One daily annoyance in the city is good parking. In areas with limited spaces neighbors will take these rules seriously.
After a conflict ended with a call to the cops Redditor yahog76389 turned to the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subreddit for some thoughts.
They asked:
“AITA for calling the cops on a neighbour who parked in my space?”
The original poster (OP) explained:
“So I live in a busy street and I don’t have a garage. Finding a parking spot can be a b*tch, but there is a free parking lot just 3 minutes away.”
“I mostly park there if there are no free parking spaces left in the street. No big deal.”
“Anyway, since I’m renovating my house, I had to request (and pay for) a temporary parking permit for the construction workers and a dumpster for construction debris. So now I have a large parking space reserved in front of my house.”
“Even though it’s clearly marked, some people ignore the signs and just park in the reserved spot. It pisses me off immensely, but if I know whose car it is, I’ll go ring their doorbell or give them a quick phone call.”
“Most neighbours just move their car when asked, and if I’m lucky, I get an apology as well. But all in all, I’m tired of having to ‘defend’ the parking space.”
“So this morning (07.00 AM) there was another car parked in ‘my’ spot.”
“This time, I didn’t know whose car it was, but I didn’t really care anymore. The construction workers were starting to complain, saying they couldn’t continue working.”
“So instead of trying to locate the owner, I just called the cops.”
”The cops came, rang the doorbell of the car owner, asked them to move and that was that.”
“No ticket, not even a warning. Just a friendly request.”
“After the cop left, the neighbour took her sweet time to move the car. One of the construction workers had to literally ask her again – but he wasn’t as friendly as the cop.”
“He just honked his horn until she left.”
“Now she’s calling me an a**hole because I called the cops instead of just talking to her. Apparently, I should have known it was her car, because a duplicate of her number plate is hanging in front of her house.”
“But it was 07.00AM, I was tired and I didn’t feel like running around in the street looking for clues.”
“Now she is threatening to call the cops herself – because apparently my construction dumpster is parked 2 inches over the line, making it difficult for her to park in front of her garage (or so she says, even though the dumpster has been parked there for over 2 weeks).”
“AITA?”
“I’m starting to feel like I’m becoming one of ‘those neighbours’, who always complains and calls the cops. And I don’t want to be that guy.”
The OP went to to check on the construction dumpster spacing and came back with an edit for clarity.
“I just checked: the dumpster is NOT parked over the line. It’s a little wider than a regular car though.”
“The size of the dumpster is similar to a large SUV – but that’s covered by the parking permit I requested. So legally, I am in the clear.”
The OP asked Redditors to weigh in and rule:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Redditors decided the OP was definitely not the a**hole.
“NTA. You were being nice the first few times this seemed to happen.”
“The neighbors obviously didn’t listen that time around. Now it’s time to get mean.”
“No More Ms. Nice Girl! Cops and towing companies (at vehicle owner’s expense of course) people!”
“Ask the cops if it is legal for you to post a sign letting the neighbors know that the cops or towing companies will be called if they park there.”
“You shouldn’t have to deal with the stress of the inconsiderate or the just plain stupid.” Megami1981
“NTA-The construction folks being rude to her isn’t a reflection of you, not sure why she’s taking it that way. She’s being petty for absolutely no reason.”
“It’s a construction site and it’s marked. Don’t park there. Simple as that.” marbal05
“NTA. You paid for the spot. They should recognize that.”
“They were in the wrong the entire time. Your behavior is expected and your job is not to hunt down the illegally marked car.”
“That is their responsibility.” iruleatants
“NTA. She herself chose to park in a marked spot. Get the dumpster moved, because she’s apparently wanting to be petty over something SHE chose to do.”
“And how does TWO inches make it hard for her to park?”
“She’s lucky she didn’t get towed, and perhaps she should be reminded of that. At least with the cop tracking her down, she only got a warning.” WildPossomLover
“NTA and I personally would have called a tow truck to haul the car off. I have done that before and will do it again.”
“I’m not hunting anyone down who parks in the spot I pay for. They KNOW they aren’t suppose to park there.” Feeling_Tart969
“NTA. Your neighbor has decided to be an ass. It’s really that simple.”
“You are not psychic, it is not your job to go figure out whose care is whose when they are illegally parked in a permitted space. If she had simply parked where she was legally allowed, none of this would have happened.”
“If she chooses to blame you for everything…that’s pretty normal, if stupid.” RachelWWV
“NTA, every ‘neighbour’ who purposefully parked there knowing full well it was yours is an AH tho. I wouldn’t bother yourself too much about their opinions, they would be raising Merry hell if you did this to them.” throwawayj38sld
“In my neighborhood, there are big signs that say ‘no parking without authorization . Violators will be towed at owners expense’.”
“If someone parks in your spot, you call the towing company (not the cops) and the owner can pay $400 to get their car out of impound.“
“So a friendly knock from a police officer is hella nice. And like you, I allowed people to park in my parking spot for months before I started calling the tow company.”
“But after seeing it happen again and again and again (sometimes when there were free city parking right across the street), I just realized if I don’t enforce my own property no one will.”
”After calling the tow company 2 times in 3 years, I’ve never had someone park im my family’s spot anymore . It’s like when know they will be held accountable they stop doing dumb crap.” Avatorn01
Redditors had strong opinions on the parking dilemma.
Hopefully these neighbors can resolve things.