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!

Treat people as you’d like to be treated. I hope karma bestows on you for your generosity to your neighbour

The drop kerb doesn’t belong to you as it’s not part of your property. Even if you paid for it is public land. Unless she’s going on your drive you need to take a chill pill. If she goes on your drive charge her wear and tear costs and let it slide as she has 3 kids.

I'm in disbelief that you got to the bit where she's lugging a newborn up the road, looked at what you'd written and thought "yep, I'm definitely in the right here" 😂

Shocking

The works we paid for when we had the dropped pavement installed included a charge for reinforcing the pavement directly in front of the drive. The dropped kerb led up to pedestrian pavement which we had to drive over to access our driveway. This wasn’t designed to take the weight of a vehicle and had to be reinforced accordingly. If the same is true of the OP, the neighbour is using the OPs dropped kerb to access the driveway next door to her, and they will be damaging the pavement. This is what most posters are missing.

@Rosscameasdoody the works for paid for twice didn't reinforce the pavement!

But reinforcing the pavement isn't always necessary so it's guess work as to whether it's needed in this case. In any case, there's no getting away from the fact that the OP is being ridiculously idiotic.

I said that posters may find it easier to think in terms of a service. It’s a facility OP paid for in order to access her driveway from the road. If there’s six semi detached houses in the road, only one of which has paid for a dropped kerb to access their driveway do you think it’s acceptable for the other five to use it to access theirs ? It’s bonkers.

It’s not guesswork though. If the neighbour is using the OP’s dropped kerb, directly in front of the entrance to her own drive to access their property next door, they are driving over pavement meant for pedestrians, not cars.

A good relationship with your neighbours is priceless for huge numbers of reasons including friendships, help in emergencies and crime prevention. I'm 🤯 that you would ignore the bigger picture and focus on something so inconsequential. I think you YABU, foolish, petty and unkind

I don’t really care at this point to be honest. Maybe you didn’t have a pedestrian pavement directly in front of the dropped kerb. I don’t know. I can only speak as I find.

https://www.terraform-driveways.uk/can-i-object-to-neighbours-dropped-kerb/#:~:text=If%20you%20are%20unable%20to,goes%20against%20public%20highway%20laws.

You are being really mean. It really doesn't hurt to help people out. Karma's a bitch. Remember that.

Exactly what a few of us have been saying but most on here are happy for OPs neighbour to break the law so to speak but if OP parks across her dropped kerb and if that was illegal in her borough she is called all sorts...maybe she should of posted saying she had 3 kids and a newborn too .. since that seems to be reason enough to be allowed to do something thay isn't legal

Parking partially on a pavement is only illegal in London not elsewhere. There are rules to follow as to not obstructing dropped kerbs, pedestrian access and highway obstruction, and LA's could do civil enforcement if they wanted to, but it's not illegal. Our regions police force even put a statement out a while ago to say its not illegal unless it's in restricted areas or causing obstruction.

Clearly, different councils have different rules and procedures, and we don't know what would apply here. I'm sure they could challenge OP's neighbour if they thought she was damaging the pavement. I don't see why OP cares, though, and she didn't tell neighbour she was worried about the pavement or the council: she just blocked her in, then changed her own parking arrangements to stop her doing it again. Only she can know why.

Different issue. Neighbours aren’t parking on the pavement, they’re driving across it to access their driveway, via OP’s dropped kerb. See my post upthread with a link to the actual law regarding this. Can’t be bothered with the failure to read and comprehend any more. It’s batshit. I’m out.

It is guesswork because we don't know if the pavement in front of their houses requires reinforcing. If it doesn't then the neighbour is only doing what the OP is doing, just diagonally instead of straight.

You need to find a hobby and meaning in your life if someone driving on public pavement for a few seconds is bothering you.

What did previous neighbours do

@Rosscameasdoody you don't really care at this point? You've an awful lot to say then!

Exactly what a few of us have been saying but most on here are happy for OPs neighbour to break the law so to speak but if OP parks across her dropped kerb and if that was illegal in her borough she is called all sorts...maybe she should of posted saying she had 3 kids and a newborn too .. since that seems to be reason enough to be allowed to do something thay isn't legal

On my god it's not legal ..... call the police immediately! Get the police 👮 immediately!

Except it's fine!

He was a neighbour there for 30 plus years and had a tiny little car, so he often just drove up the curb into his drive and the neighbours would make sure they left enough room for him to be able to do so.

But this new family have one of those Nissan Qash cars

Have you apologised to your new neighbours yet for being a twat?

Sorry but this is very petty and really unnecessary. If they were blocking you in some way, that would be one thing, but I cant see why this would be an issue.

He was a neighbour there for 30 plus years and had a tiny little car, so he often just drove up the curb into his drive and the neighbours would make sure they left enough room for him to be able to do so

So they were decent human beings then? Ever thought about taking a leaf out of their book? I hope you've apologised to the poor women who has to traipse with her children, including a baby?", because you got all possessive over a strip of land you don't even own. Honestly, you need to get a grip of yourself.