A mum has been left baffled after her neighbour demanded that her two young children stop playing on their scooters on the public footpath outside her home - despite having no ownership over the area.
Taking to Mumsnet, the woman said the neighbour initially came to her door and told her to stop letting the youngsters ride their scooters past her house.
She then approached the parent's daughter directly, telling the little girl not to ride on the footpath near her property, the Mirror reports.
However, the perplexed mum says the footpath is for public use and is not part of the neighbour's land, giving her absolutely no right to make the "bonkers" request
The mum said her neighbour has been taking the issue "really personally" because the children are often outside her house, but the mum is firm in her belief that "you can't ask people not to use a footpath".
In her post, she said: "We live on a small estate. One of my neighbours knocked on my door yesterday to ask if I could please stop my children from riding their scooters past her house.
"Today, my daughter came in to tell me that the neighbour had now asked her not to ride on the footpath outside her house. I went outside.
"She asked me why my children ride on the footpath right outside her house. I told her; it's a footpath. They're allowed on the footpath.
"I have asked my daughter to avoid being right outside her house but my son is autistic. I've told her that. He doesn't understand 'don't ride your scooter on this particular bit of the footpath'.
"But, am I being unreasonable to think that what she's asked is unreasonable? You can't ask people to not use a footpath!
"They are not on her property, fair enough she can absolutely ask people not to be on her property, but she can't control the footpath. She's complained that they ride their scooters near her car. Her car is parked right beside the footpath.
"She's in a corner house so she probably does have more footpath outside her house than most. But that's not really anybody's fault.
"She's really taking it personally. [She'll say] 'they're outside MY house', but they're on the footpath - they're not peeking in her windows!"
Commenters on the post were equally as confused, with many branding the neighbour as "miserable" or telling the mum to just ignore her complaints.
One person said: "Footpath is not part of her property so she cannot dictate that. Tell your daughter to carry on. What a miserable neighbour."
While another added: "For some reason, there are some people who believe that they have a right to live in complete silence. Just ignore these people."
But some defended the neighbour, suggesting that the noise from the children constantly riding their scooters past her house was "probably annoying".
Someone wrote: "Are they outside her house a lot or just passing to go somewhere? I imagine the noise would be annoying if they were constantly riding past."
As someone else noted: "If they are noisy, and lingering outside her house, or whizzing past every 2 minutes then I do understand her annoyance."
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