeated the previous phone call, where we told them to take the bay off.
It was only a month ago that the council came a took the paint off the bay.

My Grandmother and myself could not afford the house bills on our own therefore my boyfriend has moved in, and he owns a car.
Since then there has been a silent war for the parking space outside of the house.
There is one couple in particular.

the couple live two doors down, the own two cars between them and park both cars outside their front door. If they can't fit the two cars in they will park one car outside our house whenever they can. My Boyfriend is a secondary school teacher and is out 7:30-5:30 every day. This also means if a parking space becomes free near their own house they will not move until the next day.

This means we have to park at the other end of a long street- not really the end of the world but is annoying.
The most annoying thing is that they deliberately park over two spaces in front of our house. you could quite easily fit two cars in but they park just over the spaces.

Now im not normally one to accuse people however i have a feeling that this couple made the insensitive complaint about the parking bay.
My gran received this letter and was devastated that someone would make a complaint without even speaking to us face to face first. If they had, we would have told them we had already informed the council.
I know that they are not doing anything wrong legally, but i have been thinking about posting a letter through their door about this issue.... is that the correct way to go about solving this problem?

any help would be much appreciated!!

AdrianC

It's a parking space on a public road. No more, no less. Everybody with a road-legal car has just as much right to it as anybody else, no matter where they live.

If your neighbours think they're somehow "winning", then leave them to their petty pleasures, and laugh inside at how empty their lives must be.

sh0597

The most polite way is to talk to them. That way you can at least ascertain if they are being deliberately unhelpful or just unaware.

austin

buy the cheapest car you can find, park it outside your house. If you cant have the space, then neither can they.

OddballJamie

In the school holidays park outside their house. They will soon get the message.

arcon5

Get what message?
if it's a public road and they're parked legally then there's no message to convey.

get on with life. Or move in to a property with a dedicated
spot

tykesi

without even speaking to us face to face first. If they had, we would have told them we had already informed the council.
I know that they are not doing anything wrong legally, but i have been thinking about posting a letter through their door about this issue....

So you want to be approached face to face but aren't willing to offer the neighbours the same courtesy?

As above, it's a space on a public road, I could come and park there to deprive your boyfriend if I wanted despite not living on the street. The neighbours seem to be extremely petty I think you're best off leaving them to it.

Strider590

Sounds like a case of "we lived here first", quite pathetic really.

Bird seed is your friend

bryanb

The designated bay outside granfather's house was not actually your grandfather's alone. It was legally for anyone who held a disabled badge.
Your neighbours were out of order complaining. Also you were not under legal obligation to inform the council (although good that you did)

topdaddy_2

Not your space, not your problem.

paulsad

Parking - turns people into monsters - I drive a delivery van and the number of impatient morons you meet each week is staggering. From fat cats who think they own the roads to "drivers" who think their little car is the width of a lorry. My answer is to develop a thick skin.