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?

Sometimes people are thoughtless twats, yes. When they're you're neighbours, the polite request almost always makes them stop it, because no one actually wants an ongoing feud.

I've had to ask my neighbours to keep the party noise down - they're young, they got carried away, I've been a party girl so I understood but it still went on too late - and guess what: they said yes, apologised, brought round chocolates the next day and whenever I've heard them having a party since, they've always been very conscientious about keeping the music down after 10pm. And now we say hi to each other in the street.

Could've called the police on them and I'd have been right. But I know which outcome I prefer.

She's actually given a reason multiple times.
Maybe read again.

Or we could just stick to the actual situation?!

i have no idea what you mean by a work trolley or why you're doubling it up to twice a day or why you're making it about how a woman would feel about a man doing it. That's a lot of added drama.

but to humour you, if my neighbour walked over my driveway for convenience I wouldn't care. It's a driveway,

HTH

Exactly. If I moved into a new house and wanted to change an arrangement that the neighbour had made with the previous owners of the house, I'd tell them. There are times all of us need to talk to neighbours about things.

He had obviously got into the habit of doing it after the previous owners gave him permission.

Yes it's still technically wrong and yes he should have confirmed with the new owners that it was still OK, but it was less entitlement and more a habit.

You have done absolutely nothing nothing wrong
but personally I would of had a conversation with him
rocks that size I doubt you’d see out of your mirrors
so if I put them there I would 100% expect them to damage a car

Im really fascinated by the people - not exclusively you - who find it worse to place objects on one’s own property than to trespass on someone else’s. Becoming accustomed to doing it is no excuse. The neighbour had no idea that OP knew he did this, because he hadn’t taken the basic step of discussing it with her.

As for helping her in a crisis, how useful is a man so stupid he threatens to call the police on her after damaging his own car, really going to be?

It may have been said already, I don't want to read 25 pages, but if he's reversing towards those from a short distance without a reversing camera, they're invisible.

I think you were unreasonable not to mark them with a traffic cone or something until you knew that he knew that they were there.

How do you know he had permission from previous owners? Personally I’d think it more likely a person who did have permission previously would seek to renew that permission with the new owner.

No. You cant prove intent was to damage the car. That's your interpretation.

You'd need to prove that she wanted to do more than stop him driving on her property. Given how awful people are, it's an easy way to avoid a confrontation and feud with a neighbour. Quite honestly I wouldn't confront a neighbour who was this much of an entitled prick. They are actively demonstrating they are unreasonable.

Indeed she has a realistic and totally reasonable expectation that Twatty McTwatface as a responsible driver is capable of using his eyes (via mirrors or reversing camera) and observing obstacle as per basic road safety laws. So he doesn't hit anything of value on the OPs property. Like gardening tools, ugly gnomes, herself kneeling down gardening, a feral squirrel, a domestic pet or a stray toddler who has escaped. Cos it's her property.

If you would like to prove otherwise in court good luck to you.

Yes, lots of people have said OP should have given a big shiny warning to advise the man not to drive into her property. But no-one has explained why she ought to tell him not to trespass, rather than him knowing that himself. Maybe you can buck that trend?

My neighbour is a monumental twat. The idea that neighbours are all reasonable is the stuff of idealism.

And no it's not me. Ask the builders she's not paid and three of the other houses she's neighbours with.

She's out there special.

I don't know what your passive aggressive post to me is supposed to be adding to the conversation.

I'll probably see a dozen people today acting in inconsiderate ways to others, it's what humans do?

Possibly I've interpreted it wrongly, but it seems an odd approach to take to someone you feel intimidated by.

Either way, not my problem. It's not me who has started life in a new neighbourhood badly.

Threads can be found quickly in Google search results. If the neighbour were looking up this kind of situation, this thread could come up for him. Maybe you should get it taken down, OP.

Of course he’s on the wrong, but since he didn’t know about the rocks are you surprised he drove over them and damaged his car? What did you think was going to happen.

The ‘ feel free to reverse over my drive people ‘ might like to have a look at prescriptive easement.

Sorry about your neighbour. She's not the norm though. Most people can be thoughtless but when asked politely not to be, will apologise and stop it. Which is why the best tactic is always to ask politely first rather than setting traps.

No it's the neighbour who can't drive who did. He should reverse onto his drive if he has issues with parked cars in the street. Cos oh yes road safety...

Just because the OP moved later doesn't mean they are to blame for a lack of neighbourhood harmony.

We don't know why the previous neighbours moved. We do know they had a prick of a neighbour who kept driving over their property though. Do we know if they were really ok with this, apart from the Twatty neighbor who threatened the OP saying it?

Cos he's reliable as a witness. I mean he has issues with his eyes for starters.

Right. For the hard of thinking.
Imagine op didn't put rocks down but instead installed a gate at the end of her drive.

If he "hadn't seen" her gate and had
driven into it, would you still be saying
that was OPs fault?

You think she should have knocked on her neighbours door and said "by the way I'm putting a gate on my drive, oh and I'm thinking of swapping the shower to a bath and painting the living room blue as well, given apparently I'm supposed to consult with all neighbours before making any changes to my house?"

Or what if OP/DC had left something like a bike or skateboard or some junk for the iron man/bins or her small recycling bin or whatever on the end of her drive, and he had driven over that and damaged her car, because he "hadn't noticed" them? Would that still be her fault for leaving her own things on her own driveway?

If you can hear it sounds ridiculous to accuse her of deliberately damaging his car by installing a gate he drove into, or leaving a household item on her drive, then the exact same rationale applies to the rocks. They are large enough to be clearly visible to anyone looking. They're far larger than a cat or small child - if he can't be expected to notice a pile of rocks then would you be fine with him running over OPs pet or DC, who might very well be on her driveway not expecting anyone to reverse into them?

I can't believe that some posters are putting OP down because she didn't talk to him about it first.

Did he ask if it was OK to use her drive? No, he just assumed, and felt he was entitled because previous owners 'didn't mind'. And that is now obvious given he's now threatening the OP with police.

Why on Earth should she talk to him about her own property and any changes she makes.

OP good for you!

He'd have to do that for 20 years for that to apply, right?

All those using my driveway to turn are casual, not regular, doers. I don't have an issue.

You can’t be bothered to read the thread, say something that has been said and debated 20 or so times, and ask others what they’re adding to the discussion? Ok 👌🏻

Totally agree & I'm going to go & live my day among normal people doing normal things & remember it's Mn that's barking & doesn't actually represent real life 😊

Guarantee this will not happen. My neighbours’ guests managed to reverse into my fence, trashing it. I saw them doing it. They closed ranks and denied it. I assumed they would stop (reg plate was obscured) but they bombed it off before I managed to get outside.

Why do you think this would be a problem? If he finds the thread he might see that a majority of people think he was in the wrong. That sounds quite helpful.