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?

Wow you're getting a hard time @lghtnght wasn't so long ago when penguin bollards would have been suggested to keep the fucker away..

So what? I envy people if this sort of thing is even on their radar as an annoyance. I wouldn't give a single crap if someone reversed on to my drive 20 times a day. I genuinely don't get why anyone is bothered by this sort of thing.

I’m wondering whether all those who think it’s so trivial actually have a drive!

I have and nowhere was given a reason . I live in teh middle of nowhere with only 3 neighbors all separated by at least 300 feet , it’s a single track and often people come on my drive to let other car get through . Doesn’t bother me at all as it doesn’t bother me when the mailmen or Amazon reverses in it .
I honestly cannot imagine starting a war with a direct neighbor and risk my peace and quiet over something as petty

I have a drive and people turn in it frequently.

yes it’s totally trivial

It’s the OP’s property, which is not there for the benefit of others!

Twice a neighbour reversed off their drive into the car parked outside my house. And was rude about the car parking on the road outside my house, opposite their drive, that they’d just driven into. Twice.

People can be knobs. The knob in this story isn’t the woman who can put whatever she likes on her own drive- bench, skip, planter, or ornamental rocks.

Yet, the OP and I are not the ones who got a post deleted, are we?

I’m not you, you’re not me, something that annoys you, doesn’t annoy me, and vice versa…we’re all different…hmm…interesting

Ok? Still doesn't really matter though does it.

You seriously need to get a grip if this annoys you so much that you would purposely put something there to damage his car without even attempting to speak to him. Totally ridiculous and quite a nasty thing to do.

I am genuinely bamboozled at all these people suggesting its neighbourly to ignore him using your drive as a turncircle because its "for the community"?!?! "Its neighbourly" and it doesnt really impact you

You dont have to have a stranger in your garden, you dont have to explain your rocks/fence/bedding plants or anything else.

All those people saying your unreasonable for not wanting to share your private property? I mean what if he wanted to come in and drink for his flask on your sofa because it was convenient to rest his legs? - as long as hes not drinking your coffee, or blocking the view of the TV... just because its a drive outside not sofa inside doesnt mean its a right that he uses it for his convenience.

Yes I think it is unreasonable of you to deal with a situation you had a problem with by putting down rocks on your driveway.

If you had a problem you could have just mentioned it to him, knocked on his door or left a note on his car. That would be a good first step. If that didn't work then you would be within your rights to put rocks or whatever down to impeed him at that point. But talking to people should aways be the first step.

I think with neighbours consideration and the benefit of the doubt goes a long way, so it would be fairer to have given him a chance to correct his behaviour before passive aggressively placing rocks in your driveway.

If I were you I would do some reflecting on how I handled the situation and why it was I felt I couldn't talk to a neighbour face-to-face.

No, he has zero right, but that doesnt mean that it's not a bit of a shirty thing to do to have rocks that you can't see/weren't expecting and are likely to damage his car because she knows that he will drive over them. He is in the wrong but in terms of morals, is purposefully damaging a car by placing a hazard not a but arseholey? I think so

If she'd asked him to stop it and he carried on, fair enough, but these rocks came out of nowhere.

Hay we disagree, so what, life without debate is dreadful. Sadly the world is going that way. I think you are wrong, you think you are right. We've debated, agreed to differ and you still have a nice rock collection, in fact you could go full retro 1970s and build a rockery.

I didn’t put them there to damage his car. I put them there to deter him (and any other cheeky fuckers) from using my property without permission. He trespassed on my land, wasn’t paying attention, and ended up damaging his car in the process 🤷🏼‍♀️

If he carries on, tell him you’re reporting him to DVLA because you think his eyesight isn’t up to par.

Er…yes it does. So it’s ok for me to sit on my neighbour’s lawn and eat my lunch ? No? Not hurting anyone am I?

I am wondering how much damage they could do to his car? They don't look that big to me!

Good one!

Exactly, but some on here are too dim to understand that, apparently!

Absolutely! I wasn’t expecting everyone on mumsnet to agree with me, and I knew there would be a mix of views. At least you didn’t get nasty with it. Some people have to resort to name calling to get their point across. Anyway, looking ahead, I will probably put up a fence or maybe a wall so it’s visible to everyone (not just him) and then we all know where we stand, and hopefully, that will prevent any more problems in the future!

I'm a bit worried about my own doings now and that I won't get my tyres slashed when I'm asleep.

I live in a new build estate and have a house tucked in the corner. My neighbour is even more tucked in and we have a little drive to access our houses and garage. The deeds show it split right down the middle for ownership. The road is an L shape with my house at the bottom, theirs at the corner and out garage at the top of the L.

I drive in straight forward (same as my neighbour). But to exit I'd have to reverse right round the L, so I use the neighbours half of the road to exit, by doing a 3 point turn. Plus there is a tiny extra bit in the corner of the L (like on a serif font) that I use to do the three point turn. This is also in the neighbours half of the road.

Will I get my tyres slashed? I'll ask next time I see them to check that they won't 😱🤣🤣

Oh I miss the penguin bollard days.....

Can I come and use your shower? It won’t hurt you will it…

I might take a nap in your bed too - why not, if you’re not in it? Doesn’t inconvenience you then does it?