I have recently moved into a terraced property without a drive or garage which doesnt bother me as I havent got a car. However,a neighbour parks his van on the pavement outside my house, about 2 feet away from my window. He does not park on his own pavement which remains clear. I am a woman on my own and feel worried about asking him to move his van as I do not want to cause trouble but I feel he is taking advantage of the fact I am a woman on my own. Why on earth doesnt he park outside his own window for goodness sake!
Can someone tell me what is the best way forward here? and is it legal to do what he is doing?

I don't think it's illegal to park on the pavement as such, but I think I've read that it is illegal to block it. In either case a friendly word should be the first step.

Contact the council as this is 'causing an obstruction' and can be dealt with by them.

:thumbsup:

Originally posted by hotphil
I don't think it's illegal to park on the pavement as such, but I think I've read that it is illegal to block it. In either case a friendly word should be the first step.

I wouldn't have a friendly word in case he does take offence...he could've been parking like this for many years !!

Parking on the pavement 'is causing an obstruction' ...whether he likes it or not and parking in front of your window isn't very neighbourly either so he doesn't sound like he is up for an award in the 'Considerate Neighbour' awards category does he??????

The council can approach him and you can remain anon that way!!

If it doesn't stop complain again and again til he does!!

:thumbsup:

yes shieshuk, thats what I instinctively thought about him not being very neighbourly and probably not open to a polite request from me. But Im not sure if I contact the council..he will guess it is me and think i am going behind his back. It was an elderly woman lived there before me and I think he just started parking there cause he knew she would nt say anything. Im not an arguementative person. I am quite shy and this is worrying me. I just dont want to have to look outside my window straight into the window of his van every day.

I would suggest that if you really don't feel like appproaching him, maybe asking a friend who has a boyfriend or something who would do it for you and maybe pretend to be your brother or something.

Failing that, wait until the van isn't there and place several big pot plants along the edge of the kerb stopping him putting the van there. It's hardly his right to complain, and if he does or even moves them himself then get the council involved immediately... good luck! :cool:

He may guess it is you - but he will never have the proof!!

You could always discuss it with other neighbours first and get them on your side .....so if you have any problems they can be there to reassure you .......but I still think the best approach is to speak with the council first I am sure they will be very knowledgable on the subject after dealing with similar cases.

Good Luck

:thumbsup:

Originally posted by Briano
Failing that, wait until the van isn't there and place several big pot plants along the edge of the kerb stopping him putting the van there. It's hardly his right to complain, and if he does or even moves them himself then get the council involved immediately... good luck! :cool:

I wouldn't do that as then you would be causing an obstruction yourself. Best thing to do is contact the council and see what they say first.

Originally posted by Musey
I wouldn't do that as then you would be causing an obstruction yourself. Best thing to do is contact the council and see what they say first.

Causing an obstruction to what, a van parking on the pavement!? :loopy:

Originally posted by tralee
[B] Why on earth doesnt he park outside his own window for goodness sake!
[B]

Because they never do tralee.

As far as I am aware it is illegal to park and cause an obstruction. Would it be possible to get a pram through on the pavement? If not then I would say that he could be approached by the police and asked to move it.

This used to happen to me when my kids were at the pram stage. There was a total idiot who insisted on parking on the pavement on our estate. This was in a dangerous place on the brow of a hill and I refused to go onto the road. Every day without fail I would push my pram right over his garden rather than walk on the road. I used to long for him to come out to me but he never did.

Tricky one because if you approach him and he is unreasonable (which he probably is or he would park the darn thing outside his own house) and then you contact the police then he would know that it was you who had reported him.

It's the police's concern not the council's.

My partner once complained about a van obstructing the pavement where she worked. The police told her they do not consider it an offence but that driving on the pavement is. She then told them that the driver would have had to drive on the pavement in order to park which they hadn't considered. They promised that next time a patrol car was in the area they would 'have a word' and sure enough the van was not seen again.

My advice is to talk to your local community policeman.

Originally posted by max
It's the police's concern not the council's.

Not sure about that, parking enforcement transferred to the council on 4 April this year...

...obstruction though, that might still be with the police I suppose...

...anybody know for sure?

:confused:

I am no expert but always assumed 'an obstruction on the public highway or public footpath/right of way' was the police (high risk) and council (general/low risk)!!!

An element of common sense here.....!!

You wouldn't call out the police if you discovered a pot hole/tree root or a badly parked vehicle but you would if a lorry was losing it's load along the M1 or your neighbour starting digging up the front of your house to mark out his own parking bay !!!!!!!!!!!!!!:confused:

Originally posted by Briano
Causing an obstruction to what, a van parking on the pavement!? :loopy:

No lol to pedestrians, if the van is causing an obstuction then the council should deal with it, putting your own obstuction in place to stop the van isn't right either. 2 wrongs don't make a right etc etc

I took this quote from a site about abandoned vehicles
The police also have the power to immediately remove any vehicle which is left in breach of local traffic regulation orders, or is causing an obstruction or is likely to cause a danger
which you can read here:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/Topics/HomeAndCommunity/Householders/LocalEnvironment/GreenIssues/GreenIssuesArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4001703&chk=NF0cGN
taken from:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/Topics/HomeAndCommunity/Householders/YourCommunity/SafeCommunities/SafeCommunitiesArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4001652&chk=u0dayM

hope it's a bit of help? :confused: Good luck:thumbsup:

There's a street near me where everybody parks half on/half off the kerb, and the whole street got ticketed one weekend.

It is an offence to park on the pavement.

And it sounds like the council intend to get tough over such problems soon. There's ads on the radio ;) :clap:

Take a look at the Highway Code, in particular section 218.

http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/22.htm#218

The council now deal with people parking on lines (single/double yellow ones, etc). The police will deal with obstructions.

But be aware, he can continue to park outside your house (albeit not on the pavement). If he pays road tax, he can park where ever he chooses, providing it isn't illegally, just as you can.

This is a nightmare situation - I totally sympathise - we have a grassy bank in front of us and our neighbours drive over it all the time which has churned it into a mud bath...the council won't do a thing.

There are also about 6 people working for Ford Windows who have those massive white vans on Smalldale Road at Frecheville - the reason it annoys me so much is because they don't ever park the huge things in front of their own houses or even leave them at work which would be nice and sensible- they park in front of my mother-in-laws. It is disgraceful. But why complain? Nobody ever does anything about it.

Put your wheelie bin out when you know he's due back?

i have an old trailer that you can pop on the roadside for a week or two,it works round here.

I live in a terraced house and as i dont drive you should see where my neigbours park there cars right outside my front door we have had to start using the backdoor to get out because of the cars parked on the pavements. but it doesnt end there we have cars parked on our front by people who use the pub and they have got a big car park. there was a accident outside our house 3 weeks ago a argos lorry was coming down the main street and because of the cars and vans what was parked on our main road, he hit one of them and pushed it nearly in to my mates front door if it had been my front door then my 3 year old son would have copped it as he plays at the back of the door with his toys. if you went to the council about it they wouldnt do a thing about it because they havent got time for small matters like this we are suspose to be having our main street altered and the are going to put islands in to slow down the traffic but that will make it worse because people will still park the cars,vans lorries on our pavements we have a right job when we put out the wheelie bins and it as been know for the binmen to leave them as they cant get to them for all the cars that are parked on our front.

Hi Garryn and Willman - it isn't as easy as that in front of my house - although the trailer idea would probably work in front of my mother-in-laws house - but should we have to go that far? That is what is annoying! Surely these big window companies have their own areas where company vehicles should be stored???

In front of my house is just a total wreck...I am going to see my local councillor this week and see what he has to say about it. It annoys me that people just don't care about what things look like and it devalues their own property as well as mine!

Liose, why not try a letter to the company? Start it in a jokey way by saying something like their vans make better doors than windows because you can't see through them when they are inconsiderately parked outside you MiL's house see if that does any good.

We get it on our street as well. At the moment there's four cars parked up in a line on the pavement, starting outside our garden and going up to the house they're visiting. One of them belongs to that tenant.

Last week she parked outside our house and some blokes came to see her. How did I know this? They WALKED INTO OUR HOUSE! I was in on my own at the time. I now keep the door locked and chained when I'm in on my own because I don't want any more meatheads walking in because they can't be bothered to check the house number.

Anyway, all this pavement parking makes it very difficult to get up the road. My other half has taken to walking up the middle of the road in the mornings when going for the tram because he can't walk on that bit of the pavement. I ended up leaving her a note on her windscreen asking her to park outside her own house but she never does. :loopy:

I might just wait until they block the pavement up again tomorrow and call the council to ask their advice. It's not fair on people that use the pavement for walking on!

I'm not sure about the pavement but it is an offence to drive over the kerb where a drop kerb is not in place, report it to the council & they will probably write to him

Buy a bigger van than his!!!

Haha take a drive around Hillsborough and you will see sometimes you have to park on pavements!

Haha take a drive around Hillsborough and you will see sometimes you have to park on pavements!

There's a skip on your road at the moment too, making it worse! I know because it's currently outside my house, or at least it was when I left for work this morning.

Oops guess I shoul apologise for the 3 skips we've had over the last two years then! Obviously it makes the road narrow, but seeing as the terrace rows weren't designed for cars, I think it works as well as it could round here

On my road, everyone seems to own a car. If you get a visitor, they can't park up. Its not a wide road, and so everyone parks on the pavement to keep the road clear. Sometimes its impossible to get down my front steps and onto the path with my pram, as the neighbour's car is parked with about a 30cm gap from my steps. Its hell on bin day (today) as you can normally walk down the path (without a pram) but you have no chance with bins there as well as cars. If i have my pram I have to walk down the road, as there is no chance of getting it up the path between the gaps the cars leave.

It does seem that Sheffield City Council have lost control of the streets. They are responsible for parking and have to take a more active role. If the parking becomes illegal then it is a police matter.

The council have a policy of only tackling problems that occur where there are road markings or road signs and are not concerned about non marked roads.

As ever small things lead to bigger things and the path parkers are now taking to the street corners.

On bin days residents cannot walk on the paths because of vehicles and bins and have to walk on the roads sheffield9.net/tinsley/parking.html (http://www.sheffield9.net/tinsley/parking.html)

I've stated previously that a little bit of joined up thinking wouldn't go amiss. The police and council parking services are seemingly responsible for dealing with seperate parking issues, I think they should both be able to issue tickets/fines if there is a parking issue.
The police supposedly are only going to take note of a vehicle parked on a pavement if it is causing an obstruction which in their mind seems to mean if you can't get past with a pushchair. I can think of several rresidential roads where the pavement is impassable but I suspect that unless a complaint is made then no-one is going to be fined and nothing will happen. .

A friend of mine lives in a terrace on a busy road in the Halifax area. She and her neighbours have always parked partly on the pavement, as there is no other choice. The pavement is very wide, so there's no issue with obstructing prams etc.

Out of the blue one day, a Jobsworth plod turned up and ticketed all the cars claiming they were causing obstructions. They had no choice but to pay up, but immediately went back to parking on the pavement again, as there was no offroad parking available.

Seems that there is no consistency in how this is dealt with. I've not heard of anyone getting ticketed in Sheffield, but then the whole city would grind to a halt if everyone tried to park fully on the road.

No-one has the 'right' to park on the road, but though many do. Even more so, no-one has the right to park on the pavement. Except in unusual circumstances, both road/pavement are legally owned by the Local Highway Authority (which, in metropolitan counties like South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, means the District Council).

Take a look at the Highway Code, in particular section 218.

http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/22.htm#218
The Highway Code (2007) online is now at http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/index.htm.
Waiting/parking are covered by what are now paragraphs 238-252. Paragraph 244 says this:

You MUST NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement in London**, and should not do so elsewhere unless signs permit it. Parking on the pavement can obstruct and seriously inconvenience pedestrians, people in wheelchairs or with visual impairments and people with prams or pushchairs.

Although the Code itself is not law, it can be taken into account in Court proceedings.

** This paragraph is moreover reflective of s.15 of the Greater London (General Powers) Act 1974 [Greater London only, of course].

anyone who wilfully obstructs the free passage along a highway can be fined upto £400 (highways act1980)

I feel for you, I really do.

wait while you see him parking then go out and say sweetly "can you park a bit further down only you blocking my light"dont forget to smile .think this will do the trick

My son was told that it is illegal to park on the pavement, especially if it is near a door or window as it causes obstruction to getting out of the house in case of a fire. It was actually the local police officer who told him to move it before he gave him a fine. It's up to you how you deal with it.

There is a medical practice with no patient parking at the bottom of our road, it has been known that patients using the surgery have parked on people' s private drives, blocking drives is common place.

Folk living in terraced houses do not have any special parking rights, however constant complaints about part pavement parking should bring action from the authorities. Does your neighbour park his van infront of your house and a car in front of his?