Help - Nuisance Parking Problem

[boyimace]

I live in a little row of houses which have private parking to the rear, in the past few months there has been people parking not from our little block, this has annoyed the hell out of some of the homeowners (a few are rented and prob don't care) - Does anybody have any experience of how to get rid of them!

We've tried signs saying Residents only and Private Car Park, we put a note on the windscreen only for them to return a few days later, we are debating putting up a chain or parking post but this is going to intefere with access in terms of having to lock/unlock all the time and we discussed using a clamping/fining company but this last one has been dismissed as during the day the only people in are old folk who don't want to be harrassed by the owner of the vehicles.

Council won't help, police say nothing useful other then what we have tried already, i'm up for damaging the cars on a midnight mission - im sure pretty soon they'll give up parking there!

Any ideas people?

[thfccambs]

Originally Posted by boyimace

, i'm up for damaging the cars on a midnight mission - im sure pretty soon they'll give up parking there!

Any ideas people?

What a lovely person you must be.

[Ethics Gradient]

Have you thought about going half way with clamping:

I would get some signs made up that are extremely clear and visable - Clamping in Operation - Permit holders only.

Then print up some little disk permits yourselfs and hand them to all the residents and visitors.

Anyone trying to park there will see the signs - and also notice that the other cars have permits in them ..... this may act as a deterent.

Maybe install a CCTV camera or even a fake one - if people think they are being watched there is more chance they will think they will be caught by the clampers real or not.

Make sure all your nehighbours are in on it and aware of the situation etc - and not to discuss it with no residents ...

Worth a try if you don't want to actually have vehicles clamped etc.

I would not damaged or do anything to any vehicles .... as the person may decide that it is obviously a resident thats done it and seek revenge ... leading to escalations and nastiness all round.

[BrianC]

Clamping or an electric gate would be the only options I'd go for.

[Deepcore]

Don't you need to be licensed to clamp vehicles even on your own property. We had the same problem when we lived in flats behind some shops. Even notes stating that they were on private property and therby trespassing.

In the end we had some remote electric gates put on, expensive but the only solution that worked.

[boyimace]

Originally Posted by hunts1uk

What a lovely person you must be.

Oh i'm a very nice person, I've just had enough! Obviously in between honing your immense psychological profiling skills have you got anything useful to say regarding helping resolve this problem??

Thanks all the rest of you who have actually responded with suggestions, Ethics yours is a interesting one, will bring that up, never thought about a electric gate, will have to investigate that one too, keep em coming people thanks

[thfccambs]

Originally Posted by boyimace

Oh i'm a very nice person, I've just had enough! Obviously in between honing your immense psychological profiling skills have you got anything useful to say regarding helping resolve this problem??

Had the same problem with a neighbour, last thing i would of done though is damage there cars.Sort of thing chavs go around doing.

I took my problem up with my solicitor and got it sorted,i take it your situation is different though. I would look at get a barrier put in place im sure if everyone as upset as you they would be willing to chip a few £ in.

[udsf]

Originally Posted by hunts1uk

Had the same problem with a neighbour, last thing i would of done though is damage there cars.Sort of thing chavs go around doing.

I took my problem up with my solicitor and got it sorted,i take it your situation is different though. I would look at get a barrier put in place im sure if everyone as upset as you they would be willing to chip a few £ in.

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]all well and good with barriers etc - but why should the OP have to spend money to protect his parking?

the sort of person abusing private parking must accept there is the chance of accidental damage?[/FONT]

[thfccambs]

Originally Posted by udsf

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]all well and good with barriers etc - but why should the OP have to spend money to protect his parking?

the sort of person abusing private parking must accept there is the chance of accidental damage?[/FONT]

Agree with you but it's probably the only way they will stop people parking there.

[udsf]

Originally Posted by hunts1uk

Agree with you but it's probably the only way they will stop people parking there.

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]unless of course their vehicles suffer accidental damage

i had the problem once - and stuck big notices on their windscreen with 'cow gum' - did no damage but took them hours to get it off - game sorted [/FONT]

[BrokenArrow]

Nothing helpful here, but we used to have an end-terrace holiday home in Cornwall with a garage. The road space outside the garage was just wide enough to get a car in and out. However, there was often someone parked right outside the garage. Quite a pain when we wanted to go somewhere for the day. We left lots of notes each time they were there, and we made friends with the local traffic warden who would always give them a ticket because it was a no parking zone anyway. But they would still park there.

One day dad noticed the car was unlocked, so he climbed in, let the handbrake off and moved the car thirty feet down the road. Five minutes later while we were getting our car out... "WHERE'S MY CAR?!?!" The look on her face was the best part of the holiday. Dad explained to her that the garage was in use most days and she stormed off in her car.

I don't understand why she couldn't just park by the side of our house where there was plenty of room. It was also a no-parking zone but at least it would have been less hassle for us.

"Damn non-locals" and all that, but wouldn't it make sense to not park in front of any garage if you're going to be a while?

[Ed Selley]

I'm watching this with interest as I habitually leave my car in a residential street (nb not in a residents or restricted parking area). I make every effort to leave it parked neatly and out of the way but I guess it probably irks some of the residents.

That said, if the car was attacked without any form of notice or warning first, I'd be off to find the nastiest MOT failure I could on ebay locally and leave it locked up in the street, with the keys down the nearest drain.

[Mac Man]

Originally Posted by boyimace

Oh i'm a very nice person, I've just had enough! Obviously in between honing your immense psychological profiling skills have you got anything useful to say regarding helping resolve this problem??

Thanks all the rest of you who have actually responded with suggestions, Ethics yours is a interesting one, will bring that up, never thought about a electric gate, will have to investigate that one too, keep em coming people thanks

If it's your own land you can clamp people.

So long as...

You put up clear notices warning of the penalties. Basically you are charging people to park on the land. The clamp is one way of enforcing it. I'd avoid using one of the clamping companies as many of them use dubious practices to say the least. There may be some decent 'parking enforcement companies' but a lot are no more than 2 blokes and a clamp working out of a portakabin.

Clamping, however, would only be of use with persistent offendors.

The alternative to an electric gate are the electric bollards and barriers. see here: http://www.parkingcontrol.co.uk/shop...k-barriers.asp

£1300 for an electric barrier.

[boyimace]

Originally Posted by Ed Selley

I'm watching this with interest as I habitually leave my car in a residential street (nb not in a residents or restricted parking area). I make every effort to leave it parked neatly and out of the way but I guess it probably irks some of the residents.

That said, if the car was attacked without any form of notice or warning first, I'd be off to find the nastiest MOT failure I could on ebay locally and leave it locked up in the street, with the keys down the nearest drain.

haha see an abandoned car i could quite happily deal with! Its when the car is actually being used. Basically its someone using your drive, what is the first thing that comes into your head... I can't believe the police and council will happily do diddly squat, whats worst its the same car doing it over and over again! Its causing friction between neighbours who normally get on very well, hey just thought, if we get a mot failure and remove the wheels and park it right behind the offenders... that would be good haha

[Mac Man]

Originally Posted by boyimace

haha see an abandoned car i could quite happily deal with! Its when the car is actually being used. Basically its someone using your drive, what is the first thing that comes into your head... I can't believe the police and council will happily do diddly squat, whats worst its the same car doing it over and over again! Its causing friction between neighbours who normally get on very well, hey just thought, if we get a mot failure and remove the wheels and park it right behind the offenders... that would be good haha

If it IS a persistent offender then get them clamped. They'll soon get the message.

As I mentioned, get some prominent signs put up so that they can't argue they'd didn'y know that parking enforcement was being operated. Perhaps issue them with a warning first.

Second time charge them £50 release fee (or whetever you want to charge really). All perfectly legal. It's your land, you are giving notice that they will be charged for parking on said land.

The clamping charge is the cost for parking on the land. Simple as that.
I doubt they'll be back again.