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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

My neighbours are car verge-parking wankbadgers

97 replies

IndefatigableMouse · 03/12/2019 19:37

My neighbours bought a house with a drive only big enough for one car.

A few months back they began taking down the garden wall between us so they could fit two on, before I pointed out it was actually my boundary and not theirs (they never fixed the wall, but that's a whole other unfinished thread).

As a result of that, they now park one on their drive, and one on the verge outside my house. Yes, possibly a reaction to me not letting them knock down the wall, but honestly it wouldn't have fit two anyway. Would this annoy you?

I feel most normal people would either block themselves in, or park on the road.

I really don't care if people park 'in front of my house' - it's legal, whatever, but something about being on the verge is really winding me up. Of course I don't own that either! But on the roads around me the only other people who do this live in the house the car is parked in front of. It looks so messy. The grass is all chewed up underneath.

Right now her car has been parked right up to the edge of the grass all week, enough that it is difficult for me to get on and off my own drive if the other neighbours opposite park in the road too. There's loads of room to pull up closer to her own house.

If she was a normal person I would talk to her about it, but after the fiasco with the garden wall (she literally stormed off in a huff when I pointed out she was wrong, even though by this stage she had taken a lot of bricks off my wall!) she has avoided us.

I need to chill, don't I?

Instead I'm burning with car-parking rage!

My neighbours are car verge-parking wankbadgers
OP posts:
littleduckeggblue · 03/12/2019 21:24

Park on the road blocking entrance to your drive

CodenameVillanelle · 03/12/2019 21:25

My neighbours put a couple of massive stones on the verge outside their house that stopped anyone parking on it. Can you source some massive heavy stones?

IndefatigableMouse · 03/12/2019 21:37

My neighbours on the other side have a setup like me and a decent size drive, but if I parked at the top of mine I'd affect their access so I'm reluctant to do that (plus they are doing building work at the mo so loads of big vans are coming onto their drive every day).

We actually do have massive stones and I've seen them used elsewhere in my town (albeit on a quieter road), but I'm 99% sure they would just be moved. May try it if she ever moves her car again. She used to go to work every day but suddenly it's stopped moving...

Plans at the moment (don't want to be an OP who can't take advice) are:

  1. Husband keeps threatening to leave a note but I think notes always go across badly
  2. talk to potentially more reasonably male neighbour if we ever see him alone (they both hide - I've seen her open her front door and close it again if I'm getting my kids in the car, rather than just carry on with her journey)
  3. Park on the verge if she ever moves the car. If they knock, explain that so long as they park like twats, we'll park there instead. Oh and can they fix our wall
  4. Use magical stones to stop them

I could try talking to her of course, but I'm one of those people who endlessly rehearses conversations in my head, and every time I do it, it ends with her refusing to do anything and me snapping and saying 'you do realise you're a bad person and potentially a sociopath?'

OP posts:
chocolateisavegetable · 03/12/2019 21:47

Top marks for the diagram OP!

Pinkyyy · 03/12/2019 21:47

I like option 2 the best. Like you say, notes never done across well and I highly doubt talking to her will go well. But then again if it were me I'd be sorely tempted to let their tyres down haha.

Rubyupbeat · 03/12/2019 21:48

In my last house I reported my ndn for parking on the grass verge, all 4 wheels and churning it all up. They got a warning from the council.
Report them.

Span1elsRock · 03/12/2019 21:49

I'd be leaving my hose pipe on overnight on that verge.

Then stand laughing at the window when she tries to get it off the swamp that will be there underneath her...................

BlackCatSleeping · 03/12/2019 21:58

I think your problem is that she isn't doing anything against the law by parking there.

I'd keep on at the council and as hard as it is just let it go. She's doing it to annoy you, so don't get annoyed. If you start sending notes and approaching her, she'll know she's won and continue as she is.

Winterdaysarehere · 03/12/2019 21:58

Bucket of water under each wheel. Every hour after dark..
Invite as many as you can to The Grand Car Removal....
Or not..

Chloemol · 03/12/2019 22:10

Most councils own the verges as part of the highway. Most also don’t allow parking on the verges, lots have services for instance running underneath them. Report them

WhenOneDoorClosesAnotherOpens · 03/12/2019 22:17

OP, I can completely empathise with you! Someone three houses down from me has a large drive, but instead they park right at the edge of my dropped curb on the footpath right up against my hedge. There are no other cars in the road so they could park anywhere else. I can barely get in and out of my own drive. I fume because it's so unnecessary, why not park in their own drive? Why not park in front of their own house? Why not park anywhere else? Angry

YANBU! Some people are twats. Buy why be a twat with someone you have to live next to? Makes no sense.

These past few nights it's been freezing round here. Wouldn't it be a shame for her car and the surrounding area (mud) to get soaked tonight? Wink

It should be illegal to park on footpaths and verges.

user1511042793 · 03/12/2019 22:20

I get it I really do but not sure what you can actually do. Plant a tree or five?

Illeana · 03/12/2019 22:28

Put a massive planter there with bricks in the bottom to make it heavy. My parish council lets you sponsor an official “memorial planter” with a plaque and you can choose the location. Or you could probably just put your own planter there.

tillytrotter1 · 03/12/2019 22:38

Don't you have a friend with an old car who would be willing to park it outside your house for a while. Or maybe someone could accidentally drop a glass bottle on your verge, whoops.

TabbyMumz · 04/12/2019 07:48

"if it looks like garden overlaps, that is my bad diagramming)."
Thankyou...think it was the diagram that confused me sorry, as it looked like you and the neighbour the other side of them had land that went over the front of their (the middle) house. In my house we also adjoin next door, and we have a fence that runs directly down the middle of the two houses. I've no idea who owns that fence.

wombat1a · 04/12/2019 08:43

I think asking male N about a timeframe for the wall to be restored to its previous state is your highest priority. If that is more than 28 days then the next thing would be reminding them that they have preformed damage (perhaps criminal?) to your property and in throwing the bricks away they have also perhaps performed theft? So restoring the wall is a jolly good idea before it go any farther.

Blatherskite · 04/12/2019 09:20

It's worth noting that some councils view large stones on grass verges as creating a hazard on the highway and you can get into trouble for it and be forced to remove them.

IndefatigableMouse · 07/12/2019 10:34

Well we’ve just had a minor row with them that hasn’t helped at all. They had a kitchen delivery this morning that parked across my drive just as I needed to get my daughter to a class. We couldn’t drive across the verge as they were on it of course (car hasn’t moved in a week now).

My husband illadvisedly stormed around and asked them to move it so we could get out. The man looked confused. Woman refused and told us to F off her property.

Husband snapped and as he walked away said ‘and fix our wall’ and she yelled back they had proof it was theirs. And shouted more f words.

To give context these are young professionals who must be in their twenties in their first or second home. That doesn’t make it better or worse but you’d think they’d have some idea that it’s better to be neighbourly than start on the wrong foot?

Sigh, so that made things worse. Tbh I don’t have any personal feelings about ‘the wall’. I just want a boundary. So if they took it down I’d still want a fence on my side. And remember we ended up saying it was fine to remove and replace it if that’s what they wanted.

But their complete wankbadgery is really getting to me.

Rise above, rise above, rise above.

OP posts:
Hingeandbracket · 07/12/2019 10:38

Diagram is too professional and all cars are represented as boats YABU

Winterdaysarehere · 07/12/2019 10:45

Email kitchen company now.

Pancakeflipper · 07/12/2019 10:54

Put your magic stones out now.

InvisibleWomenMustBeRead · 07/12/2019 10:56

Complain to the kitchen company to make sure they don't do it again.

I'd not rise above at all. I'd put the biggest but most discreet stones I could find on the verge in the hope that they'd drive over them and wreck their car in the process. I'd also cover it with nails and glass. You need to fight back Op and not let people walk all over you!

IndefatigableMouse · 07/12/2019 10:57

Kitchen company did eventually move van and I got to ballet just in time...

I feel sad about the car-boats in my diagram - will find better software next time!

OP posts:
JKScot4 · 07/12/2019 10:59

Where I have marked red, you could install a single bollard as a safety measure as you have been alarmed at people stepping out when you’re driving on/off your drive. Get onto your local council at 9am Monday to check this is allowed. You ARE a public safety minded person 😉

My neighbours are car verge-parking wankbadgers
NoProblem123 · 07/12/2019 11:06

Fuming on your behalf.
If you’re not at horse trials then don’t park on the grass !

A few big rocks painted white strategically placed would work. The bigger the better,