It’s Halloween today -- a time when, according to many widespread legends, all sorts of evil spirits roam the earth, causing all sorts of problems and misfortunes for ordinary people. Zombies, witches, ghosts, goblins, entitled neighbors… Yes, some people don't even need to wear a costume to look absolutely creepy…
Well, our narrator today, the user u/RamboTheC**t, encountered a serious problem a few months ago: his new neighbor not only developed the disgusting habit of parking the van blocking his driveway, but also simply brushed off his indignant demands to stop doing it. Ain’t it evil?
More info: Reddit
Entitled neighbors sometimes could be just like a punishment from above -- especially when they make a habit of blocking your driveway
Image credits: RamboTheC**t / Reddit
The author of the post is a homeowner in Birmingham, UK, whose new neighbor keeps parking straight in his driveway, despite all the talks and reasoning
Image credits: RamboTheC**t
Image credits: korrawinj / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The author even tried to file a report to local authorities, but failed for some unknown reason
Image credits: RamboTheC**t
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Meanwhile, the neighbor keeps parking his huge van, blocking the man's car over and over, and just brushes his reasons off like it's something annoying
Image credits: RamboTheC**t
So, the man decided to ask the netizens' advice -- maybe he should resort to petty revenge or something else?
So, the Original Poster (OP) says they recently got new neighbors, a couple, and literally from the very first day, the man chose the author's driveway as a place to park his large van. Our hero politely asked them not to block his driveway, and the neighbor reluctantly moved - but the very next day, the same thing happened.
This repeated itself day after day, and when our hero left his car parked on the street once, the neighbor immediately parked his van right behind him, leaving him with no room to back out. Furthermore, whenever he asked not to block the car, the neighbor and his girlfriend simply shrugged, as if they were hearing something extremely annoying.
The original poster's attempts to complain to local authorities were also fruitless. Whether the problem lay in bureaucracy or something else, the fact remains: time passes, and the neighbor's van continues to block the author's driveway, thus making him literally seething with anger.
As a result, our hero decided to turn to the collective wisdom of the internet and ask: Is there any way to deal with this obnoxious neighbor? Perhaps he should contact his landlord or estate agent, the author wonders. Or should he just move on to petty revenge right off the bat?
Image credits: RamboTheC**t / Reddit
Well, according to the rules, whether in the US or the UK, if there's a driveway with a dropped curb, it's actually illegal to park across it anyway. Moreover, this dedicated article on the Havering London borough official website claims that even if the person shares the curb with the neighbor, the neighbor's consent is required to park there.
If the driveway with a dropped curb is officially registered, it's easier to file a report against a violator, as this post on the Ealing borough Council blog states. "You will need to leave a message with the details of the vehicle blocking your dropped curb, your full address, and the dropped curb reference number," the source claims. Thus, the issue will, theoretically, be resolved fairly quickly.
Many readers of the original post also urged the author to just call the police. According to commenters, the original poster simply wasted a lot of time trying to reason with their neighbor when they should’ve contacted the police or the towing company after just the first or second instance of illegal parking. At least, there are many known cases where this worked perfectly.
Well, and if the author, for whatever reason, doesn't want to contact the police, then, according to the responders, there are many effective methods of petty revenge. For example, regular early wakeup calls. "Wake him up at 3 am because you need to go and get bread," someone wrote quite wittily. So what do you, our dear readers, think about this situation?
People in the comments supported the author firmly, but just advised him to call the police as well -- and that's all
