Everyone needs good neighbours

An Englishman’s home may be his castle, but he’s equally possessive about his parking space, it seems.

This is because angry parkers have replaced nosey parkers as a main source of aggro between neighbours.

For years, people poking their noses into other people’s business was a traditional cause to row on the street.

But a new poll has found that three in four of us fall out with a next-door neighbour because of a parking dispute.

Several of these arguments erupt after a car is left right outside a neighbour’s property.

So what tactics are ‘territorial’ neighbours resorting to?
There are seemingly more tactics than you’d see on an average Premier League weekend, including:

• The traffic cone curb: Most commonly seen on the motorways, cones are now becoming a parking deterrent in the avenues and crescents of Britain
• The wall of bins: Not even free-kick specialist Ronaldo could bend a football around these obstacles
• The wall of bikes: Same as above, only with bicycles
• The paint preventative: Some residents have resorted to painting their house or flat numbers on the road
• Big Brother: Some residents have even put up CCTV cameras to keep an eye on their bay

But the masterstroke for best parking tactician goes to…the Birmingham pensioner who had her own markings painted on.

The 72-year-old woman was sick of motorists blocking her driveway. So down went the markings, including messages saying: ‘NO PARKING’.

However, her ‘masterstroke’ backfired in the end when city councillors from Birmingham got involved and ordered her to clean off the markings or face a fine.

Stat attack

• 54% claim we have even had to summon police officers to intervene in a parking dispute 

• Three times as many men are likely to get drawn into a parking row with neighbours than women

• 69% have taken steps to stop others parking where they think is their personalised spot