Parking on neighbours' empty drive

If my neighbour came round after I got back from holiday to apologise for parking on my drive for 2 hours i'd think they'd gone mad.

Literally nobody was harmed or inconvenienced. Who cares.

Sounds perfect @Vinntet and you seem like nice neighbours. Pop their bins out tomorrow as you suggested and mention it when you get home with an apology.

I think only miserable mumsnetters care about stuff like this. In the real world I’m sure they won’t care. They’re on holiday and you’re only charging the car once.

On my street we all use each other drives quite frequently!

Most of our neighbours like people to park on their drives at various times when they're away.
We also know each other's working patterns and take advantage of each other's drives when they're out at work. For example, I go the office every Monday and am out from 7 - 4. My neighbour's sister comes to visit every Monday with her toddler twins and always park on my drive. Why wouldn't I let them? If they turn up and my car is there, they don't. If I happen to come back early and they're on my drive, I'll just park elsewhere and move the car later.

How big is the skip? Some of the smaller skips are actually surprisingly easy to move yourself (esp with two of you) before you put anything in them.

Also, it seems very unusual that you say the charger at the supermarket would take longer than your home charger. People don’t generally have super-fast chargers at home - decent public chargers are usually much much quicker than even a good home charger.

100% CF

I don’t think you’re a CF, OP.

Obviously it would have been better to ask first, but since you couldn’t, putting a note on and being ready to move it immediately is the next best thing.

When you speak to them, maybe suggest swapping numbers for future reference. You never know what might happen when they (or you) are away that would require getting in touch.

Why?

I would not mind OP as long as you were the one to tell me. If I heard it elsewhere first I would not be happy.

Exactly @Frabbits

I really can't imagine how uptight you would have to be to get upset about your ndn parking on your drive for a few hours when you are away. I mean, ffs.

Exactly. I suppose if I had the family from hell next door, I'd mind very much. But since I've been lucky enough to have decent neighbours in my life so far, I wouldn't mind what they did, as long as I could park on my drive within a minute or two of arriving back from my holiday.

My neighbour could host a family barbecue on my drive when I wasn't there for all I care. It's a bit of tarmac.

@blossomtoes If they start telling other people on the street what they're doing, then they would know.

How would those unpleasant people know I hadn’t given permission?

Where I lived previously it was normal for neighbours to use drives if those who were away so the house looked occupied, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I assume of they come back you can move it straight away anyway.

Let's face it your husband doesn't have to park on your neighbour's drive to park his car he's just bone idle to drive to your local Tesco or wherever to charge his car. This is definitely CF territory.

That's what I think too, my neighbours know that if I'm away they can park on the drive, I really don't see a problem. These 'parking on my drive' threads always remind me of a few years ago, there was some event on at the Chapel 50m down the road and cars were parked everywhere. We were going out and told a couple of women they could park on our drive, it's wide enough for at least two cars, just leave space for us when we return. On return the car was parked almost sideways, no way could we get onto the drive!

I'm sure they won't mind if you ask but if feels a bit much to park on there without doing so. If you want to carry on when the skip is there I would wait until you have bad that conversation !

It wouldn't bother me at all, as long as there was a note on the car or my front door, apologising and tellingme that they'll move it immediately.

I like having someone's car on my drive when I'm away. It makes it look like the house is occupied.
As I left to go on holiday last week, I slowed down, wound the window down and told the guy who's doing some building work for my next door neighbours that he was welcome to use my drive for the rest of the week. He was really surprised and appreciative of the offer, as he was having to squeeze into a tiny space and pull up on the kerb.

I would have no issue with my neighbours parking on my drive (if I had one) while I was away,

But I would be very pissed off to find it there when I got home.

If you don't know your NDN enough to have their mobile number in order to message them to check it is okay to park on their drive for a brief time then you are definately CF!!!

I find it hard to understand how you can be nest door neighbours, part share a driveway and not have a number to text them on.

around here we all park on each other’s driveways when ppl are away to make the houses look occupied overnight.

it you actually knew your neighbours this would be a completely non issue.

I wouldn't be that bothered either because the OP clearly made a mistake and I assume won't be doing it again. However, it depends on the neighbourhood. Some unpleasant people are looking for someone to take advatange of, and if they see others using a particular house in this way, without consequences, that would mark them as soft and would encourage others to do the same if they felt like it.