AITA for losing my cool at someone yet again blocking access to my driveway

You won’t believe the daily nightmare this homeowner faces, trapped by clueless parents blocking their driveway every single day. This isn’t just a minor inconvenience; it’s a full-blown parking war erupting right outside their front door, and today, it all came to a head.

I live in a lovely house with a driveway. Unfortunately, this lovely house is on a little cul-de-sac right beside a primary school. I say unfortunately because every day I have some idiots completely blocking my driveway while they pick up their kids.

Now I have two young children myself who attend a different school, so I’m well aware of the struggles of parking while picking up and dropping off. However, my children’s school finishes, I would guess, about 20 minutes earlier than the one beside us because I always have to wait roughly ten minutes at the top of the road before my driveway is clear.

I have spoken to numerous people and politely requested they don’t park directly in front of the driveway—dropped curb with a white line.

Today, however, I lost it a bit. My friend picked my son up from school so I could wait in for the company picking up a skip we have. Someone blocked my drive, and they couldn’t access the skip, so they left. Won’t be back until Monday. I confronted the woman who had blocked the drive, and she was quite entitled.

The usual, “I’ve only been here for 5 minutes.” Nothing wrong with parking across a dropped curb once no vehicles in the drive is what she said to me… and she reckoned plenty of room to fit past her if needed. My friend arrived with my son, and what do you know, she couldn’t fit past this lady’s car!

I took pictures and reported it to the council.

AITA? I’ve been feeling a bit guilty for being so harsh, but on the other hand, I’m fed up with not being able to access my own drive.

Here’s how people reacted:

Soulessnight

NTA it’s literally illegal to block driveways, while it being empty is somewhat of an exempt she’s clearly got no spacial awareness and nobody should be blocking a driveway anyways

hollyjazzy

NTA, this is an illegal move. I suggest that you call your local council and ask them to send parking inspectors out during school pickups. The council will make a lot in fines doing this and you’ll get your driveway back, hopefully.

OneBall23

NTA

This is a pet hate of mine, I park a 5 minute walk away from my sons school and on the walk to collect them i see this and it really grips my shit.
Take pictures and report every time, once a week the road the school opens onto has one of those little camera cars catching people but I reckon it should be every day.
I have seen a certain house use a old solid cement bag left on the edge of their dropped kerb which prevents people parking over it… whether they done it or not I don’t know but it works and the council is too lazy to collect it.

anaziyung

NTA I live close to a school and think the entitlement is ridiculous to park in front of someone’s driveway and block them in/out.

Infamous-Wasabi-9007

What would happen if you posted a sign that stated very clearly that anyone who blocks your driveway will be towed away? If legal I’m sure you could find a local tow operator willing to stop by at the right time each day to pick up some extra tows.

BadWolfCreative

I had this problem where I lived a few years ago. Every day, we took photos of the cars’ parking and their license plate. Sent them to the school and to parking enforcement. The car owners got sent tickets in the mail. It never really stopped, but at least they had to pay fines.

jamesko1989

Nta but you’re very restrained. I’d have been livid and done far more than what you did

No-Jellyfish-1208

NTA

The lady shouldn’t have parked there.

nom-d-pixel

NTA. Contact your local police department or city council and ask them to start enforcing the law in your neighborhood. You can also contact the school and politely complain and request they message the parents to remind them to follow the law.

kit235

NTA. If the council don’t do anything try contacting the school and see if they can have a word with the parents

Murka-Lurka

NTA I asked for advice on this because of a lunatic mother driving half on the pavement missing me by inches. If you are based in the U.K. like me I was told if you can make enough complaints (encourage neighbours to join in) to 101 then they can send a PCSO who can give fixed penalty notices parking infringements.

oregon_mom

NTA Next time they block it have their car towed.

claudiarabbit123

I had a similar issue when I was in my 20s in the parking lot of where I worked. Parking spots were few and people would constantly block our cars in. My coworker had an emergency one day and needed to leave in a hurry but his car was blocked. He broke the person’s window, put the car in neutral and rolled it onto the street, then left. Word got out and people stopped blocking our cars. I know what he did was wrong, but he was the office hero after that.

lakorasdelenfent

It used to happen to my mom when I was a kid. All due to a close breakfast restaurant close to our house. She would walk to the restaurant and ask for the owner of the car, usually they’d take a couple minutes to move the car, pretending not to hear my mom calling for them. After being late a few times for her job, she started just knocking on the cars (like you would on a door). People would run to their cars when they heard they alarm going off.

Edit: I was the kid. Not my mom

Head_Fail_1422

NTA. Throw the book at her.

NHFoodie

NTA my grandmother struggled with this for years also living across the street from a school. People are inconsiderate and only see value in their own needs. Do whatever you have to to ensure everyone knows the consequences of parking there.

ricerly

NTA – my neighborhood solved it by having school call police to have somebody during pickup and dropoff times. He gave bunch of warnings (I don’t believe he wrote a single ticket) and things improved for a few months. After a few months, they did another round. While problem is not completely gone, it’s really rare to have anybody blocking a driveway now.

NeverNuked

There is NOTHING WORSE THAN THE ENTITLEMENT OF SCHOOL PARENTS, g-d forbid they make their child and themselves walk an extra 10m. It’s OK if they block the pedestrian crossing so their child can hop in the car but endanger other kids, or block the entire road so they can pick their kid up at the gate, wait while they have a conversation, let the kid put its bag in the boot and then climb in…. 3 min later.
I honestly have anxiety attacks every day when I pick my kid up. I hate the word Entitled but in this case it’s apt.

Dmahf0806

I have this exact problem with a primary school round the corner. The worst was when I had come home to do some work as we had a rule at our workplace that if you can work from home you should. I had to return to teach an evening lesson. I get ready to go back to work and there is a car blocking me in. I ask the parents walking past do you know whose car this is. They all say no. One woman says no and her son says isn’t that Adam’s mum’s car. I was asking people for at least 10 minutes. All that time two women were having a chat in audible distance. Then one of the women after seeing me panic for 10 minutes saunters to the car and unlocks it. As you can imagine I lost it with her.

I can’t believe you would watch someone panic for 10 minutes when you know you had caused it and could fix it pretty quickly.

heydustbunny

Definitely NTA

Conclusion

After reaching their breaking point, the homeowner decided enough was enough, taking drastic action against the inconsiderate parkers. The question remains: was their explosive reaction justified, or did they go too far in reclaiming their property?