Fruitcake Neighbours

suse*

well maybe move the bbq to the other neigbhours fence then so there is no chance the smoke is blowing into their garden. Problem solved.

Unitoons

Have a read of the other thread suse* - I think your suggestion that the problem would be solved is a slight over-simplification.

I also think that even if smoke was billowing over the fence, the neighbour doesn't have the right to spray everyone and the food with a hose!

DaftyDuck

suse* wrote: »

well maybe move the bbq to the other neigbhours fence then so there is no chance the smoke is blowing into their garden. Problem solved.

No, sorry, but just no, to either of your posts. Possibly if neighbour has a polite word, move it to avoid dispute, but setting on the BBQ with a hose, destroying the food and soaking people. That's assault and criminal damage. If it hadn't been a PCSO but a regular bobby, I suspect a refusal to open the door wouldn't... wash!

aileth

Oh yes, if she had said to us, "Sorry to interrupt, but your BBQ is causing me problems for X, Y or Z, do you think you could move it?" Even with the past history we would've said, "No problem, we're just doing a couple of burgers, we'll move it somewhere else and it won't last long." Absolutely no issues.

The fact is she came screeching out of her house screaming at us how disgusting we were, how selfish we are, name-calling etc, before spraying us right over the fence. It hit all of us and the food and the BBQ and ruined our afternoon.

suse*

I'm not condoning what she did with the hose was acceptable behaviour. I'm just pointing out though why she might have been so frustrated to do that. Especially as you mention she did claim it looked like the fence was on fire to her. Even if that wasn't your reality that seems to have been her perception of events.

So to make sure you don't have a repeat performance, just don't have a bbq next to her fence where the smoke can get into her garden. At least check as well your neighbours don't have washing out, or all their windows open for the same reasons before lighting it maybe as that is just basic manors I'd have thought.

aileth

I don't really understand why she'd be frustrated as she came out before the smoke even started and was having a go at us.

She is 110% batty. She orders her children to throw rotten veg and balls over the fence, she erected an seven foot solid wood fence, refuses to talk face to face, and has complained about my parents noise since they moved in, even when there's no possibility of any noise, e.g. banging on the walls at 6am in the morning when we're all asleep.

My parents are mid to late 60s and are some of the quietest people you could live next to. They both tend to read newspapers, books, or play these little Facebook games, no music, TV is against a non-party wall and is never loud. One of the noise complaints was that my dad 'recycles too loud.'

She doesn't understand dispute resolution. My parents have extended the olive branch more than once to her and her response has been to anonymously report my parents to the Council on what she calls 'frequent' occasions even though my parents have only been contacted once, for which the Council apologised, probably because they know she's vexatious and she's done it to tenants in the past.

The house was empty for a while after she drove the last tenant away, so my guess is she is trying her hardest to drive my parents away so she can live next to a vacant house.

Her husband on the other hand is a lovely chap who she attempts to command to talk to my parents as she is too much of a coward for face to face discussion and instead screams over a fence you can't see her through. He has invited my dad on occasion to go to a pub to hash things out, but she seems to have stopped him going.

PasturesNew

I used to want to do this to my neighbours; their BBQ was positioned just 2' from my old wooden extension, within which was my entire gas boiler..... 1-2 good sparks would have set the extension off and the boiler would have let the town know about it.

Why put the BBQ close to an adjoining fence? Why not put it furthest away from being a nuisance?

aileth

PasturesNew wrote: »

I used to want to do this to my neighbours; their BBQ was positioned just 2' from my old wooden extension, within which was my entire gas boiler..... 1-2 good sparks would have set the extension off and the boiler would have let the town know about it.

Why put the BBQ close to an adjoining fence? Why not put it furthest away from being a nuisance?

My parents garden is not humongous and they put it as far away as possible.

Let me get it straight, they do not want anything to do with this woman after what she's put them through for a couple of years and so would in no way try and antagonise her.

pimento

Most gardens are no more than 30' or so wide. Even if a barbecue was on the furthest away side, the smoke would still go to whichever way the prevailing wind sends it.

A gas barbecue might be a solution of the smoke was really the problem but I don't think that the smoke is the problem at all.

DaftyDuck

suse* But the fence was NOT on fire, there was no washing, the neighbour just objected to a BBQ on a nice day, then assaulted the op's parents.

I'm not a BBQer myself, but my neighbours are. It's a perfectly fair use of their property and nobody can control the smoke completely. With most small modern gardens, move away from one neighbour, you'll just be clode to another.

I don't think you should make excuses for such vile behaviour. Not even slight excuses. It actually sounds like you might have brought your own emotional baggage from your own experience.

There is, as far as I can tell, no evidence that the op's parents did even the slightest thing wrong, yet they were physically assaulted. WRONG!