Driveway Access - Pinch Points - Knowing My Rights for Right of Way

MattFurious

I have right of access over a shared driveway.  It has been confirmed that the neighbour owns the land and I only have a right a way, here is the info in the deeds:

"The land has the benefit of a right of way over the tinted brown on the filed plan subject to the payment of one half of the cost of same maintenance".



There has been a slight change to the area as they have built a garage on the side of their house next to the brown tinted drive (my house is the area within the Red Boundary and within the red boundary on the front garden, I have built a 3 car parking bay.

My question is, how many cars are they allowed to park on the actual drive?  They park in the bulge near the exit of the driveway (up to 3 cars) and another one in front of the house at the slight recess.  If the answer is, "as many as they want, as long as you can get a car in and out", then my next question becomes, how much space is deemed as acceptable for passing?

The narrowest part of the brown area above is 3.8 metres.  When they park their cars, the width goes down to 2.9 metres, sometimes less, but this is the one I have photographic evidence of.  I have photos of inappropriate parking, but no official measurements, however for this time, I took a measure and photographed them.  My car is almost 2m wide, which means instead of almost 1m each side, it halves to less than 0.5m each side.  The gap is getting smaller, passable, but getting too close for comfort at times.  

Any thoughts appreciated on the situation, as it seems they are just taking liberties.

canaldumidi

If you can get through, then you have access.

If you can't get through, then your right of access is being denied you.

Woolsery

In my little town the local bus sometimes has about 0.1m either side when passing between cars in the centre. Last week I watched it inching through, which took a few minutes and meant the road was effectively blocked both ways while it did so. So far there have been a few scraped cars and no known prosecutions; it's just the way things are.

Like people, cars are getting broader in the beam and despite all the eco-concern the hybrid EV 4x4s are probably the worst culprits in recent years. Could it be that your neighbour is not just parking carelessly, but that your car waistlines have also expanded?

Slinky

Is this not a 'tea and cake' situation? Rather than get upset by "liberty taking", why not have a little chat just to say that you were concerned that you didn't want to damage their vehicle squeezing past and ask them if they can inch over a bit. Assume they 'were in a bit of a hurry when they parked' and hadn't parked as far across 'as they normally do' (even if they normally don't). Being pleasant may get you a far more considered outcome than getting upset about it.

Perhaps suggest that you're thinking of getting your supermarket shopping delivered (even if you're not) and you're concerned about their cars.

Martin_the_Unjust

Slinky said:

Is this not a 'tea and cake' situation? Rather than get upset by "liberty taking", why not have a little chat just to say that you were concerned that you didn't want to damage their vehicle squeezing past and ask them if they can inch over a bit. Assume they 'were in a bit of a hurry when they parked' and hadn't parked as far across 'as they normally do' (even if they normally don't). Being pleasant may get you a far more considered outcome than getting upset about it.

Perhaps suggest that you're thinking of getting your supermarket shopping delivered (even if you're not) and you're concerned about their cars.

This ^ is the correct answer.

As the old saying goes ‘You catch far more with honey than you do with vinegar’

aoleks

2.9m is more than enough for even the widest car with plenty of space on both aides, I don’t see the problem.

unforeseen

Plenty of space
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/341513/pdfmanforstreets.pdf

saajan_12

MattFurious said:

I have right of access over a shared driveway.  It has been confirmed that the neighbour owns the land and I only have a right a way, here is the info in the deeds:

"The land has the benefit of a right of way over the tinted brown on the filed plan subject to the payment of one half of the cost of same maintenance".

[diagram]

There has been a slight change to the area as they have built a garage on the side of their house next to the brown tinted drive (my house is the area within the Red Boundary and within the red boundary on the front garden, I have built a 3 car parking bay.

My question is, how many cars are they allowed to park on the actual drive?  They park in the bulge near the exit of the driveway (up to 3 cars) and another one in front of the house at the slight recess.  If the answer is, "as many as they want, as long as you can get a car in and out", - yes, exactly that. They can't block access to anything, but beyond that its their land. 
then my next question becomes, how much space is deemed as acceptable for passing? - however much is needed to reasonably get a car in and out. 

The narrowest part of the brown area above is 3.8 metres.  When they park their cars, the width goes down to 2.9 metres, sometimes less, but this is the one I have photographic evidence of.  I have photos of inappropriate parking, but no official measurements, however for this time, I took a measure and photographed them.  My car is almost 2m wide, which means instead of almost 1m each side, it halves to less than 0.5m each side.  The gap is getting smaller, passable, but getting too close for comfort at times.  - half a metre each side is loads. Car parking spaces typically have less and involve turning too. 

Any thoughts appreciated on the situation, as it seems they are just taking liberties.

The space looks quite large and bulgy, so some parking isn't unreasonable. If you have 0.5m each side, that seems like plenty, don't see the problem. If you once had less than that, maybe they just misparked - ask them to shuffle over. If its frequently less than that, then how much?

GDB2222

I love the user name. Matt Furious. So, we know where you are coming from. 

Really, it’s great to get the rant down on paper, but in the real world it’s not worth having a dispute.

Matt is complaining because he has built a large parking space in his front garden, and the neighbours have preferred not to. But, the neighbours may be secretly muttering that they didn’t want the place looking like a Tesco car park, and they hate what Matt has done.

MattFurious

Woolsery said:

In my little town the local bus sometimes has about 0.1m either side when passing between cars in the centre. Last week I watched it inching through, which took a few minutes and meant the road was effectively blocked both ways while it did so. So far there have been a few scraped cars and no known prosecutions; it's just the way things are.

Like people, cars are getting broader in the beam and despite all the eco-concern the hybrid EV 4x4s are probably the worst culprits in recent years. Could it be that your neighbour is not just parking carelessly, but that your car waistlines have also expanded?

Had the same car for all the time so no expanding.  I guess that if I got a 3m car, then they would have to leave 3m space.  Access is access and dependable on what car I have I suppose.

MattFurious

Slinky said:

Is this not a 'tea and cake' situation? Rather than get upset by "liberty taking", why not have a little chat just to say that you were concerned that you didn't want to damage their vehicle squeezing past and ask them if they can inch over a bit. Assume they 'were in a bit of a hurry when they parked' and hadn't parked as far across 'as they normally do' (even if they normally don't). Being pleasant may get you a far more considered outcome than getting upset about it.

Perhaps suggest that you're thinking of getting your supermarket shopping delivered (even if you're not) and you're concerned about their cars.

All communications have broken down, we have raised grievances with the police due to the aggressive nature, and the last communication about me receiving deliveries was via the solicitor route.  Having a chat is out of the question, hence wanting to know the legalities.