Aibu to have reported the dustbin lorry to the council?

[Bumpyroads]

Bit of back story us and our next door neighbours quietly dislike each other. Nobody has really said anything but I know we both annoy each other from what is said about the street. They moan about us, things we do etc.

Recently they have been playing loud music in the garden at the weekends in a passive aggressive way. This started when they complained about our chickens being noisy ( we have rehomed the chickens because of this but thats another story) the reason I'm saying all of this is because in general I am just in a bad mood about our neighbours and don't know if this has tainted my reaction.

So next door neighbour is a bin man, he wasn't at work.
Bin lorry come and parks up across my drive . Workmen get out and go in neighbours house/garden for 40 minutes having a drink and break. All this time I was unable to get off or access my drive. There was a bin lorry parked unattended across it.

So husband rings to complain to the council. They were confused as on their tracker the lorry was supposedly elsewhere. They also agreed 40minutes was excessive but said they must have been emptying bins? No they were having a cuppa at my neighbours! Council are going to investigate, I suspect they were taking unauthorised breaks and turning the tracker off.. maybe.

Anyway the reason this has also annoyed me so much is our neighbours have lived hear 30+ years and act like they own the street. Complain about anything we do (leaves from our trees fall in their garden for example.) They are 60+ and set in their ways and we are a young family. Tbh I just dont think they like us, we normally don't rise to it and smile and wave etc. But this time I had had enough and complained.

Aibu? And have we just started ww3?

Blocking your gate for 40 minutes?
Too right I would complain about it.

It just keeps getting worse!! I've also now found out the reason it happened before around to weeks ago.
They pop past to empty the daughters garden waste bin so she doesn't have to pay the yearly subscription (not our bin day the dad is obviously on another garden waste round).
They then go for a cuppa at their mates the other side of me.

Im not going to further report the garden waste bin but wtf!

I don't think you have been unreasonable.
I would have done the same as you.
The bin men were unreasonable to park infront of your drive, they deliberately joined in with your bad neighbours behaviour to annoy you, so with their CF behaviour, they can take the consequences of being reported.
100% agree you can't just carry on taking entitled selfish behaviour from CF neighbours and keep quiet.
The bin men were in the wrong to have parked infront of your driveway, and taking a break when they should be working, so its good you had the courage to report them. Also, the amount of bin collections they must have missed in that time?

Wouldn’t it have been simpler, easier, and less likely to start a feud to have just walked over and politely asked if the driver of the bin truck could please move it so you could get out of your drive? They could have easily moved it in under ten minutes and return to their tea. An “investigation” may set things off.

How happy will you be when the neighbours retaliate in some way? Right or not, you’ve lit the match.

This. You knew where they were. Why didn’t you just go and ask them to move the thing? That would have been the mature thing to do. THEN, if they wouldn’t, you could consider what to do next.

Bloody hell - no the Council don’t need to be spending time and money responding to an FOI request because OP and her neighbours don’t like each other!
Stuff like this costs money and staff time that could be more beneficially spent elsewhere.

Yes. Because, EMERGENCY. But she should have knocked and talked to the guys in the first place, instead of ratting them out to the Council. They aren’t her neighbours, but will be in trouble. Meanwhile, neighbours are not in trouble, but will feel justified in being increasingly petty.

I've had a tirade of abuse before for asking someone to kindly move their vehicle, so I can understand why the OP would just report it straight off.

You’re missing your chance! Try to be friendly and welcoming. If rebuffed, start practicing sour looks and grumbling curses and complaints in a low voice. Kick a dog or cat, deflate any balls that come over the fence into your garden. Have the Council on speed dial to complain about wind chimes, slamming doors, people having friends over, you know the litany of neighbourhood sins. Do all these and your title of Neighbourhood Witch is assured.

Or, you could just choose to have a peaceful life.

My friend Anne is thirty-two. She is the most set in her ways of anyone I know. Her glass of water must have four ice cubes, no more, no less. Age has nothing to do with it.

Some of this makes no sense.
Firstly, wht would they be supposed to be collecting from a school 2 weeks into the summer holidays.
Binmen are on task and finish so they can take a lunchbreak during their shift or not. Why do you think the council will give a fuck?
They have to block roads and drives all the time. If you had asked them ti move and they had refused tgst would be one thing but that didn't happen.

What did you expect? You escalated and thought they’d just let it go? So, now you can feel happy that you’re “right” and see the outcome it got you. Enjoy the radio.

You seem admirably in touch with your inner toddler throwing a tantrum. Is it time for a nap?

Funny you didn’t just ask them to move it. OP, I was totally on your side until you revealed how entitled and petty you are.

But that’s your experience, not hers,

why is everyone having a go at the OP? The neighbour shouldn’t be parking a big smelly bin lorry on her drive??!

That's because the ones who love and enjoy castigating posters on MN are the ones who can't wait to post and denigrate the one who started the post. It's the same every. single. time.

Those of us in agreement don't always find the need to speak up, though now I have.

@Bumpyroads Yes, it might have been petty but the old saying of "the straw that broke the camel's back" is just for this scenario.
The couple sound like entitled old fuckwits, who wish to control everything around them and think their age makes them "special".
And yes, I am older than they are and would never act like they are, but have seen the "entitled age" behavior before.

That lorry is on the other side of the road, how is it blocking you in?

Thank goodness you said this. Its not just their age of course but the reason I included it was because I thought it could be relevant. Not to be ageist.

I rarely understand the cries of "ageist" on here, and this is another example. How dare anyone mention that someone is 60+?? We all know that doesn't matter and can get you cancelled these days. Except...of course it matters. Im nearly 60 and its totally different from being 30, or 40. We've been 30 and 40, we should know theres a difference for christ sake and stop getting all offended and huffy and puffy about it. Crying "ageist" is just another way to close down the conversation on mn when its not going our way or we dont agree with something. Rather than address the actual question/issue, us over 50s roll our eyes and put "stop with the ageist nonsense ". I always want to say " stop with the denying our age nonsense ".

YABVVVU to use the word cuppa

In your original post

Bin lorry come and parks up across my drive . Workmen get out and go in neighbours house/garden for 40 minutes having a drink and break. All this time I was unable to get off or access my drive. There was a bin lorry parked unattended across it

quite a lot of detail here, about going into the house etc, how you’d not be able to access for 40 mins but you never menton:-

Its happened more than once and I didn't want it happening again when I actually did need to go out or come home

That takes quite some time to be mentioned and it’s a lot more relevant than their age!

I hope your neighbour that dad got into trouble knows it was you that was telling? And you were only trying to do them a good deed? 🤔

Ive attached an image, we also live on a corner so quite dangerous too.

How close to the corner do you live? You’ve got neighbours either side? So you’re not the end house, so you live close to the corner not on the corner?

The bin men chose to block their friends neighbours drive . That’s on them.

Yes, likely stopping for a break is fine if a task and done authority. It’s a great benefit to an otherwise difficult job not many would want to do.

If they were just popping in to friends for a cuppa they could have blocked friends drive. But they didn’t so the question always is why? And the history of the neighbours would hint as to the reason.

However OP, I would take photos of the bin outside your house ready for collection for a few weeks in case they don’t collect it and accuse you of not putting it out.

I think you might be at least half the problem OP. Reporting the bin men was nasty.