Commuting to work can be a hell of a long and tedious process these days - sometimes employees have to drive or take public transportation for hours just to get to their office. So any delay when someone is blocking your driveway is truly critical.
The user u/WeeklyStudio449, the author of the story we want to tell you today, is doubly unlucky. Firstly, their commute takes several hours. Secondly, the Airbnb tenants next door constantly block their driveway. So, inevitably, the author has to deal with it somehow...
More info: Reddit
The author of the post has a very long commute to work, which becomes even more complicated thanks to their entitled neighbors
Image credits: David McBee / Pexels (not the actual photo)
The author's driveway is very narrow and the neighbors used to block it with their parked cars
Image credits: WeeklyStudio449
Image credits: Kindel Media / Pexels (not the actual photo)
The situation got worse as an Airbnb was opened in a neighboring house, so that the tenants started leaving their cars in the author's driveway even more often
Image credits: WeeklyStudio449
Image credits: Esmihel Muhammed / Pexels (not the actual photo)
The author started fighting this by regularly reporting it to the police so that the offending cars got ticketed and towed
Image credits: WeeklyStudio449
Recently it happened so that a longtime neighbor's car was also ticketed - and he scolded the author harshly for "framing" him
The Original Poster (OP) says that they live in a not-so-prestigious area, and they have a narrow driveway, which was often blocked by neighbors' cars before. After an Airbnb opened in one of the neighboring houses (the author suspects that it's illegal, because there are so many people staying there all the time), the problem only got worse.
As a result, the author has had to call a rather expensive Uber more than once when rushing to work. After all, considering that their commute is around 3 hours, every minute of waiting for the driveway to be unblocked so that the OP can leave in their car is worth its weight in gold.
Finally, the author decided to fight this dominance of illegal parking, and every time they noticed that the driveway was blocked, they immediately informed the city authorities so that the violators' car would be towed away, and the offender themselves would get a ticket. This is what happened this time, when the OP once again saw someone else's car on their driveway.
However, this time, apparently, it turned out that the person who blocked the author's driveway was their longtime neighbor. He cursed the original poster, seeing his car being towed, and they were left wondering whether they did the right thing, and whether they had made a long-term enemy in that guy.
Image credits: pixel-shot.com / Freepik (not the actual photo)
As for the legal side of the issue, the original poster is absolutely right, and there's no doubt about it. For example, Deep Sentinel notes that any parking that results in your car blocking other vehicles from entering the road is considered blocking the driveway and, accordingly, is a violation.
In such cases, it is strongly recommended: firstly, to knock on their window or door, if the driver is in the car. If the driver is not there, and the exit is not urgent for you, you can leave a note, politely asking the driver to clear the driveway and refrain from such parking in the future.
But if you need to leave urgently, and there's no way to contact the driver - then you can and even should call the police so that they can issue a ticket and have the offending car towed if necessary. In any case, "if you’re being prevented from leaving then this could be classified as an anti-social behaviour offence and law enforcement may be able to intervene," the Windscreen Company blog claims.
As for the "moral" aspect of this situation, people in the comments were quick to assure the original poster that they were absolutely right. Yes, of course, there is always the risk of becoming "that" obnoxious neighbor, constantly complaining to the authorities for the slightest reason, but this doesn't mean that you should allow various entitled folks to regularly create inconveniences for you.
Also, some readers strongly recommended that the author contact the Airbnb owners to try to solve this problem once and for all and in no case be afraid to defend their rights. "Very few people want to be that person having to call the city all the time, but there's not much else you can do," one of the responders wrote totally reasonably. And what do you, our dear readers, also think about this?
People in the comments gave the author their fullest support and urged them to always stand up for their rights
