Driveway wars - awkward petty neighbour

[Tarytino]

We live on a shared drive way (shared with 3 houses). We’re in the middle. Yesterday we had a friend over and I told him to park just outside of our house (on the shared driveway) as house 3 was out. An hour or so later house 3 arrives home - instead of simply asking him to move the car they sat there honking on the horn. It’s a short driveway, they could have parked at the end and walked down to their house (plenty of parking on street at end of driveway) but no. Friend went out and moved his car - no thanks, no acknowledgment. Once they had got passed friend moved his car back where it was.

10 mins later - horn honking outside. House 3 had decided to go out again. Friend goes out to move car. 20 minutes later more honking outside. I went out and approached neighbour asking why she is honking her horn rather than using her words. She said “I need to get to my house and there is a car in the way” 🙄 I said “yes, but you don’t need to honk the horn, just knock”. She said “can’t be arsed getting in and out of car”. I left her to it and friend moved car. Needless to say, 20 mins later, more honking outside.

now it was very obvious that neighbour was deliberately going in and out of driveway to make some kind of point. So we played her game and this went on for about 2 hours before she eventually got bored.

Today, we are having gravel delivered and they will be parking on the shared driveway. Normally I’d warn neighbour to let her know to get her car out of driveway so she doesn’t get stuck but because of yesterdays performance - I’m not going to bother. This isn’t the first time we have had issues with this neighbour btw. AIBU to let her get her car stuck? Chances are she won’t be going out anyway but no doubt as soon as she sees someone parked there she’ll suddenly develop an urgent need to go out 🙄

Tell your visitor not to block your neighbour's parking space!
YANVU and childish.

What is it with certain people and shared driveways that makes them think they own the whole place??!! Between us & next door is a driveway that leads to the garages for our little street of 8 houses. Every fucking day they park one of their cars there so that no one can drive to their garage without knocking and asking them to move. Every weekend they jet wash their cars there so I can't even go out my garden gate without getting soaked! Gives me the absolute rage! No body else does it! They also park one of their cars outside their garage which they aren't supposed to do as it blocks access. The guys nuts, sure he thinks he lives in some mansion on 10 acres, not a tiny terraced house! Its just so bloody rude and controlling! If you want to be able to park 10 cars outside your house buy a house with a big enough drive!

@Tarytino

Making a noise at 8am on a Sunday morning? You really are the nightmare neighbour in this scenario, aren’t you? 😳

YABVU - there are enough threads on here where people are fed up with their driveways being blocked, but here you are the one blocking it.

If there is loads of parking down the road, then your friend should be parking there.

You are being totally unreasonable.
The clue is in the name: it's a shared DriveWAY.
It's not a shared parking space.

I think YABU. I used to honk the horn if anyone ever blocked my drive - and I’d keep doing it until they came out and moved it! In with the neighbour. Your friend could have parked on the road

Why couldn't your friend have parked on the road in the first place rather than take your neighbours space? Could have saved a lot of aggravation on both sides.
Assuming it hasn't happened already, you should tell them about the gravel delivery - if nothing else it shows you are the bigger person.

Anyone else got Frankie Goes to Hollywood 'Two Tribes' in their head while reading this thread?

I’m so glad I’m not your neighbour. You and your DH sound insufferable

yup this

none of which excuses your blocking a shared drive.

It’s not them, it’s you. You’re the problem. HTH.

She could be the worst person alive and do totally unreasonable things, but that doesn’t make what you did right 🙈

You may well have enjoyed annoying her if you feel she’s annoyed you, but you were still in the wrong.

Parking outside of yours is still obstructing neighbours access so you are causing issues for yourself as well as your neighbour.Why can't you just be adult about it and ask visitors not to park there.I can never understand people like you always looking for an argument.

You could just be nice. :-/

8am car wash!!!!

So you share a driveway with your neighbour but then either you or your visitor blocks them in or out of their garage or parking space?

YAB(VV)U.

8am car wash on a Sunday! Even more glad you’re not my neighbour now!

My points on these:

Issues in the past - her husband continually moved a plant pot of ours - we had to get a massive concrete one eventually that he couldn’t lift

I'm more intrigued about the positioning of this pot to have caused the drama. Was it right on a corner that made reversing onto/off of their drive really difficult? Was it slightly over the boundary line? Was it miles away and they just didn't like the look of it - context is key!

Whinging about DH cleaning his car on a Sunday morning (not early, about 8am).

Also not allowed in many local councils - no DIY noise on Sundays unless in an emergency - e.g. here www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20038/noise_nuisance/1159/definition_and_types_of_noise_nuisance/2

Whinging about a party we had a few summers ago.

Again, context is key - we have two neighbours that have had parties recently. Both had professional DJ setups in their gardens. One took the party inside at 10pm and we heard nothing afterwards. The other kept the party going until 4am and kept the entire neighbourhood awake. I still very much whinge about that one!

Slagging us off to house 1 (who don’t like her either!)
They are definitely unreasonable with this one, though have you been talking to neighbour 1 about them, seeing you know their opinion of her!

Almost ran our dog over once.
As PP said, if your dog is out the front then they are reasonable to not be expecting to come across a loose running dog.

We have cats and our neighbours drive a bit too fast into the shared drive for our liking, but we don't say anything as it's the risk of having free roaming cats. We did say something when they decided to turn around on our driveway and nearly ran over the cat in the process, as they were on our property.

You don't block the shared driveway with a visitor.

Supermarket delivery is completely different. Very short period of time.

You say there is excellent street parking, so your visitor should have been on that.

Glad you’re not my neighbour, frankly

This!

Yes I concur that there is a problem. The problem is YOU.

Tell guests to park on the road or you park on the road so that they can use your space in front of your house.

FFS don't do any car cleaning at 8am on a Sunday - that is fucking annoying and too fucking early!

Don't let your dog loose outside so no one can run it over

Tell neighbours you're having a party but the noise will stop at 11pm. Be considerate.

You come across as VERY entitled, completely oblivious of the discomfort you cause to other people. Try to use a bit of empathy

I'd say that repeatedly and knowingly blocking an access road is the passive-aggressive twat here. You say there is plenty of on-street parking so tell your guests that is where they park.

We don't normally get this side of a parking thread, I've quite enjoyed it 😂