There's always on isn't there

I live in a nice quiet crescent where we know most of the neighbours who are very nice. About a year ago a guy moved in across the road with a huge caravan and a number of large people carriers for all his kids. He's the only one in the street who regularly parks on the verges as well, even though there's no need to as most people keep there cars in their own drives and the street is relatively clear.

He's now taken to parking his large transit sized commercial van with a big softsided back right outside my house, even though he could park it outside his own, which is adjacent.

Yesterday I saw him outside his house and nicely asked if he could park it elsewhere. Unsuprisingly he just gave me the brush off.

Now, I don't want to get into a neighbour war as it's just not worth the stress, and he's a builder a looks like he could handle himself!

So the question is, is he allowed to park a commercial vehicle like that on a small residential street on a regular basis? Years ago now when I worked for my dad driving vans we parked one on a large residential street in a layby, and not outside someones front door, for 2 nights and got a note from the council to move it.

In the meantime I'll just park my own car there - kinda defeats the object of the £6k I just spent on a new drive though.

[Edited on 20/6/11 by Jasper]

I don't know about commercials, but most newish estates have clauses in the deeds preventing the keeping of caravans on the property.

So would be worth checking your deeds.

Caravans are fine, we've got a few in my street including mine! It's not an estate, just a regular 1930's street.

I think it depends on the size, and type, of the commercial vehicle.

This is just like it, except it's got a canvas back.


van

Assuming that its a public road, and iirc, the police used the fact that you aren't allowed to park on the public highway for more than 2 hours at a time to break the blockades during the fuel protests a few years ago. I'm not sure about that though.

Regards
Hugh

I think you need to forget about 'laws'. They never seem to work in your favour.
Best option is friendly chat.
Thats obviously not worked, so perhaps you can speak to other neighbours, see how they feel and ask them to speak to him. If he gets a few 'complaints' then maybe he will act on it.

I had the exact same problem

my next door neighbor returned home from work before me and parked hi topped transit outside my house everyday, I spoke with him and he was not interested. I then spoke with the council and the Police and neither where interested as there was no law against parking a legal vehicle on the public road,

Things escalated quickly with said neighbor and the end result was me either moving or having a holiday at her Majesty's request

So i Moved, best thing I ever did (I recently found out he also moved and lives a couple of miles down the road )

[Edited on 20/6/11 by j3w3ll3r]

Yeah - that's what I was worried about - yet we had our van moved on by the police 20 years ago, maybe becuase it was in a smart affluent village

Anyway, I can get home before him, so I'll just stick my car there for a while.

I know the other neighbours are pissed off with him too, so maybe a joint letter is in order. I have spoken to him in the past and he was always friendly enough.

If you are feeling flush hire a dropside & park it outside his door for a few days!

Could you install an ornamental feature (big rocks, planters, tree etc.) outside your house to keep him off the verges?

Our street is generally pretty good on this front, apart from the police man living at the end of the street who insists on parking in the road outsid his house, not on his perfectly good driveway. He's not parked illegally (I've checked), but certainly inconsiderately

time to organise a lcb bbq, and we'll take turns parking outside his house...

When i had all my aggro going on, a member of my golf club had a Truck used for lifting cars off red routes, he offered to pop round and put his Van in his front garden during the night (which was 100% walled except for a single gate", we considered this and every other single option of retaliation, but decided which ever path we chose would lead directly back to us instantly

Thats why we upped sticks and moved

Get your neighbours to park their cars on the road and not the drives, maybe if the road fills up, he'll have to park on another road.

Logistically though, you don't have a chance.

I looked at this thread because I have a neighbour who parks him HGV outside his house 2 doors down, I've emailed the council but they say he's not doing anything wrong, I'm not so sure.

There's no laws as far as I know in regards to this. I have 2 back street car dealers in the street facing mine and used to have a mechanic. They all take to parking several cars on my road and facing my house so it gets busy and if I get any visitors they have trouble parking. I just have to live with the fact that they won't use there own drives or park outside their houses and try and stop my dad parking outside theirs to avoid any antagonising. They'll move on soon.

Nope nothing you can do. Our quiet close didn't have a problem parking until the house in the corner was rented by a bunch of people who own an ironing business.

I would say that most of the time, they have 4 cars parked around on the road of the close, only leaving room for 1 other resident.

Illegal? No. Inconsiderate and selfish? Certainly...

I would have a word with the local roads council department. I know that outside our house we have a grass verge which cannot be parked on, anyone doing so can be ticketed and/or towed.

Unfortunately it does seem to be very dependant on the area and situation. The other angle is a saftey aspect.. When it is parked there does it hinder access to and from a driveway etc. Could a small child riding a cycle be missed because the van is causing an obstrcution ?

As has been said an amicable solution is best allround, but generally if someone is that pig ignorant to inconvenience another person in the first place, it usually will mean they have very little concern or respect for that person when approached


If there is not a law or such like on where he is parking, I think that parking another vehicle in its place is the answer here. Let him go and find somewhere else to dump it.

I think some of you may have misread the post. He's not parking the van on my verge, just in the road. He tends to park his own cars on his own verge.

After asking him yesterday not to park infront of my house I'm going to leave the space clear today just to see if he parks it there after giving him 24hr to think about it. If he does then he's a complete knob and I'll be rallying the rest of the neighbours. Hopefully he'll want to keep the peace and park it somewhere else. It's not his van but a company courier van, so I may also call his work and mention it to them.

quote:

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Originally posted by hughpinder
Assuming that its a public road, and iirc, the police used the fact that you aren't allowed to park on the public highway for more than 2 hours at a time to break the blockades during the fuel protests a few years ago. I'm not sure about that though.

Regards
Hugh

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quote:

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There's no laws as far as I know in regards to this. I have 2 back street car dealers in the street facing mine and used to have a mechanic. They all take to parking several cars on my road and facing my house so it gets busy and if I get any visitors they have trouble parking. I just have to live with the fact that they won't use there own drives or park outside their houses and try and stop my dad parking outside theirs to avoid any antagonising. They'll move on soon.

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If he's not parking across your drive think your self lucky
that's what they do around where i live some times if the road is full

Its also not illegal to park over a Drop Kerb if there is no car in the garden, a drop kerb does not entitle u to a parking space outside your house

only skim read so may have been mentioned, I recall some law about goods vehicles requiring parking lights at night over a certain weight limit, maybe wrong, worth a google.

Never an easy situation when neighbours just dont give a toss, you feel in the wrong even though they morally are, you shouldn't feel uncomfortable at home.

quote:

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Originally posted by j3w3ll3r
Its also not illegal to park over a Drop Kerb if there is no car in the garden, a drop kerb does not entitle u to a parking space outside your house

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Hi, I would check put the unladen weight of the van.
Section "250" from the above link

"Cars, goods vehicles not exceeding 1525 kg unladen weight, invalid carriages, motorcycles and pedal cycles may be parked without lights on a road (or lay-by) with a speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/h) or less if they are

at least 10 metres (32 feet) away from any junction, close to the kerb and facing in the direction of the traffic flow
in a recognised parking place or lay-by

Other vehicles and trailers, and all vehicles with projecting loads, MUST NOT be left on a road at night without lights."

I would think that van has a kerb weight over 1525kg thus he would have to leave his lights on.

from what I can find on a quick search is a swb chassis cab is a minimum of 1545kg, and a body on the back will weight more.
Thus from the above section he should park with sidelights on. that willcause problems for him

But it is illegal to block someone's access..

I had this with the council, unless the has has changed since 2004 it is not illegal to park over a dropped curb, you have no right to access your garden from the road with or without a drop curb, the curb is there to protect pipes and cables, it is illegal to park over it if you are on your drive way...or at least this was the case in 2004 as i sought legal advice

[Edited on 20/6/11 by j3w3ll3r]

Although I hate inconsiderate people I also feel people are very snobbish about what is parked near their houses. I’ve driven vans (out of choice and necessity) almost all my driving life. And experienced this snobbery first hand.

People forget that in terrace streets sometimes you have no real choice but to park somewhere other than in front of your own house. I know this is different to the situation that you have but when I did live on a terrace street I did have on a couple of occasions people knock on my door asking me to move (my transit) from the front of their house. They were completely uninterested that someone was parked in front of mine already and that I parked in the nearest available space. Fact is on a terrace street your do not own the space in front of your house.

Worse still was on a modern detached "Executive Style" estate, all but about once a month, I parked on my drive, the exception being when I was towing for work and needed to take the trailer home to get an early start the next day, even then I parked in front of my own house. This didn’t stop me being called unreasonable by my neighbour, quote “why should we come home to be faced by that”

My experience now is that these cookie-cutter “executive style” estates are by far the worse for snobery if you parked on the road in a BMW X5 similar in size to a VW transporter no one complains, park the van and no matter how clean and presentable it is you’re bringing the neighbourhood down.

Strange is move somewhere, a little bit more upmarket but with more individual style homes and people seem less keep-up-with-the-neighbours, probably because many people here are self-made and realise what you have to do to get somewhere in this world.

People should be considerate but equally not be anti-van snobs. Many van drivers are self employed people just trying to make a crust in a very competitive world

[Edited on 20/6/11 by orton1966]

[Edited on 20/6/11 by orton1966]

[Edited on 20/6/11 by orton1966]

Get white lines put down out side your house = NO STOPPING
Thats what i did

Whats the crack with 'operator licenses'? I know around here you can't keep a HGV in the street without an operators license but that would depend on the definition of HGV and the laws where you are. May be worth checking out?

Hmmmm....
http://www.eptraining.co.uk/operators_licence/

"VEHICLES COVERED

Goods vehicles, or vehicle / trailer combinations, with a gross weight / gross train weight exceeding 3.5 tonnes (or 1525 kg unladen weight if unplated), (the weight of any trailer not more than 1020 kg unladen weight being discounted,) which are used for the carriage of goods in connection with business, whether for hire and reward or own account, need the relevant operator’s licence."

"Operating Centre
The operating centre is defined as the location where the vehicle is normally kept. Full details of each operating centre, including number of vehicles and trailers to be authorised plus “off street” parking available, must be given."

May be worth a better looksy??

Think yourself lucky i used to live next door to the vet's and you have no idea what i used to get blocking my drive and the street usualy down to the local farmer's.In the end i put a large sign at the end of the drive saying PARK HERE AT YOUR OWN RISK, did kinda work but in the end it depend's on the person parking on how inconsideriate they are.

With me being in the building industry and owning my own van i have also experienced this so called van snobery but it does seem to get worse the older the van you own.

Hi All.

Reading Orton's post made me think of this:-


A bloke I used to know lives in an "upmarket residential area" (mustn't call it an estate) in a 4 bedroom house
with detached double garage. The garage contains four strips of stair carpet (so the tyres don't mark the floor)
and a matching pair of BMW's. Nothing else.
He did have a black and a white one but now a pair of silver ones, both on private plates.

A creature of habit, on Saturdays he pushes (yup, pushes) them out onto the large block paved area if front of the garage
and cleans them. Just a quick clean, couple of hours or so.
Him and his wife then walk down to the nearby (upmarket) supermarket and do the shopping, then have it delivered.
As dusk falls he then pushes the cars back in the garage.

Sundays are similar, only no shopping and the cars get a full polish. Six hours to do the two. If it rains they get pushed
back in, and out again when it stops. (Keeps doors open.)

I used to work with this bloke, shop floor sheet metal worker / welder. Part owner of the (small) company.
He used to shower and change clothes before driving home, and kept an empty briefcase in his boot. ( ??? )


Now if I could choose my neighbours, which I can't, give me a "bloke with a van" any day.

Cheers,
Paul G

FIRELIGHTERS

My two pence

Have a look at Section 137(1) Highways Act 1980 (obstructing free passage). This particular act carries a possible £30 fixed penalty notice, or in serious cases, the vehicle maybe removed to remove the obstruction (quote comes from a letter from the polis).

However, it relates to obstruction of driveways (I don't know if it is limited to getting off or getting on) and parking in turning circles.

I live on an eighties estate near a primary school. Parents really don't care where they park...oh don't get me started, must stop ranting, I did choose to live here. The road is so thin that if someone pars opposite my neighbour, it blocks three driveways - hence the local boys in blue getting involved (not at my instigation though)!!

I'm now (hopefully, survey is being done today) moving to a road rather than a close. Someone regularly parks outside the new house but as long as they don't obstruct the driveway I don't really mind. Hinder my wife getting home at the dead of night and I get very, very angry...

If talking to the guy doesn't work I'd have a look at the relevant law, talk to your neighbours, the council and the police if you think some real harm is being done. But does he wake you up by leave the engine running for 10 minutes every morning outside your bedroom window or turn up at 4am most weekends with the music blaring?

i good have a neighbour that spends 10-12 hours per weekend cleaning a car that only goes out two days a week.

fine but you do wonder if he couldnt be doing something better with his time. its not even a nice car but a 15 year old poverty spec mass produced hatchback. he must spend more money annually on cleaning products than the car is worth.

it is oddly annoying though for a reason i cant put my finger on.

what really offends me is that he;s never offered to clean mine!


s

quote:

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Originally posted by 907
Hi All.

Reading Orton's post made me think of this:-


A bloke I used to know lives in an "upmarket residential area" (mustn't call it an estate) in a 4 bedroom house
with detached double garage. The garage contains four strips of stair carpet (so the tyres don't mark the floor)
and a matching pair of BMW's. Nothing else.
He did have a black and a white one but now a pair of silver ones, both on private plates.

A creature of habit, on Saturdays he pushes (yup, pushes) them out onto the large block paved area if front of the garage
and cleans them. Just a quick clean, couple of hours or so.
Him and his wife then walk down to the nearby (upmarket) supermarket and do the shopping, then have it delivered.
As dusk falls he then pushes the cars back in the garage.

Sundays are similar, only no shopping and the cars get a full polish. Six hours to do the two. If it rains they get pushed
back in, and out again when it stops. (Keeps doors open.)

I used to work with this bloke, shop floor sheet metal worker / welder. Part owner of the (small) company.
He used to shower and change clothes before driving home, and kept an empty briefcase in his boot. ( ??? )


Now if I could choose my neighbours, which I can't, give me a "bloke with a van" any day.

Cheers,
Paul G

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Cheers chaps. As I said, I get home befgore him, so yesterday just parked my car in front on the house so he put his van outside his own house. That's what I don't get, he has room outside his own house if he put his people carrier somewhere else. I wouldn't even mind his people carrier outside my house sometimes, it's the bloody great high-sided van I don't like.

So tonight I'll park my car back on the drive when I get home and see if he's got the message or not

How for away is your house from the road ? is the van right up to the windows

quote:

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Originally posted by Jasper

So tonight I'll park my car back on the drive when I get home and see if he's got the message or not

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Theres not much you can do. I've had neighbours like this before.

If I could afford too I'd live somewhere where noone can park in the road but sadly thats not an option.

Could be worse, on my way home from work I passed a huge grit lorry park outside a terrace of houses, on hill, next the the hatch markings for a traffic island, It's there all the time and is deffinitly not allowd, and it's a street where the houses are seperated from the road by just a standard width pavement so he's gonna be blocking their windows.

quote:

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Originally posted by Jasper
Caravans are fine, we've got a few in my street including mine! It's not an estate, just a regular 1930's street.

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quote:

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Originally posted by karlak

quote:

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Originally posted by Jasper

So tonight I'll park my car back on the drive when I get home and see if he's got the message or not

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What happened tonight - My money is that he has parked outside yours again


Stand to be corrected though

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good neighbours are priceless tbh, and like someone said above, i too have moved house due to bad neighbours.

Old chap over the road has asked me not to park opposite his drive because he struggles to get his car in and out. I go along with it mainly because i have space for 5 on the drive, and dont find it hard to get in and out of the drive. Funny thing is, this guy is just like us but about 80, he was a welder all his life, as handy as you like, and better at joinery than me and thats my job! He even repointed his whole house a few years back. Wonder if i'll grow into a grumpy old bugger.

He came out shouting at someone who had dared to park with 2 wheels on the grass outside his house

They do just watch though as i reverse trailers into my drive when their cars are opposite, i wonder if they notice i manage fine?

I do like the guy though, you just have to take them as they come.