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?

Shame her on your local social media pages. I had exactly the same problem and it took multiple shamings (followed by gangs - of children/grandchildren/great grandchildren, i.e. not thugs with guns) ambushing my house and shouting abuse at me), but it did stop eventually.

We report on local council website. They often send a warden and ticket it.

I have had on my car (totally innocent , not twatty parking )

An egg , thrown from a bus by some little shits .
Bird pooh from when I parked under a tree .

Both are a nightmare to remove .

Throw an egg (extra points if it gets into the rubber seals ) or a handfull of birdseed and let the birds do their worst . 90 minutes should be more than ample .
Act Of God

Start calling the traffic wardens.

If you document the car being there and you trying to get her to move it and the nursery late fees then if it happens more times you could try taking her to a small claims court.

Thameside council is hot on PCNs and enforcement notices for things like this. Contact them.

Put a note on the car pointing out that parking across a dropped kerb is illegal, say you've asked her politely to stop doing it and she's ignoring you, therefore if she does it again you will be calling the police.

If you're in when she does it, every time go and bang on the door and say you need to get your car out, she needs to move it immediately because it's causing an obstruction. Go for a 5 minute drive, if she's back parked across the kerb when you get back, demand she move the car again.

Definitely a case for some penguin bollards

Continously ring the bell. It's out of order that you are blocked in.

How? You can’t put bollards on the road. She doesn’t own the road. How do bollards on her driveway stop this woman from parking on the public road across her dropped kerb? She can’t put bollards on the public road to block this woman from the dropped kerb. So what use are they in this case? Why “definitely?” when they’re useless here.

She used to just be a couple of minutes or move if she saw me come out the house ( was proactive) but now is not.

That is because you aren't petty.

She's been allowed an inch and has grabbed a mile.

You need to become petty - even if only for a few weeks - and put a stop to this. You don't need to sit at the window watching for her - just whenever you notice that your drive is blocked, take appropriate (legal) action.

What if one of your children DID need to be taken to A&E? Remember her attitude to that scenario? Is that acceptable to you?

Edit for spelling

Ahhhh sorry, too much wine yesterday evening. I meant an orange cone not a penguin. Which are probably also not legal on a public road but sometimes useful to get a message across and definitely much more temporary than a penguin bollard. (I grew up near a cricket ground. Mum was a medical professional and sometimes on call. After twice having to call the police out so mum could get her car out - cricket ground was totally unresponsive- we resorted to orange cones at the weekend).

Have a lovely traffic-free Friday everyone.

When she blocks the drive and I’m not going anywhere I’m not petty enough to bother knocking to ask her to move on principal.

This is your problem. You have to be consistent. This gives her a legitimate defense. Well she didn't mind when I did it yesterday so how am I supposed to know?

If you ask/tell her to move then move your own car just round the block , what;s to stop her then parking across your empty drive which is legal but obviously not acceptable .
She could decide to spend the night at her MILs just to reinforce her petty behaviour and you'd be stuck on the road.

Looks like the council do respond to reports about parking

Example FixMyStreet report

YANBU to feel rage. I would be livid. Can you put cones out there?

I reckon if NDN DIL is blatant enough to park repeatedly over the OPs drive and suggest she get an Ambulance if she needs to in an emergency , then she'll just kick the cones into the garden

I think @70isaLimitNotaTarget is right that she doesn’t give a shit saying to get an ambulance. Call 101 every time she does it even if you don’t want to leave. Say you can’t leave your property.

When she blocks the drive and I’m not going anywhere I’m not petty enough to bother knocking to ask her to move on principal.

That’s maybe fine if she would respond to a request to move the car when you are going out. But your approach has failed spectacularly OP, to the point that your DC have to walk to nursery etc. It’s not a matter of principle, it’s a matter of basic common sense in that you are persistently allowing the only means of vehicular egress to be blocked.

This woman obviously sees you as a doormat of the highest order and won’t even answer the door to you! You are putting her convenience over your own and your DCs. Sorry to be harsh but you’re being a bit cowardly here imo.

If you're in when she does it, every time go and bang on the door and say you need to get your car out, she needs to move it immediately because it's causing an obstruction. Go for a 5 minute drive, if she's back parked across the kerb when you get back, demand she move the car again

I wouldn't do the second part of this, I'd just pull off the drive and park where she was. Otherwise, if you drive off, she'll park across the now empty drive and there's no law that says you can't do that as you're not blocking someone in.

But I'd do the first bit.

We had a very similar situation and I just took the pettiness to a next level, every time they parked I parked both our cars front and rear to theirs that it would be near impossible to get out of the space. They either had to ask me to move or attempt to get out the space without hitting my car (which I also stood and watched) I would move the car but would say “yeah just in the middle of something” then would take 30+ mins to actually do it. They eventually got sick of it and stopped.

must add this was during Covid when I had all the time in the world and no kids to be petty

Stickers on The windscreen. Right In front of the drivers side view. Hard to get off ones.

This is against the law (uk) it is not against the law to park Infeont of someone's drive or even on it however it is illegal to block someone into their property ie you have your car in your drive and you can't get your car out because theyve block you in because of a in case of emergency I would be telling them if they do it again you will ve reporting them as it is illegal and you will be getting their vehicle towed as within your rights and the law good luck !

You are an example to us all, and a credit to MN.

Block them in