Blocking Delivery Drivers In.

[UtahGirl12]

Just wanted some opinions on this. To cut a long story short, my SIL & BIL have been NC for the last 7 or so years. Family arguments lead to a huge rift and even escalated into violence at one point on their part. Only problem is, they live next door, they part own the private single track road that goes past our house (along with some other neighbours/family not involved in the family row). We have right of way over the road.

Because of the lay of the road, when we have any deliveries (Tesco groceries, Amazon deliveries etc) the vans tend to stop in the single track road, pop up my (short) path to ring the doorbell, deliver the goods and leave. They have to do a 3 point turn on a turning space nearby.

This all takes a few minutes. The longest is when Tesco deliver, which takes the usual amount of time for them to drop off the food by my front door, and drive off again.

The problem is my BIL who is an argumentative arsehole. He thrives on trouble, and if he is driving up the road towards his house he has been known to threaten to stop his car in front of the delivery vehicle and walk to his house.; effectively blocking the driver in. He did, indeed, do this on one occasion. I was mortified, and the driver had to go to his house and grovel for him to ask him to move his car.

I know some of you may say this is unacceptable to block someone's access to their house, but this is never for long; 5 minutes or so??

Bearing in mind the neighbours below us are in the same position; when their delivery vans block the road I wait politely at an acceptable distance, and then drive off when I can; never having to have had to wait very long....just a form of common courtesy that i would expect most rational people to display.

So, any suggestions as to what I can do? I tell the delivery drivers as soon as they arrive to be careful as I have arseholes for neighbours, but I dread having to deal with any conflict as a result, especially if my husband is not home.

BTW we have lived here for the past 25 years.....things have escalated lately due to legal complications surrounding MIL's will etc.

[Happyandhungry]

Always comes down to money these things hence the MILs will. Move.

[Stormtreader]

Can they park in the turning space while they deliver?

[PinkFlamingo545]

You are all arguing over money, yet already own private roads?

Oh dearie how will one cope

[Peachypossum]

A lot of houses will be on private roads, it's not a sign of immense wealth.

I assume from the description OP that you have no private drive off the road? If you do is it worth having a sign at the foot of the drive asking delivery drivers to pull in?

We share ROW on a private road with neighbours and always happy to wait if they are blocking the access for any reason.

[Snap8TheCat]

Can't you make a driveway/parking space for guests?

[jay55]

Have a super late Tesco delivery and collect amazon things from a locker.

Or Talk to bil and sort it out.

[Sunnymeg]

Bit of a difficult one, you have right of way over the road, but you can't normally give that right to anyone else so that they can make deliveries,. You have to rely on the road owner to allow other people's vehicles to use the road to access your property. So strictly speaking, BIL if the owner, is well within his rights to block the delivery van, as a general exemption exists for utility vehicles, but for no one else. I would get a copy of the title deed for your property and for BIL's and then if you have legal advice with your Home Insurance get their opinion on what to do.

My parents own a private road and have a duty to ensure that all the other properties have full access along it. If someone parks on the road, they have to go and tell them to move. It is a total pain, wasn't so bad when my parents were younger ,but now they are pensioners ,several people have been really unpleasant to them. If they don't get the cars to move, their neighbours come and complain, but they won't ask the drivers to move as it isn't their responsibility. Anyone who thinks owning a Private Road has a cache about it,is severely deluded. Never mindid having to fork out a small fortune to maintain the thing.

[Sunnymeg]

Forgot to say title deeds can be bought online from Land Registry for about £3 each and you can get them for any property, not just your own.

[MoiraRosesMeltdown]

Pinkflamingo A really unhelpful, judgemental comment.

[Collaborate]

You have to rely on the road owner to allow other people's vehicles to use the road to access your property. So strictly speaking, BIL if the owner, is well within his rights to block the delivery van, as a general exemption exists for utility vehicles, but for no one else

I'm afraid this is not correct. A ROW benefits the land, so anyone with permission to visit your property has a right to use the ROW. Anyone making deliveries can wait a short while incidental to that delivery. Preventing someone's access to the highway is a traffic offence.

[DrAbbyYates]

You are all arguing over money, yet already own private roads?

Pipe down. Living on a private road doesn't equate to vast riches.

[Hissy]

We could REALLY benefit from a diagram.

This is Parking/Road Access Thread LAW...

[SilverBirchWithout]

I live in a house that shares an access drive with 4 other houses. One of the neighbours permits people to park on the access drive, blocking our access, when they have deliveries such as Tesco

It makes my blood boil (a little irrationally) but most of the time I keep a lid on my feelings to keep neighbourly relationships cordial. But once or twice I have parked briefly behind the van and blocked the Tesco delivery van for 5-10 mins just to make a point.

Regardless of your poor relations with the in-laws YOU are in the wrong. Tell your delivery people not to park there.

[WormwoodScrubbed]

Not everything from Amazon can be collected from the lockers, that's not an answer to this problem

[FrenchLavender]

You are all arguing over money, yet already own private roads?

Oh dearie how will one cope

Oh FFS how pathetic are you? I used to jointly own a private road with one other house, much like the OP describes. It wasn't half as grand as it sounds. Stop being such a chippy arsehole.

[ZilphasHatpin]

Well it's illegal to block access to the road so your delivery driver can call the police if he is blocked in again.

[Sunnymeg]

Collaborate, I believe it depends what the road owners deeds say and which Highway Act was in force when they were drawn up. It may be a different situation for my parents as they own the whole of the road, but it specifically states on their neighbours deeds that they cannot give a right of way to anyone else and must seek permission from my parents to allow others to access the road.

[FrenchLavender]

I would say that this is entirely between him and the delivery driver and I would just refuse to engage in any discussion about it. Just keep doing what you are doing, I am sure drivers deal with arseholes like him all the time, it's all in a day's work to them. Where possible tell them to park int eh turning bay so he can pass, but in the case of regular Tesco deliveries where they need to be nearer to the house, I'd try to book delivery slots when he is likely to be arriving home.

[Smurfpoo]

I have a similar set up, so i don't get deliveries. I know its inconvenient, i know its shit. But its easier and causes less arguments.

[UtahGirl12]

Thank you to most of you for your helpful responses. Stormtrooper , the ideal solution would be, of course, for them to park in the turning area, but as this is a little away from the house nobody ever does, as it's the "I'll only be a second, love" scenario that it would take them longer to do that than not.

The suggestions about the deeds are good ones. We need to dig them out and look at the wording, and then maybe get legal advice.

SilverBirchWithout, I do understand how frustrating it is, believe me, as I also get briefly blocked in from neighbours lower down the road from me when they have deliveries. Like I said I just tend to smile and wait, even though I'm mentally screaming inside!

Sunnymeg I feel for your parents! I know how stressful it is, without the added disadvantage of being elderly (not that I'm that young myself lol).

FrenchLavendar I love your suggestion! Just leg it back into the house and play dumb! Leave them to it!

Smurfpoo I do so much shopping online due to time constraints this is not really an option. Life was much simpler when I didn't have deliveries in one way, but more pressured in other ways....(having to do the Tesco run solo with 3 kids under 5......still gives me the shakes thinking back to it. How did I manage??)

Jay55 I really cannot predict when BiL will be out and about to try and avoid him. I'm sure he lays in wait just to catch me out!

PeachyPossum and Snap8the Catyou sound like the sort of sensible neighbours I need! Fancy moving?? I can't have a drive to my house. The only sort of pull in part is where my car has to be parked.

Happyandhungry.....don't really want to move. We love our house, it's our family house with lot's of memories. We will downsize one day, but not just yet. (And no, it's not a mansion!)

Thanks to all of you who supported me and can sort of guess that PinkFlamingo is so wide off the mark the comment actually made me LOL. If you were imagining a gated long road, with beautifully manicured tress lining it, and golf course type lawns each side, leading to several architecturally designed mansions, you couldn't be flipping further from the truth! And, no, thank you for your judgemental barbs PinkFlamingo but the will debate has nothing at all to do with money!

[blueskyinmarch]

I used to live in a barn conversion/steading type property on a private road owned by the residents. Fancy it was not - it was full of potholes and very muddy! I was number 2 house so if i had anyone delivering stuff the owners of houses 3-5 couldn’t get past. No-one ever tried blocking the vans in even though one particular neighbour could be a bit arsey. To do that is just childish and pathetic.

In your case OP i would say just do as you are currently doing and let the van drivers deal with any arseyness that arises.

[Huldra]

Aren't delivery drivers allowed to block for a short period of time? On our road it's almost impossible for deliveries not to block the entire road, supermarket delivery drivers have told me they have something like 8 minutes.

[caoraich]

I'm not sure what more you can do- tesco deliveries late at night is a good suggestion, or very early in the morning (not sure how early they start?)

Where do visitors to your house park?
Where does the postman park their van?

I take it you're a 1-car household and I wonder if it would be possible to widen your own parking space? It might mean going horizontally into the garden if you can't go lengthwise and either way you'd lose a car's worth of space but it would mean that vans and visitors have somewhere to pull in, and it wouldn't matter if it's you they're blocking IYSWIM.

My DPs did something similar so they could fit two cars and it works so nicely their neighbours down the road have done the same!

[Miniwookie]

pinkflamingo every private road I've ever seen has always been full of potholes and have put us off buying a house in the past. They're sometimes known as 'unadopted roads'

OP It must be so stressful to live next to family you arequire NC with. I would have to move.

[ThisIsStartingToBoreMe]

Let the delivery drivers deal with it. You're not responsible for the behaviour of them or any other adults - if they block someone in, they can deal with it, they know it's rude.