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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Are WE the CFs here or neighbours??

553 replies

TigersRoll · 16/04/2019 16:56

3 houses share our driveway (including ours). So you get the 1st house and then ours next to each other and then at the end you get the 3rd house. 3rd house is a big house and has a double driveway (prob enough room for 3 cars anyway). 1st and 2nd house have a tiny section of driveway each, ours been the smallest, barely big enough for one car.

Anyway, DH likes to faff with his car, our driveway is too small to do anything on so during the day when everyone is at work he pulls it into the shared bit. Occasionally he parks his work van on the shared bit but basically, if anything is on the shared bit, 3rd house can’t get to their driveway which is why DH does it when everyone is at work.

This worked well for ages, occasionally woman next door would come home early but would park at the top on the street and walk down. One time all of a sudden she came home at 11am (!) came storming down the driveway carrying a number of bags (she’s a nurse) and muttered something about so much for buying a house with a driveway”. DH was confused as she’s never mentioned it before but he moved his car straight away anyway.
A week or so later we had workmen at the house and they parked on the shared drive. She came home from worked, marched up to the workmen and told them they had to move. This meant packing up tools, ladders and various other stuff before reversing out of the drive just so she could park next to her house. As soon as she was in they moved everything back, low and behold they came out almost immediately and said they had to move as she was going out. They did, she went out and reappeared 15 minutes later again telling the workmen they had to move everything!!! Surely if she knew she was going back out she could have just parked at top of drive where there is tons of room??

Anyway she appears to be making a point of doing this now everytime DH has something on the shared driveway but has never actually spoken to him about it!

Last night we got an angry knock on the door. Her husband was stood there and he looked at our car and said “can you move it” in a really snappy tone. It’s a big car (Land Rover) and as our driveway is so small the arse of it sometimes sticks out into the shared bit. Unfortunately neighbour also has a Land Rover making getting past a bit of a squeeze. DH looked at the car and the space (as it was on our driveway) and the bloke snapped “I’m not scratching my car again trying to get past. Move it”. DH then had to move the car so it was practically touching our garage door. This bloke has always been very pleasant before so it seems so out of character!

AIBU to think his wife has started some kind of vendetta against us and roped him into it or is it our fault??

OP posts:
HaventGotAllDay · 16/04/2019 17:04

Of course you're the CFs!

Pixilicious · 16/04/2019 17:04

Yes you are a CF. That would piss me right off.

TigersRoll · 16/04/2019 17:04

It’s one shared drive way which terminates into 3 private driveways.

OP posts:
InMyBloodstainedSundaysBest · 16/04/2019 17:04

How on earth can you think you are being reasonable by blocking someone's driveway. Hmm

Although I also don't understand why neighbour wouldn't just drive up and ask you to move rather than parking up somewhere and huffing past.

Oh and you definitely shouldn't have told the workmen they could park there.

TheFastandCurious · 16/04/2019 17:04

Sorry OP but they have paid for the use of their drive. You can’t just decide to park on their property because they don’t use it much or whatever. They probably feel very stressed with you continually using it without asking. Stop doing it.

Horsemenoftheaclopalypse · 16/04/2019 17:04

Yabu Sorry...

EmrysAtticus · 16/04/2019 17:05

You need somewhere else for the tools then. We have people here who park on the pavement because their garages are full of stuff. Drives me potty as I have to walk in the road just because they aren't using their garage for it's intended purpose.

Bringbackbertha · 16/04/2019 17:05

If you were expecting workmen a polite note or conversation prior explaining the predicament and asking if it was ok that they parked there.

I need a diagram though cause I cant work out how using the shared bit prevents the neighbour accessing their drive

MoaningMinniee · 16/04/2019 17:05

You are definitely the CF's if only because you haven't done a diagram! C'mon you know the rules of Parking Threads Grin

GabriellaMontez · 16/04/2019 17:05

You are the cf. And inconsiderate.

OneThingAndThenTheNext · 16/04/2019 17:05

You are complete CFs and I’m surprised it’s taken this long for your neighbours to get pissed off with you.

BusterTheBulldog · 16/04/2019 17:05

It’s definitely you! I would be v annoyed if I couldn’t come and go into my own drive as I wished. It’s basically blocking their access.

CastleCrasher · 16/04/2019 17:06

Is this a reverse?
A diagram would be helpful, but from what you've said, you are unreasonable. House three should be able to come and go as they please - not only when it suits you!

BettaSplenden · 16/04/2019 17:06

It sounds like they are totally fed up and yeah you/your dh are being unreasonable. You shouldn't block the shared drive why should she have to abandon her car and walk just because you judge that it's not an issue?

IvanaPee · 16/04/2019 17:06

Omg this must be a reverse!

Otherwise we’ve got a live one!

The bare faced cheek of the pair of you!

DeathyMcDeathStarFace · 16/04/2019 17:06

Erm, I think it is your fault.

I also think woman next door, and possibly man next door, are fed up with you/dh/workmen blocking their access and are not taking it anymore.

Can you not put your car in your garage so it does not poke out? If your garage is full of stuff you might need to move it to fit the car in and for the sake of neighbourly relations.

Borntobedifferent · 16/04/2019 17:06

Also sounds like she was being reasonable and then your husband and the workmen took the piss.

Once she was in you should have told the workmen to park on the road or popped over, apologised for the inconvenience and explained that the work would take X time and could the workmen park back on the shared hit or was she going out ?

churchthecat · 16/04/2019 17:06

Sorry OP, YABU.

It sounds like you block their access quite a lot. They should be able to use it as and when they want to.

TigersRoll · 16/04/2019 17:06

I’ll try and draw a diagram!

OP posts:
ItsNiceItsDifferentItsUnusual · 16/04/2019 17:06

You are being extremely unreasonable. Why you think you have the right to block someone's driveway I can't fathom.

You bought the house with the tiny driveway - when you had a large car and a van! - so you're going to have to deal with it.

SosigDog · 16/04/2019 17:07

It’s one shared drive way which terminates into 3 private driveways

Then no, you can’t park on the shared bit and block everyone else’s access to their drives.

IvanaPee · 16/04/2019 17:07

The diagram doesn’t actually matter.

Parking over shared driveway = wanker

Letting workmen park over shared driveway = wanker

AryaStarkWolf · 16/04/2019 17:08

Yeah YABU, You shouldn't be parking in their driveway ever, whether they're there or not, they can come and go as much as they please

Iltavilli · 16/04/2019 17:08

It must be a nightmare for them, constantly having to check with you if it’s ok for them to leave their own homes

lazymare · 16/04/2019 17:08

Another MNer had a situation like this and it got very nasty. Just don't block your neighbours in or out.

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