I have recently moved into a new estate where everyone parks on the road and not in their respective driveways.
The main reasons for this is that access to their driveways requires enough roadspace and unblocked dropkerbs, however, you know as soon as you start using your driveway, someone else starts parking in the visitor space in front of your house. Thus making parking in your driveway harder, a bit like parking in a supermarket car space. In addition, they make new houses so close to the road and drop kerbs small, you need people to give you enough space to swing in, which you know they will not do. People also like the flexibility of parking on the road.
Hence, there is now a culture of parking on the road and not the driveways. The council do not want to know as it is 'residential' and the police could only enforce if 'obstruction' became an issue.
Has anyone experienced these problems and what is the solution to get rid of this lazy parking culture?
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 16/12/2007 at 09:33
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You are lucky to have a driveway. I am disabled and have a "Disabled Bay" outside my house which at most times I am unable to use due to every man & his dog parking in it.
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Even when you have a drive like I am lucky to have others park either side of it -bumper right up to the drop point in the kerb ,then another parks directly oposite. Result is you cannot get in or out of the drive.At the moment we seem to have a band / musicians playing locally somewhere who park in the road then minibus to the venue.The problem is at 2:30 am they return bang boots / car doors when loading their musical instruments in,then rev the engines whilst they scrape the ice off the windscreens.
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rustbucket (the original)
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Not directly to do with the parking,but if the car owners obtained insurance by stating the vehicle is parked overnight on a driveway and then they regularly park on the road,the vehicle will not be covered for theft or criminal damage.This is why you will be asked where you park when you get a quote-if you say "on the road" it will be more expensive.
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its the people who give the planning permission who should be complained to. They seem to pick a number of dwelling feed it into a computer with the land area and click a button. The result is miniature homes, no gardens, tiny drives and a labyrinth of culdesacs.
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its the people who give the planning permission who should be complained to. >>
Yes, it's always someone elses fault isn't it?
How about we take responsibility for our own actions by refusing to buy a house with inadequate parking facilities?
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Not quite true jc.
Many reasons why you can park on road rather than drive, even if drive is mentioned on the insurance.
if you only park once on the road and the car is stolen you would expect the insurance company not to pay up?
Try getting quotes for parking on drive or on road and you will see little if any difference.
Insurance companies expect, assess, and quote for the worst risk!
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I used the word "REGULARLY";obviously there will be occasions-I've had a builder working on my driveway,for example-if you don't believe me,ask your insurance company.
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My point exactly JC.
How does the insurance company know when you are using your drive and when you are not?
They assess accordingly and quote as such. For my daughters car, which is not covered directly on my trade insurance we did a lot of research and there is no diference in whether its on drive or not for quotes. Try it and see?
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How does the insurance company know when you are using your drive and when you are not?
I would think the problem would come - as always with insurance - if you came to make a claim and the insurer were to find you had routinely been in breach of one of the conditions of the insurance (it does matter, there is a different level of risk, and if it didn't matter they'd not need to ask the question. Your daughter's experience is different to mine, for example). Obviously they might not find out, but there would be a risk your insurance would be viod(able) - and you would have to report the theft to the police, too - are you going to give them false info too?
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starts parking in the "visitor space" in front of your house.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if this is a public highway adopted by the local council then there's no such thing and anyone can park there?! I know someone who lives in a 2up2down nearby and they just have to grab whatever road space is around as the road space outside their front door is not "theirs" - unless it has a nominated disabled space....
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Developers want to pack as many houses as possible onto the land available. Hence small houses, tiny 'garages', narrow roads and pavements etc. Its one of the things you need to take into account when viewing/buying houses.
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>>Its one of the things you need to take into account when viewing/buying houses.
We did and the road and the path is as wide as you get, but its still a problem when vehicles are parked with the bumper up to your drive ie kerb drop down and directly oposite.We sometimes get vehicles parked on the pavement and the road can acomodate two vehicles parked oposite with a gap down the middle.
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rustbucket (the original)
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Check the covenants for the property - some don't allow parking on estate roads, mine don't - as virtually everyone parks on their own drive, it seems to work.
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I'd agree with b308; "public highway" means just that, unless there are actually marked bays on the road for residents.
I'd suggest that what's needed here is a bit of sensible dialogue between neighbours, something that seems to have gone out of fashion these days. Set up a "Neighbourhood Watch" scheme if you haven't already got one, once you've established a bit of what used to be called community spirit it not only solves a lot of problems but identifies the awkward customers.
And with a bit of luck it'll reduce your insurance premiums!
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>>Set up a "Neighbourhood Watch" scheme if you haven't already got one, once you've established a bit of what used to be called community spirit it not only solves a lot of problems but identifies the awkward customers.
Iam the neighbourhood watch coordinator, what you suggest is fine and dandy but the culprits are from other roads that are fully parked up or outsiders parking up while they bus / walk to wherever and we are 1.5 to 2 miles from the town center. They seem to sneak in when nobody is watching
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rustbucket (the original)
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>>Check the covenants for the property - some don't allow parking on estate roads, mine don't - as virtually everyone parks on their own drive, it seems to work.
Deeds of convent are next to impossible to enforce by law, our area has a list as long as your arm including no telegraph poles, no tv or recieving aerials ect ect but they are all overlooked. We had one nieghbour that errected a fence on an open forefront (deeds of convent prevented this ) it went to court but was not upheld.Result is now every one is errecting fences willy nilly.
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rustbucket (the original)
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I live a few minutes walk from a town centre and station to London.The best thing that happened to us was "residents parking".Before this every space in our street was taken before 07.00.
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Thats why they have now emigrated further out of town to our neck of the woods and bus locally in
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rustbucket (the original)
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 16/12/2007 at 17:09
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Exactly:they're still parking but not in our street!!!GOOD!!!!
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Rustbucket: residents' parking! Get a campaign going, get your local councillors involved (there may be one in your street), ...
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You could cure this really quickly.
Every time a "fly parker" arrives just ride past him / her as they walk off up the road on your BMX wearing a Hoodie and juggling a half brick ! Make a point of being seen peering into their car and pretend to text someone !
Bet they wouldn't come back !
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shoespy
Can you hire reliable hoodies for this task ,sounds like its one of the few suggestions that would work so far.Probably a quicker and less stressfull way to deal with the problem.
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rustbucket (the original)
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In answer to the OP's original question I think this is all down to new govt guidelines on how many houses need to be crammed in per acre (or whatever measurement they use). This inevitably puts pressure on driveways, pavements, gardens and garges because the houses themselves are not getting smaller, from the ones I've seen.
It's laughable that 5 bedroom house costing well in excess of 500k has a single garage, a small garden and a driveway that can only accomodate 1 or 2 cars - but this is the govt's way of encouraging us out of the car and onto public transport. Of course the housebuilders are more than happy because they make more money out of selling more units and say their hands are tied by the guidelines.
I've been to one estate where a mini roundabout required a 3 point turn (and this was in a Volvo 440 - not a large car). I also know of one other where the roads are so tight the bin wagon can't get down there - what's going to happen if a fire engine needs to get down there?
This isn't progress at all IMO, it's all down to the "current housing shortage" and "environmental targets".
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It's clear cut on our street, our side own the road outside our houses and the road outside the opposite houses - the whole road in fact. The houses opposite are a later development and had to apply for access to drive over our land but don't have a right to park. However the houses opposite aren't finished yet and whether they will remember the legal situation over the coming years remains to be seen. There is already friction with the parking of the developers' vehicles.
My philosophy is simple. Neighbours are potential drinking buddies and free child and pet minding services as well as a source of free coffee and the odd bag of sugar. If they want to park near or on my land - fine by me - couldn't care less. My old man fought with everyone on every street we ever lived on. When he talks about neighbours its always "the numpties at number 7" "the moron at number 5" "the woodentops at number 8". Why? Life's too short.
I admit I'm getting anxious about the people opposite moving in. It's clearly important that I reverse my car into the garage quicker and more accurately than he does and on the first attempt. It's not easy, it has to be tight against one wall but not touching the wall radiator. Going forward to make a correction is an immediate failure as it doing it slowly. I only manage it one in every three times and I've been here 16 months. I want his wife to be chopping carrots and looking out of the kitchen window and thinking "Wow, see how well that English guy parks his car. My husband is so inadequate".
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It's not my fault, it's millions of years of evolution.
Road craft is the peacock feathers of modern man.
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>I want his wife to be chopping carrots and looking out of the kitchen window and thinking...
..."I'm sure I had more fingers this morning."
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My philosophy is simple. Neighbours are potential drinking buddies and free child and pet minding services as well as a source of free coffee and the odd bag of sugar. If they want to park near or on my land - fine by me - couldn't care less. My old man fought with everyone on every street we ever lived on. When he talks about neighbours its always "the numpties at number 7" "the moron at number 5" "the woodentops at number 8". Why? Life's too short.
You sound like my kind of neighbour! Allow me to offer you a virtual beer, not enough people like you around!
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"Deeds of convent are next to impossible to enforce by law"
That's alarming. To the good advice above we must add - don't buy a house near a nunnery.
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It's good that the humour is still alive and well!
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The only solution to all of this is to go underground. Either excavate to build underground garages, or build houses higher, with the garage on the ground floor. Either that or we go down the route of private, gated communities of neighbours jealously protecting their patch of land who never get to know each other and adios England.
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Mine is a gated community and we are very close and friendly. I'm looking foward to leaning on my snow shovel this winter and chatting to all the other blokes who will be doing the same.
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What? all leaning on your shovel, BBD, It must be a big un.
I don't think you can beat friendly neighbours, tbh, it makes life much more pleasant. It can also make parking problems easier to sort out.
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Quite right, MJM. Just a friendly wave each morning helps to make a better day, that's what I always say.
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We've been lucky, WDB, we moved in 31 years ago today. Several of our close neighbours have been in for as long.(new estate). We are friends with all of them. Most of us within about a 6 house radius are friendly enough to help each other as and when needed without "living in each others houses".
Latest local "parking adventure", next doors daughter's Rover 45 arrived home on a flatback and was dumped on the road. (A funny light came on going round bends, dad, and it just stopped.) A few of us pushed it onto his drive awaiting a tow to a garage to replace the siezed engine.
Most of us have adapted our drives over the years to take two cars. The loss of space is very much outweighed by the comparative lack of parking congestion.
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We are fortunate to have a drive capable of holding 2 large cars and a garage capable of taking a pushbike, but other houses on the estate have only a pint-sized garage and a drive capable of taking a medium sized car.
Hence the recent letter from the developers (we have lived on the estate for just over a year) informing us to stop obstructing the roads, as the delivery lorries have trouble getting past the parked cars at 6.30am...
It is ridiculous - but government planning legislation has sadly led us into this situation. At least the houses at the end of the site will have two parking spaces (and no garages!),
And did anyone see the news about the estate in Coventry where people want to park their cars in the front gardens, but the lunatic council won't let them on the basis they want the gardens to look pretty, so instead they are happy to have cars obstructing streets and causing a health & safety problem (fire engines etc.. struggling to get through)
As Dave points out, don't let it agitate you - if you can't get out of your drive talk to your neighbour. I did, and now he thinks about where to park so I can get out of my drive. The alternative for him is that I park on the street and make it difficult for him to get out (And before anyone says anything about insurance - I drive a group 16 car for 30,000mls a year and have a learner driver insured on it - my premium can't go any higher....!)
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