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AIBU

It's our drive!!

(81 Posts)
kittylester Sat 31-Aug-24 16:33:22

We live quite close to the centre of a large and busy village and the road outside our house has a single yellow line which permits parking only after 6pm and before 8am.

Last night at 8.45 our ring doorbell informed us that there was someone outside our front door. It was our neighbour's brother who didn't ring the bell but went off back down the drive.

Thinking there must be something wrong, we went out to find noone there but his car parked on our drive. Our neighbour's drive had her car and another on it.

We decided just to message to check everything was OK rather than intrude on what ever was going on.

This morning we got a message from the neighbour saying that everything was OK and her brother had popped round for a chat.

Are we wrong to feel put out and what should we do or say? Our neighbour has been there about 3 years, is very nice but we now feel awkward.

knspol Mon 02-Sept-24 14:56:22

I'm totally amazed that parking on someone else's drive seems to be so prevalent. These people must feel so entitled not to mention ill mannered and lacking consideration to even think of doing this. Have any of you phoned the police? I wonder what the legal position is on this, surely it's trespass?

AreWeThereYet Sun 01-Sept-24 14:19:24

We started putting our bins across the bottom of the drive to narrow it. Nowhere to put a gate as one side is the neighbour's garden.

More recently we've had a series of fast food deliverers using our drive to deliver to next door. They then walk across the neighbour's lawn to get to their door.

MadeInYorkshire Sun 01-Sept-24 14:10:28

I have a double drive at the front of my house, BUT the previous owners that put it in, only put a dropped kerb on half the drive?

To prevent folk driving on my grass to get to that space (friends/carers) I always park on that side. Problem is the house opposite appears to have 2 flat bed trucks, a large car with flat bed behind and another car! So if I go out, and it's not often, there's always one of the above (never the normal car) sort of parked across my space! One night I came home, the big yellow truck was there as usual, so I swung in ready to straighten up to find a large metal pole inches away from my windscreen, no markers on it, and a ladder the same! It really does annoy me, but can't afford another dropped kerb and the do legally have the right to park there as long as they aren't covering the dropped kerb! Grrrr ... not the sort of family you'd want to agitate either!

grandtanteJE65 Sun 01-Sept-24 14:00:06

Put up a gate!

There is no point in getting annoyed at this kind of thoughtless behaviour - you can't stop it by being irritated, and mentioning it to your neighbours is very likely to cause bad feeling.

kittylester Sun 01-Sept-24 13:41:37

It is a shared drive at the bottom and only just 2 cars wide there. Ours widens out where they split - no room for planters.

Squiffy Sun 01-Sept-24 13:31:16

😉😆

Oreo Sun 01-Sept-24 12:48:23

Squiffy

Many moons ago, someone parked on our driveway, blocking our car in. My DH discovered that the driver hadn’t locked the car, so he let the handbrake off and moved the car off the driveway and parked it neatly on the road - which had double yellow lines! We never had trouble again!

That’s the way to do it! Mr Punch is quite right😄

Squiffy Sun 01-Sept-24 12:40:41

Many moons ago, someone parked on our driveway, blocking our car in. My DH discovered that the driver hadn’t locked the car, so he let the handbrake off and moved the car off the driveway and parked it neatly on the road - which had double yellow lines! We never had trouble again!

petra Sun 01-Sept-24 12:39:00

He’s lucky it wasn’t a very feisty friend of ours.
He left home at 3 in the morning. One morning he was blocked in by someone parking on his dropped curb.
He took a baseball bat to the car.

Allira Sun 01-Sept-24 12:21:38

biglouis

I have a space for 2 cars on my drive and lockable gates. I dont drive or own a car but I have had entitled neighbours approach me to ask if they could use it. When I offered to "give them a commercial price" they quickly backed off.

We don't mind if neighbours use one drive occasionally if they have visitors, as long as they ask.
It's not often and one lot always give us a bottle of wine as a thank you.

Some people round here have hired out their drives at a slightly less than commercial rent when there have been big gatherings in the vicinity.

JaneJudge Sun 01-Sept-24 11:58:00

Is it a shared drive? I wonder if you could put a row of bamboo in planters down the middle?

Our neighbours opposite have a shared drive. The one family use the other neighbours drive to pull on and off their drive instead of moving their cars. I’d be furious if it was me

biglouis Sun 01-Sept-24 11:52:38

I have a space for 2 cars on my drive and lockable gates. I dont drive or own a car but I have had entitled neighbours approach me to ask if they could use it. When I offered to "give them a commercial price" they quickly backed off.

NanKate Sun 01-Sept-24 07:03:13

We have two parking spaces behind our house. We bought one of them many years ago that did not belong to us, so we now own the two. Many of the houses around us are having extensions and changes to the front facades of their homes.. We have found some of their work Lorries/Vans park on our spare parking space often dropping oil and metal detrious.

Last year DH found a metal square stand left behind by workmen. He has now painted on it in small letters our address in white paint and places it beside our parked car. Only once has someone knocked it over otherwise it keeps our space for family and friends.

PamQS Sun 01-Sept-24 04:04:13

A car repeatedly parked across our drive so I couldn’t get my car out at the same time on a Thursday, and was there for quite a while.

Eventually, I left a polite note pointing out that I’d been blocked in, and had to miss an appointment, and asking the driver not to do it again.

The note was stuck under my windscreen wiper with a message (unsigned) saying ‘I am working at no. 68 (nowhere near our house) and I have to park while I’m working’. Cheeky ****y indeed!

I’ve just realised I should have asked the occupants of No 68 to tell their employee not to block me in next time! But I don’t think it happened again.

Mt61 Sun 01-Sept-24 00:35:13

Aldom

You have my sympathy Kitty.
I once, not long ago opened my front door to find a very large van on my drive. So large it was backed up almost to the door of my house. As I had no idea who had parked there I went inside to write a note for the windscreen. On coming outside the driver appeared. I asked him why he was using my drive and was told to F off. He then drove away.

Charming

Babs03 Sat 31-Aug-24 23:01:10

Totally unacceptable. We had a neighbour who did this in a previous property we lived in many moons ago. Another neighbour on the other side whom we were friendly with told us when we got back off holiday that this neighbour and his daughter had been parking on our drive the whole time.
We were about to say something to this neighbour about it but had to go and do a big shop, having just got back. And hey presto when we returned the neighbours car was on our drive, the neighbour just getting out. He said that he thought we were still away but not to worry he would move his car later when his wife’s friend had gone.
I told him in no uncertain terms that he would move the car now seeing as the drive is our property and not a free parking space.
He was a bit put out but I really didn’t care.
This kind of behaviour is entitled and down right rude. I suggest the OP parks in a way to block anyone else using the drive and puts a wheelbarrow or plant pots on the drive when going out in the car so as to get the message through.

Oreo Sat 31-Aug-24 22:46:23

MissInterpreted

I would just have a quiet word with your neighbour and say that, at the very least, it would have been nice if her brother had asked for permission to park on your drive rather than just assuming it would be ok to do so. You could point out that it could have caused problems if you'd needed to get into or out of your drive yourself.

Exactly.
What a liberty!

dragonfly46 Sat 31-Aug-24 22:08:44

I would be extremely annoyed. Our new neighbours son left his car parked opposite our house when they went on holiday for 3 weeks. It meant nobody could park outside our house. I didn’t say anything at the time but at Christmas I parked on the road as the family were coming and the lad parked directly opposite my car blocking the road. When I saw my neighbour I very pleasantly asked him if we could talk about cars and showed him his son’s car. He was horrified and son hasn’t done it again. We are still on very good terms with them.
Next time you see your neighbour I would pleasantly ask them to ask the brother not to park on your drive as you may need to get out at a moments notice.

Bellanonna Sat 31-Aug-24 21:55:34

kitty I’m actually appalled that someone did this. How rude to just assume he could park on your drive without asking your permission first. I’m also surprised at the number of GNs who have had a similar experience. You must mention it before it happens again.

Whiff Sat 31-Aug-24 21:38:02

Where I used to live we had new neighbours after a year they had visitors who parked on our drive . My husband went straight round and asked why they had parked on our drive as they where blocking my husband's car . And had no right to park there as it was trespass. They said they thought it was their friends drive my husband told them he was an idiot as they could clearly see it was our drive as there was a lawn on our side which was ours.

After my son was born he started to learn to play the saxophone and insisted on playing it at 9pm . He's wife had told him not to but he soon stopped once my husband went round and threatened to put it where the sun doesn't shine.
Believe it or not we got on very well with them once we sorted out these problems .
You can't let neighbours use your property as there own. If not nipped in the bud now things will only escalate.

JdotJ Sat 31-Aug-24 21:33:08

Bloody cheek.
If it happens again you should knock and ask him to move it as you're expecting visitors/going out etc.
They'll soon tire of it.
Or put some sort of barrier across your drive

welbeck Sat 31-Aug-24 21:28:25

so where do you park, OP ?
why don't you park at the outer edge of your drive to prevent incursions.
or get a lockable pole fitted.
i wouldn't waste time and emotional energy trying to parley with such people.
just take steps to physically prevent trespass.

SueDonim Sat 31-Aug-24 21:00:59

It’s mindboggling to me that so many people feel entitled to do exactly as they please with no thought for anyone else. I’d definitely make arrangements so the drive was no longer accessible to them, Kittylester.

LittleCupCake Sat 31-Aug-24 19:27:30

You couldn't make it up could you? So unreasonable and self entitled!

Coronation Sat 31-Aug-24 19:13:55

I can't believe how many selfish and entitled people think it's OK to park on someone else's drive.