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AIBU?

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Original poster

Would you ever park across someone’s driveway?

91 replies

TheStarsComeOut · 10/08/2022 12:57

Even if it was just for 5 minutes?

I live on an old street so the road is narrow and I’d say 25% have drive for 1 car.

The amount of people that park across my driveway is insane - neighbours, deliveries, work vans.

I also don’t live near a school. But I just find the entitlement quite shocking that people think this is in anyway ok. Yet so many do it.

OP posts:
woodhill · 10/08/2022 13:56

No I never would

WireSkills · 10/08/2022 13:56

Our driveway entrance services 3 houses but people still stop in front of it in an otherwise empty road. OK, so more often than not it's a delivery for one of the three houses, but why risk stopping someone getting in or out when there's a space right in front of the driveway.

Oh, and then, when the van needs to leave they have to turn around, so they normally pull forward in to the space they could have stopped in, to reverse in to the driveway to turn around.

I would only ever park in front of a driveway of someone I was visiting, or dropping something off to. Anything else is pure selfishness!

LucyLoopyLu · 10/08/2022 13:59

No!
We have parking trouble where we live and people are so inconsiderate, it makes me angry.

My parents have this issue as well where workmen are frequently blocking the drive during the day so my mum has to park her car down at the bottom of the road to be able to get out. One of them is a neighbour's gardener who she has asked not to block her in several times over the past few months and he still does it evey visit! Also their house is in the corner of the cul de sac so they're also blocking the turning circle

Why are people like this?

Sprogonthetyne · 10/08/2022 14:01

Only if I was visiting that person, so new they wouldn't need to be out.

tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz · 10/08/2022 14:02

Hotpotatohotpotato1 · 10/08/2022 13:41

Nope. Our neighbours and their friends do it all the time and it really annoys us. There's often parking over the road too so I don't get it.

Ours too. Boils my piss.

The irony being there is next to no parking on the street next due to vans belonging to said wanker neighbour from his business.

Twats.

And let's not go to the subject of them buying a puppy who they never walk and leave locked up alone all day and regularly overnight. I'd love to dog nap her 😁

Clymene · 10/08/2022 14:06

PatientlyWaiting21 · 10/08/2022 13:30

I did it once totally unintentional! I parked at night, not where I normally park and when I came out the next morning I was getting a very angry glare, then realised I had parked across their driveway!!

I was mortified, apologised profusely but they were having none of it. I’ve never made that mistake again!

Really, you parked your car in front of a dropped kerb and gates and didn't notice? Confused

I never do it OP. Probably because I have a drive. Mine doesn't tend to get completely blocked as it's pretty narrow but I do get people overhanging meaning it's very very difficult to get in and out when is infuriating

Dobbysgotthesocks · 10/08/2022 14:10

Depends. I wouldn't park there and leave the car. But for example my neighbours have a drive and we don't. There was no open spots on the street the other day so I pulled in across their drive to unload my shopping and dogs from the car. Was there maybe 10 mins at most before moving the car to the nearest open spot and coming back on my scooter.
I'm disabled and wouldn't be able to carry the shopping that far. The alternative was stopping in the middle of the road clocking the traffic.

DorisWallis · 10/08/2022 14:10

When someone did it to me the police came and threatened them with a tow truck, they gave them a right good bollocking too
I loved that policeman

Fluffyboo · 10/08/2022 14:11

No, but we seem to be a magnet for the inconsiderate fuckers on our road.

Change123today · 10/08/2022 14:19

The very few times I’ve done this is when I’ve been lost! And usually very few spaces on the road so I may safely pull across to look at phone to confirm address etc for like 30 seconds - but also keeping aware that if someone wanted to access I’d move!

I would never just park across or blocking someone’s driveway & walk away!

Though I have a car park space and currently my neighbours think it’s their bin store… as the actual bin store in front of their access gate..people can be quite entitled at times!!

heidihigh · 10/08/2022 14:22

No. Honestly this is something that irritates me so much. It's so rude and inconsiderate, not to mention what would happen in the (granted unlikely) case of an emergency especially if someone is blocked in for any length of time.

CryCeratops · 10/08/2022 14:23

PeppaPigIsBacon · 10/08/2022 13:01

Only if I was visiting the person whose driveway I was blocking

Same here

sunflowerdaisyrose · 10/08/2022 14:28

I would as long as I was always in sight of the car to move it quickly if necessary. Not for more than a couple of mins.

Peakypolly · 10/08/2022 14:28

My drive is opposite a postbox and, though my house is a distance away, there is clearly a drop kerb and gateposts. If I had a pound for every time someone says 'sorry, just popping a letter in the pillar box" I would be rich, and while I wait to turn, I'm causing a hazard on a fairly busy street.
All of us on here saying we would never block a driveway, so where are the thoughtless drivers who do?

Wideawakeandconfused · 10/08/2022 14:33

We lived around the corner from the shop. We had a dropped kerb and drive way. We had some block our drive at least 5 times a day. “I was just in the shop for 5 mins!” they would yell over.

I got so cross I would ask them to move if I saw anyone attempting to park there. Once a delivery driver snapped back “Where am I meant to drive?!” I honestly don’t care, not across my drive stopping me from using it and expecting me to park in the next road over.

We moved otherwise I was ready to purchase traffic cones.

quicklybeendrivenmad · 10/08/2022 14:41

Had never really thought about it until last week, when my drive was blocked for hours by a combine having a stand off with a tractor and trailer and DH had to abandon his car in the pub car park

TenoringBehind · 10/08/2022 14:50

only if I was dropping something off to the owner of the driveway (a friend) and wouldn’t also block a neighbouring drive. Otherwise never.

i live near a pub and often get people parking over mine (and it’s very obviously a drive that’s only wide enough for one car to get out). Whenever I go into the pub and ask them to move they seem surprised that I mind. I’ve had responses like ‘I’m only going to be here for a couple of hours’ and ‘but there’s nowhere else to park except down the road’. Some people are just selfish idiots.

Mochudubh · 10/08/2022 14:56

I hear you OP. I'm sick of people parking across my drive (dropped kerb that we paid the LA for), even when my car is there and I may clearly need out. It's always the same couple of CFs in the street and their visitors, even if there's a space closer to where they're visiting.

My DH called 101 on one of the CFs once who flat out refused to move as he was "waiting for his wife" and the operator spoke to the guy and tell him he was causing an obstruction.

Another time DH knocked the other CF neighbour up at 8am on a Saturday as their DD (just passed test so should have known better) was parked in front of our drive.

They still keep doing it though, last week I went out and opened the gate as if I was going out and the driver reversed back a bit but was clearly just waiting for me to leave to move back so I got the car out, parked in front of the drive myself and went back in the house.

I don't mind delivery drivers as they are obviously only there for a few minutes. One of my other neighbours' DD sometimes can't get parked when she comes to visit her mum, in which case she'll chap on our door and ask if it's OK if she parks there for a bit, which is fine.

Yesterday our other neighbours were getting a delivery from a large lorry at the back which had to partially park across CF's rear drive patio with aspirations and he had the cheek to go out and ask the driver to move. I thought "Aye, you don't like it when it inconveniences you ya CF"!

Eeksteek · 10/08/2022 14:57

TheStarsComeOut · 10/08/2022 13:10

Yes I have a dropped kerb. They don’t care.

Show quote history

I feel your pain. I had a dropped kerb and an H bar. Every single day, people parked across it to drop off their children at the school opposite, to work at the pre school, visit neighbours, or neighbours themselves (very few drives). The only way to keep them off was if I parked on it myself, which encouraged them to see it as a legit space, and was impossible anyway, as I had a school run to do myself.

The only way around it was to get a smart car and park one car behind so there wasn’t physically room to get any other car across it (there was a crossing in front) Thus using two spaces (and cars) when I only needed one, and rendering the driveway useless anyway. Twats.

Mochudubh · 10/08/2022 14:57

TenoringBehind · 10/08/2022 14:50

only if I was dropping something off to the owner of the driveway (a friend) and wouldn’t also block a neighbouring drive. Otherwise never.

i live near a pub and often get people parking over mine (and it’s very obviously a drive that’s only wide enough for one car to get out). Whenever I go into the pub and ask them to move they seem surprised that I mind. I’ve had responses like ‘I’m only going to be here for a couple of hours’ and ‘but there’s nowhere else to park except down the road’. Some people are just selfish idiots.

Was that the 2 farmer brothers that don't get on?

What was the outcome of that? Can you link to the thread so not to de-rail this one?

Dalekjastninerels · 10/08/2022 15:00

Don't get me started Angry

For some reason my house which is not closest to the shops is the favourite to park in front of; not next door which is closer than I am.

Sistanotcista · 10/08/2022 15:05

I have exactly the same problem as you, OP. People quite happily park across our driveway (on the dropped kerb), sometimes for a whole day (our street is free parking, so CFs park here and then hop on the bus into the town centre). I think the difficulty is that it's never really appropriately punished, so people don't care. The Thames Valley Police website says that this should be reported to the council, and the council website says that it should be reported to the police. So you are caught in and endless Catch 22, whilst people doing this get off scot free.

WrongWayApricot · 10/08/2022 15:19

I have pulled over in front of them to fix sat nav or answer phone. I don't mind delivery drivers parking in front of my drive, they're obviously not going to be long or too far away to ask them to move.

RamblingEclectic · 10/08/2022 15:30

I'm between two secondary schools and a primary and one of the nearest roads to a field where the local kids' football practices. It was really noticeable when the summer holidays started that the street was a lot emptier in the morning.

I noticed it's common among my neighbours when they have friends or relatives visiting to park across when visiting even when they've room for a(nother) car to pull in. I thought at first one was because the grandkids tend to play out on the drive, but I now think it's to prevent others from blocking everyone in. The road and verge are thankfully big enough to accommodate this without much issue.

I don't tend to mind the delivery people much as they tend to be fast and try to be as little on drives as possible, but the ones who do this and then stand in the road to chat when we have wide pavements and a big green I will never understand. It's like they're trying to block as much of everyone's space as possible and always seem confused others use the road.

curiousitygotthebetterofme · 10/08/2022 15:34

No I wouldn’t unless it was a dire emergency and there was nowhere else to stop.

Why would anyone wish to be so obstructive and block someone in just so they can go for a stroll down the shops.