Neighbour using my drop kerb!

[mykerb]

A new family have moved in next door - not attached we are a row of two semi's each and so on..
I have a driveway and a dropped kerb. So it goes my drive, pavement and then the dropped kerb.

My next door neighbours have a make shift drive (from previous tenants) but NO dropped kerb, it doesn't help that their neighbours have 4 cars and two permanently parked outside their garden so the new neighbours have nowhere to park except down the road because of it but again not my problem!

They have started driving over my drop kerb to park in the make shift drive, I have started parking on my dropped kerb to make a point of it and I did block them in, to which the woman politely asked if I could move my car so she could reverse out, I told her I don't appreciate her using the kerb to park in, to which she replied that she is going to be getting the curb outside hers dropped but it will take a while due to getting planning permission etc and it's hard to walk down the road with 3 kids and a newborn so it's just been more convenient, but she won't do it again if it bothers me.

Tbh she hasn't had a chance to park there again as I have started parking in front of my drive, on my dropped kerb but my sister has said I'm being petty for no reason and making her life harder and it's not a big deal! And it's really irked me because now I don't know if I'm being unreasonable or not!

Op, you sound like my office mate*. She gets horribly worked up about this sort of thing.

She's a nice enough person, but when she gets a bee in her bonnet it's going to buzz buzz buzz away at her.

Luckily we're only in at the same time one day a week.

I know there's no point telling you that you're being ridiculous because it's not in your gift to change who you are, but crikey.

*To be fair to you, she'd never make a post like this because it wouldn't cross her mind that she was wrong. To be fair to her, she'd let someone drive over her dropped kerb.

Even with the diagram, I'm having difficulty seeing how the neighbour can cross the pavement to enter her property without crossing a corner of the OP's property. Is the pavement very wide? If not, the OP is surely missing an opportunity for additional arseholery by putting up a boundary fence, or parking her own car as far forwards as possible.

It might not be illegal but it’s a fucking shitty thing to do. I hate neighbours like the OP. Glad I don’t have someone like her living next door to me.

Unless she’s driving over your grass/flower bed, I’d let her until hers is done

I’d be annoyed she’d not asked first

yes, agree!

x

Wow I can’t believe anyone could be that petty and territorial over something they don’t even own anyway. Wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve even pissed on the dropped kerb to mark it with your scent to keep the neighbour off it. Jesus wept.

Wow! You're truly an awful person. Horrid.

The diagram looks very much like my property. In fact I am getting suspicious its my neighbour but I don't have 3 kids.

The central driveway is in our case a shared driveway so not able to put a boundary fence in or it would block our access up our garage at rear.

I use the dropped kerb once or twice a week to reverse into my driveway - it's not makeshift as sometimes a large vehicle is parked opposite making the angle tight for reversing

I still can't understand why you care?

The drop kerb is not yours.!!!!!
Its owned by highways.

Just so you know the pavement isn’t yours either.

Some people are unbelievable

And this is what another London council has to say You must not park in front of a dropped kerb on the road or where the road has been raised to the same level as the pavement, regardless if yellow lines are present or in force.

^^

Out of interest, if you put a water feature in your backyard because you enjoyed the sound of babbling water would you get pissed off if you found out she could also hear it?

@DistinguishedSocialCommentator

"Your rightsThe construction of a vehicle crossing outside your house does not give you any particular rights, except to drive across the footway to gain access to your property. The crossing itself becomes part of the public highway once it is satisfactorily constructed."

The above is from Oxfordshire.gov.

Bud.

Yay! Go for it! Report them to the council. They are only your neighbours after all. You could win big time here!

You're being very petty. How pathetic

But you don’t own the dropped kerb. Anyone can use it, just like you can choose to park over it and block someone in. It does sound a bit petty if neighbours are waiting for a dropped kerb to be installed. Must be really important to you.

I really hope this is fake, because if you are genuinely happy to watch a perfectly nice lady walk down the street with three kids and a newborn in her arms rather than let her park in her own driveway, you are a pretty rubbish piece of work.

Do you also watch her struggling and hope she drops the shopping? Maybe do a little dance or fist pump if she does?

I suggest if you want to carry on like this you get a fence put up around what you perceive as your private section of pavement. There might be people walking over it right now. Get out there and tell them to get off your land!

Behold, the pettiest post ever posted on Mumsnet!

Well done though @mykerb for taking everyone's opinions on board and accepting that you're being unreasonable. Plenty of others would have dug their heels in.

I wonder if OP shouts at pedestrians outside her house for using "her" pavement.

Usually on "neighbour from hell" threads we're scratching our heads wondering how they can justify some of the shit they spout.

Thank you for this unique perspective OP.

It’s not yours! You paid for it to be installed but you don’t own it.

Edited! I wish to admit that I was wrong and @GwinGwyn is right about the Southwark guidance.

Sounds petty. Why are you so against her using it?

I personally don't think it's safe for a car to use a dropped kerb that isn't in front of their drive. I don't want people randomly driving across a pavement.