FireFly85
13-11-2007, 03:57 PM
This is more of a moan than anything, I guess people will say there isn't a lot I can do!
Basically I am an MA student who commutes into London for uni twice a week. Now I am in the process of moving in with my partner who owns a house in Bedford but works abroad for 9 months of the year, so he isn't home at the moment.
My savings paid for my tuition fees and I have a part-time job in Bedford, which involves driving. The job just about covers travel, food and some bills, but I am living in minus figures and will be until I start working.
Where I am at the moment in Kent I park on a residential street when I go to uni a couple of days a week because it would cost between £7-10 a week to park in the station car park. I've never had any problems parking there, all fine.
However, where I am moving to there is a residential street near the train station that has unrestricted parking. The road is practically empty most times of the day and a lot of residents have their own drives and garages, so a couple of times when I've been staying at my partner's house I've parked down there.
The first time I parked there a woman next door to the house I'd parked outside followed me up the road and told me quite aggressively that if I left my car there, her husband would block me in and I wouldn't be able to get out when I returned. I thought it was a bit odd of her but just shrugged it off and moved my car.
About a week later I parked on the same street but somewhere different and recieved a note on my car saying "Don't live here, don't park here, not a car park". Then about two weeks ago I had to park there again, and when I returned to my car someone had scratched my car down to the metal work on both sides, on the bonnet and round the back, and had faintly scratched the word "twat" on the side of my car which I managed to get off :(
I really doubt it was kids or anything as it is a close that doesn't lead anywhere and it is a quiet area, so it isn't the kind of place you would get nasty youths passing through.
I reported it to the police but they basically said there is nothing I can do. The train station is about a 40 minute walk away from my new place and whenever possible, I walk. However some nights I don't return from university until 10 or 11pm, and I don't think it would be sensible for me to be walking a route that takes me through unlit parks etc. at that time of night.
Every time I've parked on this street I've parked somewhere different, to make sure I'm not parking outside the same person's house every time. I never block anyone's driveway and even try and park to leave room for people to still park outside their own house. I can understand it must be annoying for people to have commuters etc. parking outside their house every day, but as I said the road is practically empty and I think when you live near a station or a town centre, it is something you come to expect. Where my new house is parking is always an issue, and sometimes you have to park up the road and walk a few minutes to the house, but I would never dream of leaving notes on people's cars or vandalising their vehicles to try and intimidate them to stop parking there.
The police on the phone said "well isn't there another road you can park in" which to me is just completely avoiding the issue - that sends out the message to whoever has done this that basically they can break the law and get exactly what they want by doing it. It seems to me like it is one or two obsessed residents who must know the make and registration of ALL cars belonging to reisidents on that street, as well as their visitors, so they know exactly which cars to leave these pleasant little notes on.
Anyway the whole thing is really just bringing me down, I know its silly but I keep thinking about it all the time and worrying about it. My MA doesn't finish till next September so I have the option of paying a good couple of 100 on parking, or parking in this road and risking having worse stuff done to my car or even having someone coming out and doing God knows what to me.
It just annoys me that if something were to happen to the road my road tax money would go towards repairing it, yet someone is trying to terrify me into not using it at all. If someone came out of their house and said "oh sorry love my partner/I/whoever need to park there would you mind moving you car" I would have no problem with that, but it seems like someone is taking on anyone who dares to park ANYWHERE in the whole road and it is just ridiculous.
Anyway that is it really, I guess there is not a lot I can do :banghead:
Basically I am an MA student who commutes into London for uni twice a week. Now I am in the process of moving in with my partner who owns a house in Bedford but works abroad for 9 months of the year, so he isn't home at the moment.
My savings paid for my tuition fees and I have a part-time job in Bedford, which involves driving. The job just about covers travel, food and some bills, but I am living in minus figures and will be until I start working.
Where I am at the moment in Kent I park on a residential street when I go to uni a couple of days a week because it would cost between £7-10 a week to park in the station car park. I've never had any problems parking there, all fine.
However, where I am moving to there is a residential street near the train station that has unrestricted parking. The road is practically empty most times of the day and a lot of residents have their own drives and garages, so a couple of times when I've been staying at my partner's house I've parked down there.
The first time I parked there a woman next door to the house I'd parked outside followed me up the road and told me quite aggressively that if I left my car there, her husband would block me in and I wouldn't be able to get out when I returned. I thought it was a bit odd of her but just shrugged it off and moved my car.
About a week later I parked on the same street but somewhere different and recieved a note on my car saying "Don't live here, don't park here, not a car park". Then about two weeks ago I had to park there again, and when I returned to my car someone had scratched my car down to the metal work on both sides, on the bonnet and round the back, and had faintly scratched the word "twat" on the side of my car which I managed to get off :(
I really doubt it was kids or anything as it is a close that doesn't lead anywhere and it is a quiet area, so it isn't the kind of place you would get nasty youths passing through.
I reported it to the police but they basically said there is nothing I can do. The train station is about a 40 minute walk away from my new place and whenever possible, I walk. However some nights I don't return from university until 10 or 11pm, and I don't think it would be sensible for me to be walking a route that takes me through unlit parks etc. at that time of night.
Every time I've parked on this street I've parked somewhere different, to make sure I'm not parking outside the same person's house every time. I never block anyone's driveway and even try and park to leave room for people to still park outside their own house. I can understand it must be annoying for people to have commuters etc. parking outside their house every day, but as I said the road is practically empty and I think when you live near a station or a town centre, it is something you come to expect. Where my new house is parking is always an issue, and sometimes you have to park up the road and walk a few minutes to the house, but I would never dream of leaving notes on people's cars or vandalising their vehicles to try and intimidate them to stop parking there.
The police on the phone said "well isn't there another road you can park in" which to me is just completely avoiding the issue - that sends out the message to whoever has done this that basically they can break the law and get exactly what they want by doing it. It seems to me like it is one or two obsessed residents who must know the make and registration of ALL cars belonging to reisidents on that street, as well as their visitors, so they know exactly which cars to leave these pleasant little notes on.
Anyway the whole thing is really just bringing me down, I know its silly but I keep thinking about it all the time and worrying about it. My MA doesn't finish till next September so I have the option of paying a good couple of 100 on parking, or parking in this road and risking having worse stuff done to my car or even having someone coming out and doing God knows what to me.
It just annoys me that if something were to happen to the road my road tax money would go towards repairing it, yet someone is trying to terrify me into not using it at all. If someone came out of their house and said "oh sorry love my partner/I/whoever need to park there would you mind moving you car" I would have no problem with that, but it seems like someone is taking on anyone who dares to park ANYWHERE in the whole road and it is just ridiculous.
Anyway that is it really, I guess there is not a lot I can do :banghead: