Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Neighbours bins. Am I being petty?

115 replies

SpottyPantsNextDoor · 12/04/2022 21:54

I’m not in the best of moods tonight so am I being a bit ridiculous MN?…

My neighbour has a slightly narrower driveway than mine and on rubbish day he always puts his bins in front of my bushes - see diagram below.

He can’t really put them on the pavement on the right hand side of his drive as there is a lamppost (marked by yellow L) and the bins would block the pavement. However there would be space to put them on the left (red question mark) and still get a car in and out of the drive but instead they’re always in front of our drive.

It’s never really bothered me before but I’ve started to realise he does this every week now. It’s not just the bins being there but the bin men consistently leave bins directly in front of our driveway so I can’t get the car in and when I get home I have not just our own but the neighbours bins in the way.

Am I being a bit petty?

OP posts:
Chloemol · 13/04/2022 08:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Chloemol · 13/04/2022 08:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Chloemol · 13/04/2022 08:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HELLITHURT · 13/04/2022 08:12

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Refers to withdrawn post

BigSandyBalls2015 · 13/04/2022 08:13

Blimey how old are most of you lot!

The day I start stressing about trivial shit like this will be a very sad day.

ImAvingOops · 13/04/2022 08:18

This would annoy me too. Years ago I lived in a house on the corner of a cul-de-sac and everyone there would put their bins on the corner by my drive. If the bin men didn't turn up they'd just be left. I got pissed off and dumped all the rubbish back outside each of their houses and told them all to stop doing it because they wouldn't like everyone's crap outside theirs. It's bloody rude!

I'd put my bins where he has been leaving them, or just tell him that the dustmen block your drive with the empties and can he keep them in his own side.

Ariela · 13/04/2022 08:34

I don't understand the issue. Surely you'll go and get your bins and put them away before you go out. So I'd just shove their bins a little in their direction (so you can drive out and their bins block them in ) each time. Then, in future, simply pop your bins their side of your drive.

Newnames123 · 13/04/2022 08:46

Get there first and put your bins at that side?

Oneeata · 13/04/2022 08:49

Ring your local authority and ask can crews be reminded to return bins to stance at correct addreses after collection.

maddening · 13/04/2022 08:50

Yes get there first and put on the right side, he will naturally have to use the area shown as the red ?

Original poster
SpottyPantsNextDoor · 13/04/2022 09:12

Just to update. I left my bin in the right where he usually leaves his. His normal rubbish bin is now where the red mark is. However the bin men have left his recycling bin in front of my bushes but not blocking the driveway at least 🙂

Amazed I’ve had so many messages of support, I was fully expecting to be flamed for being so petty. It’s just annoying to have to deal with a sea of bins every time we leave the house.

OP posts:
HELLITHURT · 13/04/2022 09:38

@SpottyPantsNextDoor

Just to update. I left my bin in the right where he usually leaves his. His normal rubbish bin is now where the red mark is. However the bin men have left his recycling bin in front of my bushes but not blocking the driveway at least 🙂

Amazed I’ve had so many messages of support, I was fully expecting to be flamed for being so petty. It’s just annoying to have to deal with a sea of bins every time we leave the house.

A sea of bins

Every time you leave the house

Hardly either of these, unless you have your rubbish collected every day?

FairyCakeWings · 13/04/2022 09:43

@pictish

“Wherever your neighbour leaves his bins, the bin men are out of order to leave them right in front of your drive. That’s not the neighbours fault, and I’d call the council to ask them to be more considerate.”

Would you really though? Would you find the phone number and be put on hold for 45 minutes to tell someone in a council office somewhere who doesn’t give a shit, that the binmen keep leaving the neighbour’s wheelie bin in front of your drive?

Yes, I really would! I did when it was a problem in the last house I lived in. The message got through and it solved the problem.

The bin men may have resented the extra second it took to leave the bin where they found it, but I don’t have a problem with expecting people to do their jobs properly.

SevenWaystoLeave · 13/04/2022 09:46

@KarmaStar

There's no drawing op!😀 No,if it's causing you to get out of your car,move their bins then get back in your car it's a nuisance and obstructing. Have a word with your neighbour.🌻
But it's the bin men leaving them in front of the drive, not the neighbour
Sapphirejane · 13/04/2022 09:50

Don’t complain about the bin men however bloody difficult they are. They may start being petty and “forgetting” your bin on collection day. I speak from bitter experience. Thankfully I have moved now. Silly me not wanting to have my bin slammed into my car Hmm

Summerofcontent · 13/04/2022 12:54

There's someone in my town who ends up with the bins for the entire street on their drive

They live at the entrance to a cul de sac and the bin men park outside her house, collect the bins from the rest of the road and then leave them on her drive once empty 😱

RachelGreeneGreep · 13/04/2022 13:34

@Summerofcontent

There's someone in my town who ends up with the bins for the entire street on their drive

They live at the entrance to a cul de sac and the bin men park outside her house, collect the bins from the rest of the road and then leave them on her drive once empty 😱

In that case, I would be making a complaint to the company or council, whoever is responsible for the bin collection service.
HunterHearstHelmsley · 13/04/2022 13:41

@FairyCakeWings

Wherever your neighbour leaves his bins, the bin men are out of order to leave them right in front of your drive. That’s not the neighbours fault, and I’d call the council to ask them to be more considerate.

The neighbour could leave his bins closer to his side and probably should, but I can see why he’d not realise it was a problem for your driveway if the bins are in front of a bush.

The bin men put bins in driveways everywhere in my estate. It's clearly deliberate as it takes more effort to do so!

OP, if you get on with your neighbour and it doesn't cause you an issue, does it matter where he leaves the bin?

My neighbour used to put her bins right at the edge of our drive as she didn't like that we stepped onto her drive when someone got out of the passenger drive. Silly mare forgot she had to cross over our drive to access hers at all (most importantly, has no right of way across our drive). We've built a wall on the boundary, she can't access her drive now due to the position of a lamp post. Petty bin wars can escalate!

Ikeptgoing · 13/04/2022 14:06

But @HELLITHURT

"A sea of bins"

Every time you leave the house

Hardly either of these, unless you have your rubbish collected every day?

But for two households it could be 4 or 6 bins each week - we put three out each week, recycle or gen rubbish, always (half bin size) food waste and also big garden bin or (smaller) glass boxes- my neighbours even have two full size garden wheelie bins they pay extra for so they can have 4 bins out themselves ... So times that by two households worth of bins (OP & NDN's) then in our area you'd have 4- 6 or more bins to deal with on your drive or abutting your drive 2 days a week out of 7 (the day before putting out day as some people do this teatime or earlier before OP may return from work ) and then bin collection day where her bin men then leave them across driveway entrance after emptying (which also could be left there all day of NDN works and isn't home until late) ..

I can understand why OP may describe it as a sea of bins !

That'd be very annoying 

Ikeptgoing · 13/04/2022 14:10

@HunterHearstHelmsley

Oooh thats a Wine good Halo bin story!

How did your NDN take it when you eventually put a boundary wall up and she couldn't then get her car into her driveway? Shock

She shot herself in the foot by being a bin-baddie !!

LakieLady · 13/04/2022 14:12

@FairyCakeWings

Wherever your neighbour leaves his bins, the bin men are out of order to leave them right in front of your drive. That’s not the neighbours fault, and I’d call the council to ask them to be more considerate.

The neighbour could leave his bins closer to his side and probably should, but I can see why he’d not realise it was a problem for your driveway if the bins are in front of a bush.

Our binnies always leave the bins at the bottom of people's drives!

It's no big deal, we just move them back to where we want them.

HoveringDonkeyofKnock · 13/04/2022 14:19

Well that was quite a nice satisfactory conclusion for a neighbour thread.

HELLITHURT · 13/04/2022 14:20

@Ikeptgoing

But *@HELLITHURT* "A sea of bins"

Every time you leave the house

Hardly either of these, unless you have your rubbish collected every day?

But for two households it could be 4 or 6 bins each week - we put three out each week, recycle or gen rubbish, always (half bin size) food waste and also big garden bin or (smaller) glass boxes- my neighbours even have two full size garden wheelie bins they pay extra for so they can have 4 bins out themselves ... So times that by two households worth of bins (OP & NDN's) then in our area you'd have 4- 6 or more bins to deal with on your drive or abutting your drive 2 days a week out of 7 (the day before putting out day as some people do this teatime or earlier before OP may return from work ) and then bin collection day where her bin men then leave them across driveway entrance after emptying (which also could be left there all day of NDN works and isn't home until late) ..

I can understand why OP may describe it as a sea of bins !

That'd be very annoying 

But it's not every time they leave the house, is it?
Sprucewillis · 13/04/2022 15:57

Every time you need to move your neighbours bins, move them to the middle of the neighbours parking spot. They will also have the inconvenience of having to move their bin. Put your bins where your neighbours have been putting theirs and they will need to use the '?' Spot. Things should sort themselves out after a couple of weeks.

LondonQueen · 13/04/2022 16:20

Drag them far up the street so they can't find them.