Car parking is an issue neighbours in Britain are more likely to fall out over more than nearly any other issue.
The vehicle supply company, OSV Ltd, did a survey featuring British drivers and as many as 75 per cent of the respondents said they have had an argument with a neighbour over parking problems. In many cases, the argument relates to whether or not parking is available directly outside of someone else’s house.
The survey also found that many drivers consider the road space just outside their home as their territory and become very possessive if someone parks in that area.
Also according to the survey, men are three times more likely than women to get into an argument with neighbours about parking.
In fact, 69 per cent of the male respondents revealed they had devoted time to prevent others from parking in the area they consider their space. Some have gone as far as to buy their own traffic cones to stop other people parking in the space they regularly use outside of home.
Other measures found to have been used by drivers to prevent someone else taking their spot include setting up “private parking” signs. Some drivers also block the space with bins or bicycles or even paint their house number on the relevant patch of the road.
Some drivers responding to the survey also say they’ve installed CCTV cameras to monitor the parking space outside of home they believe belongs to them.
Troublingly, just over half of the survey’s respondents (54 per cent) said they had ended up calling the police to deal with neighbour disputes over parking.
The Co-Director of OSV, Debbie Kirksey, remarked: “Rather than waging parking wars, we could try talking before our problems escalate, because in the end we have to be happy where we live, and there's more to life than a designated parking space!”
