AIBU for pulling into a private drive after my car failed?

[1hatchling1fledgling]

WWYD? AIBU. In a big traffic jam on an urban dual carriageway for ages. Suddenly my entire dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree, lose power steering, brakes etc. hazards on and get my car somehow into the left hand lane and then into the huge drive of a large house. Knock and explain. Call RAC who have arrived when the husband gets home. I instantly apologise and he says “yes my wife told me that you had abandoned your car in my drive” (I’d waited in the car). “Get it moved now”. So should I have (a) blocked one lane of the road in a heatwave, (b) blocked the pavement and cycleway or (c) done what I did. Fault transpired to be alternator malfunction at low speeds. I was quite upset, but the professional and kind RAC operative was brilliant. He needed to follow me home since I had his battery. So I gave him a bottle of lemonade and a couple of ice lollies, as wearing those fluorescents on a hot day he was really suffering with the heat. Note driveway/front garden large enough to accommodate 8 cars comfortably

What if the car or or RAC leaked oil on the driveway? That would annoy me. I think you YANBU as you spoke to wife who said it was OK but I wouldn’t do this…

You're supposed to put the triangle 150 ft behind your car (or whatever the metre equivalent is now). And vehicles are supposed to leave a gap they can actually stop in. (Which is presumably the primary thing you were supposed to get out of the story about a commercial vehicle crashing into a object revealed when the car it was too close to swerved - heavy vehicles need much longer to stop and need to leave more room).

Anyone driving on a road without a hard shoulder should be aware that a broken down vehicle has nowhere else to go. It still doesn't belong on the pavement.

You should pull the car as close to the left hand kerb as you can, put the hazards on, get out, call 999 and stick the triangle 150 ft back if you are able to.

What the fuck is a “private family driving space”??
Are you Hyacinth Bouquet??

OP be assured, most people think you did the right thing. You inconvenienced NOBODY.

That's all well and good, but it doesn't take into account human error. So, a broken down driver can take all these precautions, and hope that every driver who encounters the situation drives safely and attentively, or they can remove their vehicle from the live lane altogether, such that there is no obstacle for other vehicles to negotiate. Now, using common sense, which do you suppose is the safer of the two options?

Trays are a thing.

Did he come out and have a go at the RAC man? No? Because its easier to try and buy a woman.
His wife was ok with it (understood your reasons), you didn't abandon the car, you stayed with it, you didn't inconvenience him as it was a multi car drive, you didn't inconvenience the rest of the traffic. The only thing was it WAS his property so suppose he has the right to say something, however as PP say what reaction would he have given a man in the same position.
My pettiness would be to send some lovely flowers/decent wine to his WIFE for kindness and understanding!!

Do you have trays for catching oil lying around? I've never seen those outside a garage workshop. I don't have one.

it was a faulty alternator if you bothered to read any of the OP's replies. That would not leak oil 🙄