How do we stop our neighbours from driving across our drive?

[EstoyRobandoSuCasa]

We had our driveway tarmacked last summer and within weeks it was showing minor signs of wear and tear (not sure if that says anything about the quality of the tarmac). It has since accumulated more surface damage.

We don't have a car at the moment and it's obvious from the tyre tracks that my next door neighbours are to blame. Their adjoining driveway is narrower than ours and they keep two cars parked on it, one behind the other. When they want to get the car at the back out, they simply swerve across our driveway and drive down it. It's the swerving that appears to be causing most of the damage.

We haven't actually told the neighbours not to drive on our driveway, because we're 95% sure they would ignore this and still drive down it when they thought we weren't looking. Parking on the street is only allowed between certain times.

I'd love to put up a fence between the drives, or bollards, but no one else on the estate has these and we're not sure it would even be allowed.

Big solid planters with plants in

Please don't consider this. It encourages entitlement but more importantly would almost certainly impact your home insurance.
Who would be responsible if something happened their vehicle while parked on your property.
Point out the damage to your drive and ask them not to drive across. If that fails put something permanent on there to prevent them driving across.

Don’t just give them a driveway in the hope they’ll do less damage that way. Madness.

sometimes I think people on MN are desperate to come up with the most bending over backwards to people please possibility for a laugh.

If it’s your property, can’t you put something like this in?

you’ll need to wait for the picture!

I was just about to comment then saw @Notquitethetruthand @MyNattyCrowhave said what I was going to say. Please don’t do this. They are cheeky sods for doing this already, don’t reward them. They’ll presume your driveway is theirs to use as they wish and get upset (unjustly!) when you try to claim it back. I would use heavy duty planters. If they ask / protest, just say you want a bit of colour and greenery (whilst smiling).

I wouldn't let the neighbours park in your drive, as you might have a bigger issue if they refuse to stop using it once you buy your own car.

A boundary and for them to manage their parking skills better ir probably the best way forward!

Have you been in touch with the people that laid the tarmac? It sounds very poor quality.

Rocks, large plant pots or a low fence will solve the neighbour problem. If you’re feeling really mean you could spill a couple of boxes of screws or nails on your drive.
It’s really easy to be ripped off by tarmac companies. Often they’ve used most of the tarmac on a bigger job and the smaller jobs get the left over and it’s a bit too cold by then.

2 things here. Yes you need to chase the driveway company because that kind of wear and tear so soon is poor workmanship. I have a tarmac drive I got laid 10 years ago and it's still absolutely perfect.

Neighbours driving over it. I haven't RTFT but there's many low key non confrontational ways to solve this. Small low planters on the edge of your driveway mean they can't drive across the boundary. Small decorative rocks would look pretty and prevent them from crossing over to your side. A fence lower than 1m is allowed at the front without planning permission in most areas. But might be a bit more obvious and possibly confrontational. My advice would be to do the things that are pretty because they look pretty and secondary bonus benefit will be to stop them driving on your side of the driveway. Given you had the driveway done recently, pretty-ing it up is a simple logical step.

I can beat this. We have a drive at the end of a neighbours property. They wanted to change their fence into sleepers and dug up half our tarmac to do so. They didn’t ask or tell us. Just did it.

A few larg boulders down th middle of the drive would put a stop to it. A few large pots with plants in would also do the job.

All very well but when you want your driveway back you’ll be the villain.

I would definitely do this as well as other suggestions. Our tarmac is about 23 years old and apart from where the gas board had to dig a hole, it's still looking great! No obvious wear. We have 2 cars and our neighbours drive over it too

This isn’t about you though, so why would you think it was helpful to make this post? Did you just want everyone to know you were here?

I like that as it wouldn't take up much space.

It's useful to know that many of you think the tarmac sounds shoddy. The damage is minor, but it's visible in several areas.

So tricky with neighbours. They’re being dicks but you have to live next to them so are understandably not wanting to rock the boat. I also think something decorative would do the trick, our neighbours have strategic planters to stop people reversing onto grass, maybe plan a nice trip to the garden centre soon!

@EstoyRobandoSuCasa , we had an issue with various people turning in our drive. We found some attractive plant pots on casters. Strategically placed with attractive and hardy evergreen plants they make it jolly awkward for those who would otherwise use our drive as their personal turning circle. They have the added advantage that when necessary for our convenience they can easily be moved to another location.

Do not do this op, you may create an easement

yes - you need a barrier.

my daughter's front lawned garden joined to her neighbour's tarmac drive. The neighbour would park right up against her lawn and get out of her car directly onto my daughter's garden. The grass wore away quickly. The neighbour's dog walker also walked the dog across the full width of my daughter's garden and not down the neighbour's driveway.

My daughter had a low wall built and now the neighbour has to park away from the wall on her own drive or she can't open the car door. The dog walker now parks on the road as had to pay for repairs to the wall when she reversed her massive van into it.

Problem solved.

Of course plant trees or put up bollards, a fence or a wall - and make sure you have a camera installed somewhere obvious. They give absolutely zero fucks about you or the social contract and if you keep being a doormat you will keep being treated as one.

Not to mention, she'd be kowtowing to cheeky fuckers who have already shown a total disregard for her property and they will realise she's a right chump and act accordingly.

Given that the tarmacking cost thousands, we were thinking of charging the neighbours to use our drive, with some sort of barrier to go up if they decline. But I think the hassle would be more than it was worth!

The next door neighbours rent their house, if that makes any difference. I don't know how long they plan to stay.

Yes, the problem is that they have already shown you who they are - over entitled CFs with no regard for their neighbour's property. So I think you would save yourself time and effort by just acting accordingly and putting a stop to it in whatever legal way you can, such as a fence, wall, trees etc, without discussing it with them. I'd defnitely include cameras in your solution too.

You have two problems, shoddy workmen and cheeky neighbours.

You should ask the neighbours not to drive over your drive, pointing out the damage. Realistically they will do it when you’re not around so you need to put a physical barrier up. I’d suggest heavy planters with conifers.

Then you need to pursue the contractors who laid your driveway because unless your neighbour drives a tractor, they really shouldn’t be causing damage by crossing your boundary.

I would go for a subtle blocking if your driveway that can easily be explained away if they ask about them. "Oh we saw these beautiful flowers and thought they'd look lovely in planters."

The last thing you want is to have a massive dispute with neighbours so let them think that it's just something you thought you'd do as they look nice. I would avoid an obvious confrontation where possible as neighbour disputes can affect your mental health.