As we‘ve said before at The Van Expert, a van is a big part of any business and is often its lifeblood. And if your house is your company’s base, the chances are that’s where you will want to keep your van too.
But parking a van in a residential area is not always straightforward, especially if you drive a large one. Get on with your neighbours? You’ll want to keep it that way, so leaving a long wheelbase or high-sided van on the road outside their house might not go down well.
Even if you have space to park the vehicle on your own driveway, you still have to think about other people’s situations. This includes blocking the view from a neighbour’s house or making it more difficult for them to see the road when they leave their own property.
You might love the way your van looks, and keep it clean and smart. But someone else in the road might not see it that way and there’s no doubt about it, commercial vehicles are generally big and bulky. Not everyone – including the most accommodating of neighbours – wants one parked outside their house’s front window.
Parking at home
It’s worth checking your house deeds to see if parking a trade vehicle on residential property in your area is permitted. Some new housing estates, for example, don’t allow this. Your local council would be able to advise you – it might be worth a chat with them anyway because that’s probably where any complaints would go if someone became upset with your van’s parking spot.
If the van is yours, check with your insurance company that they’re happy for the vehicle to be left at your house overnight, especially if you carry expensive tools and equipment in it. Similarly, your insurer will need to know if you are leaving the van on the road overnight.
Getting the right permissions
Before deciding to park a van regularly on your property it is again worth checking the rules with your local authority. They might well have regulations in place saying, for example, that your house has had a change of use thanks to the arrival of a van on the drive. In this instance they could ask you to apply for planning permission.
If that’s the case you would have to provide details of the size of the vehicle, if there is likely to be more than one parking there, the position of the parked van in relation to neighbours’ properties, the times you come and go in the van and the general effect of its image in a residential street.
Parking on the road outside your house
The usual restrictions will apply to van users when parking on the road, such as double yellow lines and other road markings, but there are other things to consider too. Check with your local authority to see if parking permits are required for van users. If the van is yours, this will probably be granted but if you drive a company van you might get declined.
You must park the van so it’s looking in the direction of traffic flow on the left hand kerb-side as far over as possible. The vehicle must also be parked at least ten metres away from any junction, unless it’s in a designated bay.
If the road you live on has a speed limit of more than 30mph, you will have to leave your van’s parking lights on overnight – and if your van is larger than 2.5 tonnes, you should display the lights regardless of any road speed limit.
Clearly, having a space to park a van on your own driveway is preferable to leaving it on the road overnight but, wherever you park, take time to check the rules and talk to neighbours about your plans. Because you don’t want one of your business’s main assets creating bad feeling.
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