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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think i should be able to park in my own driveway

53 replies

2fingers22018 · 07/03/2019 20:55

Everyday (almost) me and OH try to park on our driveway someone has parked across it and when we nicely ask them to move we re met with abuse. Im beginning to wonder if people with basic manners are a dying breed. One particular neighbour seems to have made it her lifes mission to try and turn all the neighbours against us..bizarre

OP posts:
LonelyandTiredandLow · 08/03/2019 14:50

Basic highway code is not to park in front of a dropped curb. So although one half of your "driveway" should be de facto 'protected' in as much as basic driving skills dictates, the other half is legitimately a parking space.

If you get the council to drop the other curb your issues should stop. IIRC it's about 2k. A white H marking should be doubly useful although I am not sure whether this enables enforcement, it seems to work where I live. It's hard to pull out of my driveway if someone ignores the H mark opposite but thankfully it doesn't happen often.

FWIW I live near a busy hospital and many of the people parking here are workers who can't afford to pay to park in the hospital car park Sad

lpchill · 08/03/2019 14:54

If she's a nosey neighbour start taking obvious photos of her car every time she does it. If she comes out guns blazing start recording saying your getting "proof" most people tend to calm down pretty quick and get the message. If she keeps acting mad at least you have proof for the other neighbours to get them onside.

IsAStormApporaching · 08/03/2019 15:00

I would apply to drop the other half of the kerb. Then get cement bollards at each side outside the drive.
You would have a massive entrance and no one could park there.
Plus an extra wee bonus would be they have less on street parking

user1473878824 · 08/03/2019 15:21

Well, the rest of the (hopefully nicer) neighbours would have less on-street parking too. I wouldn't scream at her again either OP.

cuppycakey · 08/03/2019 15:25

A friend of mine got her car towed last week for parking just an inch (so she says!) hanging over a persons drive and blocking them in.

They called the police and she was towed and had to pay for it.

Can you do that every single time? She will soon get tired of paying the fine and the police will have a "proper word" surely if she is a repeat offender?

IsAStormApporaching · 08/03/2019 15:39

user1473878824 I took from the wording of the OP it seems to be an asortment of neighbours but one person is a regular.

user1473878824 · 08/03/2019 15:42

@IsAStormApporachin ahh I was reading it as the one!

MrsSpenserGregson · 08/03/2019 15:44

I wish that would happen here @cuppycakey

We have a dropped kerb with a white line, both done by the council. People park across half the white line every single sodding day. The police say it's the council's responsibility to enforce. The council say it's not illegal if even a small part of the white line / dropped kerb is still unblocked. I have to do an eleventy billion point turn to get in and out of my drive every day. I feel like buying an old wreck of a car and using it purely to smash the driveway-blocking cars out of the way sometimes! Arrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

OP - YANBU!

Original poster
2fingers22018 · 08/03/2019 16:27

@wafflyversatile the other day my OH couldnt get into the driveway..again someone had parked a huge removal van right across the driveway so he d had enough and tooted his horn(there was no where else to park on the street as i said very busy small road). One of our neighbours came over to the van my OH said can you move your van so i can park in my driveway, the neighbour started huffing and puffing but eventually moved. The nosey neighbour obvs heard my OH toot his horn and immediately ran to her window to nosey. She then ran out of her house shouting why are you tooting, he said im trying to park my car she said thats a garden not a driveway, at this point i could hear the commotion i came out and said whats this got to do with you mind your own businness?! I could understand if it affected her but she was in her house no one was asking her to move her car shes soo nosey lol

OP posts:
wafflyversatile · 08/03/2019 16:47

Are you the only house with a driveway? Is there another neighbour you can ask about the history of driveways and your neighbour?

She seems to have a bee in her bonnet about it for some reason.

DotOnTheHorizon · 08/03/2019 17:23

@2fingers22018 your solicitor should have asked the vendors about the legitimacy of the dropped kerb and driveway when you were buying the house.

When I sold I provided the new buyers (via the solicitors) with all the paperwork, permissions and receipts from the council to show that the dropped kerb was official (paperwork sounds grand, it was just a coupe of emails back and forth and then one granting permission to go ahead).

Without that audit trail the buyers could have asked me to pay an indemnity insurance (a few pounds in the grand scheme of things) to protect them from future legal action.

You need to go back to the solicitor who did your conveyancing and check what action was taken re: the drive.

Fingers crossed it's all ok and then you can send your neighbour a copy which should hopefully make her back off.

Alternatively just let two of her tyres down every time she parks there - she'll get bored before you do!!! (Joking......well maybe only half jokingWink)

Original poster
2fingers22018 · 08/03/2019 18:24

The police arent interested in towing or dishing out fines i wish they would lol if someone did it once i wouldnt make a big deal but as i said this is everyday. The concrete bollards arent an option as far as im aware i couldnt put anything on a public path haha

OP posts:
Original poster
2fingers22018 · 08/03/2019 18:27

Uve got to laugh or ud scream😂

OP posts:
Tinkerbell89 · 08/03/2019 18:33

Put a gate up perhaps or one of those bollards which you can have to go up and down so when you're out you have it up but for access it lowers. If it's on your property it shouldn't be a problem

snoringdoggo · 08/03/2019 19:04

he said im trying to park my car she said thats a garden not a driveway,

I think she thinks she knows something you don't. She obviously has issues about your driveway, or that it's been widened to give you more than the width of the dropped kerb.

I'd get the white line even if you have to pay. And I'd get some proof it's legit and post it up her arse through her door with a little note

LonelyandTiredandLow · 08/03/2019 19:20

If there isn't a dropped curb on one side half of your front is a garden Confused Why do you think people pay for dropped curbs? I suspect this is why your neighbours are annoyed; they've all accepted this and you want to save money and be righteous at the same time.

OP if you want it to be a driveway you have to pay to make it one, not just assume everyone else magically "knows" even though you have a curb.

anniehm · 08/03/2019 19:31

If there's a dropped curb it's rude to park there but not illegal unfortunately (you cannot trap someone on their drive though). If the parking is wider than the dropped curb only the dropped curb should be left clear. If it's persistent get advice from the councils

Malbecfan · 08/03/2019 19:34

MrsSpenser there is a white line painted across the driveway to where my father lives. People routinely leave parts of their cars overhanging it. Occasionally the police act but it's all too rare now.

Dad's lovely neighbour used to leave passive-aggressive notes on the offending vehicles but the drivers would just screw them up and throw them into the driveway. Dad now takes more direct action. He puts a smear of grease under the driver's door handle. Since he started doing it, the cars have been parked more considerately.

Oh yes, there is also that website called something like YouParkLikeACunt.co.uk. I suggest loading a couple of photos on there. It might not change much but you'll have a laugh

Original poster
2fingers22018 · 08/03/2019 23:46

@LonelyandTiredandLow try reading the thread in full before you comment thanks i already said we only have one car so we only expect access for one parking space im not cheap i bought the house with one side lowered and as we only have one car we were happy with this.The problem we re having is large vans parking across the ENTIRE driveway 9/10 times parked on the lowered kerb and rude people who give us abuse when we politely ask them to move lol

OP posts:
MyDcAreMarvel · 08/03/2019 23:52

If only me sound was lowered I doubt it was the council.

WhoEatsPopTarts · 08/03/2019 23:56

Ask a friend to wear a high vis jacket and take photos, makes notes in official looking notebook. If asked what they are doing they just say they’re reporting the illegal parking. I’m not saying they lie and say they’re from the council, just that they give the impression of being official.

ADHMeeee · 08/03/2019 23:56

Can you grab a very old car which doesnt technically work (or even have an engine in it) for eighty quid or less, and position it on the side which isnt blocked? No one else needs to know it doesnt run. Then they would be blocking you in and the police could tow them

PotatoesDieInHotCars · 09/03/2019 00:01

Why can't you just show her the paperwork/email to prove that the dropped kerb is officially approved by the council?

Original poster
2fingers22018 · 09/03/2019 13:53

Im not going to a solicitor to get paperwork i can show her because i feel like its playing into her hands she ll enjoy the fact that shes bugging im trying not to give her the satisfaction. I still dont understand why if its hard to get a space and she doesnt have a driveway why is she not happy im freeing up a space for her on the street by parking in my driveway. She came out shouting at my FIL one day because he parked on her side of the road screaming at him that she parks there, shes not got any right to the space outside her house she hasnt paid for it thats the irony lol

OP posts:
Talkingfrog · 09/03/2019 14:28

We have a dropped curb, in a culdisac wide enough for 2 cars, and pavements 1 foot wide. Luckily it doesn't happen all the time, but people seem really surprised when I tell them that as a result of them parking opposite the drive I can't get in or out.
My dad has a similar problem getting out of his garage.
It is not rocket science and I am amazed that anyone who has got a licence can't see that they are creating a problem. Sometimes you have to get in the car and show them that it won't work for them to realise.
I was blocked out of my drive on Thursday. They arrived some time between 7.30 and 10 pm, and left at 8am the next morning. There was space further down the street where they should have parked (where I ended up). More importantly though they left just enough room for a car to squeeze through between them and a car that had been there hours before they arrived.
If an emergency vehicle had needed to get up the street, they wouldn't have stood a chance.