Dodgy Parking

[flango]

Just call the police and get them to enforce the road traffic act, if that doesn't sort him then default to post #14. you'll just end up in a world of pain trying to reason with scum like this, it's just not worth the time or effort for the abuse you'll get in return

 

[Dieselman]

you'll just end up in a world of pain trying to reason with scum like this, it's just not worth the time or effort for the abuse you'll get in return

How do you know there will be any abuse back or that he is scum. He may genuinely think he is being considerate and maintaining the lay by not parking on the pavement (which is illegal).

 

[flango]

How do you know there will be any abuse back or that he is scum. He may genuinely think he is being considerate and maintaining the lay by not parking on the pavement (which is illegal).

Come on do they sound like resonable people sending the RSPCA round on some BS allegation I can just imagine what these people are like, I might be stereotyping here but i bet i am not wrong.

As for parking on the pavement the only vehicle prohibited from doing this under the 1988 road traffic act is an HGV its perfectly legal for a car as long as it does not cause an obstruction if you don't believe me check it out all there in black and white in the statutes

 

[peter49]

The OP has already explained that:

"This man is completely unapproachable, his wife is the local cat woman and has already had the RSPCA sent round to my house claiming that I have 30 cats and regularly throw them out of upstairs windows. (I don't by the way). So a direct approach would probably make him park even further away from the kerb causing more of an obstruction."

Maybe that's why she doesn't:

"just go and talk to the guy?"

There seem to be plenty of replies from people who feel aggression and confrontation will solve the issue. It rarely does.
I see that this OP has a teaching back-ground with two teenagers and is now a Youth Worker. I believe that she must therefore have plenty of experience in dealing with "situations" and overcoming "unapproachability".

 

[flango]

There seem to be plenty of replies from people who feel aggression and confrontation will solve the issue. It rarely does.".

It's always worked for me confront the issue head on and try and resolve via the legal route. If that doesn't work then have them approached on their own level. It also helps having lawyers and traffic cops for friends though

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

A chat with your local Police station would be my first port of call if it genuinely is causing problems.

Just sat here with my next door neighbour who is a traffic cop.

Why do you get a Traffic Cop, and I get an Accountant??!!

 

[219]

If 'someone' were to go round during the hours of darkness and let the air out of his tyres a few times ( causing him some inconvenience but doing no real damage ) , he might stop parking there .

 

[flango]

Why do you get a Traffic Cop, and I get an Accountant??!!

I got 3 one next door and two opposite, anymore and they'll have to rename our street to letsby avenue

 

[flango]

If 'someone' were to go round during the hours of darkness and let the air out of his tyres a few times ( causing him some inconvenience but doing no real damage ) , he might stop parking there .

Its very effective if you take the schrader valves out of the centre of the valve with a schrader key, then you can laugh your ass off while they are working out why they cant blow them up again

 

[SandradMrsp]

There seem to be plenty of replies from people who feel aggression and confrontation will solve the issue. It rarely does.
I see that this OP has a teaching back-ground with two teenagers and is now a Youth Worker. I believe that she must therefore have plenty of experience in dealing with "situations" and overcoming "unapproachability".

Three teenagers unfortunately.

I am not averse to confronting people. In fact I have already dealt with this volvo driver's next door neighbour because of some issues, and the situation was immediately resolved. This guy is just a different kettle of fish - there is somebody else in the same property who does park with two wheels on the pavement, making access to the street much easier. He is just being a git.

And part of me says, he's narking off the entire street - why should it just be down to me to sort it? I think maybe the next move will be the police, but from a joined forces position, I'm going to get in touch with other neighbours and see if we can sort it as a group.

 

[boxbrownie]

It's amazing what a polite knock on the door and a chat from the local bobby can do, a similar incident occurred when some new "affordable" homes were built locally, nothing wrong with that but the parking issues which were highlighted by neighbours were ignored by the developer and council at planning time and consequently there were problems with access when a car was constantly parked on the small road rather than the parking spaces provided at the back of the properties, my son who was a local PC at the time had a word about the parking and how it was a local bus route and hinted there "could have been" incidents of damage to vehicles parked there in the past, the owner of the car now parks in his allotted space at the rear all the time.

Try talking to your local plod first just pointing out you would prefer not to personally get involved as the guy has been aggressive in the past to approaches, this should get the officer quite interested. It's worth a try first.

 

[Mr. B]

One option.......

View attachment 34222

 

[Deleted member 65149]

I so wish the "get the local plod to have a word" suggestions would always work. We have a lot of inconsiderate parking problems around where I live and despite numerous requests the police continue to say that there's nothing they can do. Roads get restriceted as in the OP's case but nothing is done. It's only luck that has meant no emergency vehicles have had to try to pass. Sometimes the bin men haven't been able to get into cul-de-sacs so the residents have ended up missing a collection. In other places busses have had to sit and wait for a long time before someone eventually moves their car. Menwhile the police do naff all.

As for the suggestion that perhaps the Volvo driver could be encouraged to park with a couple of wheels on the pavement, surely that doesn't make sense. He may not be doing so because he doesn't want to risk damaging his wheels by driving onto there. If the pavement's not too high to cause any damage, then passing motorists could perhaps drive onto the pavement on their side to get past? Unfortunately it's NOT illegal to park on the pavement in the UK other than in London and just a couple of other places where the council has introduced a bylaw prohibiting it. (Funnily enogh though, it IS illegal to drive on the pavement, so how else you get the car onto there I don't know!)

Anyway, I totally empathise with the OP's predicament. Hopefully she manages to get it sorted.

 

[boxbrownie]

Its true that sometimes it is nigh on impossible to get local plod interested and one of the reasons my son left the police and decided to become a doctor (small leap I know!) he felt he was "swimming against the tide" during his time in the force, sorry they like to call it the service now .

He did all he could to actually help people and not just knock the arrest count up, but that was not the results the senior plods wanted, what a crying shame .

 

[Mr. B]

Unfortunately it's NOT illegal to park on the pavement in the UK other than in London and just a couple of other places where the council has introduced a bylaw prohibiting it. (Funnily enogh though, it IS illegal to drive on the pavement, so how else you get the car onto there I don't know!)

It is illegal though to cause an unnecessary obstruction AND a wilful obstruction (2 x separate offences).

Plus a pavement is still classed as part of the highway / road.

 

[Deleted member 65149]

It is illegal though to cause an unnecessary obstruction AND a wilful obstruction (2 x separate offences).

The problem is, they're both subjective. Different vague rules on what's classed as obstruction in different places. Some police say that it's not obstruction if you can get a pram through, but don't define a pram's width! Others will give arbitary guide measurements that seem to be rarely enforced, and certainly not without a significant number of complaints from pedestrians.

Of course none of this would be a problem if drivers had some common sense and consideration for others.

 

[brucemillar]

The problem is, they're both subjective. Different vague rules on what's classed as obstruction in different places. Some police say that it's not obstruction if you can get a pram through, but don't define a pram's width! Others will give arbitary guide measurements that seem to be rarely enforced, and certainly not without a significant number of complaints from pedestrians.

Of course none of this would be a problem if drivers had some common sense and consideration for others.

Good point:

I live in the Country-side up a single track lane. We occasionally get people leaving their cars parked on the lane (which is unmarked) being picked by others, they head off to work for the day.

Recently we had a Spanish artic truck get wedged after attempting to follow his sat-nav up the wrong road (ours).

The Police took the view that the parked cars were "obstructing the highway" and had a tow truck summonsed. Said tow truck driver then simply dragged the cars onto his trailer (handbrakes on & in-gear) and took them off to the nearest car pound.

I was astonished at this and questioned the Police who assured me that te drivers who had left their cars parked were guilty of obstructing the highway. The rationale being that if they were not parked!! then the truck would not have got stuck. i.e. He got stuck attempting not to damage the cars not by going up the wrong road.

I understand that both drivers had to pay to have their cars returned.

So if you cant get past without getting stuck the Police should be on your side. Driving on the pavement is not a safe option.