Parking problems

Tim Robbins · 17-12-2012 3:50pm #1

Hi,
Living in a new estate. Some people are parking directly in front of the entrance to our house making it a pain to get and get out. We can get in and get out but it is just a pain. Are there any legal rules about where you are allowed and not allowed park in an estate?

Is there a grey area between blocking someone so it is impossible to get out and just awkard to get out?

There is no management company. So technically it is a public road.

Rgds

MagicMarker · 17-12-2012 3:52pm

If you can get in and out then there's no problem.

Tim Robbins · 17-12-2012 3:58pm

MagicMarker wrote: »

If you can get in and out then there's no problem.

Even if you have to do a 3 point turn when you should not need to? Or even if you can only get in if you have a small car? And even if you can get out but the way they are parking they are blocking your view?

cookie1977 · 17-12-2012 4:00pm

it's just unfortunate. Blocking is one thing but it just being difficult is another I'm afraid. Consider expanding your driveway entrance (requires planning permission etc...) That what people have done around me and I intend to do eventually.

I leave notes on people's cars. It's usually people rushing to a local shop near me that park for "just 2 mins" that block. Annoying all the same because it never seems to be "just 2 mins".

Tim Robbins · 17-12-2012 9:28pm

cookie1977 wrote: »

it's just unfortunate. Blocking is one thing but it just being difficult is another I'm afraid. Consider expanding your driveway entrance (requires planning permission etc...) That what people have done around me and I intend to do eventually.

I leave notes on people's cars. It's usually people rushing to a local shop near me that park for "just 2 mins" that block. Annoying all the same because it never seems to be "just 2 mins".

Entrance can't be expanded. Can a car legally park opposite this? I can get in and out with a lot of hassle. I thought you were not allowed park opposite an entrance?

Victor · 18-12-2012 12:02am

Tim Robbins wrote: »

I thought you were not allowed park opposite an entrance?

Only with the occupiers permission.

StillWaters · 18-12-2012 1:04am

Victor wrote: »

Only with the occupiers permission.

I dont think that's true Victor. OP is not talking about someone parking across their drive/entrance, rather someone parking on the other side of the road in what sounds like a narrow road. But still allowing access to OPs drive.

I really don't think you have any recourse here, bar the friendly word.

cabbage crotch · 18-12-2012 7:45am

There's not a terrible amount you can do about this if you can still get in/out. We've had the problem almost everywhere we've lived and even with neighbours who parked flat across our driveway (requiring us to knock at their door to move when we wanted to go to work in the mornings) it's a difficult thing to resolve amicably.

Tim Robbins · 18-12-2012 11:10am

cabbage crotch wrote: »

There's not a terrible amount you can do about this if you can still get in/out. We've had the problem almost everywhere we've lived and even with neighbours who parked flat across our driveway (requiring us to knock at their door to move when we wanted to go to work in the mornings) it's a difficult thing to resolve amicably.

But if I drove a bigger car, it would be impossible to get in or out. Or if someone parks a certain way in our driveway it is impossible to get in or out.

I can't believe there is not some guideline to this. Typical Ireland. Make everything up as you go along and then let neighbours just fight and get stressed about it.

Mrs OBumble · 18-12-2012 1:26pm

The guideline is simply the rules of the road, and local bye-laws: it's a traffic problem, not an accommodation one.

Lobby the local council for double-yellows on parts of the street that are too narrow for parking.

Tim Robbins · 18-12-2012 2:37pm

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

The guideline is simply the rules of the road, and local bye-laws: it's a traffic problem, not an accommodation one.

Lobby the local council for double-yellows on parts of the street that are too narrow for parking.

The road would look awful with double yellow lines. It is a cul de sac with a bunch of houses squeezed in on top of each other. But there seem to be no rules where you can and can't park.

If the road was wider it would not be a problem. So it comes down to the width of the road. Which means it is subjective. One neighbour can say not wide enough and another neighbour can say that's wide enough.

Zulu · 18-12-2012 2:44pm

I have the same problem where we live. People park opposite, then walk to dart station. I don't have a solution.
I tried parking in "their" spot with my car for a period of time, but a different person fill the spot when I went back to parking in my drive. It's really annoying.

daver123 · 18-12-2012 2:52pm

I think the guards can get a car lifted if there is not enough room for a fire engine to get by.

Procrastastudy · 18-12-2012 3:08pm

Tim Robbins wrote: »

The road would look awful with double yellow lines. It is a cul de sac with a bunch of houses squeezed in on top of each other. But there seem to be no rules where you can and can't park.

If the road was wider it would not be a problem. So it comes down to the width of the road. Which means it is subjective. One neighbour can say not wide enough and another neighbour can say that's wide enough.

This made me LOL and think of Hyacinth Bucket. How are people supposed to know where they can or cant park on a public road without double yellow lines? If its only locals parking there perhaps they know the size of car you drive and that's why they park there.

djimi · 18-12-2012 3:23pm

Who cares how the road would look? Double yellow lines sort the problem and sound like they are exactly what you need.

StillWaters · 18-12-2012 3:41pm

The council are not going to put double yellows in a private housing estate, and the Gardai are certainly not going to police it.

Whats your green spaces like? In an estate I know they got the council to cut some parking spots into it, but they had ample green space.

It's a recurring problem in new estates where there is only 1.5 spots allocated per house.

djimi · 18-12-2012 3:50pm

StillWaters wrote: »

The council are not going to put double yellows in a private housing estate, and the Gardai are certainly not going to police it.

There are some estates in my area that have double yellow lines. No idea whether they were put there by the council though and I have no idea how well it is policed.

Tim Robbins · 18-12-2012 3:53pm

StillWaters wrote: »

The council are not going to put double yellows in a private housing estate, and the Gardai are certainly not going to police it.

Whats your green spaces like? In an estate I know they got the council to cut some parking spots into it, but they had ample green space.

It's a recurring problem in new estates where there is only 1.5 spots allocated per house.

There is ample parking down the other end of the road. But Irish people like to park close to their house. The thing is, before you go off arguing with your neighbour about where they can and where they can't park. You need to look at it from their perspective.

They might think they have a right to park outside their house and they can legally park there and the 7 point turn is your problem not their's. As soon as they park outside their house that's what happens due to the layout of the road.

cabbage crotch · 19-12-2012 6:43am

Tim Robbins wrote: »

But if I drove a bigger car, it would be impossible to get in or out. Or if someone parks a certain way in our driveway it is impossible to get in or out.

Believe me I have been driven near insane from this kind of thing so I feel your anger about it, but there's really not a terrible amount that can be done because parking is a very emotive issue! The depths of pettiness people will descend into over parking are mindblowing, and I know plenty of people who don't speak to their neighbours at all solely because of parking rows. The solution? I don't have one, but I would just say try not to let it bother you (easier said than done I know).

Mrs OBumble · 19-12-2012 1:43pm

Tim Robbins wrote: »

The road would look awful with double yellow lines. It is a cul de sac with a bunch of houses squeezed in on top of each other. But there seem to be no rules where you can and can't park.

Oh ffs. Next thing you'll be whining about the colour of their cars! :rolleyes:

You've said it yourself, it's a public road. Double-yellows are the mechanism that the council (legal authority for establishing parking regulations) must use to communicate "no parking" in this country.

If you want that mechanism changed to something prettier, then lobby your TD to have the colour or shape of them changed (dotted pink-and-purple, perhaps?).

In the meantime, either get over it, or work within the law as it stands.

cookie1977 · 19-12-2012 1:54pm

Or push for pay and display parking

Tim Robbins · 19-12-2012 1:56pm

You're right, people do go a bit OTT over this. It would make more sense for roads and footpaths to be a certain width to prevent these problems.

But we have planners who do not care that they create these problems and law makers who are not aware of them because they leave in big houses.

Procrastastudy · 20-12-2012 8:36am

Tim Robbins wrote: »

You're right, people do go a bit OTT over this. It would make more sense for roads and footpaths to be a certain width to prevent these problems.

But we have planners who do not care that they create these problems and law makers who are not aware of them because they leave in big houses.

You vote in the law makers - vote for the one who is tough on parking and tough on the causes of parking.

Tim Robbins · 20-12-2012 9:40am

Procrastastudy wrote: »

You vote in the law makers - vote for the one who is tough on parking and tough on the causes of parking.

I think the problem is with the planners. They do "degrees" for this sort of thing and should realise that when you make roads narrow and cramp houses and people need cars you get these problems.

Procrastastudy · 20-12-2012 10:00am

Tim Robbins wrote: »

I think the problem is with the planners. They do "degrees" for this sort of thing and should realise that when you make roads narrow and cramp houses and people need cars you get these problems.

Ah don't be blaming the planners now. Its always the accountants and senior management. It always comes down to making as much money as possible. To be fair you chose to live there.

I'd borrow a mates jeep for a few days and come barrelling in and out.

Mrs OBumble · 20-12-2012 1:26pm

Not to mention the elected councillors who over-rule the planners recommendations ...

And I must question the assumption that "people need cars". Lots of people don't have them, or cannot drive, or whatever.

Victor · 20-12-2012 4:22pm

Tim Robbins wrote: »

I think the problem is with the planners. They do "degrees" for this sort of thing and should realise that when you make roads narrow and cramp houses and people need cars you get these problems.

Facilitating cars just creates more demand for space. I was told of one terraced house in the centre of town, with four adults - all drivers with their own cars -

with seven cars between them

.

Tim Robbins · 20-12-2012 5:21pm

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Not to mention the elected councillors who over-rule the planners recommendations ...

And I must question the assumption that "people need cars". Lots of people don't have them, or cannot drive, or whatever.

It depends where you live. I avoided buying a car for as long as I could and cycled everywhere but where I currently am it is impossible unfortunately.
Planners are not passive agents. They reject permissions and apply conditions to them.

miss no stars · 21-12-2012 1:39pm

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

And I must question the assumption that "people need cars". Lots of people don't have them, or cannot drive, or whatever.

It's reasonable to assume that a house will have 2 cars if it's say, a 3 bed semi-detached house in a young area...

So if an application comes in allocating 1-1.5 spaces per house with narrow in a new development of family homes? The developer should be told to cop on and sent packing until he comes back with something reasonable.

Most people who do not live in a city centre and live with a family house have 2 cars or more. Can't actually think of any I know who don't.

Mrs OBumble · 21-12-2012 2:53pm

miss no stars wrote: »

Most people who do not live in a city centre and live with a family house have 2 cars or more. Can't actually think of any I know who don't.

I can think of quite a few. Some cannot afford to run any cars at all (live in an estate with a decent bus-service, and you don't need one). Some choose to run one family car only. Oh - and a couple aren't actually allowed to drive even if they want to, for medical reasons.

And that's without even thinking about likely oil prices over the next 50 years.

Tim Robbins wrote: »

Planners are not passive agents. They reject permissions and apply conditions to them.

Maybe it depends where you live. Where I live, planners recommend, councillors decide - sometimes contrary to the planner's recommdndations.

clevtrev · 21-12-2012 3:05pm

why don't you park your car on the road when its free and leave the spot outside your house free for visitors / turning your car. This at least will reduce the impact and pass on a message to your neighbours that parking there is an irritation

miss no stars · 21-12-2012 8:42pm

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I can think of quite a few. Some cannot afford to run any cars at all (live in an estate with a decent bus-service, and you don't need one). Some choose to run one family car only. Oh - and a couple aren't actually allowed to drive even if they want to, for medical reasons.

Yeah, but it's unreasonable to assume that morethan half the houses in an estate full of family houses will only have 1 car. Maybe at the start a good few will, but what about 3 years down the line when the 15 year old who moved in is now 18 and gets a car but still lives at home? Then 10-15 years when the area has grown up a good bit and there are loads of houses with multiple teenagers/twenty-somethings living at home who drive. Also, being well served by public transport doesn't always negate the need for a car. If you don't need a car, fantastic. Lots of people DO need cars despite having decent public transport nearby. And I say that as someone who doesn't have a car.

It's irresponsible to not future proof when it comes to infrastructure. The extra cost at the time is far, far, far less than the remedial cost down the line.

maroondog · 22-12-2012 1:19am

I used to live on a narrow enough street where a house had parking opp their entrance, same exact problem. Dublin City council took away the on street parking opp the entrance to the house and put down double yellow lines. It was very difficult to get in and out the house, often saw the people in the house struggling to get in and out. So getting double yellows put down can be done and seems the only solution.

Parking problems

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