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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Using NDNs dropped curb

291 replies

Cleo2628 · 28/05/2018 22:38

Our NDN have a dropped curb but we do not. We’ve enquire but it will be near £1000 which we can’t afford. We moved here last June, and in some notes about the house the previous owner said that she used to neighbors dropped curb to get onto our drive, so we have done the same. Our neighbour had started doing very passive aggresics things eg. blocking my car in with his wheelie bin, parking very far back so we can barely get onto our drive, standing in his porch and watching us reverse off the drive etc. We don’t go onto his drive at all whilst using the dropped curb. I don’t want to annoy anyone but we just use the dropped curb, over the pavement and straight onto our drive. AIBU?

OP posts:
CanIBuffalo · 29/05/2018 07:29

From that photo it looks as if to access your drive from the drpooed kerb, you'd have to drive across his property.
I wonder why he doesn't just extend his wall or keep big plant pots there.

Sprinklesinmyelbow · 29/05/2018 07:30

Tbh OP it’s extremely common for people to bump up kerbs round here (parking premium, many terraces with small spaces in front of house to position a car) so I wouldn’t particularly worry about enforcement.

It’s not right to use the drop to his drive but I can understand how frustrated you must be having just bought a house to find technically you can’t access the drive. That sucks

ferrier · 29/05/2018 07:33

I don't understand why NDN (and other people on this thread!) is being such a year about it really. It wouldn't bother me in the slightest and I certainly wouldn't be doing passive aggressive things like parking my car and wheelie bin to block access.

TittyGolightly · 29/05/2018 07:34

I don't see how you have any other choice to be honest..

The choice is pretty simple. Get the kerb dropped or stop using the front garden to park on.

ferrier · 29/05/2018 07:34

twat not year. Autocorrect obviously didn't like my language Hmm

Sprinklesinmyelbow · 29/05/2018 07:40

He’s actually got a very wide drop. Speak to the council this morning

JessieMcJessie · 29/05/2018 07:41

Wow some people are really miserable. Unless you are arriving home every day at the exact second he wants to leave I can’t see how your driving up the dropped kerb remotely inconveniences him. Unless it’s an issue about wear and tear- do people have to pay the council for repairs maybe? If so, I don’t know how much extra wear and tear a second car using it daily would cause.

It seems a shame though that is was of coming to talk to you about it he has been passive aggressive about it. Although OP YABU too not to have gone next door for a chat as soon as he started putting the bin there etc.

nannybeach · 29/05/2018 07:41

Other posters are correct, if you dont have a dropped curb it aint a parking space, you arent entitled to park on it, it just counts as a pave garden, look up the gov.UK Planning Portal, although different council have different rules and regs, our dropped curb cost considerably more than a grand, and the council stipulate which contactors you can use, so we used the same one for the driveway, although it is double we werent allowed to have a double width dropped curb, that was the County Council, (Highways and byways dept)then we had to have permitted developement and a certificate of use, from our local authority to drive over the pavement which of course belongs to them.

crispysausagerolls · 29/05/2018 07:42

Actually as far as understand, the way your neighbour has parked from that last pic (presumably to stop you from using his kerb) is not allowed as his back wheels are on the pavement.

TittyGolightly · 29/05/2018 07:44

Actually as far as understand, the way your neighbour has parked from that last pic (presumably to stop you from using his kerb) is not allowed as his back wheels are on the pavement.

And?!

nellly · 29/05/2018 07:45

Honestly just go have a chat they might be fine. I would happily let you drive over my drop (and even let my neighbours borrow my drive as I have a spare spot lol) but I would be annoyed if you didn't even ask! It's just courtesy. He may be happy to allow you access if ask permission, as it is you just started driving in front of his house over a dropped kerb he paid for!

HellenaHandbasket · 29/05/2018 07:47

I don't think you are cheeky at all. It could be that the old owner had a relationship with ndn and they agreed on its use. As you are new you don't have that relationship. They can't police who uses it, it isn't theirs.

I would speak to them nicely, apologise if you've upset them, ask what can be done to allow you to use it.

Speak to the council about extending dropped part. As your drives are so close it wouldn't necessarily need to be extended that much.

Pengggwn · 29/05/2018 07:47

I don't see how it is the NDN's dropped kerb. Yes, by parking on it she would obstruct their access, but she isn't parking on it. There might be an issue with driving on the pavement but that isn't the NDN's responsibility or problem.

Can someone explain how the NDN suddenly owns the kerb? Confused

JessieMcJessie · 29/05/2018 07:49

Pengggwyn it’s been discussed at length. Legally the NDN doesn’t own it but he will have paid at least a grand to have it put in so feels entitled to be the sole user.

Sprinklesinmyelbow · 29/05/2018 07:51

NDN doesn’t own the curb but he paid for it, maybe he’s annoyed that the old owners didn’t contribute or share the cost yet still use it. But you pay for a drop curb to access your drive, it doesn’t become private access for you.
Thing is it’s so big I’m not sure OP will be able to get her own put in, even if she can afford it.

Pengggwn · 29/05/2018 07:51

JessieMcJessie

But he doesn't own it so he isn't entitled to be the sole user, is he?

HellenaHandbasket · 29/05/2018 07:51

He may feel entitled to be, but he isn't. It isn't his.

SoupDragon · 29/05/2018 07:54

I hope from the photo above you can all see that I’m not driving “sideways down a pavement” or anything crazy like that!

You are driving across pavement that is not designed to be driven across though.

his back wheels are on the pavement.

I don’t think they are. They are right on the very edge of his drive.

JessieMcJessie · 29/05/2018 07:58

Pengggwyn I don’t think anyone is arguing that he does own it, and only some are convinced that he is entitled to feel he should have sole use. Why are you explaining this back to me, I was only trying to fill you in as you asked how why he owned it?

Pengggwn · 29/05/2018 07:59

JessieMcJessie

I didn't mean to 'explain it back to you' Hmm I thought you were presenting an argument you agreed with.

ForgivenessIsDivine · 29/05/2018 08:01

I think your sellers have mislead you about the use of the driveway / paved front garden.

SoupDragon · 29/05/2018 08:10

some are convinced that he is entitled to feel he should have sole use.

The dropped kerb exists solely to access his driveway. That is why it has been put in. Anyone can use it,but only to access his driveway.

FowlisWester · 29/05/2018 08:12

If you're a new driver maybe he's worried you are going to clip his car ?

Pengggwn · 29/05/2018 08:12

The dropped kerb exists solely to access his driveway. That is why it has been put in. Anyone can use it,but only to access his driveway.

Rubbish. He paid for the drop because he wanted to be able to drive on to his driveway and otherwise he wouldn't have been able to. That doesn't grant him sole use.

Pengggwn · 29/05/2018 08:13

Obviously the OP driving on the pavement is a separate issue.