Neighbours family blocking my drive.

[Whatdoyouthink65]

So I know this is a first world problem,
there’s much worse things happening but I can’t stop being annoyed non the less.

i live on a ‘ normal 1930 residential street. The house has a dropped kurb a in front of the garage side of the frontage, and we have a small driveway. I have an EV vehicle which lives on the drive ( when not being driven) so that
a) I can get the 2 under 3 year olds out/in easily and
b) it can charge when not being used. We have solar panels on the house and all the time they’re producing and the car is plugged in- it charges the car - essentially for free.

Our next door neighbour is elderly, and her daughter in law comes in a few times a day to care for her. If the space directly outside her house is taken by someone else she parks across my drive whether I am in or out.

usually there is a space outside my house ( not blocking the drop curb) as although literally anyone can use it, when my DH goes out to work it typically doesn’t get filled until evening when he may or may not be able to park there. We 10000% accept that on the on road parking it’s pot luck but I really really think I should be able to park on or get off my drive whenever I want.

i have asked them lots of times to stop doing it, but it falls on deaf ears. The final straw was that yesterday I was 35 minutes late picking DD up from nursery because I had to walk there unexpectedly after not being able to get my car off the drive… and today I’ve come
home with both kids and a full car of shopping and had to park about 800m away because she has parked half in the space outside the house and across the drop curb.

ive tried knocking on to ask them to move , but on both occasions they haven’t answered the door. They stay 90-120 mins per visit ( not a few minutes like just dropping off).

AIBU to be absolutely fuming?

Would you actually do this, or are you just throwing suggestions around because this is an anonymous forum?

Start booting the door tbh. Don't stop literally booting the door until they answer

An extreme point, but a point made

That wheel lock thing from Amazon is an excellent idea.

For £16, I'd bung it on her car the next time she parks there and then deny all knowledge (make sure your car is fully charged and parked elsewhere for a bit so you can use it).

Make her live without her car for a few days and when she (no doubt) comes knocking on your door about it, she can explain to you face-to-face why she insists on parking there and you can give her the fine to pay for the late nursery charge.

Then tell her if she promises to never park there again, you might know someone who will leave the keys to de-clamp her, tomorrow or the next day, but you're not sure when because it wasn't you who did it.

The ndn isn’t any trouble. She’s elderly, housebound, and largely unable to communicate due to health issues. I don’t really want to worry/ upset her because A) she won’t understand what’s going on , and B ) can’t really influence it even if she did C) actually can’t get to the door.

Its her family that are infuriating 😡😡

However, Amazon stickers, council nuisance parking etc seems to be the way to go. I do want to inconvenience her, and even financially inconvenience her but I also want to stay the right side of the law. Tempting as it is to smash her car up/ pop tyres etc - we still have to live here.

I was really looking for validation that it’s okay to feel utter rage!

Exactly. It’s a terrible accident to trip whilst holding a big bag of glitter too. Be horrible if it got in the air vents.

This is really disrespectful and potentially dangerous. What if one of the kids has an accident and needs A&E?

I would leave this note.
’You are blocking my driveway. I have asked you not to do this. I have taken a photo of your reg and will be reporting you to the council and Police. This is a ticketable and prosecutable offence. I will report you every time you do this. PLEASE stop.’

I would put the note under the windscreen wipers and also drop it through neighbour’s door.

Make sure you do take a photo and report it.

We had this discussion a few weeks ago - her answer was to call an ambulance 🫣.

My OH would literally drag her car to the middle of the road with his van if he was home 😂. He is less concerned with staying on the right side of the law than I am.

@CharlotteBog i would 100% do it.
In my old house, which was a terrace going straight into the pavement, a big old brand new car parked right in front of my house. No issue with that except he parked on the pavement, was the only person in the street to do so and I couldn't get out with a buggy. I could have squeezed through but not with a buggy. No need to park on the pavement at all. Anyone with sense would have known that they hadn’t left hardly any room on the pavement. He wasn’t popping in, it was there 2 hours. It got scratched. I’d do it again too

I totally need to hear all the details about these two men please @GreatGateauxsby !!

I’d pop a note in windscreen saying reported to police for obstruction and include a pic of her car blocking your drive, and do report it, then rinse and repeat till either police do something or she gets the message.

Oh god, that's even more frustrating! How annoying (sorry if I missed you explaining the banging on windows!)

Loud phonecall to the nursery on their doorstop, complaining that you're going to be late again because an arsehole has blocked you in and you can't get out your own driveway?!

I would definitely start calling the police when you're blocked in, even if you've not tried knocking, I'd tell them you have.

Also photograph and report on FixMyStreet under the "parking" category. The more you do it, the more likely the council will send a parking warden around and hopefully at the right time.

Print off the report and stick it to the car too.

YADNBU to feel the rage. I feel it for you!

Ex local traffic warden informs me that different councils have different rules. For our council, you should write to them explaining that the neighbour's car is continually obstructing your drive. Then they will instruct the local warden to come and issue a parking ticket. You might also like to pay to get those white line things put on the road, though unlike yellow lines, they are not legally enforceable.

Where are you living OP - the name of the coucil will do and then I can direct you if appropairate

A friend found that a Land Rover back and front for a few hours helped make the point, obviously she had no idea to whom they belonged when the hysterical driver knocked on her door.
Don't know about the UK but when we lived in Germany the police would be involved if you couldn't get off your drive but not if you couldn't get on.

That is disgusting!

She has lost any sympathy I may have had for her as carer of he MIL.

What a bitch!

Please update this thread when you've had a resolution, won't you? Even if it's weeks away. I really want to hear these selfish people learned their lesson...

Me too.

Get a plate made they’re not expensive saying ‘Access required at all times’ and put it on your garage door where she can clearly see it, if she blocks your driveway clearly she either needs to get a sight test or go back to school!! Many Dissabled people have them to stop ignorant muppets parking in front of their houses and driveways!

Park over your own drive, and then when DH gets home you park on the drive and charge your car and he blocks you in. That way that space is never available for your neighbour.

Similar to you, we have a drive and dropped kerb but elderly neighbour doesn’t but there’s usually space on the road outside her house. Anyway, a while ago she had a hip replacement and one evening, about 11pm, a car parked over our drive blocking us in. 2 hours later it was still there. Getting antsy as this was pre-covid days and DH left at 5am and I left at 6:30am for work, so genuinely concerned they'd parked for the night wouldn’t be gone in time. I didn’t know the car so left a polite note asking them not to block our drive in future. Next day neighbours son came over and apologised but said they’d been settling his mum in after her surgery. I genuinely said sorry, had no idea and of course that was ok, but explained we had no way of knowing if it would have moved by early morning. He said any more cars blocking us in would be them and just to knock. I agreed as I knew his mum would need care from family and our street didn’t always have parking. Few days later came back from the gym to a car blocking the drive so I couldn’t get on. No other street parking available. I knocked on their door and it was neighbours sisters car. I said no rush but please could she move it. This woman went ballistic. Shut the door in my face and refused. DH came down and said he’d go and park the car a couple of streets over (really tight parallel parking so he offered as I struggle!). While he was gone neighbours sister banged on my door (which was on the latch so it swung open), started shouting at me, how entitled I was and saying how dare I have a driveway with all that space when she’s reduced to parking on streets and her nice car (a Mercedes) could get scratched. Reduced me to tears. We’d been discussing offering to let them use our drive to visit neighbour while we were at work. Instead I didn’t use my drive for a whole month and parked across the end of it instead.

A few months ago the same neighbours sister blocked me in. My car was on the drive this time and I had to get out to go get DS from nursery. I knocked and asked if she could move it please as I needed to be out quite quickly. She actually said no and could I wait a while as she’s not been there long and she struggled with mobility issues and parking is difficult. I may have been more forgiving if it weren’t for the last time when she screamed in my face. I told her bluntly I couldn’t wait as I had to pick my son up from nursery in 15 minutes and I couldn’t be late. Her face! She had no choice but to move it.

Stand your ground OP, maybe a polite word with your neighbour and if that fails a note on the car. Or park over your own drive to stop it happening. If they’re blocking you getting out you can actually report them, especially if it’s a drop kerb, not sure about stopping you getting in though.

That's what they did for me with my neighbour
Sadly it didn't stop them but they did ring her!

Christ you have an admirable amount of patience and tolerance. I could be out there now leaning on their doorbell and banging on the door and I wouldn't be stopping until they came out.

This ^^

Also, buy a cheap wheel clamp and clamp her car next time it happens. Then she’ll have to come to you to get it unlocked and have a very stern word with her. Or just don’t answer the door and give her a taste of her own medicine that she can’t leave when she wants to. She’ll soon stop doing it if you fight back! Toughen up!!

Painful, but can you ambush her as she arrives? Or speak to her mum? Or park across your own drive a few times to make a point?

We live in a borderline of 2 councils. Our address is Manchester but we pay council tax to Tameside.