Using traffic cones to block off parking spaces.

Macstuff

I'd appreciate input on the rights and wrongs of residents using parking cones to block off the parking space outside their homes.

On Friday, I had to visit a friend who lives in a Cul De Sac in the South Inner City. Even though the street is near the city centre, it's unmetered and a lot of city workers park there all day, blocking up parking spaces for the residents.
After unsuccessfully looking for parking for ages in the streets near the house, I parked in a space that had been blocked off using a traffic cone. My friend (the resident) and I had an appointment that we could not be late for, so I was under time pressure to find parking.

When I returned to my car a few hours later, I was met by the neighbour who was really angry. She told me that I had no right to park there.
I kept my cool, but told her my story i.e. that I had looked for spaces and as I was pressed for time, I had parked there. I further told her (again in a very polite way), that going forward I would not park there - assuming that I could find another space when visiting my friend. I continued that if not, I would do it, as I, like, her pay road taxes and therefore I believe I have the same right to use the space as her.
Despite my calm non-confrontational demeanor she was still really upset - shaking, voice trembling, so much so I wonder if she suffers from some sort of physical illness.
In any case I wanted to be as polite as I could and not cause further issues between me and her and or between her and my friend so I decided to just drive off having made my point.

Thinking about it today I still believe that I was within my rights to park there, but wonder what others think?

Tzardine

Yup. If it is a public road you have every right to park there.

People often wrongly think that they own the space in front of their house.

magicbastarder

the locals should (and may have tried to) contact their local authority; if they don't have driveways of their own, the local authority may agree to introduce metered parking.
it can be very aggravating not being able to find parking outside your house if you've no driveway.
i used to live in phibsborough, which was certainly not too bad for this, but the council polled the locals who voted (fairly narrowly) to introduce it. €40pa for a residents permit.

ted1

Why did you feel the need to have to explain yourself to her?

2RockMountain

magicbastarder wrote: »

the locals should (and may have tried to) contact their local authority; if they don't have driveways of their own, the local authority may agree to introduce metered parking.
it can be very aggravating not being able to find parking outside your house if you've no driveway.
i used to live in phibsborough, which was certainly not too bad for this, but the council polled the locals who voted (fairly narrowly) to introduce it. €40pa for a residents permit.

Yes, this does happen - though you'd have to wonder why we give up so much public space for storage of private property. If I need somewhere to store my drum kit or my lawnmower, can I get onto my council and demand some public space for it?

magicbastarder

i suppose it depends on whether the road was designed in the first place to allow for parking.
it's not unreasonable that if it is, and there's no provision possible on the property itself, that people living there should be given first dibs (in a managed situation).
there's problems like this near the IFSC too, and i know some roads near DCU are clogged with cars students leave parked there. generally though, it's bad parking near DCU which is the problem, as most properties there have driveways.

coylemj

ted1 wrote: »

Why did you feel the need to have to explain yourself to her?

Perhaps the OP felt that a polite explanation was better than a curt 'FO' which could have resulted in a brick through his/her back window as a leaving present.

gumbo1

It's actually illegal for you to block someone's drive way. The law states "a vehicle shall not be parked in a manner that it blocks access or egress from a private residence without the home owners concent". I've an awful problem with inconsiderate so an so's blocking my driveway day in day out all day. Fine if it's for a few mins while they run into the shop or whatever but to park there in front of someone's house and not give a **** about where the homeowner is going to park really pisses me off. What if the persons house you parked in front of has a disabled child that needs to be parked as close to their house as possible an that's why the were using the cones? Would yoube happy if someone parked iin front of your house for an extended period of time?

dixiefly

gumbo1 wrote: »

It's actually illegal for you to block someone's drive way. The law states "a vehicle shall not be parked in a manner that it blocks access or egress from a private residence without the home owners concent". I've an awful problem with inconsiderate so an so's blocking my driveway day in day out all day. Fine if it's for a few mins while they run into the shop or whatever but to park there in front of someone's house and not give a **** about where the homeowner is going to park really pisses me off. What if the persons house you parked in front of has a disabled child that needs to be parked as close to their house as possible an that's why the were using the cones? Would yoube happy if someone parked iin front of your house for an extended period of time?

I got the impression from the OP that s/he was not blocking any driveway when they parked.

I think the OP handled it well.

ted1

coylemj wrote: »

Perhaps the OP felt that a polite explanation was better than a curt 'FO' which could have resulted in a brick through his/her back window as a leaving present.

I find entertaining people like her to be more troublesome, it's a public road , why explain why you parked in a public location to a complete randomer

2RockMountain

gumbo1 wrote: »

It's actually illegal for you to block someone's drive way. The law states "a vehicle shall not be parked in a manner that it blocks access or egress from a private residence without the home owners concent". I've an awful problem with inconsiderate so an so's blocking my driveway day in day out all day. Fine if it's for a few mins while they run into the shop or whatever but to park there in front of someone's house and not give a **** about where the homeowner is going to park really pisses me off. What if the persons house you parked in front of has a disabled child that needs to be parked as close to their house as possible an that's why the were using the cones? Would yoube happy if someone parked iin front of your house for an extended period of time?

Most councils will provide a disabled parking bay in front of your house if you have a family member that needs transport. It's still not 'your' space, but it does reduce the chances of others parking there.

But there is a big difference between legal parking at someone's house and blocking their driveway. The OP is not talking about blocking driveways.

savagethegoat

you should just ask her where her visitors park

newacc2015

2RockMountain wrote: »

Yes, this does happen - though you'd have to wonder why we give up so much public space for storage of private property. If I need somewhere to store my drum kit or my lawnmower, can I get onto my council and demand some public space for it?

Maybe people wouldnt drive in the first place if there was decent public transport? Did you ever think of that? Owning a car is very expensive, most people would happily give up spending around €2-3k on owning a car per year if there was a cheaper/decent alternative. But there isnt. A lot of people have no choice but use cars as there is no public transport at night/early morning, people use it for work, moving disabled relatives around etc.

DCC provide garages for a lot of their residents living in social housing. So yes you can ask DCC for a place to store your drums etc.

Losty Dublin

A woman living nearby used to place a traffic cone in front of her house to keep her parking spot outside of her house. Used to that is; one evening I saw a Garda throw the cone into their squad car in front of her and much to her disgust.

dresden8

Yay! Free Cone!!!!!

2RockMountain

newacc2015 wrote: »

Maybe people wouldnt drive in the first place if there was decent public transport? Did you ever think of that? Owning a car is very expensive, most people would happily give up spending around €2-3k on owning a car per year if there was a cheaper/decent alternative. But there isnt. A lot of people have no choice but use cars as there is no public transport at night/early morning, people use it for work, moving disabled relatives around etc.

DCC provide garages for a lot of their residents living in social housing. So yes you can ask DCC for a place to store your drums etc.

About 50% of journeys under 2km are done by car, and about 80% of journeys under 8km are done by car. These could very easily be done by walking or cycling, but most people are glued to their cars.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/more-than-half-of-travellers-use-cars-for-journeys-under-2km-1.2303451

Garages in social housing? Could you show me any examples of DCC social housing with garages built in the last 30 or 40 years?

And what about those not in social housing? Can they demand storage facilities be provided from public spaces for their goods?

trellheim

car parking gets very very emotive

magicbastarder

a hell of a lot of the estates and houses were built long before irish people either had cars, or before two cars became the norm per family.

Macstuff

Thanks for all the replies. Just getting back on a few of the points raised.
1. Why did I engage with her? My friend has lived there for almost 15 years and knows her somewhat. In fact, I was chatting to her about 5 years ago at a party in my friends house and she was quite pleasant to talk to. I wanted to be polite as:
- I think that's always the best initial approach in most situations.
- I was conscious of my friends neighbourly relationship with her and didn't want to damage that.
2. I wasn't blocking her driveway by parking there. These are terraced houses on the street i.e. they don't have a driveway.
3. The points re. car ownership and overuse of cars are not relevant to this discussion.

XPS_Zero

It really is amazing how people assume they own a patch of road just because it happens to be outside their house.

As long as it's not blocking your driveway, you don't own it, it's an open space. Your property ends at your front gate.

savagethegoat

actually with many properties you do own the road, to the centre. You don't have any more right to park there though than anyone else.

GM228

savagethegoat wrote: »

actually with many properties you do own the road, to the centre. You don't have any more right to park there though than anyone else.

How do you figure that one?

MarkR

savagethegoat wrote: »

actually with many properties you do own the road, to the centre. You don't have any more right to park there though than anyone else.

How do people wind up owning a public road? My house is on a t junction, I could be making a mine here with a toll booth!

Any source for that?

Hilly Bill

Did you ask your friend why they didn't reserve a place outside their house with a cone for you?

savagethegoat

GM228 wrote: »

How do you figure that one?

check your deeds , it is often the case.

(for instance : http://www.askaboutmoney.com/threads/who-owns-space-between-boundary-wall-and-edge-of-road.177535/

GM228

savagethegoat wrote: »

check your deeds , it is often the case.

(for instance : http://www.askaboutmoney.com/threads/who-owns-space-between-boundary-wall-and-edge-of-road.177535/

That only applies when there is a private road within the boundry of the property under the land registry or someone built their boundary wall within their land boundary and is not common at all, your link is talking about an area about three quarters of an inch outside the boundary wall it would appear. A public road is the responsibility of the loacl authority and owned by the state.

It would be impossible to find a person who owned the public road outside their house right to the centre like you suggested.

MarkR

I'd be interested in seeing something a bit more official than opinions on another forum. And even that only seeks to be referencing rural roads. Given that the topic is about a residential area in Dublin, it doesn't seem to be relevant?

coylemj

GM228 wrote: »

It would be impossible to find a person who owned the public road outside their house right to the centre like you suggested.

+1 If it's maintained by the local authority then it has been taken into public ownership.

But before you even get to the road, the footpath is also public property. You have no more right to stop someone parking outside your house (assuming they are not blocking your drive if there is one) than you can decide who can and can not walk past your house on the footpath.

So the strategy probably should be to ask the guy with the cone why he isn't blocking off the footpath as well. When he concedes that the footpath is public, you then point out that the road is public as well.

plodder

Actually, the first house I bought was like that. The property extended to the middle of the road outside (it was a new house in an estate). The solicitor seemed a bit surprised but explained there was no benefit to it, only potential problems. I presume the developer who owned the land originally was thinking the same.

magicbastarder

might that have been to do with whether the council had taken it in charge or not?
i suspect the council would be slow to provide a lot of services on an estate entirely in private ownership.

plodder

magicbastarder wrote: »

might that have been to do with whether the council had taken it in charge or not?
i suspect the council would be slow to provide a lot of services on an estate entirely in private ownership.

In my case, I'd say the council didn't know at the time. It was over 20 years ago though and I don't own the house any more. So, I don't know the current status. But, it was/is a very busy, road, certainly not by any stretch "private".