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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be pissed off at this note left on my car - I want to reply but DH says don't

209 replies

CalmaLlamaDown · 15/02/2012 21:44

Few weeks ago neighbours left a note on my car saying don't park opposite our house as we have a newborn baby and it makes it difficult. I am not totally sure what they mean as they have 2 cars and 2 side by side spaces on their drive.

Anyway, no big deal to us, we have avoided parking there since. Now today we are parked further down the road and get another note saying they think we reported them to the police for damaging our car and that it wasn't them.

I want to send a note back saying I don have the foggiest what they are on about but DH says leave it as might end going back and forth etc. If we don't reply will they think it was us that reported them? I want to tell them to bog off to be honest.

Any ideas for a suitably polite response?

OP posts:
Merran · 16/02/2012 14:46

Have you knocked yet?

GoingForGoalWeight · 16/02/2012 15:02

I have a neighbour that is fond of leaving notes on peoples cars. She doesn't drive, own a car or a driveway. Just a passive aggressive nosey hag. Ahh that's better..

It is rude! Keep the note, knock the door inform them that what they are accusing you of is untrue and could be slander if they choose to leave thie accusations in a public notice. Ask them to never leave passive aggressive notes on your car ever again.

Cheeky childish gits.. Angry

HellonHeels · 16/02/2012 15:31

"A gentle answer turns away wrath"

They might be a bit crazed or over the top but they are your neighbours and might be for several years. On that basis I wouldn't be keen to ramp up a vendetta. Pop round for a friendly chat.

maxybrown · 16/02/2012 15:45

marking place as looking forward to what they have to say Grin

on a side note, if someone sticks a sign on their house with "do not park, disabled access needed" - is ths legal? It is on a main road, terraced houses which are straight onto pavement. We saw this the other day and wondered about it that was all! (sorry OP)

Lambzig · 16/02/2012 15:46

Don't engage with the crazy - you cant win.

This sort of behaviour drives me nuts. I used to live in a row of 6 small lovely terrace houses with no off-street parking opposite some rather grand detatched houses. The residents of the posh houses with big drives used to leave notes on our cars telling us not to park opposite or they would call the police (never happened). The road was at least two buses wide and widenened at that location specifically to allow parking outside our houses. You had to have a residents permit to park on the street there (private estate), which we did, so it was only people who lived there parking.

One lady confronted me when I was parking and informed me I had no legal right to be there. I very politely said that I had paid for a residents permit which allowed me to do so. She replied that as her beautiful house was worth at least ten times as my "tinpot little grotbox", she was completely entitled to tell me what to do and would set her dogs on me. Lovely.

Dont get me started on people who leave cones out on a public road to keep "their" spot.

Mind you, my DH has been known to go out in his dressing gown at 2am to move the car back into the spot in front of our house, so he is just as bad.

maxybrown · 16/02/2012 15:48

Ah think I have answered my won question Gin was interested that was all as we had never seen one! (I'll get my coat)

DartsAgain · 16/02/2012 15:50

If having cars parked opposite their drive makes things difficult, they should have lived in our previous house. I had both DCs while living in a terrace house on a rat run of a street, where everyone parked down one side of the street to avoid blocking it, and you'd come home never knowing exactly where you would find room to park. I've ended up plodding the length of the street with DCs and accompanying stuff many times.

Now, we live in a semi, on a cul de sac, and we have room for one car on the drive, and park the other outside the house on the road. We have an understanding with all the neighbours about who parks where and this works well, especially as the developers in their wisdom laid out the houses so the drives were all offset, so whereever you park on the road, it's always opposite someone's drive. No accidents so far, everyone's pretty okay with it.

KatieScarlett2833 · 16/02/2012 15:55

I live in a street opposite a v popular local primary/nursery school.

Every morning it is chocca with mummies dropping their darlings, every day when I get home I have to fight the good fight to get down my street and up my drive alive.

I have never once done anything except smile at the mums and children (too cute) I used to drive the DC's to that school before we moved, so they could walk. No-one is trying to ruin my day or make my life difficult, so why would I get upset?

In a nutshell, your new neighbours are loons.

lou33 · 16/02/2012 15:58

Purple, I know they do, but they have also been known to put a ladder across two chairs as well . They are really really strange people in that respect. My bf wants to put the cones all over their car next time he sees them in the road. No idea where they were sourced from.

They have their own drive at the front of their house, but they have it grassed over, so they park one in the road outside the front door, and another one round the side opposite my drive.

They had 3 cars for 2 adults at one point, plus countless builders vans parked all outside mine, building extensions to their house. Anything wider than a normal car makes getting in and out of my drive tricky, as the road is quite narrow. Getting out is easier, getting back in means i usually have to mount the pavement so i can reverse in without hitting a parked car as I turn.

OhDoAdmitMrsDeVere · 16/02/2012 16:04

Come on OP! We are gagging to know what happened.

Abra1d · 16/02/2012 16:07

'She replied that as her beautiful house was worth at least ten times as my "tinpot little grotbox", she was completely entitled to tell me what to do and would set her dogs on me. Lovely.'

What a charmer!

katiecoocoo · 16/02/2012 16:07

Firstly, is their newborn baby really that big?:o and secondly, go and knock on their door, be nice and friendly, have a chat about it and ask how the baby is? Am just agreeing with everyone else really, its the best way to go about it IMO and IME.

mayorquimby · 16/02/2012 16:30

"Dont get me started on people who leave cones out on a public road to keep "their" spot."

No more certain way to get me to park in a spot.

toomuchmonthatendofthemoney · 16/02/2012 17:02

Another one waiting to know what happened, were they just sleep deprived or mad as a box of frogs?

hanaka88 · 16/02/2012 18:38

Op? Did they get you???

Shutupanddrive · 16/02/2012 18:44

Any update?

TiaMariaandDietCoke · 16/02/2012 18:44

I think they're aliens and have kidnapped the op and everyone else on the street that came knocking in response to their notes - that's why op's car was causing problems for them - the mothership is a bugger to reverse into the driveway! Grin

hanaka88 · 16/02/2012 18:48

I think Tia is on to something

bringbacksideburns · 16/02/2012 18:52

Don't chicken out OP!!

Just knock on door, smile sweetly and wave note saying "I'm sorry but i didn't call the Police and have no idea what you mean. You've left this with the wrong person."

Wait for response. If still grumpy just say " Well, i'm sorry someone rang them but in future if you have a problem just come and chat to me. I don't bite. Notes really upset me."

Then wave "Toodle Pip!" Wink

sozzledchops · 16/02/2012 19:14

ha, ha, we used to live in a development of flats where every flat had it's own space and then some spare spaces for visitors. Got a second car and used to park in the nearest visitors space when free. Got a note from a neighbour (also two cars) asking us not to park in their space (visitors space) - nutters!

freelancescientist · 16/02/2012 21:25

When I had a newborn baby I reversed out of my drive and straight into the car parked across the road....it belonged to someone visiting my neighbour.
Maybe that is what the neighbour meant - a friendly warning - nutty hormonal sleep deprived driver may just back straight into you so park elsewhere.
Can't explain the police thing though.
They do sound a bit of a pain in the arse.

notveryinventive · 16/02/2012 21:32

Just found this thread. Scrolled down looking for the update, but I cant see one. What happened OP?

Iggly · 16/02/2012 22:14

freelance that happened to our friend! (her car was reversed into when visiting us). Don't think the perpetrator had a baby though.

SilentSinger · 16/02/2012 22:33

The road I live in has residents' permit parking and also a parking fanatic who will leave notes if you haven't parked close enough to the end of the row or have left a big gap (even though you often can't tell which car was originally parked badly and which have had to park around them). Someone, possibly the same person, also tries to anonymously stir up trouble with leaflets about the 'parking problems' advising complaints to the Council.

In my own little way I have recently marked myself out as a loon by reposting the notes with my added comments on my gate letting them know what I feel about their notes and anonymous 'campaign'. I would be happy to let them know in person what my opinion is but they are too cowardly to put their name on anything.

DP tries to distance himself from me in public now

working9while5 · 16/02/2012 22:41

There isn't a cat's chance in hell I'd be bringing them gifts or flowers for leaving cowardly notes on my car! I might drop in a note saying "thanks for your message, if you want to discuss, do pop round, I'd much rather it to you leaving notes on my car", but that would be it. Certainly not going to reinforce that behaviour with gifts!

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