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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

a parking one with a note from neighbour

490 replies

KinkyAfro · 04/06/2016 13:42

This is the letter left on DP's van yesterday. We live at 215, attached to 213, then there's a road and then 211 where note writer lives.

I'm having to sit on my hands so I don't write a response. AIBU to think this is a bit passive aggressive or AIBU to park van there?

[Message from MNHQ: We've had to remove the attached letter as it was a bit too identiyfing. We realise the rest of the thread will make little sense now to anyone new to the thread, but we're leaving it up so the OP can continue to discuss with those already on board].

OP posts:
thisisnotausername · 04/06/2016 15:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ReginaBlitz · 04/06/2016 15:16

Maybe she is head of neighbourhood watch. It is rude though to park a big fat van in front of someone's house it pisses me right off when people do it outside mine.

bibbitybobbityyhat · 04/06/2016 15:17

I can't stand the random underlining, that immediately puts my back up and makes me think the note writer is an incredibly difficult and uptight individual.

I would completely ignore it. If the van has only been parked there once during the day (which I think is what you are saying?) then the neighbour can eff off.

Original poster
KinkyAfro · 04/06/2016 15:17

No sister there wouldn't be enough room, we be blocking the pavement or neighbours drive

OP posts:
Iamdobby63 · 04/06/2016 15:18

The note(s) are polite because she has no legal standing, she doesn't own the road and has no legal right to the view.

Entirely up to you what you do, personally I would write a polite letter stating the above but stating that when possible you will park elsewhere for the short period of time you are staying there.

maisiejones · 04/06/2016 15:19

So at 5am he's starting his van up outside her house? I have that. Neighbour's boyfriend's van often here for overnight stays and I am royally pissed off when he starts the noisy engine right under my bedroom window as dawn breaks. This despite the fact that neighbour's own parking space is under her own bedroom window but of course, her car is parked in that! Park one of your cars outside your neighbours house and you put up with the van outside yours.

MinistryofRevenge · 04/06/2016 15:20

If your mum's house is the one with all the solar panels, it looks as though you could get both cars and the van there overnight. Bit of a faff, but needs must. Or park a car on the side road, and the van on the drive.

Original poster
KinkyAfro · 04/06/2016 15:20

It's not in front of her house ffs

OP posts:
DumbDailyMail · 04/06/2016 15:21

Maybe he could alternate where he parks it - that way he could piss off ALL the neighbours Grin

MagicalMrsMistoffelees · 04/06/2016 15:21

I'm honestly amazed some think it's rude to park outside other people's houses. Surely you park wherever the nearest available space is to the place you want to be? These are public roads we're talking about. It might be annoying if someone's parked outside your house and you want to park there but isn't that just tough? But maybe I have a different set of expectations living in London where we just grab what we can and are grateful!

But anyway, in this case the van isn't parked outside someone's house. It's to the SIDE!! Behind a fence!

The people saying they would find this annoying - really? A tiny bit of the top of a van over the top of a fence to the side of your back garden? At night? For a few weeks? Why not just turn your garden chair 45 degrees to the left and look in a different direction whilst contemplating how lucky you are to be able to sit in the garden and get cross about ridiculously minor and unimportant things?

Original poster
KinkyAfro · 04/06/2016 15:22

I'm sure if it was noisy, she would have noted that too. It's no noisier than a diesel car

OP posts:
runningincircles12 · 04/06/2016 15:23

Gobsmacked that people actually think that they have the right to dictate who or what parks outside their house on a PUBLIC street. He can park the van anywhere he likes. OP has said that he can't park directly outside their own house, so he is not being unreasonable. Who has a 'view' out onto the road anyway? At lease she acknowledges that she does not own the pavement which is a relief.

I would ignore the letter tbh.

CookieDoughKid · 04/06/2016 15:24

Put your car on the road and your van on the drive. SIMPLE! !!

seven201 · 04/06/2016 15:24

My husband has a van and I have a car. Both won't fit on our drive and our house is narrow so the drive is as wide as the house. I park on the drive and my husband blocks me in by parking across the drive. It's a right faff as he leaves for work earlier than me and I return later so I have to call (have hands free) to ask him to move can do I can get on the drive). Basically I'm saying it's an inconvenience but for neighbourly relations that's what we have to do. Occasionally when one of us is going to be out or we have a skip on drive etc then we have to park in front of other people's houses (not everyone has a car or a drive). People really don't like it when the van is outside their house! We have a particular neighbour who does not like having the van outside her house - we had a skip on our drive at the time die to be picked up so she knew it was temporary. I hate the awkward conversations! I think given that they know you're there only temporarily they should have just sucked it up for a few weeks. But... I think the van needs to go on the drive and the cars on the street if they're really unhappy. You don't want to leave your parents with a permanent awkward relationship with their neighbours.

Original poster
KinkyAfro · 04/06/2016 15:25

We're trying to park in the place that causes the least inconvenience, we could park on the front, ruining mum's grass or blocking traffic, we could park blocking neighbours drive. We honestly thought this was the best ootion

OP posts:
WaitroseCoffeeCostaCup · 04/06/2016 15:25

YABU park it in the pavement outside your own house!

babyiwantabump · 04/06/2016 15:28

My neighbour once asked me to move my car (from outside my house) as it was blocking the sun getting to his plants.

He got a Hmm face .

Some people are batshit I tell you when it comes to cars and parking on the street.

WhereTheFuckIsMyCunt · 04/06/2016 15:30

My neighbour once asked me to move a plant pot in my back garden because she could see it through the bottom of the thick conifer hedge and she didn't like seeing it! Hmm Shock

Original poster
KinkyAfro · 04/06/2016 15:33

Well I'm not going to ask my elderly mum to park round the corner because someone is pissed about 6" of white poking above their fence. If that makes me unreasonable so be it

OP posts:
ChocChocPorridge · 04/06/2016 15:34

I too have google mapped, and she's being very, very odd.

Do the roofs of the houses opposite also spoil her view? Perhaps she could just not look to the right if 6 inches of van upsets her that much! Surely if she's sat in the garden it isn't even visible!

What does she do about vans, busses and (god forbid) lorries going down the street in front of her house or the one at the side?

YANBU, it's only for a couple of weeks anyway, it's at the side of her back garden on a side street off the main road. Really, it must be the very least of the things interrupting her view (6inches by 2 metres of the sky)

babyiwantabump · 04/06/2016 15:41

I wouldn't move it .She is being VU .

Laiste · 04/06/2016 15:43

Sorry, but lol'ing at her not enjoying having her back door open any more Grin

shiveringhiccup · 04/06/2016 15:48

Yabu.

A lot of the posters on here are also being condescending and judgemental. I find all these comments calling the woman 'barmy' and 'bonkers' offensive. Its none of your business why she is bothered and it's certainly not ok to judge and insult her. (Not to mention the OP putting the note online on a big forum!)

The letter was very polite, if slightly passive aggressive.

Big vans in residential areas are annoying. Parking outside someone's house is annoying. Doing it regularly without even asking is incredibly rude. Same applies for back, side, or front. Can't believe you didn't ask and just felt entitled enough to do it every night for weeks.

You owe her an apology. Find somewhere else to park it.

memyselfandaye · 04/06/2016 15:48

You say she doesn't have a car? Park it on her drive Grin

mmmuffins · 04/06/2016 15:48

Your neighbour is being absolutely ridiculous.