Blocking Drive In

cruibin

A neighbour from the opposite side of the street continually blocks the entrance to my drive-in, I come home from work and have to park up the street get them to come out move the car so I can actually park. Its beyond a joke at this stage, some mornings I come out to get my car out and they have my drive blocked. Although its nice to get them up at 5.30 in the morning and politety asking them not to park there (which I have done on numerous occasions) Is there anything I can do legally? :mad:

oleras

cruibin wrote:

A neighbour from the opposite side of the street continually blocks the entrance to my drive-in, I come home from work and have to park up the street get them to come out move the car so I can actually park. Its beyond a joke at this stage, some mornings I come out to get my car out and they have my drive blocked. Although its nice to get them up at 5.30 in the morning and politety asking them not to park there (which I have done on numerous occasions) Is there anything I can do legally? :mad:

Buy a clamp and a signwriting kit.....

http://www.carclamp.com/product_p/clakwcl.htm

Saruman

Park in their driveway.. its not legal but if they are not parking there and are blocking yours then you might as well.. Oh and rev the engine and beep the horn every morning when you collect your car from their driveway.

Seriously though.. thats shocking!!

The_B_Man

this happened to someone else on here a few weeks ago. the solution was to go in and talk to them! i know.....ghey!

Silverfish

I'd stop asking politely and start being a bit more agressive about it.

Is the car alarmed?

One of the guys on my street had that happen, he came out one morning and gave the car a bit of a kick so the alarm went off. he also went up to their driveway, and kicked their other car.

When they came out he said ' NOW I HAVE YOUR F**KING ATTENTION, NEVER, EVER, EVER PARK ACROSS MY DRIVEWAY AGAIN'


I would have applauded, had it not been 6.30am.

Ruu_Old

OP, I've moved this to Accommodation & Property as you might get some more serious responses here. Mods, bounce it back to me if not in the right spot. Thanks.

cruibin

Talk isn't working, and I reckon beeping and revving the engine is unfair on the other neighbours. As for parking on their drive-in... they have a second car in it. Already tried that one and it stopped them for about a week.

Saruman

If they have no wall then park on their grass! Its nuts.

Tails142

They're obviously a bit stupid if after having to get up and move their car to let you out early in the morning hasnt learnt them a lesson.

On the other hand, i.e. from their point of view, is the road is totally full and there is nowhere else to park then blocking your drive might be the only (or most conventient) alternative.

Maybe they have no problem with you waking them up to move the car if they block you in? What was their attitude when you got them to move it last time?

cruibin

It doesnt bother them at all, and they can actually park infront of their own drive if they want, but they dnt seem to want toblock their secind car in. I've done the blocking there drive, but its a pain in the ass at this stage. So I am wondering if blocking access to a drive is illegal? Or if someone has had a similar experience and resolved it via the garda or legal means.

Saruman

I believe it is illegal but getting someone to enforce it is another story.
How about you take a photo and do up a poster... make copies and post up on the lamp posts or in to peoples doors. Name and shame them.

GospelGroupie

Call the local Gardaí. Get the name of the Garda you are talking to. Request a Garda to do your dirty-work for you. Once you're through being nice about it, get the guards to do your dirty-work. Do NOT call 999, it is not an emergency. But here's the low-down....

According to the Road Traffic (Traffic & Parking) Regulations 1997:
36. (1) Save as otherwise provided for in these Regulations and subject to article 5, a vehicle shall not be parked on a public road at a location, in a manner or for a purpose referred to in this article.
(2) A vehicle shall not be parked—
( g ) in any place, position or manner that will result in the vehicle obstructing an entrance or an exit for vehicles to or from a premises, save with the consent of the occupier of such premises.

There are exceptions, however, such as if it is a fire-tender or garda patrol-car, etc., for example. These are listed in S.5 of said regulations.

MarkR

If your drive is blocked it's considered dangerous parking. It's happened to me before and the guards came out, ticketed it (€40 I believe) then called the owner who had left it there on a drunken night out. They also advised if they couldn't reach them in a reasonable time they would tow it.

If you had to go to the emergency room in the middle of the night and you were blocked in again it could cause further problems, so you are well within your right to contact the guards.

GospelGroupie

MarkR wrote:

If your drive is blocked it's considered dangerous parking.

Er, it's not called "Dangerous parking", perhaps "parking in a dangerous position".... much of a muchness though. It means a day out in court for the offender (not the injured party, relax), and a court fine. Failure to pay the court fine results in 5 penalty points. Ouch!

Ghost Train

maybe warn them you'll be calling the guards if it happens again and if that doesn't stop them thats probably what you should do

somebody parking like that would drive me insane

dermot_sheehan

As noted above, the vehicle is illegally parked. Simply have the Local Authority or Gardai tow and impound the car which they are empowered to do:
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZSI91Y1983.html

If you're in the Dublin City Council Area, the council's parking enforcement sub-contractors are Dublin Streets Parking Services www.dsps.ie on 602 2500. Tell them there's an illegaly parked car obstructing your driveway and that you would like it towed.

cruibin

Thanks a mill for the advice guys, ye are all stars!

faceman

cruibin wrote:

Thanks a mill for the advice guys, ye are all stars!

let us know how it goes!

MarkR

GospelGroupie wrote:

Er, it's not called "Dangerous parking", perhaps "parking in a dangerous position".... much of a muchness though. It means a day out in court for the offender (not the injured party, relax), and a court fine. Failure to pay the court fine results in 5 penalty points. Ouch!

I stand corrected. I just wanted to make sure they knew they weren't wasting police time etc. Important to stop this before it causes a serious problem rather than just headaches!

On a related issue, another time there was another car blocking my drive. As I was in a rush I got behind it and started pushing. Weak handbrake, shoved it 20 feet down the road.

Sponge Bob

you can always bounce it in to the middle of the road to make sure its dangerously parked , no question about it

Jocksy

My father had this problem before. After numerous attempts at playing the nice guy he just said enough is enough. He went at your man with a hammer one day after it happened again and that was it problem solved.
Not saying it will worked for everyone but it worked for him.

Lex Luthor

I would try to go the legal route.

Someone was telling me that their neighbour came home one day to find his drive blocked by an unknown car. There were 2 kids sitting in the back seat and the owner of the drive sat in his car and waited until the driver came back. When she did, he told her off and she lost the head saying that how dare he give her abuse in front of her kids.
Next morning he found his car keyed up & down both sides.

Slightly different scenario in that he didn't know this person and she was visiting, but none the less, I'd get the local authorities to sort it out.

I'll be in touch with them soon as my neighbour parks their car with the arse of it out on the footpath which means anyone walking by has to walk on the road to get past. What is wrong with people these days that they don't use some of their front garden to concrete over to park the 2nd car?

Zambia

My neighbour did this to me once ... He parked in my driveway behind me.

I woke up in a rush jumped in my old banger reversed out and smacked his brand new Audi ...:D

Went over knocked on his door and asked him to move it. I left him on his knees examining the car.

He was most upset however he never parked it there again.

I always think letting the air out of someones tyres is a good way to get a piont across .
Plus its not criminal damage ...keying is wrong

cold_filter

Its kind of extreme but if you own the house, why dont you put up a couple of those parking poles that you secure into the ground, or even a couple of traffic cones, and if you cant find them, get a big rock and stick in front of their drive like they do to stop travellers getting in to fields etc,

I had the samei problem, living in apartment with GF both of us had cars and we had drive that could fit both cars in, next door had 3 cars and one of the girls used to cover up half our drive, i said it to her a few times but she never listened so one night after a few too many beers i let the air out of all her tires, i magically had a pump and went out to pump her tires up for her the next day, she never parked in front of our drive again

um7y1h83ge06nx

I'm amazed at how ignorant some people are today, some really don't give a f**k about anyone else but themselves.

Try complaining politely but strongly, say it is both a nuisance and illegal and that it is annoying you so much you will resort to legal action if necessary.

If that doesn't work, contact your local Gardai Station and city council about the matter.

And finally if that doesn't work, you may have to resort to removable poles.

Tweeter

Provided it's a legal driveway, and let me just clarify this before I go any further.
Most people are not aware that you need planning permission to build a driveway. On our road people simply knock down their front wall and put a bit of sand and cement at the edge of the path and think it's a legal driveway. I applied for planning permission for my own driveway and then had the corporation lower the path for me, and it's now legally a right of way.
So if your driveway is leagal, then it's classed as a right of way and you can request that the police tow anything blocking it.

mad m

Once read though that if the license plates arent on a car, then its easier before the Garda or towing company can remove it.

BC

This happened to me last year. I phoned the guards and they told me i was well within my rights to have the car towed and gave me the number of these guys:http://www.dsps.ie to arrange it.

cruibin

Well lads, its done, I did ask nicely AGAIN and told them about the garda and the towing option. And I got a friend to park across their drive all day and block their car in... that worked. The owner did threaten to deck me but when I pointed out that he cant watch his new BMW all night he went very quiet and problem is solved for now! Tune in next week for more pavement parking adventures....

And.. thx a mill for all the advice.

faceman

cruibin wrote:

Well lads, its done, I did ask nicely AGAIN and told them about the garda and the towing option. And I got a friend to park across their drive all day and block their car in... that worked. The owner did threaten to deck me but when I pointed out that he cant watch his new BMW all night he went very quiet and problem is solved for now! Tune in next week for more pavement parking adventures....

And.. thx a mill for all the advice.

glad u got it sorted but id watch ur back for a while.

it mite be worth over to him in a week or 2 calling after the dust settles to improve neighbourly relations. After all u cant watch ur car 24/7 either.

Mrs. MacGyver

It is illegal to park blocking an entrance as is stated in the rules of the road. I'm sure theres a S.I. (statutory instrument) outlining this by the department of the environemnt. Ring their office in Co. Clare or look up www.irishstatutebook.ie (sorry thats the civil servant in me talking- must remember i'm not in work!!!) Then if you find this S.I. you will have some legal basis for your confrontation. Best of luck. Could help you more but am in another dept.