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….

The workmen would need to be pretty thick skinned to even think about parking on your drive today. If they do attempt it, tell them to do one. Your asshole neighbours parking issue for their workmen is not your issue to solve

Agreed.

Your neighbour is an idiot..

We use to have neighbours like this, they thought our drive was for their visitors to us. If it was me I'd of spoken to them on the 2nd day, thinking that day one was just a mix up.
I might get slated but I'd of blocked them in too, I doubt the neighbours would like it if you just used their drive without asking.

If neighbour starts mouthing send them a bloody bill

Omg! Did they try it again? Such cf's!

YANBU. Neighbours are CF's as are builders.
Had this with our neighbour-he has 6 cars/vans and used to use our drive for parking and fixing his old sheds. Their many visitors also used our drive. Words were had, polite at first.
Then every time our drive was used, I blocked them in. Every time.
Doesn't happen now and we still get on ok.

Just park your car on it tomorrow so they can’t get on the drive.

They have been absolutely outrageous. You blocked them in after you spoke to them and they had continued to be rude, so YANBU about that as it was the only way to ram it home at that point. However, you should have spoken up the minute they took it upon themselves to park on your driveway.

Oh no not another parking thread where we get all riled up... Then OP disappears.

I'm with you OP! It would have built up so much and infuriated me so much I would have ended up in a row & blocking them in!! Soz to all the people who wouldn't have ended up in confrontation, I would!

It's really difficult to deal with neighbours who behave in this fashion - I am at posters who appear to believe you should have behaved with the benefit of hindsight from the start.

The main thing is that you know that they are unreasonable now, so you know to hold the line.

Fuck them. They're CF. Make sure your drive is full every day until they're finished now and ignore them. Invest in a gate in the future too, or some bollards.

There are far too many CFs about these days. I think you did well in a difficult situation.

Shirtless wonder! 🤣😂 love it

Sorry I disappeared they never did use our driveway again…. The work is now finished. But our neighbourly relationship seems to be beyond repair. Was a little awkward putting the bins out at the same time the other day. Also the awkward wave I automatically do if we pass each other in the car- I went to do that yesterday, then quickly pretended to rearrange the mirror

Our old neighbours told their workmen to park on our drive. Went out to put something in the bin and found a tatty van on my driveway and was like WTF. Went into the kitchen and spotted a guy with my garden hose heading over the fence. So I turned the garden tap off. He then knocked on the back door raging that I had turned the hose off. I was like "it's my property. It's up to the person who engaged you to provide all of what you need! Oh and if that tatty van is yours, I'd move it before my friend blocks blocks your van as she's parking there while on holiday!" The woman who lived there complained to Dh who gave her what for. She never spoke to us again apart from to say she was moving!

@Groovee I recently had neighbour's workmen climbing over our fence and filling buckets of water up from our tap. They hadn't asked the householders or anything, just saw the tap and decided it was easier than using neighbour's kitchen. The first time DH and I just stood, mouths agape. The workman walked right past DH and I in our window. He could have easily held the bucket up show us what he needed and we would probably have said go ahead. The second time he snuck under the window.

The next time one of the crew came to do it I opened the back door and said, "Can I help you?!" He looked like a rabbit in headlights and mumbled about having permission. I told him the permission he needed wasn't the neighbour's or his bosses, but ours. I did put him out of his misery by telling him to go ahead and he can come back too but I wouldn't advise him pulling that crap on other people's property as they might not be as accommodating as us.

Don't give them another thought, they are idiots.

[quote HuhWhatNow]@Groovee I recently had neighbour's workmen climbing over our fence and filling buckets of water up from our tap. They hadn't asked the householders or anything, just saw the tap and decided it was easier than using neighbour's kitchen. The first time DH and I just stood, mouths agape. The workman walked right past DH and I in our window. He could have easily held the bucket up show us what he needed and we would probably have said go ahead. The second time he snuck under the window.

The next time one of the crew came to do it I opened the back door and said, "Can I help you?!" He looked like a rabbit in headlights and mumbled about having permission. I told him the permission he needed wasn't the neighbour's or his bosses, but ours. I did put him out of his misery by telling him to go ahead and he can come back too but I wouldn't advise him pulling that crap on other people's property as they might not be as accommodating as us. [/quote]
What are some people like?