Report neighbours, idling cars on drive

[Ginglymostomatidae]

Our neighbour has 2 prius cars. Instead of taking then for a drive, he'll turn the car on, and let it idle on the drive for around 15 mins each car. Its always at anti social hours and it wakes us everytime.

This morning he done this at 4.20am and I've been awake ever since and I'm exhausted.

He's done this at 2.45am on a Sunday morning before, and nearly always on a weekday. He WFH.

Would you report? And where?

You can’t report it to anyone. He’s not doing anything wrong legally.

You should speak to him again, however, and make it clear he should only do it in daylight hours.

If he chooses not to there’s nothing you can do unfortunately.

I honestly wish I wasn't hearing it.
However it's the dead of the night, everything is silent, and it's right next to my bedroom.
It's so surprising how noise travels.

Your best bet is probably staying as friendly with him as possible and asking nicely. Whenever you speak to him about it, do it on a day you haven't been affected by it so you don't get tired and show how annoyed you are.

That is so annoying and a bit rude if you've spoken to him and he knows what is happening I think I'd try talk to him again. Make it clear what he is doing is really affecting you

I don’t understand some of the comments on this thread. I need to empty my recycling bin, it makes a right old racket with the boxes, bottles, cans etc falling into the bin which is next to my neighbour’s house. I make sure I do it after 9am. The man isn’t going anywhere in the car. Yes he has to run his engine or whatever the handbook says, but he doesn’t have to do it at 4am! He could do it at any other time. No one is that busy that the only spare 15 minutes they have is at 4am.

Don't be nice.

The best bet is roll back 3 months, to the first time it happened, when you walk over and confront him.

Anyway. Do it now. No need to be rude or swear, but be unimpressed and irritated. Because that's a fair reaction. Be clear and direct. Don't ask, don't be kind. Tell him that now that he understands how it impacts you, you expect he won't do it again. Don't say thank you.

When he stops, after a couple weeks, be nice as you like. Smile. Whatever.

So he must be going to bed pretty early to be such an early riser, get that bagpipe music on in a room that adjoins his bedroom, 10pm to 11pm every night............ or start learning to play the recorder. 3 Blind Mice should do nicely.

@Ginglymostomatidae

Definitely have a chat and keep it cordial, however, I think you will have to specifically state the time period in the day that you would find it acceptable e.g. between 6:30am to 10:30pm.

He obviously has a completely different body clock to you (does he work with different markets e.g. Far East?). He seems totally oblivious of the impact to your life.

If he resists, ask him why he HAS to do it at 4:30am?

Some years ago the guy further down across the road had a son who left for work around 3.30am. So as not to disturb his father he'd scrape a small enough hole in the ice to enable him to see enough to turn around at the end of the street and pull up outside our house to defrost.
This would have been fine, except his battery was fucked so repeated blips on the accelerator to stop it cutting out, and the incredibly loud drum and bass he played. This lasted for 15 minutes most mornings.
One morning I went out to ask him to at least stop the music, he saw me come out of the door and drove off sharpish.

I went over later to speak to his Father. Nothing changed. Had a word with our local PCSO who went and had a word and peace returned.

Don't you see how ridiculous it is that the reason for needing to run the engine was explained to you better by a PP on the internet than by the man who is doing it? I'm sorry but it sounds like you are letting him fob you off. Stand your ground, challenge his reasoning politely but firmly " OK, I understand, but please explain again why you need to do this in the middle of the night?".

Unless his working from home is on a role with shifts that start early, I'd wager he is not getting enough sleep to do his job to the best of his abilities.

There is some stupid advice on this thread. If you follow @HarvestThyme suggestions, you will more likely piss him off and make him do it more. Being rude does not generally get people to comply with your wishes!
No one thinks his behaviour is normal but I don't think you can call it illegal either - he's on his own driveway and his car is a Prius, so not noisy. You are better off doing something yourself so you don't hear it, like ear plugs or sound insulation for your house.

Sadly he's on his drive idling, if he did it on road it's illegal but on drive not.

This wouldn't wake me. Maybe get some ear plugs if you're such a light sleeper.

If he refuses to do it at a normal hour, play the game. You suddenly can't get to sleep without banging music at 2am every night. Bet he stops.

Scrapers scratch your windows and don't de-mist anything.

You can report engine idling to the council and they can contact your neighbour with a lecture. It might make things worse though. It take to going out in my dressing gown and moaning that you’ve been woken up - that might hammer home that he’s being a bell end.

He doesn’t nee to do it every day. He certainly does not need to do it at 4am

op you have to be very direct and ask him to do it later as it is affecting your sleep.

but am very surprised that a Prius wakes you up

I think idling a car on a public road eg outside a school is illegal. There is nobody you can report this to if on private land

You can report it. The council will do nothing because he’s on his own property. Prius are incredibly quiet, ours scares old ladies in car parks because they can’t hear it coming.

Its not always illegal on a public road

i have to do this sometimes on the road (but all the time if Im on the drive)

My car takes between 10 to 15 mins to de mist the front windscreeen, its an absolute age and I timed it because I cant believe how long it takes sometimes

I dont do it to defrost, I use a scraper for that

But the law specifies the necessity for the idling. If you're just doing it because you're waiting outside a school or shop, that is not necessary. If like me, you're doing it so that you can prep the car to drive safely and start your journey, that is necessary.

Another poster made what they thought were helpful suggestions of a windscreen cover and dehumidifiers. Been there and got the t shirt. Not effective, didnt work.

We also had to idle both our cars recently a couple of times just before midnight as we were trying to jump start the car on the road. This was when my OH got in very late from work and was leaving for work at 6 the next morning so the only available time to try to get my car working so that I coujld also go to work the next morning after he leaves.

People usually have reasons for doing things a certain way.

It’s a good thing you don’t live in the land of snowblowers, OP. Not unusual for them to start at 4 in the morning in my area.

I really am having a hard time thinking that 30 minutes of a Prius idling with closed windows is that big of a deal. But taking you at your word that it is, you need to get a white noise machine or earplugs. Clearly he isn’t going to change so the onus is on you to work out a solution.

@saltinesandcoffeecups the onus should be on the unreasonable man to stop his behaviour.

If he cannot do it during the day, he is probably not having proper breaks from his job. If he feels he cannot have these breaks, either his employer is failing their duty of care and responsibilities, or he is up to no good somehow at work.

Priuses are quiet when driving around because they are using the battery and so are electric at that point. The engine which charges the battery isn’t silent.

What an entitled twat, completely antisocial behaviour

Its not always illegal on a public road

It mostly is though, your examples only tend to work at this time of year.

That said idle it you not in it then yep it is illegal.