Lost my temper because of the neighbours and took it out on the wrong person

[summershining]

…. and now I feel terrible.

Here we go again with another neighbour/parking saga!

To provide some context, I moved into to my house nearly a year ago. Initially, my next door neighbours (who aren’t attached to my house) were friendly and came over to chat. However, things became awkward when I had to park on the street in front of my house (yes, my house, not theirs) for a month while my driveway was undergoing repairs. It was genuinely puzzling because they consistently parked on their driveway or in front of their own house until I began parking outside mine. They occupied that space the entire time, all while leaving their own driveway empty.

This situation forced me to park further down the street while mine was being repaired, and at times, I had to carry heavy furniture and other items (as I was still in the process of moving in) to my house. I couldn't do anything since they were parked there legally, but it definitely left a sour taste. I mentioned that I was having some work done, so they knew I wasn't just parking there for the fun of it. They even witnessed me struggling a few times with furniture. To this day I still don’t understand why they did it.

There have been other occasions when they or their family have parked poorly, occasionally extending over my driveway. They think they own the road. We’ve never fallen out or talked about this, and I doubt they would react positively if I brought it up regardless. However, everything came to a head this afternoon when I got home and saw they had blocked my driveway. There was an auto glass van there fixing one of their cars. Our driveways are adjacent to one another, with his van parked in front of my mine while their car was in front of theirs.

I arrived and waited to pull in. Initially, he didn’t say anything, which I think contributed to my frustration, and then he mentioned, "I’ll be 5 minutes." If he had said, "I’m sorry, I won’t be long. Would you mind waiting, or could you park behind me for now?" I likely would have been more understanding and allowed him to continue. However, his sense of entitlement pissed me off. My neighbour also stepped out for a moment and failed to acknowledge or apologise for the inconvenience. This is the moment I said, "No, you need to move right now. I want to access my driveway, and I shouldn't have to wait or ask your permission to do so."

After some back and forth, he moved his van. My neighbour didn’t say anything to me. I feel terrible now. I directed my frustrations at him when he was only trying to do his job. It was simply pent up anger directed towards my neighbours. I think I know the answer, but WIBU?

Not ideal but doesn’t sound like you said anything too awful. Maybe it will make your neighbour think

Nah sounds like they’re a pain in the arse anyway!

They sound selfish, inconsiderate and entitled. Ignore them.

What has happened all the other times they have blocked your drive?

I think as uncomfortable as it might feel, you need to start knocking and asking them to move every time, otherwise they’ll just assume you’ll park elsewhere and keep blocking your drive.

It doesn’t sound like you were super rude to the van man, doing that job you’d think he’d be more aware of parking reasonably.

You weren't rude and you're entitled to have access to your driveway. He was far ruder to block someone's access to their own house and expect them to accommodate them.

I don't think you were out of order as he should have jumped to move his van.

As an aside and I know you are not saying this but he isn't legally obliged to move his van. It is only illegal to block access to the highway but not illegal to prevent access to your driveway. Hugely inconsiderate and entitled yes. I have only added this bit in case anything ever escalates with your neighbours

But the auto glass guy was out of order. Had it been blocking my neighbour, I’d have told him to park over my drive while I moved my car. Both at fault, but he had no right to block your drive.

I think you weren’t too bad but am amazed that you have gone a year without saying anything to the neighbours yet couldn’t hang on 5 minutes for him

Not sure why you think you directed your comment at the wrong person. He must do this all the time and should know he shouldn’t block someone else;s drive and needs to move if he does and they need access.

I get that you are frustrated at you r neighbours, but the auto glass guy seems to be just as much a cause. He shouldn’t have done it.