Was I rude or unreasonable.

[Rosie342]

I don't think I was though I'm open to being told otherwise.
I'd asked my husband to go out and get our bin in after the bin men had been. He came back saying some of the local children and their parents had put all the bins at the top and bottom of the alley to block it off while the kids played. He didn't want to go down while to parent where there, all drinking, smoking and being loud to get the bin because he couldn't be bothered with the argument.
I said fine, I'm not scared of them and will go get it myself. (He's had run ins with one of the mother's ex partners at the pub, resulting in him being in hospital due to them smacking him with a glass bottle) So that's what I did, infront of them and their children I grabbed my bin and wheeled it back up the alley into my yard, destroying their wall of bins. This resulted in them calling me a "miserable cow" and blaming me if their children where to get run over if they wondered near the road. I ignored them and locked my gate. But now I'm wondering if I should have just left it and waited till the morning because they are increasingly loud and their children and running around screaming and moving bins up and down the alley loudly.
Was I unreasonable or rude for just grabbing my bin and ruining their makeshift barrier?

You weren't rude. They sound dreadful, can you move?

Their children aren’t your responsibility.

What a nightmare neighbourhood. Time you moved away.

Thank you that's what I thought. @StepBackNow this is the first time they've done anything like this and we have all lived around here for many years so I'm not moving because of them. If it was constant I would as a last resort but I have 2 DDs and I'm currently 6 months pregnant and don't want to uproot unnecessarily. The incident with my husband and their ex partner was years ago and that particular ex doesn't live near here anymore and never comes this way thankfully.

You weren’t unreasonable, but it would probably have been wiser in the long run not to antagonise them.

The neighbourhood is generally lovely, this is a one off incident and most people are lovely around here. They are visiting a friend who lives near me, they live a few streets away so we rarely see them.

Ywnbu. It's your bin! They are entitled, rude arseholes.

I think I would have left it as they weren’t causing any harm but equally it’s your bin so you can do what you want.
The bins aren’t always out there I assume so you’d expect they’d have a better way of ensuring their children are safe like supervising them properly haha

You were unreasonable. You didn’t need the bin back and it wasn’t likely to get damaged.

You waded in and spoilt the game for what? To show that no one tells you what to do? Why?

The bins are never out there except for collection, no they weren't causing harm but I had mucky nappies and other rubbish waiting to go in it so needed it back.

You did right. I always bring my bin in as soon as I can before some chancing sod nicks it. Sounds like we both live in lovely neighbourhoods 😂.
Using a waste bins to physically block in children rather than supervising them or trusting them not to run into a road is a new parenting low. Not your problem.

I'd probably have left it - it made no real difference to you whether you took it in now or later. Obviously not remotely your responsibility to keep their children out of traffic!

@Rhiwrites i did need it that's why I got it. It wasn't the children who had built it it was mainly the parents so they could go drinking at a mates house... It's nothing to do with a game.

I would have just gone and dumped my rubbish in the bin and left the children to it, then got the bin in later.

I think it probably would have gone down better if you'd just said something like 'Sorry, I have to take our bin back as I've got a lovely bag full of stinky nappies that have to go in it. You know how it is with this heat!, and smiled rather than just marching in silently and wheeling the bin grimly away. Yes, it's your bin, but it wasn't done out of spite, and in the interests of neighbourly harmony, I'd have been reasonable about it.

@BlancheM people take extra bins sometimes if we don't get it in fast enough so yeah I'm vigilant with my bins 😂

YANBU it's your bin and I'm glad you weren't intimidated by the idiotic neighbours. Loud, aggressive people want other people to be scared of them. Bollocks to that.

I’d have left it there. Why cause resentment and bad feeling when it can be avoided?

@Celebelly i did smile at the kids as I was going past and even asked them which one was mine as it had my house number on but couldn't see. The kids were fine, parents not so much.

YANBU to want your bin back but a simple "sorry to spoil the wall but I need my bin" wouldn't have been hard.

I mean. For the sake for a temporary bin wall, unless I desperately needed the bin, I would have just left it.
I can’t see the harm.

You make it sound like you were a bit grim faced about getting your bins back, which I think could come across as pretty rude and at the very least quite unfriendly. As others have said, a few words to smooth the way could have made all the difference.

Yep- unreasonable and unnecessary and showing up DP. Discretion is the better part of valour (or whatever the expression is)

It was cheeky of them to take your bin and use it to block off the alleyway without asking in the first place. I do think "Sorry I need my bin back now" may have smoothed things a bit though OP.

Why the fuck should the OP be nice about it when they have moved her property.