Block a neighbours enterance driveway

[Lenny]

Hi all, 

seeking opinions here;

I live in a semi-detached house in an estate, 

There's parking spaces 25 metres away from my enterance, yet when visitors call to visit the house on either side of ours; they tend to park there vehicle in a position outside our gates which either partially or completely blocks our passage to the driveway preventing exit or entry.

so my question is; would you be comfortable with this as either the visitor or the resident.

and would I be right to request they move immediately at times 😅

thanks, today had a confrontation with one visitor whom told me to wait 10 minutes 😁 I told her "ow your so good, please excuse my irrelevant existence And I aspire to be as important as you some day" 

feeling bad about it now though 😕

I later put some Christmas lights on the gates to highlight access 

[kpg]

Happens to me too Lenny. My street is quite narrow so when the house across from me has visitors they park on that side, directly in front of my gateway. It's a pain in the ball-locks to get in my gate at the best of times cause that's so barrow too. I've only had the bottle to mention it once but I'd love to kick up a fuss. So yes, from what you've experienced, I would tend to agree with you.

[stef123]

it's too early for xmas lights 

[jmurray01]

People who block driveways deserve a "telling off", they have absolutely no consideration.

[BOF]

30 minutes ago, Lenny said:

 

thanks, today had a confrontation with one visitor whom told me to wait 10 minutes 😁 I told her "ow your so good, please excuse my irrelevant existence And I aspire to be as important as you some day"

Ok the first thing I'm going to suggest is that the 'sarcasm approach' is not the most likely to work. Maybe it will make you feel better but it won't shift the offending car (usually).
 

If you can say 'I need to go out in a few minutes and if you are still blocking me I'll be forced to contact the Police'  or 'you will have to pay damages for me being unable to do  the financially important thing that  was planning to do' then that might work. (Actually probably the most effective thing you could say would be 'my wife is pregnant and will have to get to maternity suddenly' but you can't really make these things up if you don't have a  wife who is close to due.)

My belief is that it is illegal here to block access like this but  don't really have a reliable source for this idea. Oh and I do have a similar problem but don't get fully blocked I just get forced to do a 'seven point manoeuvre' across what is at times quite a busy road (depending on time of day) to get around it.

[Stoney871]

Highway Code, section 243-

DO NOT stop or park

.near a school entrance.

.anywhere you would prevent access for Emergency Services.

.at or near a bus or tram stop or taxi rank.

.on the approach to a level crossing/tramway crossing opposite or within 10 metres (32 feet) of a junction, except in an authorised parking space.

.near the brow of a hill or hump bridge.

.opposite a traffic island or (if this would cause an obstruction) another parked vehicle.

.where you would force other traffic to enter a tram lane.

.where the kerb has been lowered to help wheelchair users and powered mobility vehicles.

.in front of an entrance to a property.

.on a bend.

.where you would obstruct cyclists’ use of cycle facilities except when forced to do so by stationary traffic.

Sent from my SM-G930F

[Stoney871]

At the moment it is only an offence to block a vehicle from leaving a property not from entering it.

If your car were in your driveway and you needed to get to work the offending vehicle can be removed.

Police used to deal with these as obstruction but this is now covered by The Traffic Management Act 2004 which makes it illegal to park next to a dropped kerb.

Sent from my SM-G930F

[WES180]

It infuriated me as it happened to me all the time as we unknowingly bought a house next to a special needs care home in a very small cul de sac. I ended up telling the manager the next time one of their vehicles blocks my driveway whilst their drive is empty then i will park behind their cars blocking the road and not move until the police arrive. Then they can explain to the police why they thought it was acceptable to block my access. This is a typical morning, you can see my black Focus on the drive and an empty space on the care home drive. It makes it worse that i work split shifts and then also back out to the gym during my split break so am in and out a fair bit as opposed to a 9-5er.

 

 

[Stoney871]

In the old days I would have ticketed for obstruction and ordered them to move it.

Tbh, those cars are now blocking 2 driveways, give your local Force a shout on 101 and see what they advise.

Sent from my SM-G930F

[WES180]

5 minutes ago, Stoney871 said:

In the old days I would have ticketed for obstruction and ordered them to move it.

Tbh, those cars are now blocking 2 driveways, give your local Force a shout on 101 and see what they advise.

Sent from my SM-G930F

You cant tell from the photo but they are actually blocking 3 driveways but the others are not affected due to their work hours so it just looks like me being an ar5e when i complain as the managers tell me every time that "no one else has a problem". That statement in itself gets my blood boiling!

[Stoney871]

Point them towards the Highway Code.

If an entry says 'Do Not' then it is a road traffic offence punishable by a fixed penalty.

I'd park right across their driveway, see how they like it. (Personal opinion of course, I am in no way condoning you committing an offence 😎)

Sent from my SM-G930F

[WES180]

2 minutes ago, Stoney871 said:

Point them towards the Highway Code.

If an entry says 'Do Not' then it is a road traffic offence punishable by a fixed penalty.

I'd park right across their driveway, see how they like it. (Personal opinion of course, I am in no way condoning you committing an offence 😎)

Sent from my SM-G930F

Ive not got to that point yet but my work hours are changing next week when my wifes goes back to work after her maternity leave so will see how it goes.

[JIMMWX]

I'll always try and not park across anyones drive.  Seems like it's down to the individual street, where my sister lives they all seem to have chosen specific places where they always park (its not spaced or residents permit only or anything) and everyone knows where to park and not as a result of speaking to each other about it.  Sadly this is not the case I guess in a lot of areas.

I live down a concealed driveway (Bat cave lol) and people are always parking across our drive "to nip to the postbox", "didn't know it was a driveway (it is clearly marked)" "I'll only be 10 minutes - thats after I had told them I was going out in a minute!!)

As tempted as I am by arguing, or being sarcastic, I find the best way is just to politely ask and ask them to move.

People who park across other peoples drives when there are clearly options not to are just inconsiderate.

 

 

[Tomson]

Imagine coming home to see your driveway being used by someone who was visiting across the road. Sat there for a good while trying to figure out which house the car belonged to. In the end I had to knock on various doors to find the culprit. When I challenged the driver as to why she thought my driveway was an acceptable place to park her car she responded with "I didn't know anyone lived here..."

Oh right, so the freshly cut lawn, the barking dog from inside the house and the fact it wasn't your property didn't give you the necessary nudge to think otherwise? ..."no".

Right, well, please don't park here again. - haven't seen her since come to think about it...

[ramandchips]

Used to happen to me, with a neighbours visitor turned up, she would always park across my dropped kerbs and open double gates, facing against on-coming trafic so that she could exit and enter car from the pavement she was obstructing.

She had a habit of most annoyingly and very deliberately parking it every week in the same position, and if only she'd park 3ft further on, I would have been able to access my drive ok.

On asking to move, she would very reluctantly moved her car. 

Got to a head one winters night as arriving home from work about 9:30 pm in a snow storm, there was the offending car blocking my open gates yet again.

I'd had enough, so I took a wide sweep, and parked at an angle into her car, blocking our road.

I locked it and walked up-to the offenders house, and range the bell.

I politely asked her to move her car, she replied that as I didn't own the pavement, it was public, and also safer for her to exit and enter the car, so she could park there.  She was staying overnight due to the weather, and would be going home tomorrow.

I pointed out that I needed to get my car into my garage now, not tomorrow, and asked for her keys so that I could move it.

Very reluctantly she came out of the house and moved her car, shouting and swearing at me in a voice loud enough for an off-duty female police officer who was waiting for me to move hear.

I parked my car up, and went in.

Knock Knock, guess who's at my front door wanting to take a statement!

Statement given, very irate lady then given a police caution for her language.

RESULT, well not quite what I'd hoped for.

Now blamed by her family for phoning the police and getting her into trouble, neighbour not speaking to me, although all others were, but no more parking in front of my gates!

Would I take action again?

YES, I'll give anybody a second chance, and then if they then did it a 3rd time, I'd take action.

Nobody has the right to deny you access or egress from your lawful property.

Remember, always be polite, never ever rude or aggressive; don't retaliate by blocking them in otherwise they will use it against you.

Keep a diary.

Get a basic CCTV covering your driveway.

 

[Tom1994]

I feel for ya! We have a privately owned layby for parking for about 5 houses (10 cars) on a main road and a Pub directly across with a car park.  Granted it isn't a well lit car park but that's besides the point.  I'll leave the house for 10 minutes and come back and my space has been taken up by someone visiting the pub.  They usually leave it there all weekend too.  I've resorted to parking in front of the pub car park entrance.  Seems to annoy the people stood outside smoking but ask me if I care 

[ramandchips]

If cars are routinely parking in your private layby, perhaps you need to put signs up, warning that unauthorised vehicles will be clamped and impounded.

Have a chat to a local private car-park operator, and see if they are interested in managing it for you.

Point out that as it's opposite a pub, it could be a nice little earner for them.

[Jon84]

At the end of our road we have a residential parking area. On the deeds to the property it clearly shows the two allocated bays for each property. Some people don't care where they park, some get funny about it. 

I am only bothered when someone has so many visitors they park up the curbs rather than using the spaces!

[TomsFocus]

You have to realise there are two types of people where parking is concerned...

There are 'parkers'...these people actually take note of where they stop, close to the kerb or fully in a bay, wheels straight, not blocking any access...  This where most of us 'car people' are who get annoyed by the other lot...

Then you have the 'abandoners'...these people literally couldn't give a crap...they just stop in the middle of a busy road, on a wonky angle, a mile from the kerb (probably a dropped kerb to someone's house) with the wheels turned 45 degrees for absolutely no reason.  Or pull across 2 bays, diagonally, again with the wheels turned, still for no reason...and then somehow they get out, see how they've left it and feel no guilt at all and carry on their business...  They have absolutely no understanding of the annoyance they cause the parkers!

Where I live we don't have marked bays, but the 'set' near my place are all taken by the same people in the same order, we have a mutual respect if you like, as no-one has ever said which they want.  The rest of the car park however, looks like a free-for-all most days with utter carnage!   Not only in the bays...but even when half of them are free, some people still seem to think it's acceptable to park on the thin roadway through the carpark, 1 minutes walk from an empty space.   When out, I'll do whatever I can to avoid paying to park, so I mostly park on side streets outside houses, but never by a dropped kerb or an obvious driveway, or where they've put up signs asking not to park due to a disabled driver for example...I haven't paid to park for about 5 years now iirc, but I've never got a ticket or caused anyone else hassle, it just takes a bit of common sense!

[Lenny]

15 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

You have to realise there are two types of people where parking is concerned...

There are 'parkers'...these people actually take note of where they stop, close to the kerb or fully in a bay, wheels straight, not blocking any access...  This where most of us 'car people' are who get annoyed by the other lot...

Then you have the 'abandoners'...these people literally couldn't give a crap...they just stop in the middle of a busy road, on a wonky angle, a mile from the kerb (probably a dropped kerb to someone's house) with the wheels turned 45 degrees for absolutely no reason.  Or pull across 2 bays, diagonally, again with the wheels turned, still for no reason...and then somehow they get out, see how they've left it and feel no guilt at all and carry on their business...  They have absolutely no understanding of the annoyance they cause the parkers!

Where I live we don't have marked bays, but the 'set' near my place are all taken by the same people in the same order, we have a mutual respect if you like, as no-one has ever said which they want.  The rest of the car park however, looks like a free-for-all most days with utter carnage!   Not only in the bays...but even when half of them are free, some people still seem to think it's acceptable to park on the thin roadway through the carpark, 1 minutes walk from an empty space.   When out, I'll do whatever I can to avoid paying to park, so I mostly park on side streets outside houses, but never by a dropped kerb or an obvious driveway, or where they've put up signs asking not to park due to a disabled driver for example...I haven't paid to park for about 5 years now iirc, but I've never got a ticket or caused anyone else hassle, it just takes a bit of common sense!

True,

She was driving a 1999 red commercial Suzuki Jimney, 

Suppose I'm lucky it started, but when pulling away she had to go up to the six available parking spaces to turn around for exiting the estate 😧

[Incontro]

Speaking of bad parking - my neighbor's parking is pants (he drives a ***** 10 plate Peugeot!) - always parks far too close to my car, right on the edge of his bay (I ALWAYS take great care to park bang on in the middle of my bay - my neighbor on the right does likewise). It's been getting worse and worse to the point where he crossed my line recently making it impossible for me to get in my car - made my blood boil! I wrote a (polite) note and stuck it on his windshield - the first time he parked after getting the note, he parked decently. But hopefully the good parking continues, and isn't just a one-off! Otherwise I will either complain to the building manager (live in a flat), or get my dad to park his old & cheap Volvo right on the edge of my bay, and give the Peugeot driver a taste of his own medicine!!