The 30-year-old shared the situation to Reddit’s Am I The A**hole forum, under username u/Purple-Band7937.
She revealed she recently inherited a house from her late aunt, and “with the housing market being what it is,” she decided to move in permanently.
“It has a driveway which is pretty neat, but there’s one problem. One of the neighbors (F35) keeps parking in the driveway,” she revealed.
In the U.K., where the woman is thought to be based, finding parking near your house is priceless, as it’s where our cars spend 80 percent of their time, according to the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) foundation.
“A quarter of the vehicles in Great Britain are parked on the street. Others are parked in garages or on driveways,” the RAC noted.
As a result, 80 percent of the U.K.’s front yards have been turned into driveways.
The Redditor’s late aunt let the neighbor, a mom-of-three, use the driveway as she didn’t have a car, and the family has two cars but space for only one in their driveway.
The new homeowner also doesn’t drive, but explained “the reason I don’t want her parking there is that I’m disabled and use crutches to get around.
“When the neighbor parks in the driveway, the space around her car is quite narrow which makes it very difficult for me to get to my own front door and puts me at risk of injury.
“I tried to explain this to the neighbor and asked her if she could please find somewhere else to park her car. She seemed to understand but didn’t promise anything.”
Unsurprisingly, she claimed the neighbor kept parking in the driveway and refused to back down when confronted.
The woman continued: “I talked to her again and she said she can’t park elsewhere because it would be too far to walk to their house, and said she has three young children who frequently travel in her car.
“I got kind of annoyed because I felt like she just didn’t want to change her habits, but I’m a bit shy and not good at confrontation and just told her I hope she can figure something out that doesn’t involve parking in my driveway.”
The final straw came when the woman was coming home from work and spotted the neighbor’s car in the driveway yet again.
“This time her car was parked really forward and super close to my front door, making it pretty much impossible for me to get into my own house.
“Even an able-bodied person wouldn’t be able to get in, there was no space to even open the front door (it opens outwards),” she fumed.
Irate residents should exercise caution when tackling the problem of errant cars parked in driveways or private spaces.
Quoting the government, the RAC said the law relating to towing and clamping changed in 2012, and as such “it will be illegal to clamp, tow away or immobilize a vehicle without lawful authority to do so. Anyone who breaks the law will face criminal charges and a fine if convicted.
“In effect, this will ban most clamping and towing by anyone other than the police, local authorities, government agencies such as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) – plus other bodies acting in accordance with statutory or other powers, such as railway stations and airports.
“Bodies with lawful authority to clamp and tow may continue to contract out this work to private companies.”
The chart below, provided by Statista, shows the cost of parking in U.S. cities.
But this is exactly what the woman did; without speaking to the neighbor, she simply called the non-emergency police line, explained the situation, and they came and towed the car away.
She shared the fallout, writing: “Obviously she was pissed AF when she found out and showed up at my door the next day. She said I’m inconsiderate and should learn how to compromise, and that if I asked her to she would’ve moved her car (I don’t believe her).”
The Redditor asked for advice over whether she was in the wrong in her post, which has amassed more than 6,000 upvotes since being shared Tuesday.
In the thread, which can be read here, Redditors overwhelmingly backed the woman’s actions.
The top comment, from StAlvis, racked up 9,400 upvotes alone, and said: “NTA [not the a**hole]. ‘Should learn how to compromise’. The compromise is ‘you won’t park on her front yard.’”
PSA-Warrior advised: “OP [original poster] should ‘compromise’ by putting one of those heavy garden benches in the middle of her driveway so no one can park there and she can sit and enjoy her property in peace.
While Allyearswift added: “I’d go for something temporary/padlocked: if Op wants to have friends over, or deliveries, the driveway may be needed. A gate may do the job.”
Newsweek reached out to u/Purple-Band7937 for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.
