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 🙄

So there are 3 spots for three homes. Common sense is that one spot is allocated to each of the homes. You literally allowed your visitor to park in their space and then purposefully went out of your way to annoy them out of control. Your workmen or visitors should not park in their space- use the road. You seem petty and controlling and I can’t stand people like you who do wrong then play victim

She shouldn't have to come and knock your door to get access in and out of her own driveway! That's ridicolous

If it is a shared driveway, it should be used respectfully and no one should be blocked in or out of their allocated part of the drive.

Causing a neighbour inconvenience by impeding their use of the drive was unreasonable. It was passive aggressive to sit honking but I can understand why someone would feel frustrated at being inconvenienced on their own driveway.

Guests should park on the street elsewhere or you should move your car so guests can use your part of the driveway.

I think you owe your neighbour an apology.

This is why I would never buy a house with a shared anything.
50 years ago I remember my uncle complaining about the ndn blocking the shared driveway and the road was empty in those days.

People are petty when it comes to their rights whether now or historically.
It’s what causes most wars!

Of course you can’t block their driveway - YABVU!

And knocking requires effort on their part as opposed to honking the horn.

They should be able to come and go freely without coming to you.

It’s hard to envisage without a diagram, but you’re obviously being U if they needed to come to you to get in and out.

You are being massively unreasonable op, not one person on here agrees with you! From your updates it sounds like you’re jealous of house 3’s massive drive and somehow believe they should offer to accommodate YOUR visitors.

You should NEVER block the shared drive without warning your neighbours first.

What if emergency services needed access??

So what if they have food delivered!!

Honestly, I’ve never been so incensed about someone who’s so massively in the wrong.

You owe your neighbour and apology and your visitors need to park on the road. Unbelievable!!

You're being an utter melt op, I can't believe you're friend kept purposely blocking your neighbour just to be an asshole. Your neighbour isn't bringing petty they are probably just pissed off with what I am sure is repeated behaviour from you. Go and apologise and don't do it again

I'd be annoyed if I came home to find someone parked in my drive. I'd be even more annoyed to be blocked in on my own drive. I think honking the horn is acceptable in this situation, why should she have to go out of her way to go and find the person who has parked on her drive.

I have a shared drive. Well we each have our own drives and the middle bit is shared access. I would never block my neighbour so he couldn’t get out! You are absolutely BU and your neighbour was right to make the point. Sometimes it can’t be helped with deliveries etc but otherwise if you have a friend over, they park on the street. You can’t just block your neighbours access repeatedly, that’s shocking

I call reverse on this

That maybe the case, but he blocked access to their property.

I come at this from living in the exact same scenario. I live in a section of 3 houses all served by a shared driveway. I'm also the middle house.

If there's not enough space to pull over to the side so a car can get past, you shouldn't be parking on it.

In our case, we own the bit of shared driveway in front of our house but we are required to allow our neighbours access to their own property.

To park in the middle of it and blocking it is not OK. Their reaction might seem over the top, but I'm guessing this isn't the first time this has happened. A bit like the "she divorced me because I left plates by the sink" article, it's the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Go round, apologise for yesterday, say it won't happen again, and inform her, nicely, that you're having a delivery and if she needs to get out, she should do it now. You don't need to be starting a war with the neighbours, especially when you're doing something to inconvenience them.

That is extremely petty and rude OF YOU.
You should never block her access.
She's right to honk the horn, why should she get out?
The face your friend kept on moving the car back is shocking, why do you want to start a war with your neighbour?

She often gets Tesco deliveries which block the shared driveway but we don’t complain, it’s just what you get with a shared driveway.

Oh come on, seriously?!

That's not even a remotely comparable situation. (That is unless the Tesco delivery man is parking up and staying for a six course dinner).

FYI - It's not just your driveway. You share it. Am really not surprised your neighbour is honking her horn at you. Ask your friend to park elsewhere, that's what you should have been doing since day 1.

It doesn’t matter if he parked outside your house, he blocked her driveway

you are the aggressor here, he should have parked on the road

When my DB and I were clearing out my parents house the people next door were having a party and vans owned by food delivery, florists etc were blocking the bottom of the drive.

As we were filling cars, driving to the dump, charity shops, auctioneers, etc, we kept having to ask them to move over and over again.

We weren't being petty or passive aggressive, we genuinely needed to be back on the drive and off again with 3 cars repeatedly.

It's threads like this that put me off ever considering a property with a shared drive.

@Tarytino I would be pretty irked if every time I needed to get in or out of my own driveway, I had to get out of my car, knock on the neighbour’s door, and wait for their guest to move their car out of the way.

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.
Then wouldn’t it make sense for your guests to park here, rather than blocking in the residents?

I'd be honking loudly too! You should always check that your visitors' cars are not blocking their access.

If I were you, I'd leave neighbour a 'sorry' note/card and say it won't happen again.

If there's parking on the road, why didn't your visitor park there? You are completely in the wrong here and a terrible neighbour. You don't block the driveway so your neighbours can't come and go as they need to.

I'm glad you're not my neighbour but I might play your game if this is a habit. I'll not bother honking and just get a tow truck in to remove your visitor's car.

A Tesco's delivery truck doesn't count. They aren't there for more than a moment.

You are the issue, not your neighbour. If they want to come and go 100 x then thats up to them. You even mention that there is easy parking a short walk down from the shared driveway. Well if thats the case tell you lazy arse friends to park there and walk or even better, get off your arse and park your own car there to leave space for your guests.

Cant stand people like you who effect other people and dont give a shit.

Legally, you’re not allowed to park on a shared driveway, it’s that simple.

So you are in the wrong and should acknowledge this to your neighbour when you apologise.

you started the war

As someone who has their driveway repeatedly blocked by people who
“I’ll just be a minute”
”you just have to ask”

it gets old reeeeallllly quickly. I just want to get to my house. I’m probably desperate for a wee and I don’t want to keep asking.

This!!

How on earth can you claim neighbour is unreasonable when she has a share of drive but your friend doesn’t? She wasn’t honking you, she was honking the person’s car that shouldn’t be there.

I am in a similar situation where each house owns the part of the shared land that is nearest their house and we all own the shared land access from the side road to our own land. The covenant covering this says that home owners MAY NOT block access over the shared land. On VERY rare occasions its unavoidable for very short periods, eg skip delivery and then we TALK to each other unless its an unavoidable emergency eg an ambulance. We do not tell our visitors to just go and park on neighbours land or on the shared land. If I was the neighbour and asking you not to do this hadn't worked, I'd suddenly be going in and out as well and at the most awkward times I could think of.......but yes I am expecting that this is a reverse.