Inconsiderate Neighbours

[ChrissieS79]

One of the neighbours in our small street who evidently has some sort of car washing OCD, whatever the weather or temperature washes his three cars twice weekly.

But in the winter, presumably recognising it's cold and will freeze, reverses out of his drive onto the kerb to wash his cars where the water runs down the pavement and street away from his house turning the whole lot into an ice rink.

Eventually this morning when after yesterday’s washing DS1 fell of her bike on a the icy pavement I'd had enough.

I politely asked him to maybe wash his cars next to a drain to collect the water or maybe use less water (he leaves the hose running on the ground for the full hour it takes to wash the cars) to be told "it's a free country I'll do what I want"

Aaargh..... I could explode, f-ing raging, what an inconsiderate arsehole!

Next time he's out and it's freezing I've got a good mind to go and soak his bloody drive.

Really BR54?

getting into an argument and tit for tat with this person isn't going to solve anything ! just do the right thing and report it to the council. he is causing a potentially lethal hazard and someone could become seriously hurt or killed if they bashed their head.

there some stupid responses on here this this thread, are some peoples single brain cells on the blink due to the cold > looking at you BR esp, or are you trying to stir it ?

You can report it to the council - not particularly as reporting your neighbour but as being dangerous icy pavement / road. Have a look at your council's website - mine has an online reporting function and a phone number to ring if its dangerous. If they know that it's someone actually causing the problem without care they'll probably have a go for you

Yanbu what about pedestrians slipping and injuring themselves or a person making a delivery. Your neighbour could find himself in bother surely if anyone slips over.

I don't see the point of the complaint really because the road could have been wet for any reason. It could have recently rained and frozen over? So whether it was car wash water or rain water, your daughter might still have come off her bike if it froze over.

Am I missing something?

Rain is an act of nature that is unavoidable. Car washing is not.

Reporting it to the council is your best bet. Just say there is a persistent icy hazard, and you're worried someone might slip over and injure themselves. Council's get very worried about being sued for this sort of thing (H&S). Then it's between the council and your neighbour.

I recently reported a partly displaced manhole cover in a pavement, with the same argument. It was fixed within 2 hours.

I hate with a vengeance ADULTS who ride bikes on the pavement (usually because they are over-entitled twats who zoom up behind you,ringing their bell and expecting you to jump in the road to move out of their way) but I wouldn't even comment on a young child riding on the footpath. I would be far more concerned about the pavement being iced over because of some selfish oik pouring gallons of water all over it in freezing weather. I would make an enquiry to your local council about the matter,just to see whether the law is on your side.

I get this OP - we can't park outside our house - we are on an off road estate we are down a slope with a communal path (and some steps) that lead up to the main road.

My previous neighbour was obsessed with his hosepipe - used to spend hours daily in summer watering his plants (pots on the garden he'd gravelled over), washing his gravel (seriously!) and his path. (I used to wish we'd all be forced to have water meters).
In winter if we had a warmer day after a freeze he would be out brushing the grit up on the path ...fine but then would wash it (with hose) -brushing the the water from his path cleaning onto the communal path. He used lots of water -think 20 mins at least hose full blast. This water would run down the communal path and pool in places. Of course cos it wasn't ever that warm the water rarely dried -I think worse cos it was slightly salty. Then the next night when it really was freezing again there would be patches of black ice on the flat bits in the morning - sometimes across the entire width of the path. And any salt/grit we'd put down would have been washed away. I used to have to go out before DCs went to school putting salt down - it had to be more or less pure salt to melt it and in places it was so bad I would have to let the salt melt the ice before I could take a step forward. (I then used to salt down to the bottom of the path for the other neighbours -some of who were elderly and could have really been hurt by a fall.)
Another neighbour mentioned it to him - but he carried on -his path looking pristine as much as possible being more important than his neighbour's safety...inconsiderate arse. (And he used the council grit/sal;t for his own path - if he was that bothered he should have bought some pure salt that wouldn't have been so messy!)
Now he is no longer here if it is icy I go out and grit/salt the path when it first gets icy and it stays, maybe needs a top up after snow/rain until the spring when I brush it up. We use a lot less council grit and it is much safer...(I salt the path to my door as otherwise even though we take shoes off in the hall I find we get grit everywhere)
Stupidity and lack of thought are one thing - but some people are just so inconsiderate...

The young k.ids shouldn't be riding on a pavement argument is the most unoriginal one ever! Apart from which is it not obvious the road would be justbas slippery??! I reckon you'd have a good chance of suing for negligence if there was an accident. He knows full well the water freezing down the street makes it dangerous for everyone else. Presumably that's why he avoids doing it on his drive! A little extreme, but hey, if we're prosecuting small kids for daring to bike on a footpath anything goes imo

BR54 - don't be spiteful. This is a child.

If your neighbour isn't prepared to slip on the ice from his car washing activities, he has no right to expect anyone else to be happy with it. Having a hose he can regulate, or sweeping the excess water towards a drain is hardly onerous.