To think neighbour is an absolute c**t!

[CanNeverThinkOfAName]

Massive row with new neighbours last night which had other neighbours coming outside due the shouting. Totally mortifying and want opinions on whether neighbour is the c**t we think he is!

Moved into property a few months ago with a drive with space for 3 cars back to back at the side round the corner. We enter house through back door as that's where drive is. We have a works van and other cars that park opposite our drive and it can be pain to get out but only takes a few more seconds to manoeuvre. Not a big issue. and not something I'd complain about as it's not parked illegally.

Front door is near the bottom of a dead end road - pavement and road in front two car widths wide. Directly opposite front of house, both houses have drives big enough to fit two cars side by side. Have one car each so plenty of room on drive.

Lots of cars parked at top of road as many do not have drives so it's basically a one car width road due to parked cars. At the top of the road there are about 6 properties with one car drives with cars constantly parked opposite.

No one parks in front of our house and I wouldn't have an issue if they did.

We had 3 cars (including DDs's). DD occasionally parked in road at front of house if she come in late as DH leaves for work early so he'd have to move her car out first. Perfectly legal to park there and neighbours opposite have room (one road width) to get out of their drives.

Anyway DD has now moved in with boyfriend and hasn't been at home for a few weeks so has not parked at front for that period. Last night she popped round to pick up a few bits. Parked in front of house so she could come in front door and carry stuff out.

She'd been in house for literally 2 minutes and neighbour opposite front knocked and said she needed to move her car now. It was 10pm. We've never spoken a word to them before as we rarely use the front door.

DH basically said what's the problem, your drive is not blocked, she'll be going shortly, you're not even going out now are you? Neighbour said DH was being a prick and we had a 3 car drive so shouldn't be parking on the road ever. He's going to call the police.

DH did get rather angry at being called a prick and told neighbour to get off property and car would not be moved, he can call police etc. Neighbour then starts shouting that he's had enough, he's put up with it for ages (we've lived there 2 months!), who do we think we are etc. His wife comes out shouting, other opposite neighbours come out shouting that we're blocking emergency vehicles and rude etc, etc. We are certainly not blocking emergency vehicles, cars are parked all down the road and bin trucks get through fine!

DD is mortified and insists she'll move the car (bit annoyed at that) despite DH telling her not to. Neighbour says to her 'at least you're a decent one' which enrages both DH and I even more. DD is furious her Dad has been called a prick and shouts at neighbour that he's not decent either for swearing at her Dad.

Neighbour refuses to get out of front garden and keeps saying how horrible we are. Other neighbours have opened doors to listen by then so whole street will have heard. Had to slam door on him in the end.

He had his leg in a cast and was going on that he's had to come over to our house while in pain and didn't want to stand there any longer but he wouldn't leave as he wanted to continue the argument🤔

Neighbour now thinks he can tell us where to park and is the dogs bollocks probably thinking that told them!

Who was BU?

I've asked DD's boyfriend to park his battered transit van in front our house for the weekend - unreasonable?

Yes I suspect there's history with previous owners of your property & you've inherited this parking issue. Bet it's been going on for years.
You're not alone, we've just moved & realised that one of the neighbours has issues that was ongoing & we've just had to literally put boundaries up & tell him to deal with it.

I would think twice about antagonising the situation because these people aren't worth the aggravation. I'd leave it & if you're need to park there & you know it's not causing an obstruction I'd just carry on.
If he turns up don't answer the door & ignore. That would be my response

YANBU, your neighbour is an arse.

That's not always possible to reverse into the driveway due to the way the driveway is. My driveway is on the hill and when I try to reverse in, I scratch the bottom of my front bumper as it's a bit lower that back bumper, so only drive in works on my driveway

Sorry that should say ' not allowed to park within 32 feet of a junction unless it's a marked parking bay'
Everyone else has obeyed that by not parking at the other side .No wonder they are angry

THIS!
OP, It's antagonistic, juvenile and selfish, particularly as DD bf doesn't even live there.

She parked stupidly. The neighbours wouldn’t haven known at the time of her parking how long the car is going to be parked there for. It isn’t illegal, just stupid.

If you are parking in the pavement you are indeed pricks

Totally this.

OP you are not being unreasonable and your neighbour is a tosser. Don't back down or there'll be something else he bullies you about next time.

I don't know why people think they have any say about where someone parks on a public road unless there are specific restrictions.

@JTro I never said it was always possible just that it's good practice 🤷🏻‍♀️

Exactly. This is London! The next street has the parking bays on one side of the road marked out half on the pavement as it's narrower than ours. Our bay markings are because of who has turned their front into parking and who hasn't

If other neighbours are also pissed off with you - that makes me think there's an issue or other stuff going off with you.
Cos usually if idiot neighbour is a ranty type about anything other neighbours let you.

Is it a wide road or narrow where your daughter parked? It might mean they can't get in or out of their drive easily, reverse in etc. And on a corner/junction that's not great.

So many people thinking that what is legal is automatically what is right.

If you have a three car drive, you park your three cars in your drive. End of.

Legal =/= moral

Yes YABU! Petty and spiteful too. If you have room for all your cars off the road, put them all off the road and get out of everyone else's way. Why is it such a hardship for you to respect your neighbours? Clearly you didnn't see your daughter parking on the road as a big deal, but they did, You've admitted the road isn't that wide and you have ample off road parking, but when your DD was living with you, you just couldn't be bothered to move your cars around at night and were happy to have a car on the road instead with no mind for the inconvenience you might be causing your neighbours.

I feel like there's some other backstory here, like your neighbour's spoken to you before about this and you've ignored it or something, because his reaction and confrontation last night sounds way OTT if your daughter parking there for 2 mins was literally all that happened...sounds like you're rubbing people up the wrong way and now you're determined to prove them right in their opinions of you and act like total idiots by dumping another car on the road just to upset them further.

Kind of agree with this.

When you look at the diagram all the cars are parked on one side of the street.

So there is clearly some local agreement to keep the other side free - probably to ensure the road is passable.

If you park on the opposite side then you are violating the local code. Which although may not be illegal may irritate everyone else - the code works because everyone adheres to it and the minute anyone changes you get a free for all. Although ideally the law would be enough, in some places the parking is so tight that people have to co-operate in order for everyone to be able to live together.

This is probably why people get aggressive about the parking, because they know if the system breaks down then it will be chaos. And you are potentially breaking the system.

Also, don't undersestimate how hard it can be to get onto a drive with restricted access. If the entranceway is narrow, then you need to get far out on the opposite side to swing the car in. The road must be narrow as there is only parking on one side, so parking on the opposite side may make it extremely difficult to get on and off the drive.

That said, there is no justification in someone coming onto your land and insulting/arguing you. They could have just come across and had a polite word first to explain why there was an issue - but some people aren't very good at handling stuff like this.

YABU as you aren’t allowed to park within 10m of a junction.

The OP sounds like one of those riddles (you know the sort: if I have a dozen apples and eat 12 how many apples do I have left?) It's quite hard to work out what's going on, but you take the prize for solving this part of it.

I can't remember if I have already posted (senior moment) but I think OP is being unreasonable. The fact that not one, but multiple neighbours came out and started arguing; the fact that OP's family is new to the area and haven't even talked to the neighbours about parking and if it's OK to park where they do etc etc, just friendly polite stuff you do when you first move in somewhere; DH sounds aggressive from the start, although it was the neighbour who started with the name calling in response to that. If I just moved into an area I would be mortified to get off on the wrong foot with the neighbours as you have.

The fact that you are planning to indulge in behaviour that will escalate the issue rather than resolve it makes me think that you are bu.

I

Massive overreaction from neighbour, however it wasn’t handled well by your family either.
Based on the diagram I’d say your daughter’s car is partially obstructing the view coming in and out of the side road, so the neighbour had a point, had he handled it appropriately. The other neighbour who sided with him is evidence of this.
The likelihood is that people have parked on that corner many times before and it is causing issues. Even if emergency vehicles can get through, you need to respect your neighbours as you are much more likely to have to interact with them at some point again. Don’t make enemies off the bat. Lesson learned, don’t park there again and job done.

Your neighbour overreacted yes but then your DH seems to have escalated this with what is your problem you are not going out which if it matches the tone of your post was antagonistic

a simple I’m sorry I can see how it might block you in or make it difficult for you to get out but rest assured she is not staying long would have been fine

your behaviour and the fact you want to bring the transit van is also out or order

you clearly need to decide now what role you are going to play in this being calm and morally right or escalating into being that neighbour yourself

i suspect it will be the latter and remember you are new neighbours

Something about the way they came straight over and were instantly abusive makes me wonder if there's more behind this. Parking seems to have been an issue to them for some time and the fact you have a 3 car drive probably makes them think you just don't need to park on the road. Has there been lots of building going on where there have been vehicles parking there frequently, gradually building resentment?

Pretty much yes.

And just because someone is doing something within the law doesn't mean they aren't behaving badly in terms of what the local community thinks is reasonable behaviour.

You can think of it like queuing. There is no law that says you have to queue in an orderly fashion, but if you choose to push your way to the front don't be surprised if the rest of the queue has something to say about that.

You can either try to live in harmony with the rest of the world or go your own way - and deal with the consequences of that.

Because generally being able to live in peace with the rest of the world involves being considerate in your behaviour.

YABU - all the neighbours are annoyed with how you are parking and think you're incredibly rude, not just one.

Clearly the problem lies with you. I feel for those poor neighbours. It's awful when obnoxious antisocial people move in near you. I can't believe that you think the solution is to try and cause them even more misery.

What happens next is how big a grudge you're prepared to hold and for how long.

Neighbour was a dick. Interesting that others piled in. Your husband was quick to rise. Hard to say if he was BU, but I can see why he dug in.

You could park the van over the weekend. But then it will be you purposely escalating the situation you now know is antagonistic to the street for whatever mad reason they have.

If you want that fight in a new home for what might be years that's up to you. Hot head as I am that's not what I would do though.

We live on a street where our neighbour cos rarely parks his theee works cans down the road, one right outside our drive, which makes the visibility poor for Getting out. He has a a drive that can fit 5 cars on it. What he's doing is not illegal but it is irritating on the daily.

So I'd put you in that category vaguely except that it's less frequent that your DD does this, you've only been there two months, and as you said it was 10 at night so where was your neighbour going anyway? And also he was over aggressive.

Therefore I don't think you are being unreasonable. And the other neighbours are just jumping on the band wagon and hanging up against the newbies which annoys me no end!