Some parking and Gatso questions.

[dkmech]

Parking question

Was going to the cinema saturday night. Got into my car about to leave when a neighbour comes rushing out of his house to talk to me. He is complaining about my car being parked opposite his gate, and making it difficult for him to drive into his garage. He said that he told my father about it three times already and muttered something about damage. I said I'll do my best and keep his comments in mind. Am about to get into my car when he says that we can park on the "curb over there" or "over there" and that if we keep blocking his access he will have it removed.

Now let me explain our parking situation. We recently bought a house in a nice quiet cul-de-sac. Its on the corner of it and the entrance to our driveway is slightly diagonal to the road. There is very little room to maneuvre in as there is an electrical pole and a fence on one side, and a wall separating us from a nextdoor neighbour on the other side. What this means is that while me and my dad park on our driveway, my mum refuses to even try. She uses my car a lot, and when i am not around to park it she sometimes leaves it on the street. Normally most of it is on the pavement as that only leads to our house on that side and so noone is likely to walk on it. Currently we have a skip where my mum would normally leave my car so she left it nearer that neighbours gate.

As you see, we try to keep the car on the driveway but it isn't always possible. The other thing is that the neighbour told my father about this three times. My father never drives my car, apart from getting it out of the driveway for mum when i am not there to do that. He is also very busy with work on the house (hence the skip) and probably forgot to mention this to me. So the first time i hear about this from the neighbour himself i get a "may get damaged" and "may have to remove it".

I am gonna do my best to not obscure his access but he is off my christmas list.

I don't think he can do much to have my car removed. I suppose it is illigally parked on the pavement (which we do to let other cars move easier by the way, without stopping any pedestrians from having easy access). But if he managed to get a traffic warden or a policeman over they would probably give me a ticket at the worst. If he done that i would have no choice but to legally park opposite his gate (i.e. not on pavement) which would hinder him even more. Only other way to remove my car is theft. And since my car was broken into last week i am not to crazy about that idea. So you can imagine i am not a happy bunny. As i said i'll do my best to keep my car out of his way, but i would like some advice on the parking rules. Any way he can have my car removed?

Gatso question
Another minor annoyance - got flashed by a gatso coming back from cinema. Was doing 25 in a 30 zone. It also flashed next car behind me, which was doing same speed i believe. Anyone know whats up with that? I don't expect any fines but just wondered if anyone had the same experience.

Sorry for the long rant. But i dont want to start a fight with the neighbour and i thought its best to vent it here and get some advice in the process. Might see him tomorrow ask him where exactly it would be ok for me to park.

[Shogun]

Originally Posted by dkmech

Parking question
Gatso question
Another minor annoyance - got flashed by a gatso coming back from cinema. Was doing 25 in a 30 zone. It also flashed next car behind me, which was doing same speed i believe. Anyone know whats up with that? I don't expect any fines but just wondered if anyone had the same experience.

Sorry for the long rant. But i dont want to start a fight with the neighbour and i thought its best to vent it here and get some advice in the process. Might see him tomorrow ask him where exactly it would be ok for me to park.

Might just be a dodgy camera, it has been known to happen where it measures the distance wrongly and/or the time. The police should be able to tell when this is happening when the camera starts to flash every car that goes by

You could always remove his gate, and say that it was theft. These situations are always horrible because you know you are in the right but the last thing you want to do is make an enemy of your neighbour. I would just go and have a "friendly" chat with him to see what he thinks.

[[GSV]Trig]

If your cars parked legally, has tax and all the other gubbins then u can park where u like pretty much....

[Stoo]

What an idiot neighbour! Now and again we have a similar problem in out road where someone parks across the road meaning you can't just swing it in.
What do we do about it? Drive past, reverse into the the neighbours run in to their drive and pull in straight. No big deal..

Getting out is also a non-issue, if you can do the reversing around the corner manouvre for the driving test, you can get out.. Simple as..

For one, he can't legally have the car removed as it's not directly blocking access to his property, and another he'll only damage his car if he gets it wrong, and seeing as he's already informed you of what might happen, i.e. a threat, he'd be guilty of criminal damage with intent..

Doh!

Tell him to stop being a lazy arse an learn how to drive lol

[TeePee]

If you are parked on the pavement it's illegally parked. BUT the police will recognise that as it's a residential street it can be necessary to park that way, and provided you aren't directly blocking his property they are unlikely to do anything. Whats wrong with parking in the places your neighbour pointed to? does it inconvenience you that much? Surely you can make a concession just while you have the skip there in the interests of being a good neighbour...

[Howard]

It's a fair old feat to get out of my driveway sometimes with my mum's and dad's car parked in it, and various other cars scattered around the road. I just about manage it though. Having a tiny car does help

But yeah, try not to block the guy's exit completely... I can understand his point, but threatening "damage, having it taken away", etc, is a bit silly.

Can you not just park a little way up the kerb, on the road? And perhaps a little way down? Or is everything "tightly packed" down your road?

[Stoo]

He's opposite the gate, not in front of it, so he's doing nothing wrong, just that the neighbour is a lazy **** and wants to just pull straight in from the road..

[dkmech]

Well, as i said, when i drive the car i just put it into our drive so there's no problem there, its my mum who left it there coz she's too scared to park it on our driveway. And this time it was just parked in a spot closest to our house, which because of the skip happened to be opposite his gate. As for parking elsewhere thats what we'll try to do, and hopefully there will be enough room for it (although parking can get a bit short with the number of houses on the street with their gates and all). Just a bit annoyed that first time he spoke to me about it he started with the threats.

[Jiff Lemon]

Pics would probably help visualise it a little better but as I'm going through a similar situation, I'll tell you what I've discovered.

1) His kerb has to be lowered before it's classed as a driveway by the law.
2) You're not allowed to block his driveway - Now, this is where it's fun... So long as he can get on and off his driveway, it's a civil matter - Legally you're not obstructing his driveway as he can get on and off it, so police and parking wardens won't do a thing.

Sounds just like the bloke I'm having to deal with at the moment - Full of hot air. You're the newbies on the street so he feels he's got right to boss you all about - being younger than him obviously means that you simply must obey his wishes and pay him the upmost respect at all times.

Frankly I'd keep the car where it is, and point out that he needs to wind his overinflated ego in, accepts the temporary inconvenience and then you agree to move your car any time he needs you too (as long as he's polite about it)

Failing that - Stick the skip where the car is - Lets see the old fool "damage" that!

[dkmech]

Originally Posted by Jiff Lemon

Failing that - Stick the skip where the car is - Lets see the old fool "damage" that!

Roflmao

Considering we need another 5-6 skips in the near future that sounds like a good idea. We won't do it obviously, but its funneh

I told my mum to park elsewhere. As for the neighbour I ain't even gonna look at him until he changes his attitude.

[Romanov]

Simple question but does he park on the road so you get blocked from swinging into your driveway?? If not then hes got a reasonable point , its not his problem you have too many cars/ or someone cant park and yet hes not inconveniencing you in anyway. Hes got a point I have the same problem my neighbour blocks me so I have to back in all the time but I never block them. Sorry but if hes not blocking you then your being hotheaded not him.

[dkmech]

I don't mind him asking me to park elsewhere. I do mind him threatening to have my car removed when this was the first time we were talking about it.

He is inconveniencing our approach to the drive when he parks next to his house, but we never complain as we manage to squeeze through. And as i said we don't stop him from being able to get into his drive even if the car is parked opposite his gate.

I also asked my father if the neighbour spoke to him about it. And he said that on that day he (my father) asked the neighbour if we should move our car, but he said no as he was driving away somewhere anyway.

Also some of the other neighbours mentioned that they were annoyed with him leaving his car on the street as it does make it harder (not impossible) for them to get out of their drive.

And as for me being hotheaded - sure, but i think i have a reason here. I do think that he would be capable of at least attempting to have police/wardens come over to either fine or remove my car. This makes me feel worried about it. As if he succeeded in any way it would cost me money. We don't want bad relations with our neighbours and so far everything was fine with everyone else.

I would just like to remind you that 90% of the time the car is on our driveway, its not like thats where we park all the time.

[dkmech]

Just to clear things out a bit a schematic of the situation.

Ideally we'd like a wider swing (red line) onto our driveway but thats impossible when he leaves his car outside (which he often does regardless of whether there is any obstruction to his drive or not by the way).

In reality my car when parked as on schematic only slightly sticks out from the curb, by maybe a foot, the rest is on the pavement. it looks a bit worse on the schematic. Hope this clears things up.

Oh, and while we always park on the pavement to minimise any blockage he only packs on the road.

[Stoo]

Exactly as I thought..

He's got *nothing* he can complain about, he's just being a lazy git, if he can't get in and out of there then I think he needs a few driving lessons..

[Jiff Lemon]

Indeed..... Time for mr skip to get moved methinks

[Stoo]

Reading it again, I think "Use more steering lock" would solve the problem entirely..

What a dimwit..