Blocked drive gggrrr

I think they could be committing an offence, especially if you have a dropped kerb. As a matter of courtesy, of course they should have informed you of what they were proposing. Have you found out how long they expect to be there?

Ask them to remove the barriers, they should have, dependent on the size of the hole, a sheet of metal to cover it, enabling you to get out. And yes, they should have let you know, normally it’s a letter a few days before. If there’s no joy, tell them, whilst doing it, the photo you’re taking is going to the local paper. Good luck.

Yes, this is way out of order. Happens here occasionally as there is a BT box thing in the drive. It's infuriating.
You can certainly complain.

Yes, courtesy would have been to let you know prior to starting. Do you need to go out? If you do, then tell them when the drive has to be clear by If you don't need to go out then quietly seethe.

anno yes we have a dropped kerb. The answer to how long was "a few hours".
We have a shared drive with next door. I think with a bit of tricky maneuvering I could get out on his side but still damn annoying

Supposing an emergency vehicle had to access your house, ambulance or something like that?

I would be on to Openreach and raising a storm.

It is unusual not to get a letter, several emails and many texts about proposed work so maybe it was an emergency. Just go and ask them to let you move your car.

Contact Openreach and tell them. You will probably find, as I did when I complained about something, that it is not actually their own workers, but a subcontractor who is being antisocial. Openreach were pleased it was reported, as they are the ones who get the blame if it isn't stopped!

It’s really annoying when your drive is blocked. We have had a lot of work recently in my road, mainly tradespeople but also repairs to underground pipes etc. Parking for visitors has been an issue and my neighbours opposite my house were struggling when carers needed to visit - four times a day, two carers/cars each visit so I told them they could block my drive if necessary. I’m not going out much buying lockdown and I know if it was urgent, the carers would move.

They have done this a couple of times but then one day I happened to be looking out of the window and saw a young man who lived further up the road, parking across my drive. I rushed out to tell him to move and he just said that he’d seen cars parked there before so assumed that I did not drive ( despite my car on the drive!) and that he could park there. He did move his car but wasn’t happy!

Fortunately most of the work is finished and the road is now very quiet again!

My husband was an on call Firefighter so blocking our drive could mean the difference of the pump turning out or not. Road workers were understanding when we explained, white van men tended to be abusive. The mind boggles that anybody would deliberately block anybody's drive without giving them the chance to move the car.

Teacheranne How rude of him!

Complain and don't tolerate it!

Teacheranne

It’s really annoying when your drive is blocked. We have had a lot of work recently in my road, mainly tradespeople but also repairs to underground pipes etc. Parking for visitors has been an issue and my neighbours opposite my house were struggling when carers needed to visit - four times a day, two carers/cars each visit so I told them they could block my drive if necessary. I’m not going out much buying lockdown and I know if it was urgent, the carers would move.

They have done this a couple of times but then one day I happened to be looking out of the window and saw a young man who lived further up the road, parking across my drive. I rushed out to tell him to move and he just said that he’d seen cars parked there before so assumed that I did not drive ( despite my car on the drive!) and that he could park there. He did move his car but wasn’t happy!

Fortunately most of the work is finished and the road is now very quiet again!

its not important whether or not you drive! Cheeky sod!

Yes get onto Openreach and give them a rollicking. They are blocking the entrance to your house which might be needed what if you had to go for a covid jab! They should have given you notice and made it safe for you to exit your drive or at least given notice for you to park somewhere else so you have access to the street.

Nothing better than the face approach.
It has worked wonders for me on many occasions .
Excuse me etc etc Or phone Open Reach. Not BT.

It is almost certainly illegal to block anyone’s drive. Call the police ....

We frequently used to get our neighbours blocking our drive, however, after knocking on the door a few times before 6am when heading out to work, it seemed to solve the problem.

What bewildered us was that there is a virtually empty free car park directly opposite our drive that they often used, and have since started to use again.

I'd be furious if anyone did that to us, and yes they should knock on the door and ask if you want to move your car before they start, even if they have notified you previously of the planned work.

When we lived in London people just parked wherever they fancied despite the dropped kerbs. We even had people park on our drive on more than one occasion simply because it was empty! They only did it once - I let their tyres down.

Not only are the wrong blocking your exit from your own property, but the Fire Brigade needs to be able to get in at any time, too!

Certainly, complain, pointing out that you have not received the notification you should have had.

How unecessarily rude. What on earth is wrong with people?We are talking about basic manners and common sense.

When I lived in North London I got so fed up with people blocking my drive I stopped asking them to move and started ringing parking enforcement instead. A few £60 parking tickets later, my drive was always left clear.

I was renting a cottage and came out one morning to a huge trailer blocking me in. My neighbours came along, very apologetic, and I was frank and said they should have warned me the night before so I could have moved my car. As time went on, I realised they never thought about anyone else, they were just in a world of their own.

they are always doing that here too, you would think part of their training would include being polite etc wouldn't you?

The arrogance and insolence of these people!! How dare they do such a thing. The assumption that what they want to do comes above other peoples rights is outrageous. So my things would be 1. take a picture of them blocking your drive. 2. Politely ask them to move immediately as you need to get out. If they say they cannot do so ask them to arrange for a taxi and pay for it so that you can go to your appointment. The appointment may be a long waited for hospital appointment , which cannot be postponed. It could also be your decision to take yourself off to a favourite viewpoint where you can sit and cool off!! Not their business what you do. The point is that you are entitled to do as you wish when you wish so long as it is lawful and does not affect other people . If they had politely contacted you ahead of time, of course we must be as helpful as possible, but at the least they should be allowing you to get your car out so that should you need to, you can still get out.It is this arrogance that they think that their wishes and jobs are more important than whatever is happening in your life. My other thing I would do, if they are not apologetic and doing everything they can to make amends, is more in the same line as their behavior. Ring two friends or family and get them to bring their cars and block the workers in and then walk away, not even speaking to you so that the work people cannot say you have anything to do with it. Let them walk away and then you watch what is happening and if the people in the van need to move leave it for about 5 minutes so that they get really upset and annoyed and then ring your friends and ask them to come back and move their cars. Dont set out to behave badly but if they can only be given a dose of their own medicine they deserve it. Some years ago I was looking in a crowded car park for a space. Someone was coming out so I politely backed up enough to let them come out easily and sat with my indicator showing I was going in. The car backed out towards me and a cheeky man came from the opposite direction and could see precisely what was happened but just swung into the space before the car that was leaving had allowed me to get to the space. I put my window down and said excuse me I was clearly waiting for this space. He just said tough and started to walk away. I drove my car across the back of his, got out and locked the car and started to walk in the opposite direction. He yelled that I could not do that I was blocking him in to which I replied he was not the only person who could behave badly and continued to walk away. Five minutes later I came back and he was still there. I said , it is not good to be treated badly is it, and you could have caused an accident if someone drove off in a bad temper, so next time think a little about others and he had calmed down and actually admitted it had been a cheeky thing to do but he had been driving round for a long time .Later I used to sometimes see him in the same car park and we just used to wave or smile at each other. Why should we be bullied into accepting bad behaviour ?. so apart from the above I would suggest taking a photo of the offending situation, and email or write to the company - sending it recorded delivery so that they can not say they did not receive it - and demand compensation for missed appointments , or planned trips involving other people which you have had to disappoint perhaps people you have arranged to see for months . Or quite simply compensation for being deprived of your right to move freely from your own home, and they are not even doing a job for you!! Make sure that you share this photo of arrogant selfish behaviour with as many people as possible and if it is appropriate inform the company that you will never use or support them in the future and that you will be advising all your friends to do the same , whilst of course writing to your local paper and contacting your local radio to publisize what has happened including the number plates of the particular van so that others can be aware of them and be ready to stop similar behaviour in future. Those are the things off the top of my head and I am sure with a bit of thought I could come up with some more things.!!