PARKING DISPUTES - NEIGHBOURS AT WAR

Parking rage causes neighbour feuds. It's official. More neighbour conflicts and feuds now start because of disputes over parking than anything else, according to the latest research.

With car ownership growing rapidly, on street parking spaces are becoming a rare and often fought after commodity. Neighbours - and in some cases whole communities - can start long standing feuds over parking related issues.

Conflicts range from motorists who insist on the right to park directly outside their home, to disputes over vehicles blocking access and exit to properties. It now appears that parking rage could top rows over unkempt hedges and loud music.

Increased development of residents parking areas in urban and suburban areas has led to situations where whole communities are "at war" with each other. Situations have arisen where neighbouring streets have been forced into different parking zones, some with more lenient parking hours - furthering the potential for resentment and anger.

As Edmund King of the AA points out, "The rise in congestion on UK roads has meant that motorists are spending more time in their cars than ever before. The car has become an extension of an individual's home, and the principle that an Englishman's home is his castle now extends to the parking space directly outside a his home.

"Often whole communities can develop conflicts because of disputes around the introduction of residents parking zones. Situations have arisen where relatively peaceful communities have turned against each other because of resentment around opposing views on ...