Van Driver blocked driveway and was then abusive and behaved like a stalker

[MoMo999]

Feeling upset by a very rude van driver who this evening enitrely blocked my driveway so I could not get in, whilst seemingly taking away a neighbour's car this evening.

I arrived home with a car full of food shopping that I needed to unload. I waited a couple of minutes but no-one seemed to be around so I parked on the road and started carrying my shopping to my house. Whilst doing this some utterly rude came out to the van and instead of apologising and offering to move or letting me know he'd only be a couple of minutes, when I said you've parked across my driveway, he said that as I had not said "please could you move", he was now going to sit there for 45 minutes, which he did.

I went out and took a photo of the logo on the van, which when I googled it turned out to be a credit agency regulated by the FCA. So I have made a formal complaint to the company and their regulator and recorded the incident to 101 in case he escalated things further.

I don't think someone who is verbally abusive and made me feel physically intimidated, as I am only a short woman who was on my own outside my own home this evening, should be allowed to work for such a company.

I don't know what he thought he was achieving by sitting outside my house, but I made and ate my dinner whilst that fool was sitting there wasting his own time. Why do some men think they can behave in such an unprofessional manner and get away with it. Hope it comes as a nasty shock when his employer catches up with him tomorrow.

I am on my own in the house this week so just needed some moral support and wondered if others had tips for dealing with aggressive workmen.

Hope they respond positively. What a twat.

You did the right thing. What a arsehole.

Strange behaviour when his company name was emblazoned across his van.

Good point that it was strange behaviour when the company name was emblazoned across the van - I referred to that in my complaint email. I have had an apology from the company this morning who are now investigating.

Rush of blood to the head of a misogynist does not look like it will serve him well.

Thanks everyone for your responses.

Well the sort of people who do this sort of work generally aren't very nice and often deal with unpleasant and un co-operative people. I doubt whether they are high up there on the kindness and goodwill to all scale.

His company probably get complaints like this all the time and are likely to not give a stuff about it. After all taking someones stuff away isn't likely to be one of the kind of jobs that causes low social impact and is likely to be accompanied by yelling screaming abuse and social disruption in many cases.

They will probably just throw it in the universal filing cabinet. So long as they get their fee they will not give a stuff. I would be grateful that there are only a finite number of cars your neighbour can have taken away and not waste any more head space on it.

I already have a complaint reference number from the FCA so I doubt the company will ignore it, as regulators don't overlook this kind of behaviour. However, you are right, I won't be wasting anymore headspace on such a fool.

Jesus, what an idiot. I've taken footage of very bad drivers in company vehicles e.g. Lorry driver swaying as he's looking at his phone, van drivers tailgating/cutting up and the standard response I get is an apology and due to confidentiality, they won't be stating the outcome.

Horrible person. Some people cant just apologise can they when they do wrong or even be nice about it?
Ask him how he would like it if you parked across his drive. Tell him to learn his highway code too, he shouldnt be parking across a driveway then forget him.

Sounds like a prat who wasted his own time. From what you've said though, it doesn't sound like he was abusive?

He sounds like a dick but I'm not seeing where he was abusive or acted like a stalker.

I don't understand where the stalker bit comes in.

I think you handled it really well. Do follow up with the FCA.

What a prat, wasting his own time for 45 minutes and probably feeling very pleased with himself for "teaching you a lesson". Glad you just reported him and carried on with your day like he's nothing, that's the exact correct response to these idiots, he wanted you to get riled up and angry and upset.

He was verbally abusive whilst I was forced to unload my food shopping in the street - told me he didn't know it was a driveway (weird as it obviously is - a very short drive leading to a garage), that it wasn't inconvenient to me to not be able to access my own driveway and that I should get lost. He kept arguing and shouting that he would not move and that nobody could move him, then said he could move in 2 minutes but he was going to wait for 45 minutes as he felt like it. All this from someone who had no business with me/ nothing to do with me.

He was a tall built man and I was a lone woman outside my own home in the evening and am on the short side; and no-one else was outside at the time. He walked towards me and then paced next to me whilst I was unloading my shopping, as it needed to go into the freezer. In the circumstances, I felt this was unnerving and he should have kept his distance and moved off. Instead he mouthed off continually in response to a simple statement of "you are blocking my drive". It's not like he was am ambulance attending an emergency.

Personally I do think it is quite stalkerish to sit outside someone's house for almost an hour blocking their driveway when you have been asked to leave. He had secured the car he appeared to be removing more than 40 minutes earlier.

I am not wasting more headspace on it, but if I don't get a satisfactory final response from the Company, I will simply report it to the Financial Services Ombudsman as the Company is FCA regulated. I have already reported it to the FCA - there are standard of professional conduct regulated firms have to adhere to. So not only has he wasted his own time, he has dropped his employer in it.

I agree that he has behaved in a very intimidating manner towards you and it is good that you have reported him.

I hate how some male drivers are like that. I used to live in a tiny but very well known, and extremely busy, old tourist village, very few houses had driveways so everyone just parked down the lanes whereever they could. One Christmas was particularly busy so I had to park round a back lane - wasn't blocking anyone in, no over a dropped curb etc. Came back to the car the next day (still no parking on my road available) only to have some man come ranting out of his house opposite me having a go that I had "ruined his wife's birthday caravaning holiday" as he couldn;t get fully turn his caravan out of his drive because I was parked (perfectly legally) opposite his house. I craned my neck over to look and hidden behind a very tall hedge, 'just' peeking out of his drive was the very edge of a caravan bumper - no one would notice it from the street. He just went on and on and on, tried to stop me from getting into my car, demanding to know where I lived etc. It was so scary.

I've got a suspicion that repossesors get paid more if they spend longer at a customer premises. It might be that your neighbour has higher repossession charges because he sat there longer. That may be something to flag up to your neighbour to check.
Disclaimer- I've only learnt this from TV programs so might not be definitely accurate.

I am glad the company have apologised. What an arsehole.

The ombudsman won’t be interested as you're not a customer and the complaint doesn't involve financial dealings. I know you have an FCA complaint number but that won’t go anywhere I'm afraid. Let's hope the company do deal with it however

Came on to say the same thing. You won't get far with the FCA or ombudsman for the above reasons. They only get involved when you are a customer and have financial dealings. They don't take action because an employee was a twat.
In addition you have to exhaust the companies complaints procedures before they will get involved. Not that they would.
Company complaint is the best way to go.

You realise they regulate the financial side of these companies, right? They won’t care or waste any time on a rude driver.

His behaviour does sound off but legally you can park across an empty drive.

We have this all the time at school and the Police have been out. If a car is on the drive you cannot block itz if it's empty you can. So technically he was doing nothing wrong by being there.

Good on you op. We reported 3 vans belonging to contractors staying next door( bnb) ... 5 days a week engine sat on for up to 45 mins at 6 am... The second week dh emailed their head office. They parked elsewhere after that.

I don’t agree with his actions at all and certainly don’t condone them, he was way over the top and shouldn’t behave the way he did. He was there to do a job and you said he didn’t realise it was a drive, yes it’s annoying and inconvenient for you but maybe if you’d of not come across as rude yourself you may of got a different reaction. Again I don’t agree with his response

What makes you think I was rude. I said you have parked across my driveway. Why should I say oh please sir may I get to my own house - what a bizarre comment Coconutter24