‘My neighbour thinks he controls the parking spot outside my home’

A man was left seething after he caught his neighbour meddling outside his home, and he didn’t know what to do about it.

He said that he has an “ongoing issue” with this neighbour, because he “thinks he controls the parking spot” in front of his home, and will flagrantly place cones outside his home to reserve space for others, or himself.

He fumed: “Since I moved here he has never held a job. From 7am to 11pm he sits on his front porch staring at my house and me whenever I’m outside. 

“His butt is permanently imprinted on the concrete steps he sits on so there’s an actual puddle formed whenever it rains. My guests will often tell me he tells them they can’t park in front of my house.”

But then he caught the man in the act, “in the rain, placing a cone” in front of his house to “reserve a spot for one of his friends”.

He admitted that normally he “wouldn’t care,” but lately the man had been spreading “gossip” about him, and so he wasn’t impressed with his antics.

He also fumed: “ I have him on camera kicking a cone I had placed in front of MY house last month,” which he was less than happy with.

“It was the only time I’ve ever placed a cone to reserve a spot since I don’t have a driveway and my disabled dad needed frequent trips to the hospital.” He was then left wondering: “Why can’t people just mind their business?”

In the comments, people were left wondering why the man didn’t attempt to get a disabled space outside of his house so no other people were able to park there.

One wrote: “Contact the city and get your own disabled parking spot, right in front of your house”.

Someone else added: “If your father lives with you, you should be able to get one. If you don’t have a placard for your car, your father should be able to get one for use on whatever car he is riding. My mother had one that we transferred between my car and my daughter’s car depending on who was driving her”.

Another wrote: “In Finland, such a placard (disabled) means that the car can be parked ANYWHERE as long as it doesn’t cause danger. The disabled parking places are ok too, but often they are quite far away from the place”.

While one Redditor joked: “If a neighbour were a cone in front of my house, it’s going in the trash. No arguments, or finger pointing, just me being neighbourly and helping to keep the road clean and safe. Come behind my gate to retrieve it from my trash can, say hi to my security camera, and meet my dog”.

Another person also suggested: “Have one of your friends borrow a car, then drive by your house really slow and have the passenger lean out the window and take the cone, then speed away. Keep doing it until the neighbour gets tired of buying new cones. He can’t blame you.”

Somebody pointed out that it had been going on far too long, however, writing: “You’ve been dealing with this for 15 years and still haven’t told him off or just ignored his cones?  At some point, you either need to decide if you just don’t care and forget about it or start ignoring his cones and just parking in front of your house.  Either decide you’re fine with the situation or decide to do something about it. 15 years and you’re still upset tells me you are way too passive-aggressive on this.”