Today I was delivering some shopping to a relative and I parked on the roadside in a residential area. There were quite a few cars parked today so only a couple of spaces left to park in.
When parking I kept in mind not to exceed the drop kerb and potentially block someone's drive. I was quite close to the car behind but had left enough space that they would be able to get out as they had space behind them to reverse and I would be able to pull forward to drive out.
As I was getting out of the car the owner of the drive next to where I had parked pulled up. I could see him shaking his head at me inside the car. He then parked in front of my car but reversed all the way back so his van was touching my front bumper but he had plenty of space in front of him.
When he got out I politely asked him if he could pull forward a little as he was touching my bumper and I woildnt be able to get out and didn't want to damage his van. I said I would be going in a minute as I was only dropping something off.
He went off on one, ranting about how I shouldn't have parked in 'his space' and that this was his driveway and he had a right to park there.
I told him that I wasn't exceeding the drop kerb so was parked legally and will only be a second dropping the shopping off and then will leave and could he just pull forward a little so I would be able to get out. He did pull forward but he clearly wasn't happy about it and muttered something about me being a bitch as he left.
I really hate confrontation so often mull things over in my mind afterwards. Was I BU to park where I did? It was a public road and I wasn't at all blocking his driveway so I didn't think it would be an issue.
I should add that he already had 2 cars on his drive way and seemed to frequently park his van on the roadside in the spot that I had parked in so felt it was "his space".