If you live on a busy street, you know how frustrating it is to come home and find a car parked over your driveway.
Or even worse, you wake up to head out to work and find that you are unable to get your car out of the driveway.
This has become a real problem for residents around Concord Hospital in New South Wales. Increased traffic on side streets has caused visitors and nurses to attempt to squeeze two cars in a spot only designed for one car.
This leads to an increase in those cars overhanging driveways to the point where it is nearly impossible to leave driveways or return to their home.
Local councils are relatively powerless besides giving a fine, but residents have recently taken matters into their own hands in a bid to change the culture of blocked driveways and pesky motorists.
Drive contacted two residents (who wish to remain anonymous) who have employed simple tactics to help change the culture, such as repainting lines in the street and placing parking enforcement stickers on the windshield when vehicles are illegally parked.
“When I see the owners of the cars, I have tried approaching them and asking them politely to please not block the driveway so much and just to use common courtesy, the parking spots are really only able to fit two small hatchbacks in tandem, plenty of adequate parking just a little bit further up the street,” said the Concord resident.
“The painted driveway parking lines on the road are very faded and worn; to have them repainted by the council, it was something like $300 per line, $600 total. I ended up painting the lines myself. The street also has a 2-hour parking limit, which the rangers have never enforced.
“When the driveway has been repeatedly blocked badly, we have asked council rangers to come, and please at least give a warning to repeat offenders of blocking the driveways, but the rangers have been absolutely useless.
“The whole thing has been a joke, so I thought I’d take matters into my own hands and purchase 'illegal parking' stickers online and just put them on the repeat driver's side windows.”
Another resident claimed they often call the council to report double parkers, but the cars leave before they arrive, and the best they can do is just leave a fine.
“The council is friendly and human when it comes to reporting drivers, but they only really have the power to fine those who park over driveways, which is a little bit of satisfaction, but the car is still there at the end of the day," they said.
“The parking is all timed throughout streets surrounding the hospital, but they seem to be rarely patrolled without reporting drivers, plus there is the case of workers doing after-hours shifts when the timing has lapsed, weekend visitors, and a lot of elderly who have disabled permits, allowing them to park for an unlimited amount of time.
“Some days people will be parked there all day, and it’s pretty nerve-racking to squeeze your car past someone hanging over your driveway; some days I can’t even get out.”
Included were images of some residents who have spray-painted big squares with “no parking and no U-turn” as well as visible hand-painted lines in hopes that no one will park over their driveway.
But realistically, what can you do if someone is blocking the driveway?
What can you do if someone is blocking your driveway?
We have covered this subject on a state-by-state basis here, but the crux for most places in Australia is that offending drivers will need to be fined and reasonable amounts of contact will need to be made by police before the car is towed away.
Residents do not have the power to have a vehicle towed by a private company and the fine is usually only a few hundred dollars – which has lead to incredibly frustrating stories – including a Bondi resident who was "disgusted" by the inaction of her local council and police after a vehicle was left parked blocking her driveway for more than a day last year.
The resident claims the local council said it was unable to help other than to issue a $320 fine, and that all the police did was confirm the car was registered and not stolen.
Zane Dobie comes from a background of motorcycle journalism, working for notable titles such as Australian Motorcycle News Magazine, Just Bikes and BikeReview. Despite his fresh age, Zane brings a lifetime of racing and hands-on experience. His passion now resides on four wheels as an avid car collector, restorer, drift car pilot and weekend go-kart racer.
