Neighbour damaged his car on my drive

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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?

Would it really take a thousand years - because I’ve lived in my house for less than 5 years, and the drive that I don’t even drive in every day is in bits and needs replacing. Almost every flag is broken. I’d be furious if they were breaking faster because someone else was driving on my drive too.

Surely you knew that this might happen when you put the rocks there. And from his seating position and angle through the rear view mirror, I very much doubt that he could have seen them.

So yes, he shouldn't assume that he can use your drive, but if you preferred him not to, you should have said so rather than take action that you knew could damage his car.

Seriously? The only reason to stop people coming onto your property is if you can prove it inconveniences you? Should people be able to park on your drive whilst you're out at work? You're not using the space so why not. How about people camping in your garden when you go on holiday?

OP put rocks on her own property she doesn't need to negotiate it with the neighbour. It's for him to negotiate with OP rather than behaving like an entitled arse. The fact that he damaged his car by trying to reverse on to her drive and is now threatening legal action suggests he's litigious which makes doing him a favour a liability.

OP, there is only one thing to do here. Get bigger rocks. If you want to put a rockery on your drive, that’s your prerogative.

Ha ha ha ha. OMG, why should OP talk to this div? No way!

The only talking needed was the twatty neighbour telling the other twatty neighbour to park better, so nobody had to drive on somebody else's property.

There's a difference between walking across the grass, flower beds etc at this time of year in particular to putting two wheels on a driveway

I think you both could've talked and it would've been a better outcome. obviously damaging his car on your rocks isn't your fault.

its actually blue cars fault.

but i would generally have a conversation firstly before resulting to rocks. but thats just me. i understand others prefer not to speak to strangers.

If your diagram is accurate, he's only been driving over a little corner of it. So I think your strategy was all the more unreasonable. Just communicate, FFS.

No I agree she can keep what she likes on her drive, I just think it's petty and un-neighbourly to not allow him to use the drive. Does it harm her, no. Does him using the drive benefit everyone, yes.

This is batshit.

Nobody needs to use someone else’s drive to reverse; that’s just embarrassing. He should reverse on, or reverse round to the right away from the parked car.

Only a CF would think they need to use someone else’s drive to reverse, when the reality is they can’t drive properly. Clearly can’t use his mirrors either if he didn’t see them. Moron.

I truly dont get the driveway antics, but i'm from the city people use drive entrances to turn all the time. no one gives a shit.

in my aunts cul de sac its all they talk about.

I agree with this.

or at the very least, if you were going to be so petty you could have spoken to him first & asked him not to use your drive, rather than deliberately do something to damage his car.

Lol, he's another entitled idiot, there's a lot of them about. And says something about his driving that he'd not spotted the rocks 😩

The driver is 100% at fault. He's driving on someone else's property and it's not the OP's fault that he didn't spot them. Quite a bad driver.

I agree with most of what you say. I just think in terms of the greater good...cars being able to get along the road easier, neighbour relationships, what harm is done by him using her drive.

Naturally if he's driving an articulated lorry which is cracking the drive then no...but come on

Pretty rocks? A rockery at the corner of a garden with planting etc, yes that can look very attractive. However, in this case I'm imagining a pile of loose rocks at the bottom of the drive which is just a bit random.

I'm inclined to agree with NotAnotherScarf, in that it seems a bit petty to be that bothered about someone reversing their car over your boundary for a matter of seconds before driving away, like you must be hovering at the window monitoring anyone 'trespassing'. Was it that much of an inconvenience in retrospect?

He absolutely should not have been aggressive though.

As OP said they should reverse into their own drives. Why do some people think they’re allowed to trespass on other people’s property? If he couldn’t see those rocks he shouldn’t be driving.

Yep. Totally agree.

Completely agree. The OP is in the right here, why on earth are some criticising her?

It's clearly a tight cul de sac, the ops diagram gives the appearance that it's all open plan drives, but I doubt that is the case.

Again as it's not causing any harm to the op I think she's just being petty

I agree with you @WelcometomyUnderworld - it doesn't take "a thousand years" to wear out someone's drive.

It does take 5 minutes however to hear from them "no" when you ask them "would you contribute to my drive resurfacing, seeing as you use it 4-5 times a day" etc.

People are way too comfortable in this country using stuff that other people pay to maintain.

Yanbu. I do think it is very tight though. Out of curiosity, do you manage to reverse onto your drive without issue?

I constantly have people reversing outside my house as it is the only turning spot . Occasionally they end up on my drive or on pavement outside my drive . Unless I am coming out at the same time who cares ? I hate this preciousness Mine Mine Mine . Why are people so territorial about stupid shit like this . Stress out about nothing .
And just to be wholly fair I think that guy was pathetic telling you about police and solicitors. Silly bugger . But he is right that you could have just said I don't like you on my drive . Then he is on notice and you could have put out rocks .

He’s a terrible driver if he can’t reverse out of his own drive. That’s his embarrassing issue, not OP’s.

Are you the neighbour?

The entitled arse got what he asked for. The end