We have just that here. we have two cars, both live on the road as it is awkward to get into our drive with a neighbours large twin axle van parked on the pavement opposite, their car parked right up to the white line that is supposed to mean leave my entry/exit clear and now the 18yr old has bought his first car, and they shuffle the cars around so that nobody can park in front of their house.

we are a small cul de sac with 9 houses and most people have done their front gardens to park on. People on the main road with parking restrictions come in, as do those who park for the day while they go into town. and still driveways get blocked and one regular offender has no tax or mot and someone says not insured , but plod and parking enforcement don't care.

I just let it all pass as I have seen some of the others having arguments and have no wish to be involved.

""""You do not own the street outside your house, you cannot tell anyone or stop anyone from parking on the road outside your house, or for that matter on any part of the public highway ( including gras verges ) that go beyond your fence, this is called public area for a reason, in that it is not yours."""

Well the council in the town near where I live exclude out of town motorists/or indeed other town residents with resident only restrictions. Usually on terraced streets near the centre where people might expect free parking. They do pay a small fee to the council which gives them exclusive parking which is a bit of a nonsense. You have plenty of parking spaces free in the day when people are at work but you cannot park! It does not necessarily mean that they park outside their own house but in the zone. I expect other councils operate the same.

there is nothing in the law that tells us that we have to live near where we park. And if you park in the same public spot regularly, IT STILL DOES NOT BECOME YOUR PARKING SPOT.

Actually don`t have a problem with that here, what we do have is drivers wherever they live leave a massive distance between parked cars.

so if they parked a sensible distance between each car, more could park, we have two wheels on kerb and two on the road parking as the road is narrow and sign posted as such, but plenty of room for a buggy or wheelchair to get past all cars, assuming drivers leave enough space.

and I notice the same problem almost everywhere where spaces are not marked out, ie a large area is marked out but not individual spaces

that imo is worse

"... you cannot tell anyone or stop anyone from parking on the road outside your house..."

Yes, pretty much, except if you have a disability and have a marked spot outside your home.

An interesting situation arises near airports, where parking almost by definition is an issue. Residents complain of vehicles left for a week or two in "their" street. While many of us would probably feel the same, it's not illegal and unless the local authority introduces a resident's parking scheme nothing legally can be done to prevent it.

I once parked for a week near my step-daughter's home in Luton - not close to the airport at all; we had to get a fifteen-minute taxi ride. Shortly after I returned and drove away I was contacted by the police as the car had apparently been reported as "abandoned". They assured me no legal offence had been committed.