Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu to have reported the dustbin lorry to the council?

393 replies

Bumpyroads · 30/07/2026 15:09

Bit of back story us and our next door neighbours quietly dislike each other. Nobody has really said anything but I know we both annoy each other from what is said about the street. They moan about us, things we do etc.

Recently they have been playing loud music in the garden at the weekends in a passive aggressive way. This started when they complained about our chickens being noisy ( we have rehomed the chickens because of this but thats another story) the reason I'm saying all of this is because in general I am just in a bad mood about our neighbours and don't know if this has tainted my reaction.

So next door neighbour is a bin man, he wasn't at work.
Bin lorry come and parks up across my drive . Workmen get out and go in neighbours house/garden for 40 minutes having a drink and break. All this time I was unable to get off or access my drive. There was a bin lorry parked unattended across it.

So husband rings to complain to the council. They were confused as on their tracker the lorry was supposedly elsewhere. They also agreed 40minutes was excessive but said they must have been emptying bins? No they were having a cuppa at my neighbours! Council are going to investigate, I suspect they were taking unauthorised breaks and turning the tracker off.. maybe.

Anyway the reason this has also annoyed me so much is our neighbours have lived hear 30+ years and act like they own the street. Complain about anything we do (leaves from our trees fall in their garden for example.) They are 60+ and set in their ways and we are a young family. Tbh I just dont think they like us, we normally don't rise to it and smile and wave etc. But this time I had had enough and complained.

Aibu? And have we just started ww3?

OP posts:
Likeiloveyou · 30/07/2026 18:36

This reply has been deleted

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

Yeah, I mean nobody is going to see that are they?

nomas · 30/07/2026 17:47

YANBU. I have lovely neighbours but even they look askance at a van outside their house for that long (for a service for me).

If they really needed to park there, the decent thing to do is knock on the door and ASK.

The twats have clearly enlisted the lorry driver to annoy you. Well done for complaining.

adragoncalledaudrey · 30/07/2026 17:44

One for the papers and a Daily Mail sad face?

Petty and daft. Quite the combination.

Bumpyroads · 30/07/2026 17:40

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

Triskellion75 · 30/07/2026 17:35

BirdLandedonmyHead · 30/07/2026 16:40

So if there had been an emergency, the OP shluld go and knock on the door of an antagonistic neighbour, just so she could leave her house?

Yes, it's almost like he was being goady, isn't it?

I'm not buying the 'poor binmen' crap, they dumped their lorry across someone's drive and fucked off for 40 minutes even though other parking was available. FAFO.

And if they had parked less dickishly, no one would ever have been the wiser about their unsolicited tea break, would they?

IMTHECRAZYOLDLADY · 30/07/2026 17:34

I voted that you’re not being unreasonable OP. I would have done the same thing. Especially as a woman, it is difficult to approach men to ask them to move their vans etc. I have asked before when similar has happened, and been threatened. So now I always call my local council. Hence I’ve become known as the crazy woman, which is fine by me

Isitevensummer · 30/07/2026 17:32

CurlewKate · 30/07/2026 15:25

Oh-they’re 60+? They’re definitely in the wrong then.

Thank you @CurlewKate - I was wondering what the hell that had to do with it or why having a young family privileges you.

OP, you knew where these people were, if you needed to go out, you could have just asked. Why on earth would you call the council?

Fwiw, chickens in the back yard can be a right pain in the neck for neighbours. There are banned on my estate, through a covenant.

adragoncalledaudrey · 30/07/2026 17:23

You won’t be clashing just because of age any more though.

You’ve made sure of that.

Indianajet · 30/07/2026 17:22

You were unnecessarily mean. No need to report them - if you needed to get out you could easily have knocked. Why get people into trouble when you didn't need to.

Original poster
Bumpyroads · 30/07/2026 17:18

Thedogscollar · 30/07/2026 17:14

Not only 60+ but set in their ways.
What does this even mean???
And it's always applied to people who are 60+ like me but I'll go whatever way you want me to 😄

Show quote history

I was trying to explain we are at different stages of life and therfore clash because of that. Being set in there ways wasn't related to being 60 odd hence I said "and" and not "so" I wasn't implying everyone over a certain age is that way at all.

OP posts:
Velvera · 30/07/2026 17:17

Metromayhem · 30/07/2026 17:08

He sounds like an antagonistic prick. Fuck him, I don’t blame you. No way he’s parked there by accident.

He didn't park there. He wasn't working.

Likeiloveyou · 30/07/2026 17:17

Poor fuckers have one of the shittest jobs imaginable. Now you went and grassed them up for stopping for a cup of tea…

Thedogscollar · 30/07/2026 17:14

CurlewKate · 30/07/2026 15:25

Oh-they’re 60+? They’re definitely in the wrong then.

Not only 60+ but set in their ways.
What does this even mean???
And it's always applied to people who are 60+ like me but I'll go whatever way you want me to 😄

Original poster
Bumpyroads · 30/07/2026 17:10

notwhingingjuststatingfacts · 30/07/2026 17:04

There is some truly batshit replies on this thread!

OP you were NOT wrong to report the bin lorry being parked over your driveway for 40 minutes. Of course you weren’t!
It is against the law to block driveways for a start. You shouldn’t have to go around looking for the driver to move their abandoned vehicle in order for you to get in or out of your property. I betting a large lorry like that was also causing an obstruction on the road too as most residential roads are not designed to allow large vehicles to be parked up. So probably in the way of the emergency services too.
The fact that the OP did not need to go out during that time is irrelevant. They were parked illegally and without permission and I too would have reported the driver.

Equally if they decided to seek revenge by not picking up the rubbish they are being paid to collect. Well again they would be reported. Along with video evidence. Repeatedly if necessary!

I think you've hit the nail on the head.
I was seeing if I was being unreasonable because the fall out with the neighbour has tainted my view.
I guess like all things it would bother some and others not at all.
I was obviously more annoyed because of it having my neighbours involvement but was trying to see if people would still be annoyed without the history with the neighbour.
Maybe I wasn't explaining myself well enough.

OP posts:
DeanGaffneysCumFace · 30/07/2026 17:09

Bumpyroads · 30/07/2026 15:56

Well I dont feel good because I ended up stooping to their level. But also there is right and wrong and they were wrong.

They were the binmen, not your neighbours. So really it had nothing to do with your neighbours where the binmen parked.
Just own it, you wanted to be a bitch and you managed it. Pat yourself on the back

Metromayhem · 30/07/2026 17:08

He sounds like an antagonistic prick. Fuck him, I don’t blame you. No way he’s parked there by accident.

RoaryMouth · 30/07/2026 17:07

Theunamedcat · 30/07/2026 16:22

Her neighbour IS the binman

And they could have blocked his drive not hers

Show quote history

He was not working. So does not matter to him.

notwhingingjuststatingfacts · 30/07/2026 17:04

There is some truly batshit replies on this thread!

OP you were NOT wrong to report the bin lorry being parked over your driveway for 40 minutes. Of course you weren’t!
It is against the law to block driveways for a start. You shouldn’t have to go around looking for the driver to move their abandoned vehicle in order for you to get in or out of your property. I betting a large lorry like that was also causing an obstruction on the road too as most residential roads are not designed to allow large vehicles to be parked up. So probably in the way of the emergency services too.
The fact that the OP did not need to go out during that time is irrelevant. They were parked illegally and without permission and I too would have reported the driver.

Equally if they decided to seek revenge by not picking up the rubbish they are being paid to collect. Well again they would be reported. Along with video evidence. Repeatedly if necessary!

2dogsandabudgie · 30/07/2026 17:02

SurferRona · 30/07/2026 17:00

Oh, and also on the ‘HOW VERY DARE THEY BLOCK MY DRIVE’ brigading, I assume they have to pause outside a house, blocking its drive, when they empty your bins? 😂. You seem a little unhinged OP…. What have your neighbours actually done for you to work up the energy for this?!

Yes, but I wouldn't want a bin lorry parked across my drive for 40 minutes, mainly due to the smell.

SurferRona · 30/07/2026 17:01

xino · 30/07/2026 16:57

This is one of those perfect examples of the prudence of asking yourself, before you act, ‘do I want to be right or do I want to be happy?’

In other words do you want to be gleeful for 5 minutes or peaceful for the rest of your life? Lose the ego. Choose peace.

Love this, YES.

“Lose the ego. Choose Peace”

🕊️✌️

0Thatsplenty0 · 30/07/2026 17:01

LumpyandBumps · 30/07/2026 16:19

Has anyone else noticed that there are frequently threads on Mumsnet where the comments and percentage statistics seem to be at odds?
I haven’t counted but in this thread there seem to be many people stating OP is being unreasonable, but the voting shows 65% thinks she’s not being unreasonable.
I don’t have a strong opinion either way in this thread.

I've noticed an influx of posters who just want to stick the boot into an OP no matter what the situation is.

Mcdhotchoc · 30/07/2026 17:01

Well its not your neighbour that will be in trouble is it? It's the binmen.
Jeez, good luck with that. Given that they are out and running in 30 degree heat stopping for a breather, sanctioned or not is hardly worth dobbing them in. Especially as it didn't impact you at all

SurferRona · 30/07/2026 17:00

Oh, and also on the ‘HOW VERY DARE THEY BLOCK MY DRIVE’ brigading, I assume they have to pause outside a house, blocking its drive, when they empty your bins? 😂. You seem a little unhinged OP…. What have your neighbours actually done for you to work up the energy for this?!

PrettyPickle · 30/07/2026 16:57

@Bumpyroads To be honest, my neighbour frequently parks across my drive when there is plenty of parking a few foot away and I don't see why I should have to go out and ask them to move simply because they couldn't be bothered to walk a few extra feet to park without issue. That was their choice and they have to accept the ramifications. I don't have to fair to them if they have already decided not to be fair to me.

So no, if Binmen chose to block the drive, that is their error and I get why you reported them. However I am also not naïve and they may take their bat and ball home,

xino · 30/07/2026 16:57

This is one of those perfect examples of the prudence of asking yourself, before you act, ‘do I want to be right or do I want to be happy?’

In other words do you want to be gleeful for 5 minutes or peaceful for the rest of your life? Lose the ego. Choose peace.