Neighbour thread: parking on our drive…

[Livvielo]

For the past few weeks, our next door neighbour has been having work done in their garden. And they’ve taken to parking their work vans on our drive. We didn’t say anything at first, as the workmen were gone by the time we needed the drive ourselves. (We have parking outside our house as well, and we live in a small street with a dead end. We are the end house.) so it would be my car outside on my non work days, and my husbands car on our drive way from 5pm after work.
What has annoyed me, is that they haven’t asked. Today, I was having a visitor. Without using my driveway, the visitor would have to park a couple of streets away as the closest streets to us have limited parking and always seem full no matter the day! That’s ridiculous when we have a drive!! Knowing we had a visitor coming, my husband said we would need them to move the work van.
They said the vans had to park there as there was nowhere else, but the work should be finished in a couple of days.
Well, this made me snap. I went round and told them how rude they were to have even been using our drive without asking. I said ‘a decent person would at least ask to use it, and had you have asked, I would be ok with that providing we weren’t using it!’
He replied ‘if you were a decent person you would be ok with it!’ This ended up in an argument where I said they were entitled and selfish and they said I was ‘petty.’- all whilst they made no attempt to move the van.
(The work men watched silently)
So I did get petty and I reversed my car back and blocked the work van in- hours before my visitor was due to arrive.
Ended up with both the husband and wife on my doorstep telling me I was out of order….. I did move the car once the workmen came to ask me and they said they had been told by the neighbours that the drive was ok for them to use… I would say the neighbourly relationship is pretty much over now- it was only a ‘hello’ civil type relationship before to be fair…
But… what would you have done? Said from day one to move? Not resorted to being ‘petty’ and blocking the work van in? The issue for me was how rude I found the whole situation. I would never have just assumed it was ok if roles were reversed!!
Pic included….

That's totally wrong of them yabu.
I once came home to workmen and a fallen tree in my garden.Next door were having work done and we're using my garden as an extended area.

Compare this to neighbours of mine. They have been having some work done, and dropped a note in to everyone on my side of the road to say that they would have to use the track that runs along the back of our houses for access, and apologised for any inconvenience this may cause. Obviously they moved right away if someone needed to usae the track

When the work over ran by a couple of days, they dropped another note through all the doors with a ginormouse bar of chocolate as an apology.

all they hadto do before works commenced was ask nicely if they could park on your drive-not just assume

yanbu

And your dh is wet hes emabrrassed? about someone using his drive and you blocking it-he should get a grip

I went through this last year with my neighbours, they blocked the side entrance of their house with a porta-loo (which opened out straight onto my drive) and our drive was then used as access to their garden.

Our drains were blocked, as the builders were sweeping watery concrete into them, they parked on our drive every day whilst we were at work, they scratched the full length of our house by driving a mini digger down between the houses, at least once a week I couldn't get off my drive as their delivery of bricks/cement had arrived and it was going to take 20 mins to unload, also came home quite often and couldn't get back on my drive as another huge delivery had arrived and was told tough they couldn't move halfway through, had to sit and watch in horror as massive steel girders were craned above our cars!! The whole thing was so stressful!

This went on for 7 months, the final straw was when I opened my curtains and a massive lorry was parked next to my new car, draping its big hose across it, to empty their shit house!!

Stupidly, I called the company to complain, when really I should've gone nuts at the neighbours.

Not once did they ask for permission, or apologise, and I really am pissed off with myself for allowing it, they totally took the piss for months!!

We no longer speak to them, I hate the arrogant bastards!

Where are they parked today @Livvielo?

I don't blame you at all for snapping! It is the fault of the workmen as they are the ones that are parked there. If you need or drive and they want to use it, then your need trumps theirs. Because it's your property.

YANBU

Gosh the replies here.

They are rude and entitled, i'd have blocked them in and not budged at all. Fk them. IT'S YOUR DRIVE!

I don’t understand why you didn’t tell them to move the first time they parked on your drive.

@RubyKitty

If you had room to park on the drive and block the van in then there was room for your visitor to park there. The workmen would’ve just knocked and asked to get out if they needed to as they know they are on someone else’s drive. On day one you should have popped around and at least asked how long they would be parking on your drive for and made a point that they hadn’t asked but it would be ok as long as they moved when you needed it. Unfortunately this has the scent of your neighbours turning in to neighbours from hell 😳

Seriously??

Good for you OP. they are cunts. If they do it again report to your local councils highway department. Best of luck. The ironic thing is that if you did this to them you just know they'd go ballistic. Petty or not from their viewpoint, it's your drive who gives a fuck WHAT they think

I realise its not entertainment for you OP, and I'm sorry, but I love a CF Parking thread. I'm always shocked at people's attitudes.

OP you are absolutely not in the wrong here. Great hindsight from many posters, but some people don't necessarily want to go nuclear and every minor slight.

I decent neighbour/actual human would explore all alternatives to using your drive, and if all else failed, asked your permission and worked around your needs as their priority, before thanking you with a bunch of flowers or a bottle of something.

What it comes down to is that some people just don't like being told. Same as their kids screaming in a fancy restaurant, queue jumping, loud music, ipads on full blast on trains and so on. You did nothing wrong OP, you tried to be patient and they were dicks.

@MintyGreenDream

That's totally wrong of them yabu. I once came home to workmen and a fallen tree in my garden.Next door were having work done and we're using my garden as an extended area.

We recently joined that particular Victims of CFery club

Just unbelievable

Yanbu

I would have questioned it far earlier. However after being spoken to like that i think YABU for moving your car at all. I would have kept it there all day and gone out.

With hindsight you should have said something earlier, but you had no idea that things would escalate. Well done for sticking up for yourself and blocking them in.

I'm also curious where they will park today.

Get some strangers to go sit in their sitting room and watch their telly - after all, they weren't using it.
Get some strangers to go in to their kitchen and raid their fridge - after all, they weren't eating the food.

That's the equivalent of what they did by telling their workmen to use your driveway without your explicit permission.

CFers of the highest order here!

I think MN needs to have an "Annual CFer Award" and there should be a special category for neighbours and their parking!

@JoeGrundyWasMyRoleModel - what happened with your neighbours?

They are very unreasonable. You’ve allowed them access without asking, but the minute you said they needed to move as you needed it that day is the minute they should have respected that request.

Well, you are entitled, OP. Quite literally entitled since you own the driveway, to park on it and to decide who else parks on it. I don't think the end of civil relations with neighbours like this is any great loss.

Since you feel bad now I would pop round and apologise for blocking the van.
Tell your neighbours that you would have preferred if they had asked you first.

Then you can offer them use of the drive for the days that you are able to.

They may accept your apology and also apologise in return for the things they have said.

Being on hello terms with your neighbours is fine.
Having animosity between neighbours can make life terrible awkward.

If they tell you to go do one then you can stop feeling bad.

Their response to being asked to move “there’s nowhere else and it will only be a few days” was unreasonable. Bloody toughs if there is nowhere else if you needed your drive for a visitor. I think your husband should have told them that.

@Livvielo

I completely accept I should have just said on day one they need to (ask) check with me each day. My husband said our visitor could have just blocked them in and moved if they needed to get out. They do leave and come back 2 or 3 times usually. That would have kept the neighbourly relations, yet still annoyed me. Even if they had said ‘yes sure, sorry, we will get them to move’ would have been ok enough for me not to snap. I don’t need the driveway tomorrow, and feel bad for the workmen as I have no idea what they will do without using it. So am I petty to say they must move if they park there tomorrow??

I would let them park there if you are not using it, but for them to argue about there being nowhere else when you did want to use it was the unbelievably rude bit (along with not asking in the first place)! I don’t think you have anything to apologise for to them after their behaviour, only the workmen if you wanted to.

YABU for not having queried why they had parked on your drive. YANBU to have acted as you did.

Your ndn's are a pair of ignorant CF's.(ignorant of the law of normal behaviour)

No way would I let them park there anymore.

Could you park on your dropped kerb tomorrow (if you have one) so they can't get in?