To wonder why my neighbours all take the P

Yes

Not him personally; but what other reason could somebody possibly have for acting in this way?!

If you and I were to share a cake, but I told you not to eat your half, as I 'needed' it more than you, I think you'd have a pretty good idea what kind of person I was!

It is not illegal for you to block your driveway.

It is also not against the law for somebody to block an empty driveway.

You are not allowed to prevent access to the highway so people are not allowed to block you in but can, technically but hugely inconsiderately are allowed to block you out without breaking any law.

Where have you told your insurance you leave the car. If you have said the driveway you should change this as there are greater risks with your car on the road. It could invalidate a claim and be seen as false declaration if your car is hit on the road outside your house

Yes. Absolutely carry on as you are.

It's not illegal to block your own drive.
You would have to report yourself to get ticketed

Do you know this guy too?!

Oh, he already knows the situation very well; he just doesn't care.

He is the important main character, so his shop and income is all that matters. OP and her ability to use her own drive are irrelevant, as they don't affect him.

I'd park across it every time. He's essentially saying he wants his customers to be able to park across your driveway. That is unacceptable.

Hilarious that he’s acknowledging that his customers park across your driveway, but thinks you’re unreasonable to not like it

YANBU but does you parking in front of your drive mean that there isn’t enough space to park another vehicle between your car and your neighbours’ dropped kerb/driveway on either side because the length of your car is longer than the width of your drive or it means only 1 vehicle instead of 2 can park in the “gap”, so you are effectively taking away 2 legitimate parking spaces?

If that is the case, it would be more considerate to park outside your house so you are only taking up 1 space instead of 2.

How can OP put collapsible bollards in the public road?

It's perfectly free and fine for road-users to drive across that bit of road; just not to park there.

Have a similar issue here with a shop and parking, I don't have a drive and I'm not precious about the space outside my house, public road, park where you can.

Neighbours have drives and they're forever being blocked and it's a constant source of tension because people will double park as well - on double yellows and cause an obstruction.

I have been asked not to park outside the shop and I pointed out that his car, delivery cars and customers cars are outside my place, and as it's a public road that's fine, but the same goes for the space outside the shop, I'm parked there because you/your customers & delivery drivers are parked outside mine and if that's ok because it's a public road then it's also ok for me to park outside the shop 🤷🏼‍♀️ not my job to create or facilitate parking for his customers in the same way it's not his job to facilitate or create parking for me. If there's nowhere legal for me to park then I have to find somewhere else and walk - and the same should apply to customers. Not ok for me to block someone's drive because there's no where else and I live there.

But when people are customers they feel entitled to do as they please because they're spending money - even when that's not actually on the shop premises but so they can access it, he likely gets moaned at about the lack of parking regularly and expected to do something about it because that's how some people are when they are customers unfortunately.

But that's not your issue OP, keep parking across your drive and ignore him, no one should be parked across a dropped curb unless it's your own so you're not depriving anyone of anything except parking where they shouldn't anyway.

Well i thought it was illegal to park across even your own drive, if people are are parking illegally thry are wrong if not then I can't say who is right or wrong

Just TALK to the shop owner. They’ll understand if you tell them what’s in your OP.
As for the CFs who block your drive, I’m afraid there’ll be no changing their habits unless they start getting ticketed. If there set particular times when it’s bad, you could ask your PCSO to attend and move people on. It might put them off (for a while).

Could you look into collapsible bollards? Do you have a no parking sign up? The area around my local shop has lines painted to show no parking across driveways. Noone ever blocks the driveways. Might it be worth contacting the council?

Don't stop parking across your driveway, OP. Shopman is a CF.

Of course YANBU. Shop owner is a prick and you can park where you like.

It’s actually illegal to park on/across a dropped kerb, even if it’s your own driveway, astonishingly. And if it’s a street with a shop on, then there’s likely to be a parking warden at some point. So don’t be shocked if you get a ticket.
I agree the shop owner is a CF absolutely but had to point this out

It’s illegal for anyone to park across a dropped kerb where I live for this reason. As I use a pushchair for my child still, I 100% agree with this rule. It also allows the police to ticket a car blocking my drive without having to wonder whether the car is mine.

Just ignore him and carry on parking across your drive.
Practise what youll say if he says anything again.
Something like you want me to move my car so your customers can block me in whenever they want for as long as they want. I'm not doing that.

Of course you're not being unreasonable but tbh if he's causing you this much inconvenience why are you still giving him your business? Stop going there so he can't nag you and keep parking outside your own drive!

The only issue with blocking your own drive is that it then means that wheelchair and mobility scooter users can't use your dropped kerb to safely cross the road. However, if there are lots of other dropped kerbs within a short space, this will cause less of an issue.

Tell him that you'll park instead on the pavement right in front of the entrance to his shop.

Of course, this means that nobody will be able to come out of, or go into, the shop whilst you're there... but you won't be too long on any one occasion, so it isn't a problem at all.

Of course you can park there.
Your house.
Your drive.
Your drop kerb.
You cannot block yourself in.

The shop owner is a CF, just like his customers.

A dropped curb just indicates a driveway and shows people that they shouldn’t park there. However you can park there, it’s your dropped curb and driveway.

I'm not a mind reader. You're sending very strong vibes out to people around you without realising it. If you're a lady on your own it can be so much harder to stand strong and be assertive against the CFs. The shop keeper probably wouldn't do this if there was a big guy living there with you. He wouldn't would he?

So you have to be the assertive one. You must show them through behaviour. Find a way and stand strong and then they tend to leave you alone.

They do it because they sense you are a people pleaser and won't stand up to them.

I have done this people pleasing too - so often, it's not meant to make you feel bad. It's so you see it.

I wouldn't even be surprised if the shop keeper had even somehiw given the message that your drive is ok to park on. Why yours and no one elses. If he has regulars, they took will notice it's been ok and you're ever so sorry to ask them not to.

You can stop this OP.💪