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?

The OP had no reason in the world to warn this man about the rocks.

Correct https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/using-the-road-reversing.html

Thanks! At least I remember some things 🤓

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.

I know it’s been said but I really enjoyed this bit.

Everything could have been avoided if ndn could keep on his own property.. As many many of us manage.

Honestly how many times this week have you assumed rights to something belonging to someone else?

I get what you are saying about hazards and duty of care. Wire/glass or a hole to prevent trespassers are a no no.

In OP’s case I don’t think rocks would be a hazard. I guess the next question is, could the OP see rocks causing injury/damage? Personally I do not think the OP could foresee that neighbour would hit the rocks. I would expect a competent driver to look around them to check if safe to reverse.

YANBU. He sounds like a twat. Get bigger rocks in.

This! I replied in support of @lghtnght and then read a few more posts. Have now read it all - there’s some people on here who are either your neighbour OR as entitled and unreasonable as him. You’ve done NOTHING wrong or unreasonable. If he can’t reverse into his own drive to make his life easier and can’t manage to reverse out without going onto your drive and hitting something, I’d suggest he shouldn’t be driving.

YANBU
HE IS BU
Some people on this thread ABVU

Who knew rocks would be so controversial!

I doubt that. They’ll probably be delighted this man has been put firmly in his place

The cheek of some people is hilarious, If I were you OP, I’d go buy more rocks to really P him off.

Exactly!
Him driving on your drive way is causing extra wear and tear.
Ignore this nonsense and don't let him aggressively blackmail you into taking any responsibility for crashing into rocks.

People are entitled to deposit anything they wish on their own land provided it is not intended as a trap or disguised hazard. The OP owes a minimat duty of care to his neighbour not to deliberately cause traps or danger. The neighbour trespassed on the OPs land where he hit a stationary object (which was fully on OPs property) and damaged his car. The rocks were an obvious and visible feature and the neighbour entered the property of his own free will. OP did not entice or cause him to do so. The neighbour is responsible for his own driving. If he lacks the skill to reverse off his own drive then this is not OP's responsibility. If OP did anything amiss it was not to buy a bigger boulder that his neighbour could not fail to miss.

OR he could reverse onto his drive and not need to reverse onto hers to get out of his

If they're not on his land he doesn't need to be informed does he? Honestly the number of folk getting their knickers in a twist about an entitled man.
I wouldn't like anyone using my drive either.

You can actually get full-size traffic cones for about £20 on Amazon. Petty me would get one of those. And put a rock on top.

Honestly, some of the responses are so odd to me.....surely the onus should be on the person requiring the favour/permission/access to initiate the conversation with the person from whom they need the favour/permission/access?!

Ie in my world, the neighbour should have popped over when the OP moved into the cult de sac to say " welcome to the street, hope you don't mind me asking but.....blah blah blah.....would make my life much easier but just wanted to mention it".

But what he's done is completely ignore a new neighbour whilst using their drive for his own convenience.

OP honestly I'm with you!!

This.

Its her drive! Its not being petty.

He is being entitled! Cannot believe you think thats ok. She doesnt have to ask anyones permission to put rocks on HER property! He should be a good neighbour and keep off other peoples drives ffs!

OP you’ve done nothing wrong. You put something on your drive. You don’t need a newsletter and announcement!!

neighbour is a CF - of course he knows he shouldn’t be doing it!! Bet he wouldn’t like people doing it on his driveway!!

I think OP is quite within her rights to put rocks ON HER OWN DRIVEWAY.

If the neighbour wasn't ON SOMEONE ELSE'S PROPERTY he wouldn't have scraped his car.

I can't understand how anyone is defending the twatty entitled man-child.
It doesn't matter if OP has lived in the house 10 minutes or 10 years. She hadn't asked him to use her driveway nor had she given him permission.

Let him cry to his solicitor/car insurer and see what they have to say.

And yes, the blue car is most at fault but again, it's nothing to do with OP. That's something for scrapy car man to sort out.

Not read the thread,

Treat people as you would wont you. Funny ,generous acceptance

So, it all depends on what your deeds say - my parents were getting annoyed by a neighbour reversing on their drive but it turned out that the deeds had some sort of covenant or something that specifically stated that the drive needed to be accessible for people to turn their cars. It was unusual because it's entirely possible to turn your car without using their driveway!

I’d install an electric gate made entirely of rocks

Don’t worry about police or solicitors- he won’t get anywhere with that.