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AIBU?

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Original poster

To use measures like spikes to keep them out of my garden?

64 replies

Malikka · 01/09/2020 20:58

I live next door to a horrible family. Bullying, sneery parents and their annoying offspring. My neighbours the other side btw are lovely, very quiet, 2 children under 5 who I barely see and when they are in the garden just chat and play nicely. This lot are a different matter.

Although the noise the awful side make is annoying, I've learned to live with it. What I can't tolerate is them letting themselves into my garden.

Some years ago I spotted the kids in my garden a few times and told them to leave. They had climbed over a lowish fence. The eldest was about 6 at the time and said 'youre not allowed to tell me what to do'...The mother then had a go at me for daring to speak to her kids and started screaming about me being mental (I take medication for anxiety and depression).

The fence then broke probably due to being climbed on, and there were a few more occasions of them just walking into my garden usually to get a ball they had kicked over or a toy or shoe one of them had chucked over. There are 5 children so lots of items.

I then replaced the fence. It is now 6ft high. Great. I also put a lock on the gate in our side alley. No more entries I thought.

A few weeks ago we went away for a short break. On the morning we were leaving I remembered seeing one of next doors balls in the garden and mentally thinking I needed to chuck it back. Halfway down the motorway I realised I'd forgotten.

When we got back it wasn't there. I assumed my DC had chucked it back. Just to be sure I checked the gate, it was locked.

Yesterday evening about 7pm I was home on my own having a bath. Heard the doorbell ring. Ignored it. My bathroom window overlooks the garden and is quite low, although it's frosted you can see shapes/ movement through it. A short while later I see something in the garden.

Get out of the bath, and look out the other window, brat from next door is in my garden retrieving a ball under the instruction/ supervision of the dad.

I have checked and the gate is definitely locked so either he climbed over that or climbed over the fence.

In my view both are completely unacceptable. Especially given it was with the dad's knowledge (my parents would never have told me to do this sort of thing and been furious if they found out I had! Likewise me with my DC).

Clearly I can't speak to the parents. I feel quite bullied here. Am trying to think of measures to keep them out - are pigeon spike things legal? Can I mount them on the fence and the gate?

If not are there other measures I can take? I just want peace and privacy. It's bad enough with all the noise let alone kids just wandering into my garden at will.

OP posts:
Holyforkingshirtball · 01/09/2020 21:07

Plant burburis (I think that's how it's spelled) along the fence - massive great spiky thorns, but it's just a garden plant (innocent face!)

Blankblankblank · 01/09/2020 21:10

There’s a bit on spikes here. However, if the fence panels are the type that slide into the concrete posts it’s easy to slide them up. Is it possible the adult is sliding the panel up & the kid ducking under? Could planting prickly plants be an option?

www.keytek.co.uk/ultimate-home-security-guide/garden-security/garden-fence-security/

Prickly plants

www.gardenersworld.com/plants/rosa-rugosa/

www.rhs.org.uk/plants/popular/pyracantha/growing-guide

Original poster
Malikka · 01/09/2020 21:11

There are already spiky plants along some parts of the fence but the rest of it is in the alleyway between our houses which is all paved so I can't plant there. And tbh I think it's that section of fence or over the gate which is how they are getting in.

OP posts:
Original poster
Malikka · 01/09/2020 21:12

They could be sliding the panels up especially in the alley, is there a way I can stop that?

OP posts:
Blankblankblank · 01/09/2020 21:12

This one suggested by Holy

www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-berberis/

Blankblankblank · 01/09/2020 21:13

Ahh x post.
Metal spike screwed to fence and concreted in?

Blankblankblank · 01/09/2020 21:15

Here you go-screw these in, no concrete needed!
www.amazon.co.uk/Fence-Security-Brackets-Concrete-Wooden/dp/B00KNB3Q7A?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

ZolaGrey · 01/09/2020 21:16

Can I suggest a large dog?

StripeyDeckchair · 01/09/2020 21:17

Pyracantha, far tougher and more prickly than berberis.

Signage & CCTV - trespassers will be prosecuted.

Borrow a large fierce dog

Use barbed wire to grow climbing plants over the fence

ZolaGrey · 01/09/2020 21:17

A large dog...?

Original poster
Malikka · 01/09/2020 21:17

I don't think I could concrete it in as the fence posts and floor are already concrete/ paved.

Disappointed I can't use spikes or anything either. Seems like I just have to put up with then trespassing whenever they want 😕

OP posts:
Fatted · 01/09/2020 21:18

We had this with our old NDN. Their youngest was weird and kept sneaking into our back garden constantly. The kids would throw all sorts into our garden, their daughter once threw over a pair of soiled knickers, I kid you not! Their cats also used our grass as a toilet.

We eventually moved. It's been absolute bliss.

Original poster
Malikka · 01/09/2020 21:20

@Blankblankblank

Here you go-screw these in, no concrete needed! ]]
Ah brilliant! Thank you so much...ordering some now.
OP posts:
Original poster
Malikka · 01/09/2020 21:23

Fatted gosh that's awful. I have had nappies in the garden before, can't tell if they were thrown over or just came out of their bin (neighbours bin is always overflowing/ they leave bin bags outside which get ripped to pieces by foxes). Mainly it's balls, toys, shoes, hair clips, and empty food/ drink wrappers - some of that is bin waste but I've also seen them chuck cans and stuff over before now Angry

The earliest we can move is 2022. But at least I know we're not here forever!

OP posts:
SoLongFurlough · 01/09/2020 21:24

You have my sympathy OP
Kids in and out of my garden every 5 minutes getting their ball whilst squealing at the top of their voice
Parents seem to have selective deafness

MistyGreenAndBlue · 01/09/2020 21:28

What about non drying paint? They'd only do it once! 😂

LesLavandes · 01/09/2020 21:32

Can you grow pyracantha in pots?

WiddlinDiddlin · 01/09/2020 21:38

Anti climb/anti vandal paint but you have to put a sign on the fence saying its there.

You can knock some nails into posts/drill them in to stop panels being moveable via sliding, I had that done on my back fence as it backs onto a public footpath.

mommybear1 · 01/09/2020 21:40

One of my old neighbours put up carpet grippers along the top of their fence - it worked and was quite novel imo Wink

0blio · 01/09/2020 21:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NotEverythingIsBlackandWhite · 01/09/2020 21:57

If they are lifting up the fencing panels then just get some small offcuts of wood (or plastic) and wedge between the panel and the concrete post.

nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut · 01/09/2020 22:20

I agree with carpet gripper. Vicious things. That or anticlimb paint. The parents will stop them then as they'll ruin their clothes.

Rookie93 · 01/09/2020 22:22

Would second the non-drying paint/anti climb paint it's quite effective in the right places. Also have used plastic pigeon/anti bird spikes on fencing and a garage roof ourselves as a deterrent when we had a boundary fence with the street - we also had a large overhanging holly tree which was v effective too, but appreciate that's not an option in this case.

DogInATent · 01/09/2020 22:25

@mommybear1

One of my old neighbours put up carpet grippers along the top of their fence - it worked and was quite novel imo Wink
Not a legal option. They're so short they'd be concealed from ground level, and the nails on carpet gripper tend to be cheap - so quite a few will be barbed and they'll all rust. It's viewed as cruel and unsporting to use something to deliberately cause injury in this way (that they're hidden is the biggest problem - Occupier's Liability Act).

It is possible to put spikes on a fence or wall, but there are rules about how you do it - and it doesn't need planning permission on an existing wall or fence under most circumstances. But you must follow the rules. In the past I've been reported to the HSE, the local authority (environmental dept. and planning) and the parish council for having security spikes put on a wall and none of them was concerned about how it had been done or could find fault. The rules were followed.

The short version of the rules:

  • they must be designed and built for the purpose
  • they must be visible from ground level
  • there must be warning signage
  • they can't be designed, concealed or positioned for the purposes of malicious cruelty or injury

Broken glass set in concrete and carpet gripper are out, but some of the legal options are just as vicious but not very pretty (google "razor spike" for something medieval).

For a garden I'd go with a rambling rose with thorns. Something like Rambling Rector - although it may turn into as big a thug as the neighbours.