Neighbour parking outside our drive

jozi

Just noticed today that our neighbour has nicely parked their car outside our drive, effectively blocking any cars from coming up our drive.

They had started to slowly park their car more and more towards out drive on the street. Little by little more of the car would be blocking our drive and now the whole car is blocking it.

Fair enough no one living here drives a car but it's not a nice sight looking out of the kitchen and seeing someone else's car. At times we might get visitors who do have cars and off course it would be nice for them to be able to park on our drive. I'm not sure for their reason parking there as i can see room for another car on their drive, they have i think 3 cars and room for 2 on the drive.

Anything we can do about it? Just ask them not to park the car there? Get the agency to do something, we rent this house. Egg the car :rolleyes:

EKRIUQ

How about just asking them politely not to park in your drive as you have visitors who call regularly and then take it from there.

mikemac

It's not on. What if you wanted to deliver a sofa or bed, gonna lift this an extra few metres? And if your visitors parked by their house, they probably wouldn't be slow complaining.

Ask them, most people will not have a problem.
If this fails, post your question in After Hours and sit back and get loads of ideas

Climate Expert

Anything we can do about it? Just ask them not to park the car there?

THis really takes the biscuit. Yes maybe you should ask them not to park there. Do you really need to come onto a messageboard to get advice for something so trivial.

shenanigans1982

Climate Expert wrote: »

THis really takes the biscuit. Yes maybe you should ask them not to park there. Do you really need to come onto a messageboard to get advice for something so trivial.

It might be trivial but it is still a pain in the hole. Happened to us for a while but between the people in the house there was a van and a car which we parked as tight to the car as possible and then didn't answer the door when they knocked in looking for us to move.

stovelid

How about you:

Let them park there for now

When you need the space (extremely infrequently, it would seem), ask them to move.

Find something more substantial to worry about than somebody parking across a driveway you hardly ever use.

xbox36016

lol:D:D:D:D:D

Weyhey

What's with the nasty replies - if you think the question is trivial just ignore it....

I think it is inconsiderate and you never know when you might need access to your driveway. If you let it continue then you will become more p'd off and miserable and it will cause friction between you and your neighbour and they will also think it is ok to do so. Try talking to them in a friendly manner about it.

Also have a look at this link where a guy got towed away for blocking a driveway. It mentions "Legally speaking you can not block an entrance to a private residence or gateway and if you do it contravenes the Road Traffic Act" - don't know how true it is.

http://www.dublinblog.ie/2008/02/19/tow-tally-peed-off/

Trampas

is there a dip into the drive-in?

If not them I think they are allowed to park there

dudara

Contact the City Council. If they are blocking access to your residence, then they can be towed.

Of course, prior to this, I would attempt to ask the neighbour politely not to park in your driveway.

John Mason

i am soooooooo sick of people parking across my driveway

what is wrong with these people

i got home from a twelve hour shift on saturday evening around 8.30pm and there was someone parked across my driveway. i sat in the car for 10 mins, trying not to cry. all i wanted to do was park my car, have a shower and go to bed.

there is absolutely no need for it.

my friend lives in an apartment complex and the same person would park in her spot all the time, she tried talking to him, leaving him notes, giving him the evil i , phoning management company to no avail and then one day after having enough, she phoned the clampers. they havent parked in her spot since

jozi

Nobody wants to be the pratt asking their neighbours to move a car from your drive if you don't use it.

There is a dip in the footpath to get into the drive way. To get it towed away is a little extreme! There's no car there this morning and it looks like they freed up a space on the drive.

It doesn't bother me as such but it's not a nice sight looking at a car that isn't your and the fact they have a drive of their own which they choose to have to many cars for and to park across us and not them selves does bother me a little.

We'll see how it goes over the next few days. Don't really fancy knocking their door because I want a clear view from our kitchen, it can wait till it's needed.

Weyhey

jozi wrote: »

Nobody wants to be the pratt asking their neighbours to move a car from your drive if you don't use it.

There is a dip in the footpath to get into the drive way. To get it towed away is a little extreme! There's no car there this morning and it looks like they freed up a space on the drive.

It doesn't bother me as such but it's not a nice sight looking at a car that isn't your and the fact they have a drive of their own which they choose to have to many cars for and to park across us and not them selves does bother me a little.

We'll see how it goes over the next few days. Don't really fancy knocking their door because I want a clear view from our kitchen, it can wait till it's needed.

Ah now but you did ask in your first post about getting the agency to do something - if you do end up doing anything I think a friendly chat face to face with your neighbour is better than going via the agency or landlord.

solpadol

put a piece of paper on the windscreen with a bill for the weekly parking! btw whereabout is this happening?

Firetrap

I'd have a chat with your neighbours. It doesn't matter whether you use your driveway or not. They're impinging on your property and they're being cheeky about it.

Dizzyblonde

Buy a cheap wreck and place it in your driveway. They won't know you're not going to drive it so they'll leave the entrance free.
Or keep inviting friends with cars around. If you knock at the neighbours' enough times asking them to move so your friends can pull in, they'll soon stop blocking it.

A Random Walk

I think psychologists call this establishing a "zone of tolerance" It is better to establish your zones as early as possible in a relationship to avoid expectations developing i.e. it is probably better to approach your neighbour now rather than waiting until later when they will feel that the behaviour is tolerated and may not be as obliging "but I've always parked there".

jozi

I'm digging this up again.

I remember asking them once to move their car because I was expecting someone, which was fine car was moved.

However, roll on to last week. They really to the biscuit last week. They actually parked the car right infront of the drive, no way at all for us to get in by car, and left the car there for the remainder of the day. This has happened a few times over the last week or so. What ticks me of mostly is that everytime it happens there's a free spot on their drive. Obviously the move the car to the end of our drive to let a car out and not move it back.

I was very close to giving out stink the other nite about it to them, had a very bad day, but they didn't answer the door (thankfully).

I'm going to approach them next time I notice their car infront of our drive.
I'd like to know where I stand thou. Obviously, in my eyes, they are denying us the right to use our drive which I think is unacceptable and very inconsiderate of them. The foot path dips to the front of all the houses, does this mean they legally can't park there according to the road traffic act? Further more, there's the possibility of parking all along the far side of the road, but I guess it's to much of a walk from the other side of the road to the house

I read a previously posted link, getting the car towed is a bit extreme but it has crossed my mind.

Jozi

Victor

jozi, I think you might be over-reacting. Sure, you occassioanlly have visitors, but can't the visitors also park on the other side of the street?

Legally, you aren't allowed block an entrance without the occupier's (you) permission. You can ask the Garda or the local council to deal with it.

If you go legal, it may cause serious bad blood with your neighbour.

Svalbard

About 2 years ago i was on the receiving end of a similar parking dispute.

Was living in Galway. These are terraced houses from the 1950/60's with no drives. The only parking is on-street and, inevitably, times have changes since the 60's and there are more cars on the road.

My house was end of terrace and end of cul-de-sac. Typically the space in front of my house was always occupied by the tenant of the flat added onto my house (a 4WD naturally!). The next door parked outside theirs and I usually parked 3 doors down. There was nearly always space there.

One day after getting back from work, the man from 2 doors down is waiting for me to get out of my car.
He proceeds to tell me he doesn't want me parking there (I'm outide the house next to his, not his!!). He says that he needs room to park. I point to the car outside his house - "Isn't this your car?". "Well yes, but sometimes my daughter needs to park there when she visits" - Note I have noticed an Audi parked outside maybe a handful of occasions. "I'm sorry, but there is nowhere to park outside my house".

This is when it gets good - he says "Well these spaces are for the people who live here, you are only renting your place". I state the obvious "I need to park my car somewhere too". The next bit is priceless - "Well the lady next door (who's house I was parked at) is an old lady & lives alone, I've known her for years and I know she wouldn't want you to park outside her house". Ah, so I'm infringing on some poor old dear!

Little does he know that about a week earlier I had found a note on my windscreen. It was from Anne, the daughter of the old lady, and in it she thanked me for parking where I did, said it made her mother feel safer at night to have a car parked outside and asked me to please continue.

So I just smiled at my neighbour and said "Really? Well her daughter, Anne...you know Anne don't you? Well she said its fine if I park there. Ask her yourself." And off I walked all smug and self satisfied.

Ok, so he didnt know about the note, maybe he was motivated by concern for his neighbour. If so he should have led with that instead of complaining that the space was for his daughters car (who doesn't live on the street!!) who visits occasionally. And then proceeding to tell me because I rent I have no right to park there.

Cheeky bugger!!!!

(names have been changed to protect identity!!)

Getting back to OP, blocking a driveway is not on. Ohhhhh, Actually I have another story about that! But this post is long enough already.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

OP your neighbours are taking liberties because you are being a push-over. Establish boundaries. Parking in front of a driveway is just not on.

who007

Svalbard wrote: »

. Ohhhhh, Actually I have another story about that! But this post is long enough already.

No it's not! Spill!

And OP I think I would be annoyed too at the cheek of it. Maybe you could ask your friends to come over and park in the empty space in your neighbours drive. If they say anything just apologise and say there was no space outside your place so you told them they could use theirs - same as they do to you?

seanybiker

best thing to do is just ask em. Sometimes my neighbours park outside our drive and me brother goes mental. Even if he aint using his car. Just call in when ya need them to move it. It only takes a second. If they dont like it , then get the eggs out

Fulton Crown

Surprised at the number of nasty replies to this genuine and very annoying problem.

Indeed that could be the issue...some people don't see it as a problem to park across a neighbours drive.

Couple o things you need to bear in mind around this behavior.

The people doing it will not be reasonable....normal approach of asking would you mind...etc will be met with derision.

Only way to combat this is to meet like with like.had similiar situ myself and looked as an opportunity to have some fun..

Saw car parked in front of driveway one Fri evening was going away for week end with friends ..so got them to park their cars ..kinda tite like.. on each side of offending vehicle..an then fcuked orf for w/end.

came back ..shifted cars.. never had problem again....just learn one thing ....diplomacy NEVER works with these peoiple..hit them square in the plums.. only language they understand...believe me...

Oh don't stress yourself .. look on it as a game.....

who007

Fulton Crown wrote: »

Saw car parked in front of driveway one Fri evening was going away for week end with friends ..so got them to park their cars ..kinda tite like.. on each side of offending vehicle..an then fcuked orf for w/end.
.....

I LOVE it!

aoibhebree

How much can it really bother you to be able to see a car from your kitchen window?

From what you've said so far, you haven't even asked them not to park there!! I live in an estate, with four other people, all five of us have cars. Because of the lack of space, I generally park my car across the road and five doors down, simply because I have noticed that no one parks either in the driveway or on the footpath outside. If the person living there ever asked me not to, I absolutely would not park there again, but if you've never said anything how would they ever know you've a problem with it???

jozi

I think the people who don't see it as a problem are those, like my neighbour, who park their car where they like.

I don't see how I'm over reacting, there's plenty of parking opportunities all along the far side of the street yet they feel it's OK to park it at our drive. Most of the time they do it there's a free spot on their own drive! So the occasional time I might get a visitor it's ok for them to park along the far side of the road but not the neighbour?

I will ask them to move the car if it happens again, either that or eggs :P

VERYinterested

The problem with society today is that some people consider themselves more important than others. I have often come out of my house to find a car blocking me in, and I look up and down the road and see loads of free space, and I can't understand why people can't walk a few yards. The problem with a lot of motorists is that they obviously must park outside the house they are visiting and would drive in the hall door if they could! I have wasted a lot of time trying to locate the culprit and it really is a pain in the butt!

One of my wife's friends always blocks my neighbour's and our drive when she calls, I deliberately manufacture a reason to ask her to move her car EVERY time she calls, because I don't want to piss of my neighbour and hopefully one day she will realise she is inconveniencing people. It is against the law to block a driveway, and to be honest the sooner the better people learn some manners, the world will become a better place.

gazzer

My parents have this problem with their next door neighbours. My parents dont have a car but next door have 3 cars. One of the cars (one of the sons' car) is parked right outside my parents driveway all week. My parents dont mind as they dont need to get a car in but they do ask that every sunday they keep the space clear as I come up for dinner and park my car in the drive.

Every Sunday that I come up the car is still blocking the driveway. One of us always has to knock in to ask the son to move the car. You would think they know by now that on one day of the week they move the car but they still havnt got the message.

However every Sunday that I come up the

Fatloss08

they will abuse for along as their allowed too

i went into mine who parked a huge van covering his and half of mine , told him to never park covering my gate again and he didnt

they'll do it until u put your fooot down , in my case this guy didnt even own the house , was renting , so i threatened to call the owner and it was moved quick smart

Mr. Presentable

Next time you have a visitor get them to park across the neighbour's drive.

Order a skip

Every time they leave it there ask them to move it

Order stuff that needs to be delivered by van

Svalbard

I also had problems a similar problem, but worse. People parked in my drive. On several occasions, even though we repeatedly asked them not to. Again I was renting (I know, tenants are scum of the earth and have shouldn't bother proper people who own houses!!!) and no-one in the house had a car. Granted this house was on a busy street near a university and on-street parking was not permitted. The house next door belonged to the university and was converted to some academic office or other. Anyway this one bint always kept parking her car in our drive!!! Now the drive was tiny and she parked her car right up against our living room window. I mean, when you were in the room and looked out all you could see was her dirty rear window!

So a few times we went round and asked, politely yet firmly, for her to move her car and not to park there again. Every time she just gave a sneery smile and said "What does it matter, you don't have a car?". I had no time for this rubbish, didn't even bother trying to explain to this ignorant woman how what she was doing was wrong. If she didn't know it herself then I pity her. So she would move it, but a few days later it would reappear!!! Without fail!

Eventually we told our landlady (she had lived in the house previously and the knob-end next door did the same thing to them, and they actually had a car!!!). Anyways they had removable bollards (metal ones that lock into the ground, not orange traffic cones) to block the entrance to the drive and gave us those. So that worked, but of course whenever a guest wanted to park there they had to be taken up! All because of that careless woman.

What really got me was her attitude. She really didn't give a f*** about anyone but herself. I'm sure she looked down on us because we were students. Also any argument that "we're only tenants" is crap beacause she only worked next door, she didn't live there. AND there was university staff parking around the corner, about a 2 min walk away.

Arrrrrgggggggghhhhhh! Rant ends here.

So to the OP. By all means politely yet firmly ask your neighbours not to block your drive but don't expect them to be nice about it. People can be very hostile. They will probably give you reasons why they should and can park there. Don't listen. Don't give them reasons why you need access to your drive - if they don't realise they are wrong now, they never will. Just tell em where to go and if they persist, then the gloves are off!

blah

That makes me think about how when people park in private commercial property like a university or shopping centre and they haven't paid/aren't a customer/student/whatever and what the security people do is affix a big A4 sticker to the side window saying "No Parking - Private Property". It's not a fine or anything, since they can't fine you, but it looks like a pain in the arse to clean off.

Maybe you could have tried that, an A4 printout and a tube of superglue :cool:

VERYinterested

While on the subject of putting a notice on the car, you could print off a few notices off this site:

http://www.youparklikeanasshole.com/

Won't do anything for neighbourly relations though

20goto10

jozi wrote: »

Anything we can do about it? Just ask them not to park the car there? Get the agency to do something, we rent this house. Egg the car :rolleyes:

You say you only use your driveway occassionally? How about renting out your driveway to them? If they say no then tell them to move their car. If they don't then call the police.

shoegirl

VERYinterested wrote: »

The problem with society today is that some people consider themselves more important than others.

Agreed, there is this, there is also the issue of people simply having ridiculous numbers of cars per house without adequate parking (my aunt's neighbours have 4 cars!!) and sometimes overcrowding in rented properties (5 bedroomed terraces converted into 12 flats full of couples - yes I've seen it!) However the issue here is that this is an ENTRANCE and it simply is unacceptable to block somebody elses building entrance without their permission. I would get a piece of wood and paint a sign saying "please do not obstruct entrance" and put it outside.
The only alternative I can see is buying a couple of traffic cones and placing them right at the entrance to (possibly) obstruct him. Won't stop him moving them though.

Victor

Folks, damaging vehicles isn't on. While it may is some petty way seem understandable, it isn't acceptable.

the_syco

blah wrote: »

It's not a fine or anything, since they can't fine you, but it looks like a pain in the arse to clean off.

Maybe you could have tried that, an A4 printout and a tube of superglue :cool:

You can sue those who do this to your car for damages, as it's hard to get these stickers off, and can be seen as malicious damage.

Raiser

jozi wrote: »

Nobody wants to be the pratt asking their neighbours to move a car from your drive if you don't use it.

Exactly.

Why make waves/annoy people for no good reason [?]

- Imagine a World where people routinely complained about things that didn't even really bother them.

If it ever does become an actual problem you could politely ask them to change their habit.

catch88

I am completely fed up with yummie mummies parking their 4x4's in front of my driveway to collect their kids from school.

Seriously, how ignorant do you have to to be to;

1. park where there are road markings that specifically say 'keep clear' and
2. equally block someone's drive way

Furthermore when someone has parked their car blocking my driveway the next car comes along and drives up onto the curb and wrecks the grass. I now have thick mud outside my gate because of people driving onto the pavement.

The school have sent out letters telling them not to do it, the poor old lollipop man tells them not to do it, a garda once stood there and told them not to do it....and guess what? They still park there effin cars in front of my driveway from 1.30pm to 2.30pm 5 days a week.

......Roll on the summer.

I would suggest to the o.p to put two small traffic cones that you can get at any d.i.y shop and put them outside your gate. Your neighbors will get the message. Unfortunately i can't because its on a main road.

Svalbard wrote: »

Every time she just gave a sneery smile and said "What does it matter, you don't have a car?". I had no time for this rubbish, didn't even bother trying to explain to this ignorant woman how what she was doing was wrong.

What really got me was her attitude. She really didn't give a f*** about anyone but herself.

It never ceases to amaze me just how ignorant people are.

athtrasna

Parking outside the gate is annoying, but difficult to deal with. We found that taking pictures of the cars blocking the drives repeatedly seemed to intimidate some of the drivers.

Re the car parking in the drive, seems to me like a simple case of trespass. Again taking pictures, call the gardai, build up a dossier of evidence. There's also an insurance issue, what happens if the offender slips in your drive?

mikemac

athtrasna wrote: »

Re the car parking in the drive, seems to me like a simple case of trespass. Again taking pictures, call the gardai, build up a dossier of evidence. There's also an insurance issue, what happens if the offender slips in your drive?

(this ain't proper legal advice)
Good point. If she keeps using your drive and you say nothing it could be taken that you've given consent.

There is snow predicted this week, what if she slips on your drive? You know she's a chancer so what will she do then?

Merch

I have always been told that it is illegal under some road traffic act, I don't know which one, does anyone know?
Personally I almost never eperienced anyone blocking at my parents house, the few occasions that it did occur were rare and the neighbour would be out before anyone got to the door of the car.
Even know that there isnt a car there now, no one parks in it or covering it as they know relatives turn up or me or brother.

Now its a different story, more cars, but people seem to have less consideration of others and their rights, asked my own neighbour to move his van, which was partially blocking my drive and was told, ohh can you hang on 5minutes???
Wtf?? no I cant, I'm leaving now, I did say on another occasion when he parked up my drive blocking my car and started cleaning the van out??? to not block me in, I think you have to set a precedent but I am sure it is covered by a law.
I'd like to be know it, anyone know someone in the Gardai to get a quote on the law/act.

I don't see any reason why I have to go looking for the offender plus the way they park always makes it awkward for the other half as she's not the best at getting the car in if they park even right up to our drive.

Lack of consideration I think, thats all really.

Victor

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1997/en/si/0182.html

S.I. No. 182/1997: ROAD TRAFFIC (TRAFFIC AND PARKING) REGULATIONS, 1997

36. (1) Save as otherwise provided for in these Regulations and subject to article 5, a vehicle shall not be parked on a public road at a location, in a manner or for a purpose referred to in this article.
(2) A vehicle shall not be parked—
(g) in any place, position or manner that will result in the vehicle obstructing an entrance or an exit for vehicles to or from a premises, save with the consent of the occupier of such premises;

catch88

Last night there was a parent-teacher meeting in the primary school across the road from me and while no one parked across my driveway two cars parked either side of it so close that it completely obstructed my view of the main road. In the end i had to break the law and drive down the pavement which is v.wide to get out onto the road. :rolleyes:

Freddie59

catch88 wrote: »

Last night there was a parent-teacher meeting in the primary school across the road from me and while no one parked across my driveway two cars parked either side of it so close that it completely obstructed my view of the main road. In the end i had to break the law and drive down the pavement which is v.wide to get out onto the road. :rolleyes:

Inconsiderate ignorant tossers.:mad:

magconn

Weyhey wrote: »

What's with the nasty replies - if you think the question is trivial just ignore it....

I think it is inconsiderate and you never know when you might need access to your driveway. If you let it continue then you will become more p'd off and miserable and it will cause friction between you and your neighbour and they will also think it is ok to do so. Try talking to them in a friendly manner about it.

Also have a look at this link where a guy got towed away for blocking a driveway. It mentions "Legally speaking you can not block an entrance to a private residence or gateway and if you do it contravenes the Road Traffic Act" - don't know how true it is.

http://www.dublinblog.ie/2008/02/19/tow-tally-peed-off/

Ded right, hate when someone gets nasty wit reply..a form of boards bullying would ya say! Kinda puts ya off asking another question

Anyway , your situation would piss me off 2! ask nicely to stop parking there and if that doesnt work, take it as far as ya have 2 go
Good luck

whizzbang

If someone parks in your drive how about letting the air out of one tyre so they have to change it. Do it every time and they will get the message.

Don't think there is anything illegal about this.

the_syco

whizzbang wrote: »

If someone parks in your drive how about letting the air out of one tyre so they have to change it. Do it every time and they will get the message.

Don't think there is anything illegal about this.

Criminal damage to another persons car, I'd say. If I had to goto a hospital pronto like, only to find someone had let the air out of my tyres, I'd be fuming. Me taking the person to court would be the least of their troubles :mad:

whizzbang

the_syco wrote: »

Criminal damage to another persons car, I'd say. If I had to goto a hospital pronto like, only to find someone had let the air out of my tyres, I'd be fuming. Me taking the person to court would be the least of their troubles :mad:

Well maybe you should have thought about that before illegally parking on my drive.

Also, prove it.

Merch

I'm relieved that people mostly see the awkwardness it causes, not just the inconvenience but the tension it can create between people that live right beside each other.
Why would someone start down that road (so to speak)
I think it's inconsiderate and unreasonable, its an inconvenience and a pain that someone else considers you should approach them to ask permission to get your car out of your own drive.
Thanks for the info re the road traffic act Victor.
I didn't want to have to bring it up with them in the first place and I'm not going to escalate by doing anything that might bring a nasty response or give ammunition to say I did something against them.

I made it clear to them I didn't want to be blocked in again and then the guy partially covered my drive so I could squeeze out, I think he was giving me the two fingers there.
I'm finding it difficult to exchange pleasantries with him, parking as he does, I feel he is being insincere.

I am sure if I parked covering him, he would make a big deal of it but if I'm inconvenienced I'm being awkward.
thanks for the replies