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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to tell my just-moving-in neighbour to move his car...

54 replies

Bulmers · 13/08/2011 18:03

...off my driveway?

DD shouted through that there was a black car outside bloody curtain twitcher and when I looked it was parked on my driveway at an angle blocking both of our cars in the garage.

When I went outside there was a truck reversed into the garage next door with guys unloading furniture so I told them to tell the owner to get his car off my driveway.

There's hardly anybody around here right now so I'm a bit perplexed as to why he had to pick an occupied house to put hi car in plus I'm a bit uptight in that if I need to get out in a hurry, I don't want to be having to locate the owner of a car parked on my private driveway.

After I swanned back in I saw a guy walk past my house so I went outside to see what was going on. He introduced himself as someone who actually live 4 doors up and is moving next door, apologised and said he only put it there for a few minutes to unload park outside your own house and unload.

I said if he needed to park on my driveway he could but I'd appreciate it if he parked to one side so I could get my car out if I needed to.

I came back indoors cringing thinking that it possibly wasn't the best way to introduce myself to my new neighbour but also a little pissed off that he thought it ok to just block someone's driveway for his own convenience.

Should I be rightfully cringing? Blush

OP posts:
celebmum · 13/08/2011 18:07

I think maybe YA(a tiny bit)BU! Grin

Was the 'first offence' and he obviously (as per the removal van) just moving in so therefore only temporary!

scurryfunge · 13/08/2011 18:08

I think I would have given the bloke a break if he was in the middle of moving in. Cringe away Grin

celebmum · 13/08/2011 18:08

Although fair play to letting him know from the off that you won't be taken advantage of might I add!!!!

cheekeymonkey · 13/08/2011 18:08

No, he should have asked. If he can't have manners then you have to tell him.
Have a Wine and chill now. Smile

Original poster
Bulmers · 13/08/2011 18:11

I guess
A couple of months ago a letting agent pitched up, parked on my driveway then the people he was showing next door to (not the charming man tonight) also parked on my driveway. They had a nice little mosey around the house, then took a walk down the beach, to the park, and were gone bloody ages. I felt a repeat of that coming on.

I suppose I now need to pretend I have a twin sister who's an absolute pain in the arse about her precious driveway. Or hide.

OP posts:
elmofan · 13/08/2011 18:13

Good on you Grin he won't dare make that mistake again !

Thistledew · 13/08/2011 18:13

Our next door neighbour moved her car so that we could park the removal van outside our new house. She also brought us mugs of tea half way through the unloading. We get on great now, and have a mutual cat- feeding arrangement.

Your new neighbour was a bit U not to ask your permission to park his car (it seems not entirely) blocking your drive.

I hope the impression that he has been left of you is not going to reflect the general nature of your relationship.

TheOnlyWayIsEnfield · 13/08/2011 18:13

Is it obviously a driveway? That happened to me when I was moving in once, because there was a house up a little pathway thing that turned out to be a driveway, and I didn't realise. The woman came round, called me a bitch and shouted in my face, which made me feel really welcome! It was an honest mistake... I couldn't tell there was even a car parked up there as it was a long concealed drive that I had mistaken for a footpath.

Although, if he already lived in the street, surely he would have known...

Mitmoo · 13/08/2011 18:18

Go around apologise for any misunderstanding and welcome him to the street, road, culdesac. Hopefully he too will apologise for not asking first.
He might not have felt the need to ask to partly block you off as he was around to move the car if needed.

LolaRennt · 13/08/2011 18:20

We had this just recently with neighbour who moved in. It annoyed me because if they had just asked I'd have said no problem (while they were moving in) its just the fact they assumed...the enitilement! Grin

Original poster
Bulmers · 13/08/2011 18:22

TheOnlyWayIsEnfield, the house he's just moved out of (and moving into) is identical to mine - cookie cutter houses. The driveway is only a cars length and ends in our garage :o

Thistledew, the angle at which he had parked, kind of diagonally meant that I wouldn't be able to get either car out of the garage.

TBH I don't have a problem with him using my driveway but I do wish he had knocked and mentioned it first so I could have said fine, but park on one side only, and I would also have known whose car was on my driveway. We get some slightly shady people at times and DH is overseas so I'm over-cautious. And over-fast to tell people to get orf moi laaaand!

OP posts:
Birdsgottafly · 13/08/2011 18:24

YABU, because you live within walking distance of a beach, and i do not (just remembers to go and put the lottery on).

littlegreenapples · 13/08/2011 18:24

@ Bulmers?..you are so fucking unreal. The poor guy was probably stressed with the moving [remember when you moved?]?.and was not thinking clearly?.but now is thinking what do I have as a fucked up neighbour? Christ he should get a reduction in the price for being in close proximity to a neighbour from hell?..better still?go and apologise?..he did.

izzywhizzyletsgetbusy · 13/08/2011 18:25

Buy a 'welcome to your new home' card and pop it through his door or hand it to him with a token gift and don't mention today's 'incident' again.

Where I come from it is customary to welcome newcomers with gifts of food but this doesn't seem to be the case in the UK. Nevertheless, I greet new immediate neighbours with a card and a bunch of flowers a couple of days after they've moved in.

Original poster
Bulmers · 13/08/2011 18:28

Whoa littlegreenapples was he your DH?
I wasn't rude to him, he apologised, and I did say he could use my driveway if he moved to one side so he wasn't blocking me in. That was in my first post if you read it.

Yes, I do remember the stress of moving in, it was only a year ago and I wasn't moving four doors down. I also remember parking outside my own house, not across the garage of someone's else's.

OP posts:
Original poster
Bulmers · 13/08/2011 18:30

Izzy, I did say if there's anything he needed just knock, although I thought afterwards it did seem a bit daft considering he's been living 4 doors up for the past few months already. He probably knows where his kettle/sugar/screwdriver is and will walk it down from one house to another when he needs it lol!

OP posts:
fanjobiscuit · 13/08/2011 18:36

Im confused . Surely the drive blocker is the one at fault here? Should he not be bearing gifts and cards etc?

When I last looked the rules are that you dont block anyones drive/garage access.But if you really must you ask nicely first. If you do neither you present yourself to house-dweller and apologise profusely. You do not wait until caught and then give an explanation-especially when said housedweller is your new next door neighbour.

Please dont go round with a card and/or a gift FFS.He did wrong ,you called him on it ,he acknowledged the wrong doing. End of.

bonkers20 · 13/08/2011 18:37

Crikey. It reminds me of when we moved in and left the van up the road overnight. It was not blocking anyone in but was opposite someone else's drive. We had a really miserable card through our door telling us not to park there. Lovely welcome. Since they knew that the van was ours they could have either given us a break or knocked on the door and asked us to move it.
We later found out that the bloke was a miserable sod.

I don't think you've been very neighbourly at all.

Honeypie80 · 13/08/2011 18:41

YANBU, We have a driveway and i get so sick and tired of people parking across it even when my car is in the drive, what do they think i will do if i need to go out, spend the first 10 minutes hunting down whoever's car it is, i've put up a sign but it doesn't make a blind bit of notice, when i see people doing it i go out and politely remind them they're blocking it so could they just move on and fu&k off move up please

SardineQueen · 13/08/2011 18:45

YANBU since when are people allowed to park on other people's property?

If someone came and parked on my drive I'd go ballistic, frankly.

littlegreenapples · 13/08/2011 18:46

@ Bulmers?..Yes you were rude to him??.you post on AIBU and because the positive reply does not come back you attack. Your statement ?gets orf moi laaaand!? [sic] says more about you than you think. Perhaps a little bit of humility is needed?on your part?

SardineQueen · 13/08/2011 18:46

I agree that there is no need for OP to do anything, the bloke has apologised, she has asked him to check with her if he needs to do it in future (very generous) and so all is fine.

Original poster
Bulmers · 13/08/2011 18:53

No apples, I was not rude to him. I told the movers to get him to move his car, I was not rude about it at all.
The car owner apologised, we introduced ourselves, we shook hands, and I said he could use my driveway as long as he parked so he didn't obstruct my car. The "get orf moi laaaand" is a joke, It's a quote from a Viz character. Sorry for the confusion.

I think he was wrong to just assume it's OK to park his car on someone else's driveway blocking them in without asking first.
I also think I was wrong to tell the movers to tell him to move his car; on reflection I should have sought the owner out and told him that I would appreciate him not blocking my cars in. Hence my AIBU.

OP posts:
PercyFilth · 13/08/2011 18:57

Dear me.

I told them to tell the owner to get his car off my driveway

That sounds quite rude to me, if those were the words actually used. No, I would have turned a blind eye to it in this one-off situation. It's not as though he wasn't there to move the car if I needed to get out. Or if I wasn't sure about that, I'd have just said "that's OK for now, but will you be here if I need to get out later?"

I've had something a bit like this, not a matter of blocking my driveway but something that does inconvenience me, and a place where people shouldn't park anyway. Whenever someone new has moved in (it only relates to one specific house), I mention it quite early on (but not on moving-in day!) ... ask them not to park there and explain why, but add that it's fine with us if they just want to do so for a short period, eg unloading stuff etc.

SardineQueen · 13/08/2011 18:58

S'orright, innit?

Oh and I was thirsty so I helped myself to one of your bottles of milk.

Laters!

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