To park of neighbour's drive

[Margyseries]

I went to my parent's house today for my dad's birthday. The road has spaces on it but these were all taken up and my parent's drive was full with their cars. The other spaces on the road need a permit and I didn't want to risk getting a ticket.
My parent's drive is next to our neighbour's who watched me grow up from a child to a woman. I quickly pulled onto her drive to run in and grab a permit pass to park on the road.
I was on the neighbour's drive for under a minute.
The neighbour wasn't going anywhere but she came out to say something to which I responded "I'm so sorry I'm moving" and my parents had a huge go at me for this and my mum sent the woman an apology text.

It really got to me. I don't see an issue with it in the slightest as I thought we were neighbourly - she knows who I am and it was literally for 30 seconds.

I now feel so upset by the reaction. I usually go out my way to help and assist others. Would you be this angry in the same situation?

If it were just 30 seconds surely you could have grabbed the pass in that time from the road.

Text your parents to come out with a pass.

Or. Keep some in your glove box. You obviously know the area and that it needs a permit. So I’m a bit confused as to why you don’t have a stash.

No, my neighbour drives onto our drive sometimes for a few mins to make it easier to swap their cars. It still confuses me when he does it - I generally go look and assume I have forgotten something, then see who it is and know he won't be there long and carry on with my day.

I'm in a similar scenario but I'm in your neighbours position, without the benefit and joy of being neighbours over a long period of time.
What has soured the 'just parking on the drive for a few minutes scenario is the lack of asking when it's actually more like two hours and when I'm expecting guests that I have to pop round and ask to use my driveway. I wonder if in this scenario there is more back story you just don't know about?

I probably would have just stopped at the end blocking your parents drive, put the hazards on, and nipped in instead.

It is a bit cheeky to use someone's driveway without asking, even if you were only a minute.

It's very vague. What did she actually say?

It sounds like they have an ongoing problem with parking in the area, in which case it might be a sore topic. If the neighbor said something to you about it then she obviously wasn't ok with it, in which case you shouldn't park there again.

Your actions were rude imo.

I think it’s incredibly cheeky. It’s her private property. You wouldn’t assume it was ok to sit in her living room or use her toilet without an invitation or permission so why is it ok to park on her drive? At the very least you should have knocked and asked her was it ok to do this before going to buy the permit.

I think you should buy her a penguin bollard as an apology.

I think it’s cheeky sorry, just because you used to live next door to her doesn’t entitle you to use her drive. Your parents have to continue living next door to her, I would be cross if my DD did this. The likelihood of getting a ticket in the 30 seconds is very small.

I can't understand why you didn't go and knock on the door to ask them. If there's fondness between you, they might have even said you could have the space all day. As it was, your message to them was they're good enough to use when you want something but not good enough to chat to or say hi to.

Yeah you were cheeky, sorry. Its very presumptive to just pull in to someone else's drive and pretty big headed that you think you're somehow special enough to be able to do that. The poor neighbours probably have every Tom, Dick and Harry to contend with daily if parking is as much of an issue as you say it is. You're just some girl from next door not a local celeb with permission to use their property as you see fit.

Your actions would not have bothered me in the slightest, but then I believe in helping out my fellow humans and not sweating the small stuff. Afraid this is Mumsnet and you committed a parking violation so you will get flamed. Honestly your neighbor sounds petty and to be pitied.

How was she supposed to know it was you car? Your notion of 30 seconds and hers was probably very different.

In any case, if it is someone you know so well, why couldn't you knock on the door, say hell to her and ask how she was and then ask if she'd mind you parking there, either for the whole time or long enough to say hello to your parents and get the pass?

I think it is really rude. No one has ever done this to us and I would not think of doing it to anyone else.

Why didn't you block your parents drive while you went to get a permit?

I think neighbour & parents overreacted. Do they have form for being hypercritical?

That's really rude, I can't imagine a situation where I would intentionally park on the drive of a house I wasn't visiting.

I wouldn't expect an apology text if it was me but I'm pretty sure my neighbours would.

If I was your neighbour I really wouldn’t have been bothered by that.

I’m afraid without a diagram a parking thread is very incomplete. You might also want to chuck in a floor plan of both houses and a shopping list from both also.

That's her private property. It doesn't matter if you were there for two seconds. You sound very entitled.

I would have no issue with this. I can't see the problem for 30 seconds.

My parent's drive is next to our neighbour's who watched me grow up from a child to a woman

You seem to think this was an honour and privilege for her.

It's rude. I wouldn't do this to anybody else and I'd be annoyed if they did it to me. Block your parents in and phone/text them to bring out a permit or keep one in your glove box to write the date on when you need it.

Yeah I think you were rude, even if you’d parked there and then asked for their permission before leaving it to get the permit, it’s still pretty presumptive. Why would you assume without asking that they don’t need their drive/will know how long you’ll be there/will recognise your car/won’t mind because it’s you/won’t mind because it’s a few seconds? You should have just obstructed the end of your parent’s drive, or parked properly and popped in for the permit. If you were genuinely only going to be a few seconds that would have been fine (and must be what all other visitors do). The fact that you didn’t suggests to me that you were longer than seconds.

What did the neighbour say?