What do you think is the most unpleasant thing about regularly doing some good deeds? No, of course, everything will be credited to your karma, and a good reputation won’t hurt either, and, you see, it’s just nice to do good for people. However, there is one sad thing about it. Now I will explain to you what exactly that is.
The thing is that sometimes other people simply begin to take the good that you do for them for granted. As a kind of life constant. And they begin, of course, to overuse it with time. And when you return to normal, 'neutral' behavior, they take it as an insult. For example, as happened with the redditor u/atruceformeandyou - the hero of today's story.
The author of the post lives in the UK and his house has a big and wide driveway
Image credits: Curtis Adams (not the actual photo)
However, the author's neighbors have no driveway at all so the author once permitted them to park their cars on his
Image credits: atruceformeandyou
Image credits: Enric Cruz López (not the actual photo)
Image credits: atruceformeandyou
When the neighbors' children grew up, they started parking their own cars there too, thus making it completely inconvenient for the generous guy
Image credits: Erik Mclean (not the actual photo)
Image credits: atruceformeandyou
The author tried to talk to their dad, but all his words were simply in vain
Image credits: behrouz sasani (not the actual photo)
Image credits: atruceformeandyou
The homeowner ended up just parking his car on the turn into his driveway, blocking the passage for other vehicles
So, the Original Poster (OP) lives in Great Britain, and there, in some city blocks, post-war development has led to a certain mishmash among the houses and entrances to them. A classic example of such chaos is the author's house, which has a wide driveway in which several cars can pass at once. At the same time, some of the OP's neighbors have a much narrower driveway, and some other homeowners don't have one at all. Well, they have a large fancy front garden instead, but this has nothing to do with the topic of this story.
There is a large family living next door, and the OP and his girlfriend kindly let them park their cars on their driveway, even though local regulations allow road parking for residents. But you yourself perfectly understand that it is one thing to get into a car parked near the house itself, and quite another to have to walk further to it.
However, as time went on, the neighbors' children grew up - and their parents bought them their first cars. And where, we wonder, did the youth begin to park them? That's right - still there, on the OP's driveway! Sometimes it got to the point that neither the author of the post nor his girlfriend could park their own cars because of the randomly parked neighboring vehicles. Of course, it doesn't cost anything to knock on the door of the neighbors and ask them to move, but firstly, it obviously takes time, and secondly, what the hell?
So the OP first tried to talk to the neighbors; however, in his own words, they do not speak English well, and the neighbor's wife, even after several years of living in the area, perceives him very warily. The neighbor himself, as the author recalls, is a decent fellow, and more than once promised to talk to his children about parking - but either he forgot to do this every time, or the exhortations were just in vain.
In the end, the original poster simply started to park his own car on the turn leading to his driveway, thus blocking the road for all other vehicles. And when one of the neighbor's children came to ask the couple to clear the passage, he came across a firm no. However, now the author is sometimes tormented by his conscience - is he doing the right thing after all?
Image credits: oswald yaw elsaboath (not the actual photo)
Well, the original poster should probably be appeased so that his conscience won't bother him anymore. First, British law is, of course, on his side. "Although there is not a specific criminal law to restrict people parking on your drive without consent, technically, it is classed as trespassing; this is because a driveway is considered part of your private property," says the UK-based car dealer Wilsons. "However, it's worth noting that trespassing is a civil offence rather than a criminal offence, so the police are unlikely to be able to make an arrest if you arrive home to find someone else parked in your driveway."
Also in this situation it is recommended, for example, to post a sign reading 'no parking' or 'private property' in order to avoid similar incidents in the future. You can also install fixed bollards or even a fence or gate. The original poster admits that he was initially reluctant to resort to the last resort, but the signs are likely to work.
Many people in the comments on the original post also advise the author to install signs. Of course, it is sad that the neighbors do not have their own driveway, but, in the end, this is not a reason to prevent the person who has done you a favor from parking their own vehicle. According to folks in the comments, the OP simply showed generosity towards the neighbors, and they clearly abused this generosity. "You are nicer than I am, because I would have started having them towed by now," one of the commenters even admitted.
However, people are not always so generous, allowing neighbors to park on their driveways or dedicated spots. For example, the heroes of this post of ours, even while abroad, checked on the cameras when a neighbor left his car in their parking space, and called him out. So what do you think, is it worth being principled in this matter, or is it simply excessive?
Folks in the comments massively sided with the man, while some stated they would have started having the neighbors' cars towed
