Neighbour blocked shared drive deliberately, AIBU or are they?

[WoesFromAuntFlo]

We moved into our new home around a year ago and have had nothing but weird vibes from our neighbours who we share a drive with. Our front doors face each other up a steep drive and we both have garages at the end of them, kind of backing onto our separate gardens.

We have been nothing but pleasant with them and have kind of just let them use the driveway as there isn’t a lot of room for two cars so we never really pushed it.

They have always been a bit odd. A lot of curtain twitching when we leave the house and barely looking up when we say good morning etc. Other neighbours have told us they’ve had issues with them but we have just assumed they’re quirky and let them get on with it.

ANYWAY, we had a rubbish clearance man come to collect some rubbish from our side of the drive and the garden yesterday. He called us after (we are currently away seeing family) to say he couldn’t do half of it because the neighbour said he couldn’t pull up the drive - he did knock to ask. And then used his car to completely block off access to the driveway, so the rubbish clearance men struggled to get the rubbish past the car and didn’t want to cause any damage so abandoned the job.

For avoidance of doubt, the rubbish guys we use are really lovely and polite, we used them on our last home refurb, and they’re not the type to argue or whatever. They just said okay then, took photos to show off, and left the job when they couldn’t do anymore.

WIBU to ask my neighbours what they’re playing at?! It’s cost us money as we have had to (rightfully) pay for the full clearance even though they couldn’t access it all.

Or AIBU for wanting to be able to use our shared driveway?

You do not need to worry about them calling the police if you block them in. My mum’s new neighbour threatened her and she called the police and they wanted absolutely nothing to do with the parking situation as it was a civil dispute and only approached him about the threat. The police said they couldn’t get involved - only the threat to her was the concern.

This.

Your neighbour could be trying to gain the whole driveway and parking area by adverse possession. He only has to show he’s the only one to use both for 10 years.

How long did the previous owners of your house live there?

Agree with this!! You’re letting them get away with it.

You don't have to get authorities involved.
Unfortunately your neighbour has got away with this for too long, they're being ignorant and you really need to shut it down.
Play them at their own game and do exactly what they're doing to you.

The only one having a quiet life in all this is your neighbour.

Your neighbour is a massive dick

OP I posted previously about having been in a very similar situation. I completely empathise because unless you have ever experienced neighbours like this it’s very easy to say just knock round and tell them to stop. In my case the neighbour would have argued black was white she was so obsessed that it was her right to block us in for absolutely insane reasons. We had to get the police involved and it took 2 years for them to apply enough pressure that she moved. If you don’t want to move contact the police and ask them what you should do. We ended up having to keep a diary of all the crazy behaviour and not engage with her at all. We had a reference number to quote when we phoned up to log stuff and the pipe took it very seriously. My guess is that your neighbour will start putting pots in awkward places and it will escalate from there. My neighbour dispute culminated in her digging up part of our drive and planting trees in it when we were away.

I doubt that would work in this case because it’s not just the land - there are two garages at the end of the driveway.

Any update @WoesFromAuntFlo

you have got to stop being polite

you knock and knock and knock both back door and front if you can UNTIL THEY ANSWER

Failing that, call the police for a welfare check and let THEM do the door knocking

I used to live next to neighbours like yours and unfortunately things don't improve. People like this know what they're doing. If I could go back in time and give myself advice on how to handle such people, it is to be one step ahead of them. Give your neighbours the benefit of doubt if you manage to chat with them and see if they're reasonable, if not then take steps to protect yourself. Install CCTV and start logging this with police, it's the start of harassment. You need a trail of evidence if things escalate. In my case, I thought things would blow over but my neighbours are unhinged and would not leave us alone. Police were beyond useless.