This evening I arrived home to find an unknown car parked in our driveway. Basically I have a flat in a large house divided into flats, and the front drive is shared by 3 people. But the car belongs to a neighbour i.e. not a flat owner. Apparently in the past a neighbour routinely parked in our driveway.
So, is there anything we can do about this?
The police are no use as they don't want to know.
I would tend towards letting down the tyres. But they would just do the same.
Having a 'quiet word' is the preferred choice and we are blocking his car in so that when he comes to the door, we can use rational argument, hohum, as pursuasion.
Leif
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I would guess the easiest solution would be to install one of those folding posts at the end of each of the spaces. Would stop unwanted users and increase security for cars parked on the drive.
No need to worry about arguments or people retaliating against other peoples cars.
Then against it would cost you cash and it shouldn't!
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Why not simply go round and ask him to shift it and desist in parking in the space again. A car parked across his exit will also get the point across.
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Obtain services of rugby team. Lift car gently off property. Deposit in road neatly. Invite neighbour to watch.
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Go out and buy your own wheel-clamp!
Next time he parks there, you know what to do!
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Assuming that the flats are rented, I think the first thing you have to do is ask the property owner whether he/she has given permission for the car to be parked there. Also look at the terms of your lease. If this doesn't get you anywhere, put a polite signed and dated note under the car's wiper saying something like "We pay to use this driveway ~ you don't. Please do not park here again." Keep a photocopy. The next step would have to be talking to the car owner. Let's hope it doesn't go this far, because you would then have to talk to the ignorant git.
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L\'escargot.
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Establish what your legal rights are. In the event of a confrontation or dispute your legal rights will carry more weight then your moral rights.
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L\'escargot.
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If the above fails, buy yourself a £50 spares/repairs banger. Park it right behind his car in your driveway and then let your tyres down. See how long he lasts without being able to use his car.
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Unless the person concerned has been given permission to use the driveway for parking a vehicle, then he or she is trespassing on private land.
Most solicitors offer a free initial half-hour session - might be worth getting some advice if your checks reveal that permission has not been granted.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Bit late to ask I suppose, but is the presence of this cuckoo in the nest preventing legitimate tenants from parking? If there are really five or six parking places in the drive, why should the presence of a fourth car cause grief?
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Go out and buy your own wheel-clamp! Next time he parks there, you know what to do!
Not legal,you now have to be a registered clamper to do this.
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Many years ago when I lived close to a very busy city centre pub with no car park, I was always finding cars parked either on double yellow lines, half on the pavement or blocking an entrance. I found a joke pad of Notice of Inconsideration, that looked just like a parking ticket. You could fill in the car details like the registration number, make, model, colour and a series of boxes to be ticked. Some of the boxes were funny, some were like parking on double yellow lines.
The strange thing was I never saw any of these cars illegally parked again or the joke ticket thrown away. Maybe you should try something like this to get your message across that where their vehicle is parked is causing someone else grief. It is certainly worth a try as you would not be identifying yourself. Also the offending driver will not know who did it, but your message will certainly hit home.
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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I would tend towards letting down the tyres. But they would just do the same. Having a 'quiet word' is the preferred choice and we are blocking his car in so that when he comes to the door, we can use rational argument, hohum, as pursuasion.
Yes IMO the 2nd course of action would be preferable; it is actually illegal to let someone elses tyres down, so rather than him retaliating you could end up with a criminal damage charge.
I saw on another forum that damage to a vehicle does not need to be permanent for it to be an offence, just needs to "render it less useful or inoperable for a period of time".
;o)
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Having a 'quiet word' is the preferred choice and we are blocking his car in so that when he comes to the door, we can use rational argument, hohum, as pursuasion.
Rather than riling him by blocking him in, how about just going around and in as friendly a way as you can mange, politely asking him not to park on your driveway?
If that doesn't work, you could consider thrying to block him in, but why not start by trying to make things as non-confrontational as possible?
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Rather than riling him by blocking him in, how about just going around and in as friendly a way as you can mange, politely asking him not to park on your driveway?
But only after it has been established that he doesn't have permission from the property owner to park there.
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L\'escargot.
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>> Rather than riling him by blocking him in, how about just >> going around and in as friendly a way as you can >> manage, politely asking him not to park on your driveway? But only after it has been established that he doesn't have permission from the property owner to park there.
That's probably a good idea ... but whatever order things are done in, best to keep it friendly if at all possible.
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If you an dyour co-tenants have between you got valid leases that cover the driveway, then your landlord does not have the power to give anyone else the right to park there. You have what is called "exclusive possession".
However I suspect that you have exclusive possession to your flat, but only a right of way/right to park on the driveway. Is so, your neighbour's actions are placing your landlord in breach of his obligations under the leases, so if your neighbour proves difficult you could bring pressure to bear on your landlord to sort it out.
He is entitled to threaten to bring proceedings for trespass against the neighbour if he does not desist. More likely he would agree to pay for a bollard.
However, the first approach should always be polite and non-confrontational. You may be cynical about this (ie if your neighbour is the reasonable sort, he wouldn't dump his car on someone else's property would he...) but you have nothing to lose in trying this first.
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You will have to be very careful about blocking someone in. He might decide to damage your car to be able to use his.
Refering to my earlier post, my garage was in a block facing another block and with only sufficient space to turn into the garage. The deeds stated that you were not allowed to park between the garages as this would cause an obstruction. Well several of the houses were later rented out and the tenants ignored this frequently. Sometimes I could not park my car in the garage, even worse sometimes I could not get it out.
One day I found 3 cars parked in this space, so I blocked them all in and took my dog for a long walk (it took an hour and a half). There was a group of about a dozen very angry young men and a policeman when I returned. I explained to the policeman that they were continually blocking my access to and from my garage. Although sympathetic to my problem, he said unless I moved my car, which was parked on the public highway, he would give me a ticket for obstruction. I only agreed to move once all the offenders promised never to park between the garages again. They certainly were not able to enjoy their evening out as planned, so they did suffer some hardship.
This was a very confrontational approach, but I had lost patience as every time I had previously spoken to these tenants they said they would never park there again. I also said next time I would issue an injunction against the tenants and the owner of the property (I had already sought legal advice on this matter). The advice stated that very little could be done if they did break the injunction, but I told them they would all be fined, including the property owner. I also suggested that this would cause them to be quickly removed from the property as well. This finally did the trick and I never had a problem again.
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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Having a 'quiet word' is the preferred choice and we are blocking his car in so that when he comes to the door, we can use rational argument, hohum, as pursuasion.
Well, just over 24 hrs have passed since you blocked his car in. Has he asked you to move your car yet so he can get his out?
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L'escargot wrote:
"Establish what your legal rights are. In the event of a confrontation or dispute your legal rights will carry more weight then your moral rights."
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If you have legal rights to access your driveway. Then I would have thought the Police could enforce that as he/she is obstructing the access to your driveway.
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If you have legal rights to access your driveway. Then I would have thought the Police could enforce that as he/she is obstructing the access to your driveway.
The police might well say that it is a civil matter. As far as I know, there is an offence under traffic law of blocking exit from (bit not necessarily access to???) a driveway, but I'm not sure that the same applies to actually being on someone else's driveway.
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id go and bang on his door at like 3am....i need to go out in my car can you move now! repeat until he stops
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id go and bang on his door at like 3am....i need to go out in my car can you move now! repeat until he stops
That's really going build goodwill, isn't it?
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well im worried its over 24 hours since Leif posted
Thu 2 Feb 06 18:30 to be exact and no word????????? maybe he"s made up and they are having one of those big weekend long parties i used to hate?????
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\"a little man in a big world/\"
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Blocking him in might have the advantage of bringing the matter to a head without having to raise the subject yourself. Unless he solved the problem by abandoning the car! How old is it?
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L\'escargot.
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Have you thought of going into the clamping business ?
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Thanks for the replies. Someone in the next door flat parked his huge 4x4 behind the interloper to prevent its removal, but later on in the evening he had to pop down the shops, and when he returned, the car had gone. Pity, cos I could have used my car to continue the block. Anyway, we hope the fact that he had to wait for hours to get use of his vehicle will dissuade him.
It seems that several neighbours have used our driveway without permission over the last few years. The police don't want to know, in part because we live in a Pakistani area, and the police just don't want any racism claims against them! (I know this because my neighbour is mates with loads of local coppers. He believes this is also why locals get away with parking anywhere regardless of double yellow lines.)
Fortunately my neighbour thinks he knows who it was, and said to him in no uncertain terms that he would be 'upset' were this to happen again. He plays rugby, presumably as a back, and I wouldn't argue with him.
As an aside, I believe that letting down tyes is legal. There is a 4x4 protest group that is doing just that to 4x4s.
Leif
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The ultimate irony being of course that the 4x4 driver could well have ended up being dome for casusing an obstruction had the Police been called.
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The ultimate irony being of course that the 4x4 driver could well have ended up being dome for cassing an obstruction had the Police been called.
Not if the 4x4 was on private property, see my earlier post.
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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Sorry, I read it as if the 4x4 was on the highway/road
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