Neighbours and parking

[rainbowheart]

I've lived on the same street for 20 years, buying my childhood home when my parents sold it.
The house is down a narrowish lane and I'm the very end house. There's a pull in which makes it easier for myself and my neighbours to get off of our drives.
For as long as I've know there's always been an agreement that people will avoid parking in the pull in wherever possible, because if 2 cars are parked there it's very difficult for me and my neighbour to get out, we have to reverse about half a mile down the lane if we cant turn in the turning point. It only effects our 2 houses, everyone else can exit their drives fine.
Sometimes it's unavoidable and that's fine, if people are having lots of guests over etc, workmen to their houses.. things happen.
The house next to my neighbours house was sold 3 months back.. new people moved in. My neighbour explain the parking situation and they said it was no problem. And for the first few months everything was as it had always been,
One day my baby took ill and I had to call an ambulance.. the ambulance parked on the lane in-front of my house blocking my neighbour, my husband rushed home and parked behind the ambulance, blocking the new neighbours driveway.
The new neighbours knocked the door asking for the car to move, the ambulance driver explained baby was poorly and asked if they could just hold fire and she'd get my husband to move the car. 10 mins later she knocked again the ambulance driver apologised and said she'd get it moved,
My husband went to move the car and the new neighbour said it's about time she was going to be late.
There's a lot of old people who live down our lane and ambulances are fairly common, when it happens, especially further down the lane, everyone is blocked in, never have I moaned in that situation, even when it's meant I've been late or missed appointments, surly that ambulance is likely to be far more important than anything I need to do at that time,
Since the day I called the ambulance the new neighbours now park both their cars in the pull in, leaving their driveway empty I feel this is really petty and pathetic. I've knocked and asked if they could park at least one car on their drive as before, the woman said she's entitled to park her car wherever she likes, obviously she is.. but would you not also be considerate of your neighbours?
For the last 2 weeks 2 cars arrive every morning at 6am, they move their cars from the pull in and the other cars park there.. the 2 drivers get into the van with the difficult neighbour and I assume go to work, she parks her car on her drive.. when they get home from work the 2 cars go and the move both their cars to the pull in so the turning point always has 2 cars parked in it, day and night.

What are you views on this situation? As I've said I do get she can park her car wherever she likes, I just don't understand why they insist on making it difficult. I don't know if I'm just being touchy because it all started when my baby was poorly and maybe I'm being too emotional about it? Any ideas on how to resolve it?

We have garages at the end of our gardens , and there's a rough service road . Lots of residents use their garages for businesses , cars , skips get delivered etc.

We have a space at the end of our garden that was constantly bloody used by people parking, dumping stuff , one of my neighbours said it was a Turning Circle (it isn't we checked our deeds , its ours) and a couple of people have tried to buy it .

We put a fence up eventually .

This would drive me insane. There are some really inconsiderate twats around.

Why are so many of you saying OP should park there herself. how did you miss the part where she said the Cfs move their cars to allow their colleagues to park there then when the colleagues leave they move their cars back? Aka there is someone's car parked there all the time.
@rainbowheart I'd start using their drive to turn on but as they have a gate I imagine they would just start locking it. I think your best bet would be to do as pp suggested and speak to the council, it's clearly not for parking, even if it's been useful to you and your ndn for doing so in the past. And check the deeds as if it does belong to you or your ndn it might be easier to deal with it

Presuming that your unreasonable neighbours will still be able to exit their drive you need to park here.

My husband constantly wants to park our cars in a way that makes moving theirs difficult.. but I worry that the kind of people to behave in this way and react to an ambulance attending to a child are the kind of people who would damage the cars in some way.. if they were to scratch, dent or slash the tyres then it would be at our expense as the police wouldn't follow it through.. we recently got burgled broke into my husbands van, my car and the shed and took all his work tools and they didn't even visit our house so if the neighbours damage the cars they aren't going to do anything about that either!
And what if they done something serious like messing with brakes etc.. the scenarios I imagine just fill me with dread, my son travels in the cars so I don't want to risk his safety in anyway with these idiotic people!

I would also worry about the whole thing escalating. I’m pretty good at reversing, so I’d probably just get into the habit of reversing down the drive each time. They’re obviously just doing it to get a reaction from you, so maybe just not letting it bother you is the best reaction?

OP when do you plan to talk to them?

I think you may have triggered this with the ambulance. Of course ambulances take priority over all things, but an apology can go a hell of a long way too, even if you don't think you did anything wrong.

Do you have CCTV? If not, I’d look into getting some installed and huge signs announcing the fact.

I don't think I could bring myself to apologize for my sick baby inconveniencing then. I’d definitely be giving them the cold shoulder from now on. They are awful people.

Could your nice neighbours let you reverse into their drive, if there is room? The nasty neighbours are looking for a reaction, so I wouldn’t give them one.

I mean reversing into their drive to enable you to turn and drive away, not park on their drive.

I spoke to them yesterday.. I was out the front painting a fence and they were there.
I just said hi, she looked at me and went to walk off. I said have offended you in someway. She said no. I said oh it just feels like we've got off on the wrong foot. I asked if we could discuss the parking situation. She just spun round to face me and said she is fed up of everyone on this street dictating to her what she can and can't do. I tried to explain the situation but she just went off on a rant that I don't own the street. Another neighbour a few doors down heard her ranting and came over, he tried to reason with her but she just said that we're all stuck in our ways and are ganging up to bully them and she won't be bullied and stormed off.
The neighbour said several people on the street have attempted to speak to them but they are just unreasonable.
Our family was the youngest on the street until they moved in, most people have lived here their entire lives theirs is the first house to be sold down here in all the years I've lived here. there's just been mutually agreed way of dealing with parking and turning and I guess everyone's noticed the issues they've created so I guess they've been getting it from everyone.
I think the council is the way forward. If everyone contacts the council then I guess they have to do something about it so everyone who has an issue with it will call the council next week.

Knock the door EVERY TIME you need to go out. Politely request that they move the cars.
Alternatively, park your cars on their drive as close to their windows as you possibly can and wave every time!
This would give me the rage.

Hopefully the council will be helpful. They are rude inconsiderate arseholes. We have a neighbour like that. They have a car that is I'm presuming SORN that is parked outside their house. Because eof this they cant park the car they use there. So they park it in various places across the street. We have had to ask them to move it from partially in front of our drive a few times, they parked in a disabled bay for a whole weekend, they have blocked the entrance to a public footpath with their car once. Some people are just arseholes. Our neighbours literally just walk past like they cant hear you. It would be funny if it wasnt so annoying.

Ok so she's unreasonable. The only way to proceed is to make the current situation awkward for them.

Park to block them in, or
Every time you want to go out knock and ask them to move to you can turn around, or
Constantly put notes on their cars/colleagues cars explaining inconvenience, or
Call police to report an obstruction.

I posted before I read your update.
Fuck them!
Park on their drive every single time.
When the complain, tell them you're fed up of people trying to dictate what you do.

I think you've handled it really well so far.

Now you know that they are doing it on purpose and that they aren't going to behave reasonably. I wouldn't do anything that will escalate it as it's never going to improve the situation. They aren't going to suddenly realise they are behaving unreasonably. Also, if they have gone to the trouble of thinking of this madcap scheme to get at you, god knows what they could do in the future.

Getting the pull in marked by the council and enforced is the best way forward now.

.

Who owns the lane, is it a private road. They sound awful and I think as pp said, I would have a camera installed on my house. I would also landscape the front garden to make my life easier, you can then ignore these people. The Council may not be able to help and, as you say, who would police it.

I can see both sides here.

The previous owners obviously didn't explain the parking etiquette so they bought the house expecting their to be 2 extra spaces for visitors. Most likely having visited at various times of day and night to check one or both were empty.

Then when they moved in they were asked to respect the etiquette of the street and obviously weren't happy about it suggesting that you make turning space on your own properties instead of, in their minds, commandeering the streets communal parking, but agreed to be good neighbours.

Then your DH parked over their drive in what was obviously a traumatic situation. Who knows how long they waited before knocking or what the impact on them. Yes, it would have been cuntish to ask the ambulance to move, but this wasn't the ambulance it was the DH and the ambulance driver answered the door which in their minds assumedly he would not have done if your son was critical.

It doesn't appear that you know the effect having to wait the extra 20 mins plus however long they'd waited before knocking had on them because you seem disinterested. In some jobs you lose money you can't afford, some you put colleagues at risk, some you may get a formal warning, rarely I've known people who should be sent home for the entire day without pay.

So now, they're parking perfectly legally in the way they always planned on doing, feeling bullied and ganged up on by the whole street and some people are suggesting violating their access even further by using their drive without permission.

Leave then alone!

If you want to resolve the turning situation either as the council to step in so no one can park on the turning spaces or relandscape your property to solve your turning issues.

No matter how it's always been done its not their responsibility to solve your turning issues with the way your property is designed. They are behaving perfectly lawfully and have made it quite clear they'd prefer it if you all stopped hassling them.

Wow! That was an impressive read, but it doesn’t really ring true as it seems pretty obvious the turning spot is not on their property and the paramedic said they’d move the car soon.

Nope turning spot is not on anyone's property nor does it currently have any markings so is legally available to park in.

Op says ambulance driver said car would be moved in 10 mins, it wasn't, so neighbours had to knock again....

Other than the colleagues cars I'm not reading them as cunts just reasonably tolerant people pissed off by being expected to follow a tradition they didn't agree to...

@turnaroundbrighteyes

If you read the whole thread I have many times been really inconvenience by an ambulance being on my street.. I missed a hospital appointment for myself which I had to wait ages for and then had to wait even longer to reschedule. Ive missed appointments for my son, I've been late to events. But I'm not acting like a twat. I didn't knock on their door demanding they move immediately, I done what any decent person done and waited.

How does the neighbour think they have the right to the spaces.. they have a perfectly adequate drive they can park their cars on.. there is no need to use those spaces day and night.. so they brought the house thinking they have the ultimate right to that spot and so now they are ok to use it and inconvenience others when it isn't at all necessary. I am not commandeering the communal parking.. they are! They have an empty driveway big enough for 3 cars but chose to make access for everyone else difficult.. that's spiteful.

Whoever is right or wrong, I couldn't live somewhere where I was blocked in regularly by an ambulance. Missing hospital appointments, being late for work etc constantly is not sustainable. I think you need to speak with the Council & find a better solution for everyone.