‘My neighbours keep blocking my drive – I had to involve the police’

One of the most common causes of neighbour disputes is parking.

If you live in an area where you must rely on roadside parking outside your house, you’ll know how frustrating it can be when other cars are parked along your street. Of course, you don’t have a right to park in front of your property if the parking is on the street, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying.

You might dream of having a driveway that means you never have to fight for a parking space again, but it turns out that even having a dedicated space on your property to park your vehicle doesn’t prevent arguments with your neighbours.

One man has claimed that even though he has a driveway for his own car, his neighbours constantly disrespect his space and often block the entrance to his driveway, meaning he can’t enter or exit until they move their vehicle.

What’s more, the offending car doesn’t even belong to the people who actually live in the house next door, but instead is owned by a guest who frequently visits their home.

In a post on Reddit, the man claimed he’s even tried to get the police involved after the car’s owner continually refused to move it – but he’s had no luck so far getting them to be more respectful of his space.

He said: “My neighbours frequently have guests over, and one guest in particular driving a late model BMW feels he is entitled to park and block my driveway.

“The first time [it happened], I went over there and asked them to move; they said they would move it but didn’t. The 2nd time, I again went over and asked them to move it, and they agreed, but nothing.

“So I think it’s time to take matters into my own hands. I’ve called the police; they will do absolutely nothing.”

In the UK, parking across a driveway is only an offence if there is a dropped kerb, but this has nothing to do with the restriction of access to the driveway itself and is in place because dropped kerbs are a no-go for parking.

Even if a vehicle only partially covers a dropped kerb, the owner will be committing a driving offence and could be liable to receive a penalty of up to three points and a fine of up to £100.

However, parking close to a dropped kerb is not illegal, even if this restricts access to a driveway. According to Confused.com, police are unlikely to get involved in cases where the parking over the dropped kerb stops you from moving your vehicle into your driveway, but if the parking issue stops you from leaving they may treat it as an anti-social behaviour offence.

Anti-social behaviour is defined by the Crime and Disorder Act (1998) as: “Acting in a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as the defendant.”

Commenters on the post came up with a variety of solutions to help the man out of his driveway situation without doing anything that would cause damage to another vehicle or his neighbour’s property.

One person said: “Park the Jeep behind the BMW and then have a bunch of beers. When they tell you to move the Jeep, tell them you can’t drive and are the only one insured. Come back in the morning.”

Several other commenters from the US called for the man to have the car towed away by a private towing company. In the US, it is illegal to block a driveway, but it is often treated as a civil matter or an issue for parking enforcement rather than the police.