New neighbours!

[monabri]

The house across the road has been let to a young single mother with two young kids in tow. The kids are allowed to play outside unsupervised until after 8pm ( they're 6 years old) even in school time. They scatter their toys anywhere and have already dented one parked car. Should they be playing out at that time of night at that age?

One of her "visitors" decided to park his car blocking me in on my drive ( fully across the driveway entrance to the road). The police weren't interested! He's now taken to double parking in the road ( one car half on the pavement and road which he then parallel parks his car such that it is in the middle of the road!)

Neighbours from hell?

[Infrasonic]

Contact your local council environmental health department.
An example from my local council...https://www.manchester.gov.uk/crime

And if you can find out who the letting agent/landlord is contact them also.

[staffordian]

Regarding the obstruction of your drive, my understanding is that if you are blocked in, then it is obstruction, but being blocked from entering your drive is not.

It seems a strange distinction to me, and given the police response to your situation, maybe my understanding is wrong...

[monabri]

Regarding the obstruction of your drive, my understanding is that if you are blocked in, then it is obstruction, but being blocked from entering your drive is not.

It seems a strange distinction to me, and given the police response to your situation, maybe my understanding is wrong...

You're correct...but the police aren't interested!

[UncleEbenezer]

You're correct...but the police aren't interested!

Why would they be? Isn't obstruction a purely civil matter?

More generally, there are ridiculously high hurdles to any challenge to the Great British Motorist's sense of Entitlement. Not least that ownership of the roads that keeps so many kids cooped up inside for fear of the danger, and makes Britain one of the worst (developed) countries to be a child by most measures.

[Weath]

Contact your local council environmental health department.
An example from my local council...https://www.manchester.gov.uk/crime

And if you can find out who the letting agent/landlord is contact them also.

Nothing to do with Env Health. Our powers relate only to matters that occur 'on a premise'. There's no inherent offence with children playing out at night. Even if it was within the curtilage of the property we would still have to establish wherever any noise (I assume that is the underlying issue?) is unreasonable and causing a significant disturbance to residents i.e. a moral compass of "should they be out that late at night" wouldn't be part of an investigation.

Parking issues would either be the modern local equivalent to the traffic warden if there's signs and lines to enforce, or the police if its an obstruction.

Damage to property again would be the police or (more likely in the current climate) have to be pursued as a civil matter.

Personally, I would recommended approaching your new neighbour and welcoming her to the neighbourhood and getting to know her. Then the matter of the parking etc. can be politely raised. Much better than to go on the attack in the early days of her moving in and I say that with many years of experience of dealing with these matters.

[monabri]

So, my sense of " entitlement" as a motorist doesn't extend to being able to get off my drive to go out when I need to because of inconsiderate parking? It's actually a criminal offence to block access to the highway, not civil! Note, if they were to actually park on my drive, then it would be civil ( trespass). They are also parking on the pavement ( a second offence for which one could receive a parking ticket)....so, perhaps you'd like to discuss the entitlement of pedestrians to walk on the pavement??

https://www.kentlive.news/news/motoring ... one-478142

https://www.daslaw.co.uk/blog/what-to-d ... r-driveway

As for the kids playing on the street...that's fine providing they don't do damage when they simply throw their bikes into cars when they've decided they've had enough of playing with them?

[UncleEbenezer]

So are you going to sue the motorist who blocks you in? Or is it too high a hurdle?

Pavement parking was indeed too high a hurdle for my late neighbour, who couldn't go out because she was too slow and unsteady on her sticks to go round them in the middle of the road. Even if she got a clear pavement for long enough to walk the (less than 100 yards) to the passage into town, her chances of being able to get back home would've been slim.

Imprisoned by inconsiderate parking, any action against individual cars would've been futile because there were too many of them, and collective action (the law) was futile because it was widely ignored.

And *those* kids playing on the street is not the problem I was talking about, of vast numbers who aren't allowed to go out to play.

[Infrasonic]

Personally, I would recommended approaching your new neighbour and welcoming her to the neighbourhood and getting to know her. Then the matter of the parking etc. can be politely raised. Much better than to go on the attack in the early days of her moving in and I say that with many years of experience of dealing with these matters

It depends on the area. Nice middle class suburbia and politeness will probably fly, so I'd agree with this in principle.
My house rental is in a nice area and I've only had one out of four tenants be an issue so far, and those were relatively minor (although I did eventually get rid of them because they were becoming a PITA...)

Unfortunately in the four cases I've personally been involved in various places where I've lived it's failed on every occasion.
Polite conversations, polite notes from myself and various other relevant parties, none of it worked. Either totally ignored or directly told to **** off and mind our own business...What started off as minor annoyances quickly escalated due to letting it ride for far too long.

So round my way (which is a rapidly gentrifying area of hardcore Manchester city centre), absolutely no chance of Mr nice guy working at present I'm afraid.

Only when it got escalated to managing/letting agents, freeholders/leaseholders, EH, (+ solicitors and private investigators in one case where I was a very unenthusiastic third party witness) and serious threats of action being taken did the protagonists take any notice. In that particular solicitor + PI case a leaseholder who eventually sold up after five or so years of continuous pressure (fortunately I was only around for the last twelve months or so of that saga.)


My managing agent is currently trying to get an Airbnb flat closed down via the (reluctant) development freeholder, 4 vans worth of police out last Saturday at 1.30 am for a 150 person mini riot after an 18th got 'a bit' out of hand (luckily I was elsewhere for the entire week.) 12 months and counting so far, relisting with different hosts seems to be the leaseholders game plan to try and avoid detection.

The joys of city centre living...

[Weath]

It depends on the area.

No it doesn't. It depends purely on how the individual neighbours approach and react to the issues. That applies to both the source and the complainant. There are good and bad eggs in every neighbourhood. Going around and shouting at the neighbour about the kids playing on the road will not improve the situation I can guarantee. Neither, generally speaking again from experience, will be the neighbour getting formal letters etc. from agencies without having been approached personally in the first instance and given the opportunity to address. Involving agencies from the outset very quickly builds distrust between neighbours and rarely ends well.

Nice middle class suburbia and politeness will probably fly, so I'd agree with this in principle.

Usually the worst. They "know their rights" and "nobody is telling me what to do in my own home" (actually mate, the abatement notice I have just served you does just that ...). 'Rougher' areas have a far higher degree of tolerance in terms of the lower scale issues and more often than not just get on with life. Obviously they often experience the more serious ASB matters such as drug use though.

[Infrasonic]

^^ Not been my experience at all, so we'll have to agree to disagree I'm afraid.

In addition my sister is deputy chief executive of a community based charity and previously worked in the homeless voluntary sector. Her partner works in homeless/rough sleeper housing for Mcr council, so I have their thirty plus years of experience in those specific areas to go off as well...

[Weath]

They are also parking on the pavement ( a second offence for which one could receive a parking ticket)....so, perhaps you'd like to discuss the entitlement of pedestrians to walk on the pavement??

Parking on the pavement is not an offence (outside of London) unless there are signs and lines or the car is causing an obstruction. They would not get a ticket unless either of these factors occur.

[Lootman]

Regarding the obstruction of your drive, my understanding is that if you are blocked in, then it is obstruction, but being blocked from entering your drive is not. It seems a strange distinction to me, and given the police response to your situation, maybe my understanding is wrong...

In the US if someone blocks your driveway then you call a city number and the offending vehicle is towed away. It can then only be reclaimed by the owner upon payment of a fine of several hundred dollars. The city is very efficient at doing that as it is a nice little earner for them, and as a result few people park that thoughtlessly.

Absent such a provision in the UK I'd recommend putting a trolley jack under the rear axle, to disable the handbrake, and then push the vehicle out of the way. If you are feeling spiteful, push it to a place where the cops will ticket it. The owner probably will not repeat the offence.

[Mike88]

Regarding the obstruction of your drive, my understanding is that if you are blocked in, then it is obstruction, but being blocked from entering your drive is not. It seems a strange distinction to me, and given the police response to your situation, maybe my understanding is wrong...

Absent such a provision in the UK I'd recommend putting a trolley jack under the rear axle, to disable the handbrake, and then push the vehicle out of the way. If you are feeling spiteful, push it to a place where the cops will ticket it. The owner probably will not repeat the offence.

That wouldn't work on a front wheel drive car. Jacking up the front on a front wheeled drive car is not only difficult but you are in danger of damaging the sump.

[Lootman]

Regarding the obstruction of your drive, my understanding is that if you are blocked in, then it is obstruction, but being blocked from entering your drive is not. It seems a strange distinction to me, and given the police response to your situation, maybe my understanding is wrong...

Absent such a provision in the UK I'd recommend putting a trolley jack under the rear axle, to disable the handbrake, and then push the vehicle out of the way. If you are feeling spiteful, push it to a place where the cops will ticket it. The owner probably will not repeat the offence.

That wouldn't work on a front wheel drive car. Jacking up the front on a front wheeled drive car is not only difficult but you are in danger of damaging the sump.

Why would it matter if the vehicle was a front or rear wheel drive? In either case the handbrake operates on the rear wheels so if you elevate them then the handbrake is inoperative.

If the owner left the car in gear then I could see that as a problem. But one way or the other I'd find a way of moving the vehicle, even if that takes two trolley jacks and a mate.

[Mike88]

Absent such a provision in the UK I'd recommend putting a trolley jack under the rear axle, to disable the handbrake, and then push the vehicle out of the way. If you are feeling spiteful, push it to a place where the cops will ticket it. The owner probably will not repeat the offence.

That wouldn't work on a front wheel drive car. Jacking up the front on a front wheeled drive car is not only difficult but you are in danger of damaging the sump.

Why would it matter if the vehicle was a front or rear wheel drive? In either case the handbrake operates on the rear wheels so if you elevate them then the handbrake is inoperative.

If the owner left the car in gear then I could see that as a problem. But one way or the other I'd find a way of moving the vehicle, even if that takes two trolley jacks and a mate.

I was under the impression most people leave their cars in gear. Also lifting the car with a trolley jack from the front invariably would involve using the sump as support and these days metal in a sump is much thinner than it used to be. Surely the best solution would be to ask the neighbour/visitor to move the car. Do that enough times and they should get the message.

[Lootman]

I was under the impression most people leave their cars in gear. Also lifting the car with a trolley jack from the front invariably would involve using the sump as support and these days metal in a sump is much thinner than it used to be. Surely the best solution would be to ask the neighbour/visitor to move the car. Do that enough times and they should get the message.

I never leave my car in gear. It's in Neutral if a manual, and in Park if an auto. At least, that is how I was taught, with the possible exception of parking on a steep hill although even then I'm more likely to just turns my wheels in.

Sure, if you can ask the driver to move it then you would. I was thinking about the case where there is a car blocking your drive and you have no idea whose car it is. In my book, that car gets moved, one way or the other.

[swill453]

Why would it matter if the vehicle was a front or rear wheel drive? In either case the handbrake operates on the rear wheels so if you elevate them then the handbrake is inoperative.

Unless it's a Renault 4. The dash-mounted handbrake works the front wheels.

Confused the hell out of me the first time I tried a handbrake turn.

Scott.

[ten0rman]

I always leave my car in gear - reverse if facing downhill, 1st if facing uphill. Probably because when I first learned to drive - on a Li'l Grey Fergie - the equivalent of the handbrake, a ratchet on the foot brake, wasn't particularly good, hence always leave it in gear to reduce the risk of runaways.

That was something like 60 years ago, but more recently, I have read reports of vehicles which have indeed run away because, I think, of heat causing the braking equipment to expand, and then on cooling, allowing the brakes to slacken off sufficiently for the vehicle to start rolling. Hence the recommendation to always turn the steering wheels into the kerb when parking.

ten0rman

[Mike88]

I was under the impression most people leave their cars in gear. Also lifting the car with a trolley jack from the front invariably would involve using the sump as support and these days metal in a sump is much thinner than it used to be. Surely the best solution would be to ask the neighbour/visitor to move the car. Do that enough times and they should get the message.

I never leave my car in gear. It's in Neutral if a manual, and in Park if an auto. At least, that is how I was taught, with the possible exception of parking on a steep hill although even then I'm more likely to just turns my wheels in.

Many modern autos (now semi autos) do not have a park facility. Since my semi auto car rolled into my garage always I leave the car in gear in addition to the handbrake, whether it be an auto(semi auto) or manual.Some handbrakes are flawed as mentioned by ten0rman above.