Ethics of parking in a cramped estate

R

rrrrrrrrrr

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We live in a small estate of compact houses. Some of the houses have drives, some don't. There's room for cars to park on one side of the road
only so parking is an increasing problem.

It's a public road and from previous threads, I know that no one has exclusive rights to park outside their house (except of course, you can't block someones drive).

The problem is that one particular neighbour up the road (with 2 cars) continually parks one of his cars outside my house, resulting in me having to search around for a spot, often ending up ages away, and no doubt upsetting another neighbour. He often leaves it there for days on end and at the moment on of his cars has been parked outside all week and I suspect they've all gone away.

It's very annoying.

Leaving the legalities aside (I know he's not breaking the law), do people think this is acceptable? Should I say anything to him?

It's a different to similar 'park and ride' or 'commuter' parking problems other posters have had, as it's a small community and we have to live together and I don't want to fall out or appear unreasonable
 
i could well imagine how annoying that would be.

i'd mention it to him. i know you want to keep the peace but i reckon he's probably continuing to park outside your house because you haven't said anything to him.

where did he park the second car before this? maybe he's already been asked by other neighbours to move the car?
 
Its hard to know what to do, I sympathise. On my culdesac, the neighbours refuse to park more than one car in a drive which means half the cars are parked on the road. My bugbear is when they park opposite each other meaning a car can barely get past. I am terrified that an ambulance or fire engene won't get past in the event of an emergency.
Its hard to know what to do, the residents association could pass comment on the matter in a newsletter.
 
In a fair world where all people are decent, you would think that each house should be allowed 1 parking space.

If you have 2 cars then 1 is allowed outside your house, but any additional cars would have to be parked further away and not interfere with your neighbours.

This doesn't work in practice of course and you tend to find people get angryif you ask them to stop parking in your space. As you say he isn't breaking the law and its not technically your piece of road. Add this to the fact that the world is becoming less tolerant.

You could ask him. If this doesn't work then not much else you can do. I think your thread title sums up the problem. Developers built estates with not enough space for parking. But of course did they care? As long as they got as many houses built and sold no odds.
 
You have my sympathies.
ON the cul de sac where I live theres an unwritten rule that those of us with two cars,park one in driveway and one outside ,each house does this.The odd time a builder /visitor may take up the space but generally its kept like this.Sometimes a party is being held and thats fine too.
If someone contuined to park outside my house( I know its legal),I would make sure to get the space before they did,but more importantly I would park outside their house ,even if it meant other cars couldnt get through,then if someone needs your car moved ,you can legitimately knock at neighbours door and tell them that you have been asked to move your car,but as they are parked outside your house ,you have no where to park.If they have any sense they will move theirs and allow you into the one outside your house.if they dont,well Id definitly go all out to park outside theirs as often as possible,and if other cars cant get through,well then they also wont get their car in or out!!:p.
Could you park right up close to their car? ie;right outside your entrance/exit,if theres enough room for your car there,bring it as close as possible to theirs and thus making it difficult for them to get the car out,they should take the hint....I agree with the poster who says that the residents associaton could maybe mention the fact that residents are having problems parking and request that others take this into consideration when parking their cars..
 
Why don't you approach the person, or leave a friendly note on their car requesting that they don't park there again, as it hinders your own parking.
 
I think you should change your thinking about having a right to park outside your own house. It's first come first served by law, and I think that is a reasonable approach, and that's the way it should be. Do you think it is reasonable for someone to have to park 400 yards down the road when there is a perfectly good space outside his next door neighbours house, when the space in front of his own house is being occupied by someone else? I certainly dont. He should be able to park as close to his own house as possible.

One point I would make about doing the decent thing - for people with a front drive, if it fits 2 cars I think it is reasonable to expect them to park both in their drive. Or else park the second one across their drive, so leaving a space in front of their own house for someone else. This is what we do - we only have one car, the front drive is quite small so we part across it. Someone else is always parked outside our house - when I come home and there is a space in front of our house I dont take it, I park in front of the gate, at the side of the house. I'd prefer to park right in front of the house but its no big deal. It's disk parking where we are and there are more cars than spaces.

The only time we use an actual space is when we have visitors comig over - we would park in a disk space (we have a residents permit) and leave the driveway and in front of the driveway clear for visitors. We're new enough to our area and I believe there is a history of aggro re parking so it seems to be a theme in new and older areas, its not unknown for certain neighbours to ring the clampers to let them know when someones disk is expired, or a tradesmen parks in front of their house and doesn't use a disk. I'm not going to get involved in any of that, life is too short. Find a car space and park your car there. Get over it. Sure isn't it based on a good predicament you are in - you have a home to live in and a car to drive! There's lots of people with bigger and badder issues!
 
People are creatures are habit. I'm sure your neighbour comes home and the spot in front of your house is always empty (maybe they get home before you) and just parks there, he has to park somewhere. Personally i dont think you can expect to have the spot in front of your house for your exclusinve use.
I live on street which is all on street parking. Obviously people try to park as close to their house as possible but if they cant they will park where they can.
What i would do is just try to get to the spot outside your house before your neighbour and if possible leave your car there for as long as you can. This might make your neighbour automatically stop going to park outside your house when he gets home.
 
Borrow 2 traffic cones and place them at the kerb outside your house. Even though it doesn't give you any automatic rights it might cause your neighbour to pause for thought before parking there as he would have to physically move them in order to park.
 
First come first served. If want you a guaranteed spot, buy a house or apartment that gives you this.

People who have two cars don't want to have to keep shuffling their cars when they want to get the inside one out. Thats why they park one on the road, and it leaves a space for visitors in their drive. If you have a drive, and park on the road, thats legal too.

Lots of houses have more than two cars, especially those that are rented, many have 4 or 5 cars. They also tend to have more visitors aswell!

Then you've people who park their work vans or trucks at home in the even and weekend, and if they don't have space they'll park it down the road.

Then you people who are catching a train or a bus nearby and will park all day outside someone elses house, and even leave a car there for a weekend or even a couple of weeks!

Newer developments have much less parking. Its obviously increases the value of a development or property if it has plenty of parking. Less parking almost always leads to hassle.

I'm very near a bus stop/terminus and not far from a train. If we don't park outside our house, you'll almost definately have someone parking there for a full day, or a few days. If someone gets there first theres nothing I can do. Well legally.

If its a major problem they should issue parking permits for residents, and if getting through with emergency vehicles is an issue, then double yellow lines and clampers. Of course that might mean you've nowhere to park either.
 
justsally said:
Borrow 2 traffic cones and place them at the kerb outside your house. Even though it doesn't give you any automatic rights it might cause your neighbour to pause for thought before parking there as he would have to physically move them in order to park.
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I will also mean you have to get out to move them each time you want to park or leave.

i have a few neighbours who do this and i think it is hilarious. In fairness i never park in 'their' spots but i do b**ch about them :)
 
justsally said:
Borrow 2 traffic cones and place them at the kerb outside your house. Even though it doesn't give you any automatic rights it might cause your neighbour to pause for thought before parking there as he would have to physically move them in order to park.
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Or you could get a life and accept that you dont have a right to park outside your own house. That suggestion is so over the top, antagonistic, and probably illegal to boot. Your neighbour should not have to pause for thought about where he parks on a public street, you need to pause for thought and rethink the whole thing.

rrrrrrrrrr said:
Leaving the legalities aside (I know he's not breaking the law), do people think this is acceptable? Should I say anything to him?
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I think it is perfectly acceptable, unavoidable, reasonable and inevitable. You should say nothing to him, and you should try to get your head around him having as much right to park outside your house as much as you do.
rrrrrrrrrr said:
It's a different to similar 'park and ride' or 'commuter' parking problems other posters have had, as it's a small community and we have to live together and I don't want to fall out or appear unreasonable
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You're not appearing at all reasonable - he has to park somewhere, it is utterly reasonable for him to park wherever is closest to his house.
 
Is there anyway you can add a driveway to your house? Your neighbour is entitled to park outside your house whenever he wants, so I don't really see any way around it.
 
Certainly a wide variation of opinions!

Here's another angle...One or two of the neighbours, with drives object if you park across the road, opposite thier drive, as it makes it awkward (but not impossible) for them to manover out of the drive (especially the SUVs).

Any opinions??

As I said, it's a narrow road, about 2 cars wide, so there's room to park on one side only and even then there is only room left for cars to drive in one dirrection at a time.

My feeling is that to leave your car right outside a neighbours house and go off on holidays is a bit rude.
 
mro said:
I will also mean you have to get out to move them each time you want to park or leave.

i have a few neighbours who do this and i think it is hilarious. In fairness i never park in 'their' spots but i do b**ch about them :)
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Well there ye are, free entertainment for you.:D

David_Dublin said:
Or you could get a life and accept that you dont have a right to park outside your own house. That suggestion is so over the top, antagonistic, and probably illegal to boot. Your neighbour should not have to pause for thought about where he parks on a public street, you need to pause for thought and rethink the whole thing.
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Well if you don't think that one should ever have to pause for thought in relation to where we park that's your problem. Some people do actually like to consider other people when parking!!!!.

The tone of your reply to the OP is not helpful, in my opinion. Such comments as "or you could get a life" are out of order. The practice of putting out kerbside cones is a common practice on Carlingford Road in Drumcondra and quite frankly I've never considered it "over the top".(and no I don't live there but I do have occasion to try to park there from time to time) I would like to believe that residents have first right. It may not be so in law. But then law gives you legality it doesn't necessarily give you justice.
 
rrrrrrrrrr said:
One or two of the neighbours, with drives object if you park across the road, opposite thier drive, as it makes it awkward (but not impossible) for them to manover out of the drive (especially the SUVs).

Any opinions??
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I'd see that as their issue to be honest, if most houses have drives you'll end up with no on-street parking.
rrrrrrrrrr said:
My feeling is that to leave your car right outside a neighbours house and go off on holidays is a bit rude.
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I'd agree with that, but if the person had no parking space outside his own house when he was getting ready to go away he has to park somewhere. It seems like you're really not grasping the fact that people have to park somewhere, if the place outside their own house is not available they have no option but to park outside someone elses house.
 
If he's cheeky enough to park outside your house and possibly go away on hols then you should be cheeky back and put up the cones.
 
why don't you park outside his house the next time you are home before him and see if he gets the message!
 
I just dont understand how it is cheeky to park outside someone elses house. Where is someone supposed to park if there is no space outside their own house? Can harmony / sueellen sally tell me that please? We're talking about a neighbour here, not a commuter.

He wont get any message if you park outside his house, except that there obviously was no space outside his own house - I'm sure if there was space outside his own house he'd park there. I stand by the tone of my post by the way, get on with it and get over with it. t really is a miserable thing to be getting worried about.

I can understand if people put out cones if it is commuters that are taking the spaces in great numbers. But if it is your neighbour your neighbour you are doing it to to stop them parking outside your house I think it is plain sad and pathetic-love thy nighbour.
 
I had a problem with a lady while doing a job, she told me to move my van somewhere else because her husband would be coming home for lunch and always parked there.

I brought her around to the side of the van and showed her the tax disc.

Then explained that this meant that I was entitled to park on a public road which I was doing.

I left my van outside the house till 11 that night.:D

The next day I went to put my van in the same spot and saw they had put a green wheelie bin out, so I moved it off the road and parked my van where I had it before.

If you pay motor tax you are entitled to park your car on a public road, if someone puts cones or whatever on the road this is an obstruction and should not be allowed.
 
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