Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊

[Travel] Parking on grass verges



Papak

Not an NSC licker...
Jul 11, 2003
1,921
Horsham
I went out for a run earlier and couldn't help but be appalled by the state of the grass verges along every road I ran down.

It seems that it is the accepted norm for drivers to park with their wheels up on grass verges, churning them up and leaving them looking like shell holes at the Somme.

When did drivers develop this entitlement to damage public highways in this antisocial way?

Is there any way to report drivers who persistently do this?
Grunching - probably when the PCP type contracts for car buying started and everyone got nervous about dinks and scratches on their (not their actually) cars.
 




Stat Brother

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
73,869
West west west Sussex
My favourite is the outsize bollard right at the end, to prevent cars driving off the zebra crossing between the traffic lights, and parking on the otherwise unprotected corner. That bollard is doing an important public service. You can't be too careful these days.
Posts beginning with 'my favourite bollard' warms the heart of this WBA disciple.
My work preaching the word of the lord is taking effect.
 


Eric the meek

Fiveways Wilf
NSC Patron
Aug 24, 2020
5,352
Posts beginning with 'my favourite bollard' warms the heart of this WBA disciple.
My work preaching the word of the lord is taking effect.
Less of the WBA if you please. You're not in Brum now you know.

My favourite bollard of all time was at the end of a road just behind the seafront in Concale, Brittany. It was an automatic one which caught out any number of non-local cars. There was a cafe opposite, at which I had the most entertaining coffee I've ever drunk. Solid entertainment.
 


rippleman

Well-known member
Oct 18, 2011
4,584
Lack of enforcement is a big part of the problem. Junior school near me has zigzags but because kids today appear to be incapable of walking, there was a succession of "chelsea tractors" stopping (and sometimes parking) on the zig zags so the kids could get as close as possible to the entrance. Contacted the school, the police and the council. Nobody was interested.

In Worthing the NSL "parking enforcement" are very selective; they avoid contractor and delivery vehicles that are parked partially on the pavements restricting access for wheelchairs, mobility scooters, child buggies etc. If the laws were properly enforced many of these problems would disappear overnight - particularly if the council towed away repeat offenders rather than just sticking another ticket on it every couple of days. How does the repeat ticket solve the problem of obstruction or damage?
 


Badger

NOT the Honey Badger
NSC Patron
May 8, 2007
12,794
Toronto
It's not an issue on the wide streets here in Toronto, but my friend did recently ask me "Why do people always park on the pavement* in the UK?" So many drivers seem to have such a sense of entitlement.


*he probably said "sidewalk"
 






mikeyjh

Well-known member
Dec 17, 2008
4,500
Llanymawddwy
It's not an issue on the wide streets here in Toronto, but my friend did recently ask me "Why do people always park on the pavement* in the UK?" So many drivers seem to have such a sense of entitlement.


*he probably said "sidewalk"
I think this sentiment gets mentioned regularly and we just kind of accept it. You are correct, people feel entitled, that if they have driven somewhere and there's nowhere obvious, or legal, to park then that means they are entitled to park somewhere less legal. Up where I am in North Wales, it manifests itself in the places where people are going to watch fast jets coming through - In the summer, if the lay byes (which aren't for parking in anyway but that's for another day) they will park anywhere, across solid white lines, in passing points, run off points, wherever, it's absurd.
 


Iggle Piggle

Well-known member
Sep 3, 2010
5,370
I've got a neighbour who drives his motor bike through a pavement cut through by my house as a short cut. I think the words I used to him when I was walking the dog down the same path could be described as "robust"

People are idiots.
 




robinsonsgrin

Well-known member
Mar 16, 2009
1,452
LA...wishing it was devon..
not a verge, but enraged me totally... i live in a row of townhouses. hardstanding drive and path at front. looked out of window one day to see a car parked on my path and my neighbours path... effectively straddling the two. WTF.. zero to ten in temper... knocked next door.. some twat was doing some work for him.. told him to move it now.. especially f***ed off as there was actually a space over the road. Why would anyone even think that they could do that?!!! Still gobsmacked few years down the line. Good job I was pre menopause at that time...
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
50,363
Faversham


Stat Brother

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
73,869
West west west Sussex
I've stopped myself from dragging this thread down.

The jist of my point was 'of course we're all entitled, we can park where we want, drive where we want, at whatever speed we like'.
Hell, we can even murder with minimal consequences, if we're behind the wheel (one appalling sentence today).

The other day someone on here was bemoaning that all CCTV does is catch motorists.
Not crime committing motorists, just motorists, clearly in that posters world motorists are somehow oppressed.

My car.
My house.
My verge.

You in wheelchairs or pushing prams...



...not my problem.
 




portlock seagull

Why? Why us?
Jul 28, 2003
17,189
not a verge, but enraged me totally... i live in a row of townhouses. hardstanding drive and path at front. looked out of window one day to see a car parked on my path and my neighbours path... effectively straddling the two. WTF.. zero to ten in temper... knocked next door.. some twat was doing some work for him.. told him to move it now.. especially f***ed off as there was actually a space over the road. Why would anyone even think that they could do that?!!! Still gobsmacked few years down the line. Good job I was pre menopause at that time...
Simply to help you, and btw I need to swallow some of my own medicine from time to time too, but it may help to remember how astonishingly THICK many people are. Couple with another common characteristic, LAZINESS, and with these 2 traits always in mind it may help lower your blood pressure when scenarios like the one you experienced unfold. Because THICK & LAZY people are now in the majority. They are everywhere. Sometime in the 70s and 80s, restrictive breeding programmes should have been introduced but that ship has sailed. Instead, coping strategies are now the answer, so always bear in mind just how THICK & LAZY people are - whilst at the same time remembering how vastly superior we, the now minority, are should you need a timely little boost too. Works for me!
 


BN9 BHA

DOCKERS
NSC Patron
Jul 14, 2013
21,601
Newhaven
not a verge, but enraged me totally... i live in a row of townhouses. hardstanding drive and path at front. looked out of window one day to see a car parked on my path and my neighbours path... effectively straddling the two. WTF.. zero to ten in temper... knocked next door.. some twat was doing some work for him.. told him to move it now.. especially f***ed off as there was actually a space over the road. Why would anyone even think that they could do that?!!! Still gobsmacked few years down the line. Good job I was pre menopause at that time...
The tools were heavy you know :moo:
 


e77

Well-known member
May 23, 2004
7,268
Worthing
In the last ten years or so people have become more selfish with their parking. My flats have garages and about once every six months someone decides to park in front of mine, which usually ends with a note on the windscreen asking them not to do it again but one guy decided to park his work's van there, complete with phone numbers and e-mail on thew side. I put it all over social media and e-mailed the company which led to him being called in to see his boss at 0800 the next day for a chat.
 




portlock seagull

Why? Why us?
Jul 28, 2003
17,189
Unless you have parking restrictions in the road they aren’t legally doing anything wrong. So who are you going to report them to?
Dial non emergency police number and ask them to come and do some ticketing. I’ve done it in the past, and surprisingly, they turn up and slap tickets on offenders windscreens. I live near a school and lots of parents park illegally for various events despite all the efforts of school and road safety measures such as double yellows. It’s personally very satisfying, and the parents can seemingly afford because they’re all driving SHERMANS (see earlier post). Usually over grass verges…
 


portlock seagull

Why? Why us?
Jul 28, 2003
17,189
The easiest way to solve this, and many other parking problems in the city, would be to double yellow every single road. If you don't have enough off road parking for any vehicles you have, tough - get rid of them. I'd exclude roads that have residents parking with no verges.

Appreciate it wouldn't be popular and it's coming from an "I'm alright Jack" perspective.
Not really, because you’re paying for / have paid for and why should you, a road user, effectively subsidise others for using the highway as a car park? Do you pay for others to use a NCP? No. So feck ‘em. If you have nowhere to leave your car, a side at everybody else’s inconvenience and cost, then you need to get rid of it and/or consider alternative options. 95% of everyday a car typically isn’t being driven.
 


BN9 BHA

DOCKERS
NSC Patron
Jul 14, 2013
21,601
Newhaven
Dial non emergency police number and ask them to come and do some ticketing. I’ve done it in the past, and surprisingly, they turn up and slap tickets on offenders windscreens. I live near a school and lots of parents park illegally for various events despite all the efforts of school and road safety measures such as double yellows. It’s personally very satisfying, and the parents can seemingly afford because they’re all driving SHERMANS (see earlier post). Usually over grass verges…
I made a big mistake recently to turn up to work at a property in the same road as Telscombe Cliffs school was tipping out, honestly it’s a complete twat show with parents parking and double parking exactly where the like.
I feel sorry for anyone that lives near this school.
 


portlock seagull

Why? Why us?
Jul 28, 2003
17,189
I made a big mistake recently to turn up to work at a property in the same road as Telscombe Cliffs school was tipping out, honestly it’s a complete twat show with parents parking and double parking exactly where the like.
I feel sorry for anyone that lives near this school.
I know. The number of times one can be returning from B&Q for yet more nails and then accidentally drop as walking up to the front door…it’s, well, uncanny!
 




Westdene Seagull

aka Cap'n Carl Firecrotch
NSC Patron
Oct 27, 2003
21,059
The arse end of Hangleton
Not really, because you’re paying for / have paid for and why should you, a road user, effectively subsidise others for using the highway as a car park? Do you pay for others to use a NCP? No. So feck ‘em. If you have nowhere to leave your car, a side at everybody else’s inconvenience and cost, then you need to get rid of it and/or consider alternative options. 95% of everyday a car typically isn’t being driven.
I left residents parking so that councils would still get that income. Other than that I think we're in agreement !
 


BN9 BHA

DOCKERS
NSC Patron
Jul 14, 2013
21,601
Newhaven
I know. The number of times one can be returning from B&Q for yet more nails and then accidentally drop as walking up to the front door…it’s, well, uncanny!
F17FEBC4-7370-44F4-B4AF-37A0B647E35D.jpeg
 


Albion and Premier League latest from Sky Sports


Top
Link Here