what would you do in this situation - advice needed please

[elmofan]

hi guys haven't posted in a while but we have really had a terrible week & i feel awful , my neighbour has hit my car with their car 4 times in the past two years , here are big problems with outside parking but yet we have always stuck to our side of the front garden . whereas they don't . every time we move our car they pull their car up into our parking space , dh has tried to speak mam to man with this guy 3 times now asking him to stop banging into my car every time it has happened he says yeah ok & then pulls up again the minute we are out
we went out yesterday morning & when we got back we saw that their car once again had hit mine & they left it there like that . dh went to get the camera to take a photo of this & the woman came out of the house screaming all kinds of abuse at us saying its only an fu##king car & we need to get a life . then she said she was calling the police so i phoned the police instead seeing as it was my car thats getting banged . when the police came she was putting on a show for them by crying & holding her baby & telling the police that we bully them etc {angry}
we never speak to these people .
as soon as the police left they were over with another neighbour laughing about the situation & pointing at our house .
sorry its probably more of a " what would you do " than AIBU.

i'd move

I would go for the quiet life option...

Nobody owns the piece of street infront of their house so why not just park a couple of metres down where your car wont get damaged?

move. park somewhere else. ignore them.

I would too. I would park somewhere else and then try to move in the meantime. People are nuts about parking sometimes and it can all escalate.

Where I live in London I'm lucky if I get to park on the street where I live - let alone bang outside my house. it really doesn't matter - park a few feet away and lose the stress and hassle.

Tarmac your front garden and park there. Like claricebeansmum said no-one owns the street. If you don't have somewhere to park on your property you have to accept that people might bump your car when it's parked on the road. Your neighbours sound really horrible but there's not much you can do to stop them parking wherever they like.

I know it may be a PITA to move your car down the street and have to walk a bit further, but for piece of mind, or for security, I think it'd be worth it.

Also, don't feel that you're 'giving in' to these nutbags just by moving your car. It's your choice.

If there is something so wrong with him that he can't stop from hitting your car when it's outside your house, I'd move it.

T

we have put our house up for sale 2 months ago but we've only had 2 viewers so far , & we live facing a large green area & it has been known for a few cars to have been set on fire in the last few years so it would be a worry to park down the road , but yes it might be worth the risk just to avoid any more arguments but i don't think dh will see it like that , he thinks that by doing that we will be giving into these people

Be wary of starting a feud if you are thinking of selling or you may have to declare it to the buyers.

TEJQ is right, but by calling the police, you've already made it a dispute you will have to declare if asked when selling. Sorry.

thanks , yep have already told our estate agent about the troubles with these neighbours , calling the police was out of desperation tbh we have had to put up with 4yrs of their crap . when we have viewers the woman stands outside in the driveway staring at our viewers to make them feel uncomfortable , even our estate agent felt awkward , so that wont help us sell .

I hope you report the damage to your insurance company every time.

no i haven't reported any damage as its only the reg plate that has a few dints & scrapes
we only rang the police this time because she hinted that she did it on purpose to annoy us , i swear to god they are unbelievable .

I know how annoying it must be. It is a small thing but it would irritate me like mad too. But my advice would be to apologise for calling the police and say it was petty and really try to take the high ground and move on from it. It's so much more difficult for them to think badly of you when you're being nice to them. You might be surprised and find that they then make the effort more and respect your property a bit more. These things can often escalate and it's just not worth it (have seen this regularly - I'm a police officer).

Alternatively, if they really are the neighbours from hell I suggest getting a discreet camera installed, filming everything and making a log of all the incidents. Good luck!

thanks dcgc , we have been extremely nice to them up until xmas last year even though they have be dreaming up things to annoy us , eg= calling our ds (10) names & intimidating him etc , honestly you would not believe half of the things they have done , hopefully our house will sell & we can move away from them , if not then yes a camera would be a great idea.
thanks

I wouldn't bloody apologise!! People like that will see it as weakness, or you being scared of them, or that they are 'hard' or that they have 'won'. None of those are things you want them to think!! Ha, I scared her, I banged her car and she said sorry, - they'll laugh at you!

I'd suggest totally ignoring them and hoping like hell the house sells!

in afraid i agree hecatestwopenceworth , that's just it though we have been ignoring them since xmas , they wait until we go out of the house & then play their games so that when we get home they want to see a reaction up until now we have gone out of our way to NOT react but then they smirk over at us & started banging into my car , bullying our ds , putting up a hideous shelf thingy on top of the joining garden wall & sticking up watering cans etc so its the first thing we see when we look out our kitchen window ,
honestly i could go on all night but it sounds so petty & childish

Our neighbour opposite refuses to park in her drive, don't understand why, she just says she finds it awkward. Our roads are narrow and it causes difficulties for us getting in and out of our drive when she's parked outside her house. Obviously anyone can park there but she could be helpful and use her drive.

I have spoken to her and put a friendly note through her door (she works shifts and didn't want to disturb her) after my husband had an accident parking in our drive. He damaged next door's wall and the car badly.

We just live with it, she is entitled to park there even if she's got a drive, and with difficulty get our cars up our drive. She's just dozy, can't do a reverse hill start as her drive's on a downward slope I suppose.

Elmofan, we haven't got neighbours from hell like you, but I agree with Hecatetwopenceworth they are wanting a fight - agree with the other posters who say just ignore them and park somewhere else until your house sells. Good luck.

thanks chocolateismyonlyweakness , i think i remember you posting about your neighbours a while ago , i replied to your post with my sympathies as we have been having trouble with our neighbours for 4yrs now ,
yes i definitely think they have trying to draw DH into a fight & trust me it has been very hard going trying to tell my dh not to rise to it but who knows maybe now that the police have given them a warning they might back off (can always dream )
hope your situation improves soon too.