To put spikes in my front driveway flower bed.

[PurpleBugz]

I live on a road where very few houses have driveways. This means there are cars parked both sides of the road. Cars regularly pull into my driveway to allow other to pass/turn around.

I used to have a gravel driveway and the constant cars turning made a massive dip. It was filled in periodically but a reoccurring problem. I saved up and block paved my driveway. it’s got sort of decorative raised brick along one side and I’ve planted nice flowers down the other side. Before it was set people turning on it messed up the brickwork on one side and they have just repeatedly driven over the flowerbed and ruined it.

Every morning I watch one particular taxi turn on my drive and most days he hits the bricks amd they are getting loose. I’ve gone and stood there when I know he’s due and point to what he's doing to make it very clear I’m not happy. This took courage for me as it’s a neighbour from down the street and I don’t cope well with confrontation. He has continued to to it. I’m having the day from hell for other reasons and I just watched another neighbour churn up the flowers with his massive van- he lives in the house opposite and does it every day too. I stood angry at the window with my arms up in a gesture of “what the?! I can see you” he looked directly at me and just carried on and unashamedly parked on his own drive opposite. I’m scared to speak to that family as they are loud and agressive regularly vandalise cars that park near their driveway and I think they were raided by police for drugs a few months ago or it may have been next door to them.

Probably bimonthly on bin day my bin gets knocked over by cars reversing onto my drive and knocking it over. Not so bad when it’s empty but if it’s before the bin lorry has been I’ve had to deal with rubbish bags soaked from rain missed by binmen/ripped open by cats.

Would I be unreasonable to put spikes in my flower bed and on the bricks at the other side? If I do this I will probably damage at least a couple car tyres a day as it happens so much each day. As the main culprits are the taxis work vans and Amazon/delivery drivers it will impact their income.

Can't you add a fence/gate?

Won’t just one big rock in the middle do it? Can’t see anyone nicking that.

Add a chain. My neighbour has done this. Easy enough to unhook to get in and out for you. Or if you don’t have a car, a chain and a million flower pots

Bollards etc you make sure both of you have a key
But it wouldn't block access to their front door

Damaged bricks. Before and after flowers

Based on this, I'd install a bollard-type structure either side of the driveway - one where the bricks meet the pavement and one where the flowers meet the pavement. Can be a simple bollard or something more decorative. Either way, make it sturdy.
I would even be tempted to get a chain going across the end of your driveway between the bollards when you don't need access yourself, just to make the point!
And get a ring doorbell so if anyone does cause damage you've got them on camera for evidence.

Surely they couldn't thieve a bunch of massive rocks?

Who are your neighbours, Hercules?

I vote for gates. The upstairs neighbour can just unfasten them, they don’t have to be locked.

I would put a big fuck off rock either side of the driveway the end of the flowers and the bricks, then a chain across connecting the two rocks

They may try to drive through the chain but at least that's their car damaged not your flowers or drive. And the rocks limit the turning circle

Big “decorative” rocks that will damage their vehicles if they reverse into them

Can you gate the drive but leave the path for neighbour?
either that or big rocks that'll fuck alloy wheels.

Can you make a couple of massive concrete spheres to place at either end of the flower bed? Too heavy to steal
https://portraits-by-nc.com/blogs/garden-delights/how-to-make-concrete-garden-spheres?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social

That’s just nasty. Get that rock OP.

You need something that will damage cars if they hit it, but that is visible. Huge, heavy rocks (quarry stones), a large concrete bollard, big very heavy planter fixed to the ground. It would be extremely hard to steal a quarry stone! I've got a very old stone planter in my garden and I can tell you that lifting that, especially filled, is impossible by hand. It would certainly do some severe damage if anyone reversed into it.

You can buy a 45 gallon drum and fill it with sand or water?

Wish I had the time for this it would look awesome!

I'm sorry, OP.

It's really nasty when people do this and my mum's road has the same problem.

She also had some badly damaged brickwork. It was like a little raised bed thing.

The driver was seen (van with the logo driving away) and when we telephoned they were so aggressive, it wasn't worth doing anything.

A very kind neighbour actually fixed the brickwork for her. (He used to be a builder).

We did end up getting a chain.

There's not much space there, but people just think it's a great place to turn their cars around.

They can try and drive into the chain, but it is as a previous poster said, they will damage their vehicle. I'm not sure how this works with your neighbour accessing their door though?

re stones, could you paint them with that anti-vandal paint - that will hopefully put people off picking them up.

With big delivery vans, their tyres can probably tolerate damage from rocks. I wouldn't mind something spiky in the soil. You can get something decorative maybe?

mum was also against spikes in the soil in case anyone had an accident or something.

Something like these? https://www.milesstone.co.uk/products/large-traffic-barrier-rocks

Very heavy plant pot, once they have soil in it would take a forklift to lift them.

A very big timber trough with plants across the centre of the drive, so your neighbour can pass at the side, but mounted on castors - I've seen them at garden centres for pots so they are moveable. Easy to move out of the way for your car and put back when you've passed in or out.

Big very heavy rocks!

Can't you just put big metal gates up?

Big rocks

Could you put a gate at the entrance to the path? How wide is the driveway? Do you have enough space to swing a large gate inwards? A wooden gate would stop people.

Couple of buckets from b&Q (£1 each), couple of bags of ready mix concrete. Mix each bag up in a bucket. Set hard then upturn where you need to stop them turning. Leave the buckets on because they won't twig they're full of concrete until it's too late

Can also be done with big plant pots.