Problem with neighbour's visitors parking in our drive

[80sbabe]

I'm wondering if anyone knows the legal stance on a neighbour using our drive for her own visitors ?
We live at the end of an open plan style cul de sac so nobody has fences or hedges. All the houses have off road garages with small drives in front of them.
We have a double garage which sits next to a single garage belonging to the bungalow opposite. It's clear on the house deeds that our house owns two garages and two driveway spaces. The boundary between the drives (which are tarmac) is and always has been marked by a thin paved line so you can see where one ends and another begins.
We bought the house from new and we also still have the original building plans and the marketing information which states the 4 bed homes have 2 garages and driveways and the 2 bed homes and bungalows have 1 garage and 1 drive each.
Last year a new neighbour (she's quite elderly and frail) moved into the bungalow opposite us and at least twice a week we return home to find she has her home help / carer parked in our drive.
This might not sound like a big problem, but our DS is physically disabled and a wheelchair user. He cannot walk at all and has very limited flexibility in his limbs. We need access across most of our double drive to open the car door wide enough to get DS out and into his wheelchair.
We have politely spoken to our neighbour, who really doesn't seem to see the issue. She sees no problem with me unloading my children (have 3 others as well as DS) on the road and parking further up the close until her visitor moves. As they refuse to move when asked I have had to do this at least a couple of times a week for a year.
It doesn't happen every day (I think her helper comes at different times and I am at work through the day) but it's really getting on my nerves and making life a bit more awkward than it needs to be.
Does anyone know if there is any legal action we can take regarding this ?
We don't want to fall out with the neighbour but don't see why we should be regularly inconvenienced by her.
Having looked around on various websites it seems there are laws against blocking someone in, but she isn't doing this, she's just preventing us getting onto our drive when we need to.
Sorry if this is a bit long but I wanted to make the situation about the layout as clear as possible.
Thanks if anyone has any advice.

[tb]

We lived in an 11'6" unadopted road at the time between 1992 and 1996, and non-residents parking badly were a complete pain so I was sorely tempted by something I read about in the motoring pages of the Saturday Telegraph. From memory, it was a pack of polite 'please don't park' stickers, but with 3 grades of glue - mild, medium and extreme. The extreme sticker had very strong glue on the back, couldn't be peeled off once stuck, and had to be picked off in little tiny bits.

The thought kept me happy for ages, but I never got them

Might be worth an email to honestjohn at the telegraph, and they might be able to give you details if they're still available.

[PickledGerkin]

I know this has been rumbling on for a while, but if it were me, I would ring 101 and speak directly to the police to ask their advice.

That way you know exactly how it would be dealt with if that particular officer attended. I would get the name and badge number of the officer so that if someone else attended and advised me differently you can come back with that.

It is difficult to confront people in real life. But I am sure you could have a friend park directly behind said carer and claim to not know it was someone else's car you were blocking in

[Blondeshavemorefun]

how rude of the neighbour and carer

next time it happens i would take a photo and then call police or even the council and say this car had been left on your private driveway and you need it moved now - surely they would come and tow or clamp it

can you park your car at an angle to try and use both spaces?

if not then i would get a friends car /or yours and park it right behind them and then go out for the day/few hours

i cant believe that nothing can be done for someone parking on your property

i would FLIP if someone kept doing that

[ZenNudist]

I think OP not come back because she's still not done anything about it. If confrontations not your thing then it's hard to resolve situations like this. The MN way is to want to see problems dealt with, we are all incensed for OP and want to see her get her rightful own way on this. Sadly life's not like that.

[ImperialSantaKnickers]

placemark

[DorisIsWaiting]

Rather than paying £75 and have a neigbourhood dispute you would have to declare. Phone 101 for advice ask them what their likely action would be if you blocked the individual in. Our PCSO are very approachable and give that it is trespass and you have a diabled son that is impacted they would look fairly tolerantly on the situation.

[sashh]

I had this with my neighbour accross the rd, and she has a drive and no car!

I cam home to find the carer's car in my drive so I couldn't get in - I parked 2 inches from her back bumper, there was no way she could get out without asking me to move my car.

She has not done it since, she now parks on the road outside the place she is working.

[nickymanchester]

MOSagain I certainly don't claim to know everything about everything - far from it. I'm always pestering people trying to learn something new.

I also certainly wasn't trying to knock the police as I do have a great deal of respect for them. Which, if you knew my background, you might be a bit surprised about.

However, I have learnt from experience that what a police officer says is not always correct. Certainly in my limited dealings with them.

I can only speak from my personal experience.

Although I don't believe that it has clouded my judgement in any way, when I was a lot younger - in my teens - I was a rather vociferous protester on a certain issue and, as such, saw another side of the police to that which perhaps most on MN get to see.

[MOSagain]

sorry, on re-reading that sounds rude which was not intended. I'm just that the police in your area could be that bad. Of course when at police training school they don't learn all aspect of law, ie family law which would be useful when dealing with disputes but one would expect them to know the basics of road traffic law.

[MOSagain]

Well, if you live in an area where the police are that inefficient, I'd suggest you move to another county. Vicar is a police officer and for what its worth (probably nothing to you as you clearly know everything about everything) I am a former police officer and am now a lawyer so I do like to think I do know just a little bit about the law.

[nickymanchester]

MOSagain

I have no idea who Vicar is. For all I know she/he may well be a police officer as you say. If they are then I am sure that they are a very efficient and knowledgeable member of their force.

However, just because one is a police officer does not necessarily mean that one has a full or correct understanding of all aspects of all laws.

In the past, I have found it necessary to correct police officers on two separate occasions when they were unaware of certain laws.

Also, the DH of a friend of mine has regularly to inform police officers about what the law actually says in connection with the specific field that he works in as quite a few of them are totally unaware of the actual legal situation.


With regard to this situation, it really wasn't about the police not being bothered, I would suggest that it is about a proper understanding of different laws and how they interact with one another.

Here's a little hint for you, you need to consider where the other car is and what the owner of the other car has to do in order to get access to his vehicle.

[MOSagain]

I agree with vicar who is a police officer and therefore would have a better idea on how it would be handled in her area. It may well be that in other areas the police would deal with it differently and may not 'be bothered' with an obstruction but technically, deliberately blocking a car in is an offence and anyone doing it could expect to receive a ticket.

[nickymanchester]

VicarInaTutu

i hate to be the bearer of bad news but blocking access to the highway is an offence and as such, if you do block her into to admittedly your drive, she could be the one calling the police.

The first part of what Vicar says is correct to an extent. However, the second part isn't.

We had a similar situation a couple of years ago.

We blocked the offending car in and left a note on the windscreen with our telephone number.

The person concerned then called the police and tried to get them to move our car. But, as they found out, there is nothing the police can do except to ask nicely that we move our car.

We said that we would move it five hours later as we weren't in the area. However, if you do give a time then you must ensure that they are free to leave at that time.

I never thought of charging a fee as someone said above. Perhaps I'll remember that for next time.

But, tbh, there never was a next time after we did that. The person involved got the message.

[Cantbelieveitsnotbutter]

My sister had this problem, couple of pop up bollards did the job.

[MisForMumNotMaid]

bollardcould a couple of these help?

[VivaLeBeaver]

Not sure they'll pay any attention to a solicitors letter if they don't even listen when you ask them. Can't believe the nerve of some people.

[RandomMess]

Hope you've got it sorted.

[baffledmum]

I haven't read the whole thread but this used to happen to me and my husband in a cul-de-sac. Without indicating there was a problem we wrote to the Land Registry asking them to confirm what the deeds indicated but it was written simply: Please confirm to which property the land marked in red belongs. The Registry confirmed that the driveway belonged to us. We photocopied the letter and the deeds and went to see our neighbour. We started off by saying, "You probably aren't aware..." but they said they were! In that case, we said, keep off! They never spoke to us again but it was worth it! Good luck.

[MariahScarey]

lol at theft.
i dont think so.

[Wishfulmakeupping]

I'm intrigued to know what happened next too...?

[rhibutterfly]

80s babe how did it all end? X

[olgaga]

This is what you want - there are different types. Would obviously have to have the housing fitted, but it would definitely solve your problem.

[3littlefrogs]

Personally I would go for the parking post, because of the dispute disclosure issue.

[Lemonylemon]

Or one of these..... www.barriersdirect.co.uk/parking-protection-posts-c1/folding-posts-c123/folding-parking-post-integral-top-lock-p516

I was going to get one to stop my next door neighbour parking her car on my front garden to wash it..... without asking permission.

[bunchamunchycrunchycarrots]

It's a bit of an expensive solution but you could try something like this as a solution. You could spend as much in solicitor's letters, so I think this might work out easier, and prevents anyone from parking there in your absence.