New Neighbours

[Mr Pig]

Just go around and ask them to move it every time you need to get your car out...they'll soon get the message.

That sounds reasonable. We have a very large back garden and our neighbours park in it regularly when their drive/garden is full. They have a building company and have about ten vehicles! They used to park vans on the pavement out the front all the time and it was a hazard. You couldn't see when you were pulling out of the drive and the kids had to go onto the busy road to get around the vans.

It sounds daft but the happiest neighbour relations I've had were when we lived in a flat with no designated parking at all! There was the road at the front of the flats and that was it. Because no one owned a space to get territorial over it was first come first served and no one had anything to moan about. It was great!

By contrast we lived in a house in a modern estate that had inadequate parking, I fell out with just about everyone in the street over where I could park my car! My house was on a pedestrianised part so I couldn't park next to the house. The problem was that the other residents had filled up all the communal parking and they fought tooth and nail to stop you getting them. It was totally horrible. One old lady tried every lie she could think of to stop me parking in the communal space near her house, and she didn't even have a car! Another guy, a taxi driver, was lucky not to get punched in the mouth one night, and that was only because he wouldn't come out of his house!

Basically what I'm saying is that you do not want to fall out with these people. You could be living next to them for a long time, plus you have no idea what ways they may have for making 'your' life miserable!

Would it not be possible for the council to put a drive in for them?

 

[ghitchen]

I agree with the "please can you move your car" approach every time you can't easily get in or out. Say it with a big smile on your face and be really cheerful about it. It's easy to fall out and hard to make up.

 

[Maz]

I always go out of my way to introduce myself to new neighbours - and I don't necessarily mean just next doors either, but anyone who moves in on the street. I take a welcome card round and sht like that and tell em if they need owt let me know. Tell em when the binmen come round and general chitchat n stuff.

I generally get a good response from them, but I also get the occasional look of 'who is this mentalist?'

 

[Plax]

Would it not be possible for the council to put a drive in for them?

Well, it isn't a council estate and they don't own any land whatsoever so I very much doubt it!

I always go out of my way to introduce myself to new neighbours - and I don't necessarily mean just next doors either, but anyone who moves in on the street. I take a welcome card round and sht like that and tell em if they need owt let me know. Tell em when the binmen come round and general chitchat n stuff.

Your too nice Maz! I introduced myself to the neighbours on the otherside when they moved in a few years ago (and told him when bin day was!). Get on fine with him (his girlfriend has since left him). He does play loud music every now and then but that has never bothered me as it has always been at a reasonable time and not past midnight. Got to expect a certain level of noise when your attached to somebody else. Get on fine with all the other neighbours in the street too as they are mainly retired couples or holiday homes.

It just seems to be whoever lives in that house that I don't seem to get on with, usually because of loud music in the early hours and inconsiderate parking. There was one guy that was alright, used to chat with him. He rented there for about a year and unfortunately moved out when the owners decided they were selling up. It was then empty for over a year as they couldn't get anyone to buy it. It was empty for a couple of years when I first moved here too. So I suppose the fact that I'm used to it being empty and thus have nobody obstructing my drive just exaberates things when it is actually occupied and inevitably I get parking problems.

I shall make the effort to ask them how they are settling in if I see them again, just to spread some good karma.

 

[Mr Pig]

You could just have them killed? If they are surfer types maybe no one will miss them? ;0)

The house that we're in was empty for two years too. It was practically derelict so we got it for a good price but had epic DIY to do!

 

[Horace Goes Skiing]

why should I have to struggle getting in and out of my perfectly legal drive?

That's some petty sh1t right there. I can't believe I'm reading this thread...

 

[Plax]

That's some petty sh1t right there. I can't believe I'm reading this thread...

Bugger off then.
I'm going to be really petty tomorrow as the way they've parked now I won't be able to get out of my drive at all.

 

[Lardyboy]

Car parking is a bit of a problem around where I live and work.

First there's the rugby/soccer stadium which causes chaos for everyone when there's a game being played and people will park wherever they can/want, even though there's supposed to be residents only parking in the area. And in the three years the stadium has been opened only once have I seen anyone being "booked" for illegal parking. In fact during the local elections a councillor illegally parked whilst delivering "vote for my party" literature outside my front door. When he came back I gave him my view on his disrespect for law and order and that I would not be voting for his party and I hoped that my neighbours would do the same!

Second there's mother and toddler crèches in a chapel near work every Tuesday and Friday. And they will park anywhere, anyhow with no consideration to any other road user or pedestrian! It's amazing, really, how little common sense they have, as so many of them have come back to find their wing mirrors broken or missing, yet they still keep parking in the same places!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We've giving up telling them, we're hoping that an amublance or fire engine comes along and can't get passed. Then the sh*t will hit the fan! Outburst over.

 

[tdr1nka]

Hiya Plax,
You're not being petty, thats for sure, but maybe there is some residual ill feeling from the previous occupants that is hard to shake.
When you are used to there being a bad situation in the past it is easy to be looking out for it being repeated.

One thought I had was if your road isn't a private road you could approach the council to put white lines on the road marking the drives?
If this parking situation doesn't improve take a photograph everytime they are blocking your drive and note the date and time to make a file to take to the council.

Good luck, and you have my sympathies it's not easy when these things come up with new neighbours.

 

[Horace Goes Skiing]

Bugger off then.
I'm going to be really petty tomorrow as the way they've parked now I won't be able to get out of my drive at all.

OK then. If it's having such an impact on your quality of life (Jesus...), what are you going to do about it? Whining on an internet forum is not an effective solution.

Take action!

 

[summerdays]

OK then. If it's having such an impact on your quality of life (Jesus...), what are you going to do about it? Whining on an internet forum is not an effective solution.

Take action!

Surely talking about it on a forum ... may give her ideas for alternative approaches and if not then at least it releases some of the pent up frustration.

Having seen the parking near me - which can be awful, there have been times when the bin-lorry can't get in to collect the rubbish, they used to try knocking on my door to see if it was us... but now they realise its not the locals - its the people who don't want to pay for their parking nearby. If a bin-lorry can't get by then neither can a fire engine or an ambulance, and an elderly neighbour often has the ambulance come out to his house - I've seen them struggle to get to his house.

Is there room enough on the road to park your car legally without blocking your drive for a day or two ... and you could point out that you are having to park it there so that you can use it when required? (In a nice way)

 

[Plax]

OK then. If it's having such an impact on your quality of life (Jesus...), what are you going to do about it? Whining on an internet forum is not an effective solution.

Take action!

Don't worry I am, I'm just venting on here. Don't want to go in all guns ablazing now do we? Not very constructive to say the least.

Todays's offering. Call me petty but I'm not going to put up with that for however many years they live here just because they were stupid enough to buy a house with no parking and are too lazy to park more considerately further away.

 

[purpleR]

I can see that there's a bit of overlap... but your parking space is, on the other hand, wider than lots of drives I've seen where there has been barely enough room to open a door. That estate car is obviously aware of your need to get in and out because they are really (too) close to the car behind. It looks like there's enough room for you but it might be hard to tell from that photo with perspective and all.

 

[Plax]

I can see that there's a bit of overlap... but your parking space is, on the other hand, wider than lots of drives I've seen where there has been barely enough room to open a door. That estate car is obviously aware of your need to get in and out because they are really (too) close to the car behind. It looks like there's enough room for you but it might be hard to tell from that photo with perspective and all.

The car behind is theirs as well. My drive is quite wide, but then I only have a small car. When my boyfriends stays his car fills the drive more (and I park mine in front of the drive), and I'm not so sure he'd actually be able to get his car out. I could get mine out, but then I struggle to get it back in again because of the angle. If I drove in and had to reverse out, I'd not be able to do it.
Also next door sometimes parks in front of his (own) drive which would make it more difficult to get out again as I usually drive out on the side he has overlapped so I get take the turn wide enough and give his car enough space. Not normally a problem and has never bothered me, it'll just be more of a squeeze for me to get out, and extremely difficult for me to get back in.
I do try and be reasonable, but I don't appreciate their problem of lack of parking becoming my problem and spoiling the enjoyment and access of my own home.

 

[domtyler]

If you are planning on staying put in your house for some years to come, you could purchase the next door house and become the landlady there, then you would be able to vet whoever takes the lease before they move in and evict anyone you didn't like if you had to. It may even provide a nice little income for you too.