Builder parked in my space and then stroppy with me!

[MicDoyle]

AIBU, I live in a block of flats and I have paid for my car parking space. I cone home after a long day of teaching and there is a van parked in my spot. As a result, I have to park elsewhere and not legally. This is the second time. When he did it the first time I left him a note. This time, I left him another note saying that I will be reporting him to the flat management. He comes knocking on my door, he wanted me to open the door but I said I'm fine speaking through the door. He explained he had a job booked. He seemed to think it was absolutely reasonable to take someone else's spot because he has a job! I asked him to park in his client's spot and he said its underground and his van can't fit. I said I don't see what that has to do with me and surely you cannot think its ok to just park in my spot. He stormed off sating I was being unreasonable!

Entitled wanker.

He sounds like a twat, so many builders are when working on other people's property.

They don't give a toss about the trouble they cause to neighbouring homes.
Take a pic of his van in your space and report him.

Try to find out who the client is and tell them you'll charge them an hourly rate for the space next time

@NovemberMorn Thanks. Yes I did take a picture in case the management try to fine me!

@Kingdomofsleep He said no 70 something! Hopefully he wont do it again.

@MrsTerryPratchett right?!

You've warned him. You pay for the parking space. Its up to the neighbour to find a place for him to park. You've got the photo and he's come up to your door to berate you for leaving a note!! Report him.

Find the neighbour and tell him the builder was aggressive, that’s disgraceful behaviour.

Definitely report him.

Aggressive? Don't say aggressive unless he actually was @MicDoyle.

I will never understand the crass entitlement of people who believe that, because they can't access something that they need/want/find convenient, it somehow justifies them taking it from an entirely unconnected person.

It would at least be slightly more honest of them if they acknowledged that they were being a nasty, selfish CF; but the number who genuinely just see the provision of what they require as far more important than the needs of the person who owns/pays for it, and thus completely justified, is truly breathtaking.

Block him in and then have a long bath with a huge glass of wine. I wouldn't be moving until the morning.

Report him to his employer.

Well done for keeping yourself safe too and not opening the door! Absolute dick.

Yes! It's the same as when someone is in your seat on a train and they say it's because someone was in their booked seat. Well off you go, grow a spine and move them then!

I think a lot of builders consider that they need to park their van nearby, and so it's the fault/problem of the householder if this cannot be provided... but why on earth the needs then have to be provided by a random neighbour instead, I haven't the faintest idea.

It's even more bizarre considering that most tradespeople have their name and phone number painted massive on their van - you'd think they'd be even more careful not to transgress (and potentially risk reputation and future custom) than a non-self-employed person in an anonymous car might.

None of that is your problem.

My dad’s a skilled tradesman. He’s never parked badly. I’ve gone with him to work thousands of times.

recently some nasty woman took a picture of his “van blocking her driveway” slating him all over Facebook. “Tell him to move it, I’m disabled blah blah blah”. Turns out - checking his van tracker and dash cam. - he wasn’t ever parked there. He had pulled over for a brief moment to fix an issue with his van (something had shifted in the back). He wasn’t pulled up for more than 5 minutes, and was only vaguely over her dropped curb - barely an inch - on a busy street with nowhere else to pull up. she’d have easily gotten by, or asked him politely and he would have apologised and moved out of the way entirely.

it was really hurtful for our family. We were all really upset by this, we live in a small neighbourhood. evil bisy body being malicious

Sounds like a twit. He should’ve told the neighbour they need to provide parking and neighbour could’ve then potentially negotiated swapping spaces with someone for the week. Not sure why the builder thinks it’s your job to provide it.

Your story is unfortunate but it bears no resemblance to the OP’s situation so it’s not really relevant. Your family member may be considerate but the twat who parked in OP’s bay was the opposite.

Yes, all good tradesmen we've ever had have called us in advance and checked what parking there is. The expectation is that the client arranges the parking (both for the builder's van and any skips etc). So in this case, the neighbour should have paid for a temporary space, but it's on the builder to check he's done that and that the space is big enough for his van.

Only a disorganised and unprofessional builder would just rock up and take a chance on parking.

Still, all the liability here is on the client in my opinion (not a lawyer). I don't think the flat management has anything to do with it. It'd be the neighbour who needs to pay you back if you incurred costs due to this, imo.

How is the fact that you’ve had a long day of teaching relevant? Why not just say working?

I agree. They escalate the problem to soneone else/others.

I always insist they move from the seat I booked.

Because they don't get called out for it so they can. Same with middle lane hoggers, playing music out loud on phones in public shared spaces, fare dodging etc. Crappy behaviour seeps through society because it is allowed too, then it mutates into an entitlement which becomes virtually impossible to shift unless you are prepared to risk getting into a potentially dangerous escalation.

As long as it isn't a situation where all seat bookings have been cancelled which can happen during periods of major disruption.

That's super annoying. He must be a real charmer!

Don’t wait for it to happen again - because it will, especially now he knows you’re a woman.

Theres no doubt that he would go nuts if someone did this at his home!

Report him for the past two occasions to the flat management today.

He did park badly. He parked over a dropped kerb. It doesn’t matter it was only an inch and for “five minutes”, if you saw the harassment disabled people face on a daily basis when they have to “ask politely” every time someone decides to take over spaces designed for them, you’d understand it isn’t something they are confident about doing. Trying to manoeuvre your car out of your driveway when there is a big van in the way can be really difficult, particularly if you are reversing on to a busy road. He had choices, he could have waited until he wasn’t going to block a driveway. He chose not to.