It's a parking one!

[Themermaidspool]

I’m looking for some unbiased opinions and if there is a solution to this issue.
We live at the top of a hill on the corner of two roads. Our neighbours opposite also live on the adjacent corner. We’ve been here two years, our neighbours have been here for four. We both have two cars and they have a driveway for one car. Ours takes two just. It’s a quiet part of town so there is lots of parking space nearby. Our neighbours always park in exactly the same spot directly opposite our driveway. This means you can’t reverse out and swing the car round in one go. You also can't see it as there's no lighting and it's black. Annoying but not the end of the world. After a number of near misses the inevitable happened this week and I reversed into their car. (It was raining, I was rushing to pick up child from nursery but no excuse I’m 100% at fault. To be fair they were very good about it and as the damage was quite minor they agreed to letting us try and polish the scratches out which thankfully removed the damage. While discussing, I asked if they would mind parking slightly up or down (still in front of their house/garden) but this was flat out refused as they don’t want to park under the trees. Fair enough it’s their car and they have a right to
Park wherever. Neither of us can park around the corner due to double yellows. If we park both cars on the drive we just can’t get the cars in/out easily / get kids out so we end up putting one on the road. Now I’m so worried about hitting the car again that partner and I now park both cars on the road. This means that we are making it harder for the neighbours to get their car off their drive. Is there a solution or do I just need to suck it up? My biased view is that they only need to move their car about 2m (which is still not directly under a tree but closer) or outside our house (where there is space) and life’s easier. We generally get on, take in parcels for eachother, have a drink a few times a year so I don’t want to fall out over it.

If either of your cars are SUVs, zero sympathy. If none of yours are and theirs are, your request is reasonable.

I don't see the issue with being parked under a tree other than maybe in Autumn if it is a horse chestnut.

You should be reversing onto your drive. You would then be able to see your neighbour's car driving off.

Can you not reverse in so you are driving out?

Reverse into your drive. YABU.

Are there trees on your side? Couldn’t they park on your side of the road?

But also yes, reverse into your drive.

They are being really inflexible .

They could move, but you could reverse into your drive if you can't reverse out without hitting something.

Imo park your cars in the road.. Let them deal with difficult parking for a change..

Lime trees are bastards and will make your car sticky. Not at this time of year though and tbh it's never annoyed me enough to want to park further away.

OP I think you need to reverse onto your drive too - if visibility is not good reversing out it could be a person you hit next time rather than a parked car.

In the same way it's awkward to reverse out it's awkward to reverse in. Most of the time we do but sometimes it's not always practical. If we put both cars are on one has to be backwards and one forwards and we can't get kids and stuff out. Difficult with club runs and school runs when time and patience is tight.
The issue with the trees is apparently debris.
There's no trees on our side.
We don't have SUVs no. Medium sized cars.
NDN have a big old land rover on the drive which is justified in our area. (Esp since a load have been nicked recently)

As others have said can you reverse on and drive off? Or does their parking make reversing on tricky? It they won’t move is there a way you can make your drive wider?

Yes, you shouldn’t be reversing off your drive. And they can park tnere. A bugger, but not a lot you can do.

Long term it would be better to widen and lengthen our driveway but this is lots of money and may not be approved.

Take more care reversing out. If you missed the fact there was a stationary car there you could easily hit a child or cyclist

What would happen if you parked in their spot while they were out? They don’t own the road.

Regarding person : absolutely, but also wouldn't see them forward either due to layout. Which is why usually beep. However their car doesn't react to beeping unfortunately.

If your driveway is so awkward and/or driving not up to it, then it sounds as though you should park on the road.

I'm on a main road, with a narrow drive, cars frequently parked either side and opposite, but I still always reverse on. Sometimes I have to wait a bit for a gap in the traffic, but always manage it

It does sound as though you always have an excuse. Other people can park in the road, but you don't want to, you're in a hurry, the kids make things awkward..... It's the same for most people.

They seem a bit inflexible, but I don’t know why you can’t reverse out and avoid hitting a cr on the opposite side of the road, good grief!

A drive that can be driven into forwards can be reversed into. The steering being at the front of the car gives you a lot more clearance and control.

You beep every time you go on/off your drive?!
That must drive the neighbours mad.
If you can't see pedestrians or cyclists then it sounds as though your drive is too dangerous to be using! You can't just toot your horn and hope that a pedestrian responds.

Reversing on to your drive might still be tricky, but you're unlikely to hit anything (that doesn't belong to you anyway).
If you reverse on and drive out, you're not going to damage anything or anyone- it's the most sensible option.

Christ, your answer to such poor visibility getting out of your driveway is that you usually beep so that pedestrians, cyclists, cats etc can leap out of you way?

If you don't want to fall out and park where they park, then do park opposite their drive.

Illegal to park within 10 metres of a junction.