How to stop this guy from parking across our drive

Wombat it is illegal to a park across a dropped kerb, if by doing that the person has their vehicle imprisoned. If your own car is on your drive, and someone parks across your properly laid dropped kerb, then the police can be notified and can, and will, remove the offending vehicle.

I (and I know lot of other people) recieved a parking fine for parking in front of dropped kerb. This particular one, led nowhere. The property for which it had been installed had long since been pulled down and was now just an open grassed area. The dropped kerb, did not even have any sort of drive running from it. So, I - and many more like me, thought it okay to park there (it was close to our medical centre). Think it was deliberately kept as a cashcow.

What lambs you all are! He's a slob. No manners and no consideration for others. Leave a note sellotaped to his windscreen, right in front of where his nose will be when he's driving telling him to move his f-ing car away from YOUR driveway or you will have the police round to his home (quote his address) to fine him for causing an obstruction.

Me:- Hi, we live across the road and have only just moved in, we’re feeling our feet a bit and introducing ourselves gradually. We are in and out a lot and our driveway is in constant use, just thought I’d say hi and mention that so you don’t block us in! Thanks a lot .....
How about something like that?

This often happened when we lived in our previous house. If the vehicle owner was within earshot I was usually one of the "Oi Mate/Mrs/Lady, Shift your motor or I will!" It usually worked. If the owner was a neighbour I'd ask nicely, but often still got a lot of abuse. If it was a repeat offender they'd find they had to re-inflate they're tyres when they returned.

On one occasion my husband got up at 4.30am to find an unknown car parked across our drive blocking him in, so he called his boss at London Transport to say he'd be late as he had to go knocking on doors to find the owner. His boss said he'd deal with it. Within minutes a police patrol car and a tow truck arrived, soon followed by a very angry car owner. The police explained to him that as my husband's work was an 'essential service' to keep London moving they respond very quickly. He moved his car. He was also given a formal warning not to park it there again.

You say 'my new house 'Do you own the property or rent.?
If you own then you will have a plan of title which shows the boundary with your neighbour. See a solicitor before knocking on your neighbours door. If rented then I suggest you advise who ever owns it of this nuisance with the neighbour. Good luck .

Lucca

The problem has been resolved !!! The OP came back and told us !!!

OMG! It's comical isn't it?! It's like groundhog day!

Just ask him. Can't see why you are so scared to do that? It's perfectly reasonable that you want to be able to get your own car out!

It is not illegal per se to park across a dropped curb. Otherwise you and your visitors would not be able to, which could be highly inconvenient!

In this case, going straight to the police would be ridiculous, and certainly cause bad feeling. If you really can't bring yourself to knock on the door, start with a note on the windscreen.

i would also suggest to discretly record or film when confronting the offender, be polite, may well he will just park over someone else driveway. Do not let the looks of someone put you off.

so it is illegal to block someones driveway that has a dropped kerb, that is registered with the local council, see link below www.askthe.police.uk/Content/Q440.htm#
also full text here,
If the vehicle is blocking access to your driveway you should first make enquiries with the neighbours to see if they know who the car belongs to, so they can move it.

In most areas local councils have now taken on responsibility for enforcing parking provisions under what is known as Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE). Under CPE, it's an offence to park a vehicle that blocks a dropped kerb driveway. You can check if your local council has taken on CPE via the link below:

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/679505/la-with-cpe -list.csv /preview

If your council has taken on CPE, you will usually need to report vehicles that are obstructing a dropped kerb directly to them – you can contact them via the link below:

www.gov.uk/find-your-local-council

If your local council hasn't taken on CPE, you will need to contact your local police force.

The police/council policy for dealing with such matters may vary between forces/councils. Some police forces may only attend if your car has been blocked in and you cannot get out.

As far as I am aware it’s against the law to block someone in their driveway if there’s a car on it.

Phone the police if it continues.

The problem has been resolved !!! The OP came back and told us !!!

Hopefully this has only happened because he's become used to parking there because the previous owners either didn't have a car or didn't go out much.

I know this problem can be very distressing but I had to smile when I recall how my son dealt with this. Apparently it had been going on for weeks and he started with the friendly approach of knocking on the door etc. However the bad parking persisted - I’ve never forgotten sitting it the back of his car when we arrived at his house to find his drive blocked - yet again. I hadn’t realised this has been such an ongoing problem til he blasted on the car’s horn and bellowed out of the window for the whole road to hear, ‘just move your ***** car NOW.....’. I’ve never been so embarrassed but it never happened again. Incidentally he still gets on fine with the offending neighbours.

Ask him nicely. But if he still doesn't stop, park at the end of his drive. If he's got one.

Ask him with a smile and tell him you both leave the house at different times of the day and sometimes multiple times, even through the night for work.
I had this problem when I lived somewhere else, visitors to next door parked across my drive exit. I was ignored when I first asked but they soon stopped doing it when my partner got called out late at night and he had to go and ask for the car to be moved.

I agree with everyone. Ask him nicely. If all else fails and the notifying the police seems a little harsh and you're worried. Just get a couple of traffic cones or put a polite notice where it can be seen, asking people to please not park in front of the driveway.

I hope the problem is solved by now by you talking to the neighbour.

If he continues to block your driveway, I suggest you ring the Fire Brigade. Your driveway is your escape route if there is a fire, and its also the easiest way for the Fire Brigade to get into your property if they ever should need to.

gogirl.co.uk/news-and-advice/illegal-park-across-a-driveway/

Found this link. It is illegal to block a driveway or other access for the Emergency Services.

So if he continues to park across your driveway, phone the police.

Wish I had a drive to park on!!! Unfortunately I have to pay to for a permit where I live and sometimes there's nowhere to park at all.

We also had this problem and we ended up talking to the police as we have an EV and needed access to charge. It is only an offence to obstruct a driveway if you cannot get out. Of course EV's needing to home charge weren't about when the law was set. Some very nice PCSO's came and had a very helpful chat with ourselves and then our obstructing neighbour and since then we have had no issues and our relationship with them has now become most amiable.

Nanette1955

Aggie, explain please!

This has been resolved so no need for pages more of advice! I think that’s what she means. OP came back and told us it was sorted.

Tell him you need to get out to......lot or reasons, work, visit a relative, go shopping . Anything.Then if he doesn't I would speak to the police. I really would.

It is an offence to park across a lowered kerb and block someone in, the police are obliged to take action, in fact it was on an episode of police interceptors, they got the lady’s car out and then had the offending car towed

Aggie, explain please!

Doesn't mean because he's big, he's aggressive. Just ask him nicely. If you leave it too long you will become more and more angry and not be able to ask him nicely.