Blocked in a car who parked in my space

[2026baby]

To be clear I own my flat and the parking space is part of my lease and is legally mine. If anyone wishes to use it they would need to have my permission as they would be trespassing otherwise. The space is on private land in a secure garage that requires fob access.

I have come home today from being away to find a random car parked in my space, I do not know who it belongs to. I paid to park on the street outside for an hour hoping they would move soon but no one did. Not wanting to spend any more money unnecessarily I have now parked in front of my parking space which has blocked them in. It is not impacting anyone else's space and allows free movement around the car park.

I have left a note on the car and put a message in the block's group chat but no one has responded. AIBU to block them in until I get a response?

I have nowhere else to park and I don't want to pay to park outside as its £4 an hour and I have no idea when they will move (So far it has been 3 hours that I am aware of). The managing agent is closed for the weekend but have been useless anyway when my neighbours have the same problem and as its a civil matter I can't call the police but according to google the car owner can call the police on me for blocking them in. I am also concerned in case they damage my car, again where would I stand legally if they did given that I have blocked them in?

@2026baby personally I'd invest in a bollard to make sure no-one could ever park in my privately owned space.
But in the event that this ever happened again, I would refuse to move until rogue car parker called CF neighbour to the scene and all details provided. Anybody with nerve like that hiding behind their anonymity won't think twice about doing it again otherwise.

I used to live in a flat next to a train station and the same thing happened regularly. I actually had people ask me how to get into the car park and had to explain to them it was for the massive block of flats it was quite clearly attached to. You needed a remote control to get in and people would often tail gate to get through. CFs.

You can get fined.
DGM had a disabled spot on the public road outside her house. When she gave up driving, uncle gave her lifts and used her blue badge for parking. He took her home one day, took her and the blue badge inside and got her settled. He had a ticket by the time he got out. He did appeal, as he had legitimate reason to park and not be displaying the badge, so the fine was cancelled.

Sorry if I wasn't clear - it was the neighbour who was banging on my door and mouthing off with the visitor sheepishly apologising in the background.

As I said there are 125 flats in our blocks, even if she had told me what flat she lived in, there would have been no way to know if she was telling me the truth unless I just happened to know someone who lived in that flat!

You should have made her telling you which neighbour a condition of you moving your car. In fact, you could have told the random person, you’d move it but only if the CFer neighbour themselves came and asked.

I wouldn’t be blaming the visitor for parking there because they were told they could park there. However, I would not be impressed that said visitor then decided it was perfectly ok to withhold this information after inconveniencing you and banging on your door late at night.

Oh! Ignore my above post then! Just make it your mission to identify this neighbour!

What was her comeback to you pointing it was a disability access space?

What’s a CF ?

Cheeky fucker

I hope you took a long time going back to get dressed in order to move your car. And walked slowly over to the space.

Oh, and did you tell them you were out of pocket, having had to pay for street parking because of their selfishness? I don’t suppose there was a chance in hell if them re-imbursing you?

This.

Why didn't she just respond to your message earlier on the group chat then? I don't understand why they waited until 10pm either. If she thought you'll be out all weekend and you weren't, the visitor could have also left their contact details on their car as well.

@2026baby personally I'd invest in a bollard to make sure no-one could ever park in my privately owned space.
But in the event that this ever happened again, I would refuse to move until rogue car parker called CF neighbour to the scene and all details provided. Anybody with nerve like that hiding behind their anonymity won't think twice about doing it again otherwise.

I can’t believe she was mouthing off as well!!

they waited until late to inconvenience you, I doubt they are just heading out or home for the evening at that time. They’d have saw it or been told of the issue on group chat.
I’d have left them there another hour or so 😬

The problem with that is that the OP would’ve then been the one in the wrong and police would’ve been called etc.

The neighbour was 100% a cheeky fucker!

No way would I have fit out of bed. The only reason I get up in the night is for my kids or if my elderly parents need me

As if the police were going to come out on a Saturday night to resolve a parking dispute. And if they had, she’d just have moved it then. It’d have at least inconvenienced the CF for longer.

it was the neighbour who was banging on my door and mouthing off with the visitor sheepishly apologising in the background
How does she have the nerve to 'mouth off' when she's so much in the wrong? What was she saying? You'd think she'd be apologetic.
She must have a view of the space from her flat to think it's free? It's tempting to go full out Colombo to track her down but is she likely to do it again?

Its an underground car park so no one can see any spaces from their flats. My space is the first one right by the lift so presumably if she is in and out everyday she noticed that my space had been empty all week

It’s the equivalent of somebody parking on your driveway. I can’t see why the police would want anything to do with it. It’s a civil matter.

When we lived in a similar set up, we paid £20K for the parking spot when we bought the apt and our management fees were higher then the apts who didn’t buy their car parking spots. When we sold, our annual mgt fees were £2.500 per annum which included maintenance of the private car park.

The neighbours who parked on the OP’s spot don’t have a leg to stand on.

OP contact the mgt company and find out who the private towing company is. This no. should be made available to all owners of parking spots.

The towed car then pays to retrieve their car.

What a shame you hadn't had several wines OP and were unable to drive

I wouldn’t have let her move until she told me which flat. That’s unbelievably poor behaviour from your neighbour and the guest.