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[Travel] Parking on grass verges

jonny.rainbow

Members
Oct 29, 2005
6,177
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?
 


Weststander

Members
Aug 25, 2011
55,620
Withdean area
Often around here it’s builders working for families on big refurbs, who over months destroy the verge, pavement and crossover with their own vehicles or heavy deliveries. Then the tight fisted and sly homeowners make no effort to repair the public amenities they wrecked. Or have an illegal bodge job done on the crossover.
 
Sep 28, 2010
16,995
Soon to be far away.
Funny you should bring this up, I appreciate I’m going to sound like a miserable old fart here but this very topic has been bugging me for weeks. The people who live opposite me have space for 2 vehicles on their drive, however they have two vans, two Chelsea tractors and a hatchback, a combination of tractors/vans are always parked on the verge either side of my driveway and they’ve churned the absolute crap out of it, it looks awful. They’re the only ones who do it in the street. I know it’s trivial, but it’s very annoying.
 

jonny.rainbow

Members
Oct 29, 2005
6,177
Funny you should bring this up, I appreciate I’m going to sound like a miserable old fart here but this very topic has been bugging me for weeks. The people who live opposite me have space for 2 vehicles on their drive, however they have two vans, two Chelsea tractors and a hatchback, a combination of tractors/vans are always parked on the verge either side of my driveway and they’ve churned the absolute crap out of it, it looks awful. They’re the only ones who do it in the street. I know it’s trivial, but it’s very annoying.
I think this is a big part of the problem. The sheer number of vehicles some homeowners have and their insistence of having them parked as close as possible to their house rather than finding a legitimate space elsewhere and walking.
 

AmexRuislip

Longing for retirement.
Feb 2, 2014
31,366
Ruislip
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?
Had you ran so far away
all night and day
And just couldn't get away :lol:
 


dazzer6666

Members
Mar 27, 2013
45,756
Burgess Hill
I think this is a big part of the problem. The sheer number of vehicles some homeowners have and their insistence of having them parked as close as possible to their house rather than finding a legitimate space elsewhere and walking.
…only going to get worse. All this new housebuilding going on with usually one dedicated space per dwelling, despite so many homes having 2,3 or more.
 

zefarelly

Members
Jul 7, 2003
19,866
Sussex, by the sea
When said V-hickles are blocking both the pavement and road it infuriates me. ALso when it carves up the greenery and leaves a load of mud everywhere.

Down our road they put hollow concrete lattice type stuff between the trees . . . Wide verge ( 2M) so you can park of road, off pavement, on green, without making a mess. Perfect.
 

Eric the meek

Bigga balls
Aug 24, 2020
3,142
Too many people. Too many vehicles. Streets not made or planned for them all.

They still aren't, but now it's because the developers want to maximise their profit by squeezing in as many houses as they can, along the narrowest roads they can get away with. Take a trip around any new build estate. The roads will be too narrow, and there won't be enough space for all the vehicles that will inevitably appear.
 
Jul 7, 2003
7,627
Goring Way - the parents churn up the grass verges when picking up their kids from St Oscar Romero Catholic School. Not only that, they block the bus stop which then holds up the traffic while the kids who use it board as it can't stop where it should.
 

Oh_aye

Members
Jul 8, 2022
429
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?
It's a nightmare round here. I out a couple of big boulders outside my house on the verge to stop it. During lovkdown everyone getting their amazon and takeaway deliveries meant delivery drivers wheelspinning all the grass off and it seems like all of my neighbours have about 8 cars per house. I don't know where everyone gets their money from.
 

portlock seagull

Why? Why us?
Jul 28, 2003
15,635
I’ve confronted numerous motorists about this in my neighbourhood. Abuse and what’s so with you reactions. It’s nearly always someone under 40ish. It’s normal for them, they genuinely don’t understand what the issue is. Buy a house with 1 parking space and yet 6 vehicles? Well, I’m entitled to park where the feck I like seems to be the attitude.
 


dazzer6666

Members
Mar 27, 2013
45,756
Burgess Hill
Most developments have less than 1 per dwelling, because the couple cycle and work from home . . . . They don't use either car parked round the corner.
….and eventually they’ll have kids, who will have cars…….and white van man will buy one……etc :shrug:

Not quite residents, but in our close there’s footpath access to a local nature reserve and a small parking area by the gate. It’s become very popular (thanks to ‘hidden Sussex’ and other such groups), so every weekend the road is lined with cars, many half on the verge, which has obviously been churned to looking like something from the Somme in the last few weeks
 
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Eric the meek

Bigga balls
Aug 24, 2020
3,142
Funnily enough it's illegal here, along with parking facing the opposite way to the lane you drive in.
What if the road is not wide enough for two lanes of moving traffic? The road I live on has only enough room for a line of parked cars (not trucks/vans) and one line of moving traffic. It's a cul-de-sac as well, so vehicles going to the end of the road, have to hope there is no car parked in the place they need to do a 6-point turn, or reverse the length of the road. Welcome to England.
 

dazzer6666

Members
Mar 27, 2013
45,756
Burgess Hill
What if the road is not wide enough for two lanes of moving traffic? The road I live on has only enough room for a line of parked cars (not trucks/vans) and one line of moving traffic. It's a cul-de-sac as well, so vehicles going to the end of the road, have to hope there is no car parked in the place they need to do a 6-point turn, or reverse the length of the road. Welcome to England.
Good point. Ours is a cul-de-sac and the houses on the end all have at least 2 cars so the turning bay always has cars parked in it. Cars can still turn but delivery lorries, bin lorries etc not so much. Basically too many vehicles, not enough space (or thought)
 

US Seagull

Members
Jul 17, 2003
1,722
Cleveland, OH
I was a bit shocked by this when I was back in Brighton last summer (it had been ~5 years since I'd been back, maybe longer?). Never used to be a thing back in my day.

My sister's excuse was because of the buses. If you park on the road, they take your wing mirrors out. They now have a carport built to put the cars in (at great expense). But yeah. Too many cars. The UK ain't built for it.

Having lived in the states more than two decades, I now find UK roads frankly terrifying. They need to go around and make a lot of roads one way, 'cos they ain't wide enough.
 

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