Neighbour damaged his car on my drive

[lghtnght]

I moved into my new house 3 months ago and after a few weeks, I noticed that the neighbours across the street were reversing onto my property when they left their house. The road is pretty narrow, so they can't really turn around without reversing onto my drive. Plus, another neighbour parks his car (in blue) on the pavement by their house, which makes it harder for them to pull forward and turn around.

It would be much easier if they just reversed onto their own drive and drove out from there. I don't know why they haven't done that yet. I didn't want to start any drama or fall out with them. I had never talked to them before today and wasn't sure how they'd react if I brought it up, so last weekend I decided to put some garden rocks in the corner instead. Just to clarify, they're on my drive, not on the pavement, in case anyone wonders. So, the neighbour knocked on my door earlier and said that his car got damaged because of the rocks. He insists that they were half on the pavement (not true) and half on my drive.

He asked why I didn't tell him I was putting them there so he could avoid driving over them. He said if there was a problem, I should have just talked to him. I told him it's my drive, on my property. Why would I need to inform him? His car wouldn't have been damaged if he wasn't using my drive… He got really aggressive with me, saying that the previous owners never had any issues and that he's going to call the police and a solicitor about the damage to his car. I haven’t heard anything since. I can't believe I'm even writing this. I’m not sure what to do now! I do feel a bit intimidated by him. Am I being unreasonable?

It's not simple in the eyes of the law though. (I was just saying that it felt wrong that the bollard was obscured and it felt like I was being punished and it also felt unneighbourly). But in the law you can't go out to punish and trespass is a civil crime. You can't have a hazard on your site because you do have a duty of care to other people. Just like you can't have a row of blades sticking up right at the boundary line against the pavement. What if a child stepped on them? Having hazardous rocks that are put there on purpose when she knows the neighbour drives on there could be seen as the same.
Same as not having shards of glass on top of your wall, because an innocent child could cut their hand if they look over the fence for a lost ball etc. Or the OP digging a 4m hole right next to the pavement without securing it. It's not clear cut your land=do what you want.

I have done similar - but driven into said bollard rather than opened my door -and have the dent too, however I don't feel I can complain because the onus is on me as the driver to make sure there are no obstacles (small children, animals etc.) in the space. Couldn't see it easily isn't good enough. You have to look harder when you're driving.

I actually do live in a cul de sac of 6 houses and me and all my neighbours help each other out, all the time.

My guess is that if you had told him in the first place you didn't want him to drive onto your drive, he wouldn't have listened and would've said there was no option. So I don't think you're wrong to put the rocks there. He def knows he was in the wrong.

Bloody hell looks like I'm the one of the few people who likes it help their neighbours here.

Let me clarify my view
1 Hitting the rock yes he's at fault, nothing to do with the op
2 Putting the rock there is petty.
3 Why didn't she speak to him first?
4 Driving a car over a drive... isn't that what they are there for. I doubt it will wear away. I'm thinking hard and only on a non professionally laid drive have I ever seen damage and the ops vehicle would have done the damage anyway.
5 Does him driving materially impact her no.
6 Him no longer being able to use her drive will result in him parking on the road as he won't be able to get his car out/in. That will impact on everyone in the road. As someone who lives in a cul de sac, such parking causes issues.

Therefore, personally, I would have let it go. Clearly MN is full of "get orf my land" types...so I am happy to be nice to my neighbours.

I’ll have you know I’m an amateur geologist 🤷🏼‍♀️

Why is she so pathetic that she can't talk to someone who touches her drive way for a few seconds a day with the wheels of his car.
Why is she's so precious she can't just ignore it anyway.

💯 👏 🤣

He had his own drive, which he can reverse into! Already been stated the neighbour is intimidating.

It benefits you because you get a warm glow that in amongst all the doom and gloom in the news, of all the heartbreak and upset we hear about...you know there is one person in the UK who actually likes their neighbours and goes out of there way to help them...me....and it could benefit you even more when the op comes back and says "NotAnotherScarf you were right. I will let him do it"

And proud!

its absolutely pointless discussing it with you. Perhaps it would help you to re read the whole thread!

"Excuse me Mr Policeman, my car was damaged as I not only trespassed onto my neighbours property, but also onto council owned land ( the pavement) and now I want to be a tit about it"😂

His fault that he didnt asses before he reversed. This isn't going anywhere.

Op you win! That's the best comeback I've read for ages! 🤣

you will see pigs fly before that happens

Not fired up at all.

Am simply calling you out for the wrong info - in that a tresspasser (the cunt neighbour) would not be afforded as much, if any protection under the legal claptrap you brought into this discussion.

Any previous agreement with previous homeowner ends when the OP bought the house. Fucking stunned that you cannot see that.

Thats why we have legal advice and courts rather than random people who think they are lawyers peddling BS on the internet.

🙄🤦‍♂️

'onus is on me as the driver to make sure there are no obstacles' that is true, but a bollard painted dark green on a grass verge, lower than usual, right next to where cars open their doors and not visible through the window feels like it is purposely trying to be obscured. Having low level rocks appear out of nowhere with no warning could be seen the same. It feels like a punishment for her neighbour potentially damaging their car or me damaging my car (when I was parking legally). That's not great neighbour relations. Would having a line of upturned nails against the boundary, or spikes so that he bursts his tyres also been seen as as acceptable?

And the intimidating bit is shit. No question. Hitting the rocks, what a twat.

But he can't reverse into his drive without using her drive.

And yet we see so many threads on here telling people to put up fences/trellises/planters to stop people using other peoples driveways/stop kids running over them etc.

Is it just a hatred of rocks that people have?

OP, go buy a sodding big planter.

I have read it.

The thing is that life is far nicer and easier for all of us if everyone isn't always 100% focused on their own rights, even when it means a petty gain for them and a huge disadvantage to the neighbour or other people they interact with on a daily basis. When I was 8 months pregnant I had to race a young man for a vacant seat on a crowded long-distance train. He had as much right to that seat as I had, but when everyone takes that attitude, when they or their wife gets pregnant, it'll be horrible for them too. When they really need to take the bus but are 2 pence short, they'll have to walk 5 miles because no-one will be big enough to give them the 2 pence (this has also happened to me), and so on. It makes our world so much worse. And it makes people despise you, OP. You should at least have warned him or made the rocks obvious.

Well, one might have assumed that the rocks were seen.

Haha! Well, despite our differences, I’m glad I could make you laugh!

I think that it's the fact that they aren't visible and had no warning (to someone she knows will drive there). I don't think there are many (although there are some) people who are against blocking the man from being able to drive over her drive.