The sinking feeling of going to your wheelchair accessible vehicle, and finding you’re blocked in.
The ‘just-five-minute’ brigade, jogging back to their car, brazen and unfazed by their behaviour. What’s the problem, they think? They weren’t long. They don’t care how long you waited. They were ‘only five minutes‘. Why are you upset?
Or the ones who ‘didn’t notice’. Sometimes get agressive in their embarassment at realising they’ve caused a scene in the street, other times they argue, as if to justify their act. Everyone is looking at their inability to notice they’ve parked too close to a massive Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle- how could they, after all, have missed a vehicle THAT big? Everyone is seeing their mistake, and they hate it. So they get defensive- it’s not their fault they didn’t notice. It’s your fault- how dare you be parked where they wanted to.
The ones who know full well, but do it anyway. Rude, entitled people who know full well they can’t park there. Often their vehicle has no Tax or MOT themselves, so no right to be on the road at all. Usually agressive, but they run away after hurling abuse in case you call the police. They don’t want the police involved. Often has children with them, funnily enough, who don’t seem phased by the behaviour.
I’m sick of it. Being blocked into our driveway. Being blocked in carparks. Having to go in the road past people parked over the pavement.
It’s stressful, not knowing if you can get off or on your own driveway everyday. Some days, like today, it bothers me quite a lot. 20 minutes blocked in this morning- and when I went to leave, someone else parked there. Ring doorbell tells me someone else did it after them as well. Our 7m long WAV needs to swing wide- they’re preventing us from parking on our own driveway, and they know it. I need to leave work 45 minutes early just to ensure I can park at home- I’m only ten minutes from home, but if I left work fifteen minutes before I had to pick my son up, I’d never get back on the driveway.
We have it outside our shop, too, despite a full lowered kerb and double yellows- mostly the ‘just five minutes’ people (but all day adds up to a lot of ‘five minutes’ for us…).
I haven’t passed my driving test long. When I park somewhere, I make sure I’m not blocking anyone in, even if it means I have to walk a bit further, and I have chronic joint pain myself- walking hurts. I value my old car and I don’t want to end up getting a ticket or fined, so I park where it’s legal. I’d sooner be in pain myself than deliberately block someone in.
My youngest son picked up my copy of the Highway code, and read it so much I let him do a practice test on the app after I did my theory test, and he got 48 out of 50- not bad! He has been known to tell people they’re blocking our drive- they’re embarassed when a child points it out.
Shame there are adults who seem to think they can go around obstructing everyone without consequence though.
Once we got blocked in for 5 hours in a carpark. Absolutely ridiculous.
I just don’t understand these people and their way of thinking- why do they think they can do that? I’m not sure I want to understand why people behave like that either, they’re obviously deeply unhappy with themselves. Are they being a nuisance for attention? I don’t know.
Don’t be a d*ck to people. Don’t deliberately or obliviously block disabled people/wheelchair accessible vehicles, lowered kerbs, pavements or driveways. It’s not justified because you’re late/lazy etc. Just don’t do it.
