Parking Rant – almost resulted in me kicking a car

I live on a street of terraced houses which front pretty much straight onto the pavement, hence no driveways or such. Between the pavement and the road is an area for parking – it’s not massive, but I can fit my car (a Passat) sticking a little bit out each side at about 45 degrees. Directly outside my house is a big parking area, between a couple of trees where you can easily fit 5 or 6 cars, if everyone parks at the same angle and a sensible distance apart.

Tonight I returned home to find a motorhome (nothing massive, big van sized) and an Astra – a f**king ASTRA – both parked at such an angle and such a distance apart that there was no room for any other cars. How pissing hard can it be to look at how everyone else has parked and fit your car in the same? Or is someone really so precious about their 20 year old van and ten year old crappy 1.6 hatchback that’s covered in f**king rust already that they can’t possibly have them stick out onto the pavement and the road a tiny little bit exactly the same as every one of the other 200 odd cars down the road?

We left a picture on the Astra.

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ace picture

4/10. Good anger content though.

It’s illegal to park on the pavement?

Technically yeah, I’ve always wondered about that. I think that’s why there’s no markings, which would make life a lot easier. But there’s a definite boundary between the pavement and the parking area, the trick is to getting one wheel *just* on the kerb and one just inside the pavement boundary.

let their tyres down

Thought that, but then they can’t move out of my damn way!

Print a copy of this out and leave it on their windows as well…

Daily Mash Parking[/url]

😉

So – your rant is that they’re parking legally and you’d prefer they didn’t?

They’re not parking any more or less legally than anyone else – that’s not the issue. They’re parking like dicks.

you must live three doors down from my mum – last time i parked opposite her house some one left a note saying “w@anker” under the wipers – as i stood in the road guy comes out and says “i didn’t leave it but its illegal to park on the pavement”

– true says i but that is why i left room for people to walk past

man in my face “but you parked like a **** and its illegal”

– me “that’s your van parked on the pavement and no one can walk past it”

man more in my face – “but if you park like that people drive into my car”

– me “what last night”

t0sser “no all the time – now are you going to move it?”

so i did and blocked in his car and told him at least no one can drive into it now

so it is a terraced row of houses with no off street parking and many homes have 2 cars? – parking is a problem, some people may have a different “angle” is that really a big deal?

It only takes thought when looking at drawings on paper to see how cars fit best and what angle to park at, unfortunately not everyone has the same perception and it causes conflict. Hardly worth getting wound up about – find another space.

I live next to a chinese with its own car park. For some reason the customers cant be arsed parking in the car park and just park outside my house meaning I have to park a few hundred yards away. Generally I dont mind, though I do curse a bit when I have a full car to unload. What really does cheese me off is the owners of the chinese who choose to do the same thing despite having an empty car park – that really is just inconsiderate. I found that just folding their wing mirrors in made them rethink.

none of those cars on either side of the drawing are near 45 degrees, go back and do it again with a scale ruler and protractor!

coffeeking, why don’t you park in the car park

Buy a Smart car.

rs – its certainly something I’ve thought of, but I’m not 100% sure they’ll not lock it with my car in there! I did consider going and asking them if I could park there seeing as they preferred parking where I normally do but I am trying to avoid eating junk and the smell is just TOO good to walk away from!

I would just use the carpark, pop in and explain why-sure they wouldnt lock you in

It’s illegal to park on the pavement?

It’s legal as long as you’re not causing an obstruction

An Astra! The nerve of some people.

BoardinBob – Member

It’s illegal to park on the pavement?

It’s legal as long as you’re not causing an obstruction

Ah – makes sense. I guess you just have to take into account wheelchairs / prams etc.

Nope, trust me, it’s illegal to part on the pavement. Technically, it’s illegal to park on the highway unless it’s in a designated, legally defined bay.

Parking on the pavement can cause inconvenience to pedestrians. It can create hazards for visually impaired, disabled and elderly people or those with prams or pushchairs. It may also cause damage to the kerb, the pavement, or the services underneath. Repairing such damage can be costly and local authorities may face claims for compensation for injuries received resulting from damaged or defective pavements.

In some areas pavement parking is prohibited by a local Act of Parliament, and it may be prohibited elsewhere in particular streets or parts of streets by traffic regulation orders. But enforcement may be a problem unless the local authority is able to take on the responsibility through the arrangements being developed under the Road Traffic Act 1991. The various physical measures described in this leaflet are however largely self-enforcing.

Wait till you have a drive and then the cocks next door continually park across it. The first chap who lived there, his mates did it all the time, we were friendly with him so I would be pleasant about it at first but they just kept doing it and doing, to wind me up I’m sure. I asked a policeman friend and he said if there’s no car in the drive then it’s not illegal but if there is a car in the drive then it is illegal. So one day I came home to find the buggers parked right across my drive, the music blaring out of the house and they weren’t answering the door. So I parked right up behind the car and moved my wifes car right up in front of it and then ignored the door for ten minutes. I went out when the wife told me they were trying to ush one of our cars out of the way.

“Annoying isn’t it?”, i questioned. They kicked off a bit but they never parked over our drive again.

Of course, the next guy to move in has equally ignorant and stupid friends and I occasionally have a problem with them, few arguments in the street so far. Not a problem nowadays though because he’s lost his license through drink driving so they aprk in front of his drive.

I used the “if there’s no car in, you can park across an empty drive” rule, when I returned home from work after a tiring 16 hour day. 6 hours later, I get up to go to the car to find a shirty message from the occupant of the house (rented, natch) telling me that it was inconsiderate and dangerous and that she’s a doctor doncha know.

I thought about waking her up when I got home later and aksing her why, if whe watned to have a driveway, had she not paid the council the going rate for dropping the curb. F***ing medics – think they’re god’s gift.

Then I thought I’d sound like a tw*t, so I screwed up the piece of paper and forgot about it….

I do like the rant. People parking with consideration by not parking on the pavement get ranted about and you want them to park on the pavement.

Pavement parking is illegal in some areas but not in others but is always wrong morally. Cars do not have rights over pedestrians. Pavements are for people not cars

I asked a policeman friend and he said if there’s no car in the drive then it’s not illegal but if there is a car in the drive then it is illegal.

I’m not sure your policeman friend is correct in that samuri. If you park in front of an exit this is obstruction.

I can also vouch that parking on the pavement in any situation unless stated is illegal. One evening I parked my car slightly on the curb in front of my old flat in London like everyone was doing at the time as there was a diversion from the main street down our residential road while they were doing roadworks which meant that if everyone didn’t park half off the road there wasn’t enough room for the increased volume of traffic. Common sense you would think but then the next day I got up to find my car was not there and had been taken and impounded. No amount of sensible and in the end not so sensible arguing could change the fact that I had parked illegally and I would have pay 250 quid to get my car back! 🙁

No one’s parking on the pavement, and rightly so. At a sensible angle there is a small mount of overhang (eg in front of the wheels) onto the pavement / road, but everyone else on the street manages to keep this to a minimum (I always make sure there’s room for two wheelchairs side by side, or thereabouts).

See awesome diagram below.

I misunderstood about the pavement – apologies

rotorstern – In London it is illegal to park on the pavement – In other places it is not.

Oh and the point about blocking folk in/out of their driveway is correct. It is NOT an offence to prevent someone from entering their driveway. It IS an offence to prevent them exiting.

Oh and the point about blocking folk in/out of their driveway is correct. It is NOT an offence to prevent someone from entering their driveway. It IS an offence to prevent them exiting.

However, it’s a bit more complicated. It can be a problem* if you are blocking a drive (from entrance or exit) where the pavement has been dropped and the council have opted to include the relevant provisions of the Traffic Management Act 2004. Note, it is always a problem* if there is a white line painted on the road parallel with the entrance to the driveway.

Yes, I looked it up.

*I use “problem” here, as I’ve no idea if it’s an “offence” or not.

8/10
good rant, and something i agree with, it REALLY makes me angry, so angry i feel a bit silly about being petty, or would if i wasnt so ANGRY.
points awarded as well for the EXCELLENT use of paint (or a graphics tablet?)
however 2 points deducted;
1 for lack of anger induced errors and grammer fails
and 1 for driving a passat, the new BWM tossers car IMO :p

other than that though! well done!!

bring that man his gold plated lead filled Bombers

Driving instructor who lives round the corner from me pulled over outside my house and let rip a right royal rant- I mean he was literally foaming with what could be described as pent up anger. For so long that it gave me enough time to (silently) think up why he was doing this- he was basically saying I cant park outside my drive next to a wide open closed off road junction as it was illegal (NO road marking at all)- anyway. When I stopped I said to him ‘so this has nothing to do with you bring your pupils round here to practice reverse parking near my car then’? 😆

The Highway Code
243

DO NOT stop or park

* near a school entrance
* anywhere you would prevent access for Emergency Services
* at or near a bus or tram stop or taxi rank
* on the approach to a level crossing/tramway crossing
* opposite or within 10 metres (32 feet) of a junction, except in an authorised parking space
* near the brow of a hill or hump bridge
* opposite a traffic island or (if this would cause an obstruction) another parked vehicle
* where you would force other traffic to enter a tram lane
* where the kerb has been lowered to help wheelchair users and powered mobility vehicles
* in front of an entrance to a property
* on a bend
* where you would obstruct cyclists’ use of cycle facilities except when forced to do so by stationary traffic

244

You MUST NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement in London, and should not do so elsewhere unless signs permit it. Parking on the pavement can obstruct and seriously inconvenience pedestrians, people in wheelchairs or with visual impairments and people with prams or pushchairs.

(edited, sorry, was from an old version)

Admittedly they arent MUST NOTs but still there for guidance

The white paint across driveways is advisory so doesn’t really make a difference. However, a number of authorities are adopting powers under the TMA 2004 and will soon be issuing FPN against obstruction which can currently only be enforced by he police.

Onza – cheers for clarifying.

Presume we just need to contact the relevant LA to find out if they are enforcing the TMA?

you are lucky that people in your street all generally park with consideration for others. my last house was on a main road with limited parking area opposite, probably enough for 10 cars. for the 7 or so years i lived there it constantly shocked me that the neighbours by and large could’nt or would’nt park with consideration to others. space for 2 cars, why not park right in the middle! one guy would even wait until a car moved then put his car directly outside his house regardless of whether he was stopping anyone else parking or not.

overcrowded city and suburban living, horrible. Give me a cottage in a field any day.

People who park partly on the pavement or verge really bug me. Round here, they’re taking out a lot of the verges between the pavement and road and tarmacing them over; this just results in people parking with two wheel on the ex-verge and two on the pavement.

overcrowded city and suburban living, horrible. Give me a cottage in a field any day.

It’s the “we need two/three cars” combined with driving being too cheap and the alternatives too difficult that causes the problem.

opposite or within 10 metres (32 feet) of a junction, except in an authorised parking space

Impossible, our residential area has these 10m’s overlapping as there are 3houses then another ‘junction’. The only way to avoid is to park on your drive. Many people dont do this as the roads are probably twice the width of normal highways so you dont have to.

He was just sour grapes.