The subject of 'nuisance' parking has been raised in a recent thread regarding 'for sale' notices, so to avoid hi-jacking I'll raise this separately.
I'd like to know how many cars would be deemed 'reasonable' to own - for the purposes of having them all parked on a regular residential steet. I have two cars and SWMBO has one. We keep them all parked on the street outside as we have no private land or drive available. All have valid tax/MoT/insurance, and we never block anyone else's drive access.
Unfortunately, our neighbour has passed the odd snide comment along the lines of: "that's quite a collection you've got there" - partly because we sometimes have to park outside their house on 'their' bit of road.
I believe that cars are only allowed to park on-street by the good grace of the police, and that technically they cause an obstruction by preventing the 'passing and re-passing' of that particular piece of tarmac.
So how many cars could we own and park before the police took an interest?
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I was thinking about this in relation to an earlier thread. There is a rumour that there is legistlation afoot on this - limiting the number of cars that can be parked outside one's house, one source to me was a Labour MP......I don't think it would be a Police problem more of LA thing*
*Technical legal term.
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As long as they are taxed, MOT'd (if required), insured and considered road worthy I don't think the police would give a monkeys as long as you are not obstructing anyone's way.
As previously mentioned, I think you'd get more of a problem from your neighbours and local council.
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I guess I should have said 'the authorities' rather than 'the police'.....
A bit more vague :-)
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As many taxed and insured cars as you like.
When I lived in London I used to use an old banger to reserve 'my' space, stick the decent car in the spot and then dump the banger anywhere. Worked a treat but I'm not sure the neighbours were that impressed.
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As many taxed and insured cars as you like.
Following our neighbour's comments, I've had Machiavellian thoughts of buying half a dozen 'cheapies', all taxed/MoT'd/insured and filling the street with them - rather like a 'set' of houses on a Monopoly board.......
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When I lived in London I used to use an old banger to reserve 'my' space stick the decent car in the spot and then dump the banger anywhere.
I'm just amazed that anyone could be so selfish. Shame on you, Oldhand.
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L\'escargot.
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>>I think you'd get more of a problem from your neighbours and local council.
Very true here in Southampton.
The city council have decreed the street we live in to be permit parking only. We have one car and one garage space and as such don't qualify for a parking permit. That's all pretty fair by my reckoning.
Where it goes wrong is if we decided to get a second car we wouldn't get a permit for that as it's contrary to the council's 'excessive car ownership' principle.
The other very frustrating thing is we're not given any visitors parking permits, so anyone who spends more than 2 hours in our street (Mon to Sat, between 0800 and 1800) is liable to get a £30 PCN. Not very nice.
Have been in touch several times, and no joy. Council workers, IMO are a bunch of PINK FLUFFY DICE. (self censored)
Lou
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I think it all depends on being duly sensitive to neighbourhood sensibilities, no matter how irrational they can be.
I'm one of the few in my locality to store a car in the garage (there's junk in most of the other garages). I have another on the drive and a third on the road outside my house. I used to park the third (used frequently) over the road in a bay, and then an elderly neighbour without a car accused me of "commandeering" the space, so I left a large notice with contact details in the back window of the car, inviting anyone who needed the space to get in touch -- it was there for a year without a single response. That neighbour also complained about the noise of the washer used by my car valet, refused to accept that it was on for only 10 minutes once a month, and ignores the far louder, more frequent and more sustained noise that her garden contractors make with their mowers. Oi vey.
The other reason for moving the third car to outside my house was because I'd rather not have others parking there, especially half on the pavement, so I'm a bit touchy about the matter too. I know very well that I have no legal right to that space.
Do the best you can by your neighbours. It's none of their business how many cars you choose to own, but they are entitled to have a reasonable expectation that those around them will behave as considerately as possible. Don't let it degrade into a police issue. (There's always the local-authority lock-up garage option too.)
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In my area, when the street starts to become congested, lots of people convert front garden into a driveway. Where you cannot do this, invariably the council come along and introduce permit parking. If you have not got a drive/front garden and have more then 1 car per person, then conflicts with neighbours are much more likely.
Possible Solution: Give a Car tax discount for those in congested areas who convert their front gardens to drives and free up a little more space, especially if they park their 2nd car in front of the drive.
Reality: Introduce permit parking at £100's per year and if people object mention public transport and climate change etc. The money will pay for some overly zealous private clamping firm.
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An imaginative idea, Saltrampne, but the paving and decking of gardens is increasing run-off and exacerbating flooding problems.
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Possible Solution: Give a Car tax discount for those in congested areas who convert their front gardens to drives
This causes a problem with water run-off. At times of heavy rainfall much more water goes into the drain than when there are gardens to soak it up and that can cause flooding.
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Before parking restrictions were imposed here, just yesterday it feels like, people used to use the urban main road in which I live as a banger showroom. Parking restrictions reduced their numbers, but they are still here. There are probably at least two or three cars for sale within 100 yards of my front door.
The disadvantages of living in a place like this are noise, expense and the risk of casual vandalism or theft (now somewhat reduced from a few years ago, or that is my impression).
The great advantage is that PITA neighbours who think they own the road in front of their houses and complain unreasonably about normal activities are completely swamped by the general inconvenience of living here, and so don't register at all.
Reading some of the other posts, and other threads in the past, makes me realise how lucky I am to live in a metropolitan hell-hole instead of some bucolic toytown street full of demented gnomes who think they are people.
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OK what about Car Tax discount for garden to drive conversions using a porous material possibly made from recycled car tyres?
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A converted garden would then need a clear access way onto the road, and also possibly clearance on the other side too if it was a narrow roaad. So there might not necessarily be any net gain in parking space, merely a transfer from public to private parking.
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>>...might not necessarily be any net gain in parking space merely a transfer from publicto private parking.
but at least the road will be clear
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Aim low, expect nothing & dont be disappointed
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>...paving and decking of gardens is increasing run-off and exacerbating flooding problems.
True. But you could use a porous membrane, through which water can drain but weeds can't grow, and cover it with gravel. We had this done to ours seven years ago (it was just tatty road chippings over rolled earth when we moved in) and it works very well - no run-off into the street even in the heaviest rain.
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Isn't it illegal to bump over the kerb edge. I thought that you had to have a council fitted drop kerb+planning permission.
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Not sure what you're referring to, Geoff. If it's my post, our house had all those - and a garage - before we bought it. We only changed the surfacing material.
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No, it's fine if you already have a drop kerb, but a few people around here converted their front gardens and got jumped on by the local council for damaging the kerb edge as they were bumping over an ordinary kerb edging.
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theres a road i know with an "only just" legal old transit parked at the side of the road blocking a speed cameras view of the road
perfectly legally parked
makes me smile everytime i drive past
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Strictly speaking, you need the councils permission to pass over the pavement with a car, which they do by building the cross-over on their land (pavement). In some parts of London, where peeps have paved their gardens without permission and drive over the pavement, the councils have built posts into their pavement to stop it. Ugly, but rules is rules.
Thankfully we have ample off-street parking for our fleet.
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My road is a bit of a parking nightmare - each house is approx 1.5 cars wide and many homes have 2 or more cars. There's also a few houses at my end rented out to 'professional sharers' which have 4 resident cars plus regular visitors.
I know one family who moved primarily because they were fed up with having to park 100m+ from home which was a real pain with 2 babies and shopping etc.
Some neighbours (including a 3 car household!) get really up tight about parking and have complained to the owners of the rented houses and requested they restrict the numbers of cars tenants can have.
I can understand the frustration people feel about parking - especially people who only have one car and therefore don't contribute to the problem. If I had 2 or more cars I would certainly try and be considerate about where I parked them and be aware that whilst I might have every legal right to park them where I like, legal rights are not the be all and end all in having a happy life and being a decent neighbour.
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"Legal rights are not the be all and end all in having a happy life and being a decent neighbour."
That is almost the finest line written on this excellent site in five years. Brilliant.
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PU without his Mod Hard Hat on !
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Bother - I keep thinking of this line, almost adopt that as a family motto...I'll say brilliant again.
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Out of interest, why did you buy a house with no parking when you've got three cars? I've only got one (can only drive one ay once after all), and 'off street parking' was top of my list.
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Out of interest why did you buy a house with no parking when you've got three cars?
Sometimes off road parking goes with the second recep and fourth bdrm - there's a whole tier of first time (and sometimes second/third time) buyer properties where off road parking is never going to happen even if the entire street frontage is block paved.
I used to live in Watford where there are streets and streets of 19th century terraced houses, few have forecourts and some front doors open straight onto the street. Driveways and garages only appeared inter war and in recent years the planners have gone out of their way in some areas to limit off road parking to one or two spaces per dwelling.
But then round here we have houses with room for three cars in tandem garages/driveways and owners who cannot be bothered to "shuffle" their vehicles when they get home from work so leave one or two on the street all night. Plus the four car households with two twenty something kids still living at home............
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Out of interest why did you buy a house with no parking when you've got three cars?
Let's just say I had a 'change of personal circumstances', shall we....
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Ah the joys of suburbia, I live in a cul-de-sac where 4 out of the 5 houses one the road have a garage and a drive that is 4 or 5 cars long. Only 1 neighbour (car and a van) parks his van on the front of his house regularly, due to the different times he and his partner leave and return to work. 1 neighbour has no car, 1 has a drive 1 car long and a garage and she parks her car in the garage at night and on the drive as she's in and out during the day, and the other neighbours and us have 2 cars each both parked on the drives. There is also room to park a further 3 or 4 cars after the end house. I'm in parking heaven ;0)
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Do the Japanese require you to have a parking space before you can own a car?, or is it an Urban Myth?
( I have double garage, double carport port and single carport+ bags of front garden) but that is the penance for living our of the metropolis of course.
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It's not a myth. Your nearest Police Station issues you with a parking space certificate which you need to register/licence the car.
You can buy K-Cars without a parking space:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keicar
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In Tokyo I have seen a little 'elevated parking' device - rather like a normal workshop car lift. Bascially its a metal platform onto which you drive your car. You then get out and start the electric motor, which raises the platform. Wife then arrives home in her car and parks under the raised platform. Very neat.
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In Tokyo I have seen a little 'elevated parking' device - rather like a normal workshop car lift. Bascially its a metal platform onto which you drive your car. You then get out and start the electric motor which raises the platform.
We have things similar to this in the underground carpark for my apartment in Munich. It consists of double deck platforms which move vertically to basically double the amount of available parking space. Very common in german cities and very annoying when I'm in a hurry and inevitably have to wind the platform down to get to my car. It doesn't take long, it just seems that way.
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The nuisance factor of parking on the road isn't the factor at stake with me, its the safety of my car that I'm concerned about. Following my car being seriously damaged by an out-of-control car when parked outside a friend's house I've always made sure that the off-road parking space of our house was sufficient to meet the needs of the number of cars of the household. On one occasion when we moved house I even went as far as reducing the number of cars to meet the available space. I now avoid parking on the road at virtually all costs. If a friend's house doesn't have off-road parking available then I'm reluctant to visit them.
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L\'escargot.
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Wonder if my daughter is in a unique situation regarding parking?
She lives at the end of a very short cul-de-sac with only three bungalows. There is a semi-circular turning area but the areas outside the extrapolated straight line of the road is deeded to her property and that of the opposite bungalow, although the council maintain this bit of road surface and the associated footpath. On these bits there is room to park two or three cars.
This means she and her neighbour can legitimately say that they own the road outside their property and they play childish games in parking their vehicles in such a way that the other cannot use the bit to reverse and turn in :-)
They both have driveways, but seldom use them unless they have visitors, but it is bad luck for any service vehicles who are not able to use this turning area for its designed function.
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One mans junk is another mans treasure
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They may well want to "play games" but it is still a Road Traffic Act road (from what you described) and also a road foe VED purposes if the council are maintaining it, she could still be done for obstruction.
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she could still be done for obstruction.
I bow to your superior knowledge, especially as you are now a Mod, but can you in fact obstruct your own ground? It might as well be said that a car in the driveway is obstructing the post man from driving up to the letterbox. Neither of them park on the highways bit of the road, but on the bits that are within their curtilage (according to the deeds but of course there may well be some anomoly in these as the garden walls do follow the line of the turning bay and footpath)
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One mans junk is another mans treasure
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I agree with providing/having off road parking.
I now feel very guilty that a recent visitor had £2000 worth of damage inflicted by a Freelander doing a school run pickup.
Normally there would have been a parking space but I asked SWMBO to keep the garage door clear of cars so I could get the bike out.
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........but can you in fact obstruct your own ground?
Yes - a public right of way can be on private land!
Indeed most public footpaths ARE on private land!
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I too like the Japanese solution ie you must have space to keep it before you have a car,I sailed for many years and found when I started and had the idea of a small dinghy that I could tow to the coast and launch it didnt work soon found you had to pay to launch or for a mooring to keep it on,has coloured my thinking towards those who think the road is put there for them to park on.
I shall now retire to my bunker before the flack starts flying.
ndbw
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