Dealing with neighbours can be tricky. On one hand it pays off to be nice to them in case you ever need something, like to feed your pet while you're away or to take a parcel in for you. But on the other hand you don't want them to take advantage of you.
One mum-to-be feels incredibly conflicted after her neighbour said they would be blocking her driveway "from now on", because she doesn't use it very often.
The problem is – she's "heavily pregnant" and may need to go to hospital at short notice.
Taking to Mumsnet's Am I Being Unreasonable forum, the expectant mum explained that she didn't use her driveway often because it was quite narrow, and often parked on the road for ease.
Because of this she has noticed that a few neighbours have been parking across her drive but "not said anything so far as I don't want to fall out with anyone but there have been several occasions where I haven't been able to get a parking space near by house".
The anonymous woman explained that getting a parking space is more important than ever now because she's pregnant.
She explained: "I'm heavily pregnant, baby due in a matter of weeks. The people parking over my drive thing has started to annoy me a little recently as I'm thinking with a baby I will more than likely want to use my drive if I can park at the front of my house.
"I've had various complications and this week I've been at hospital nearly every day."
After coming back from hospital, the mum noticed that a neighbour had parked three quarters of the way across her drive.
After parking on the road and getting out of the car, she was approached by the neighbour who cheekily told her they would be "parking like this from now on," while gesturing to the way the car was parked across the drive.
They added: "You know where we are if you want us to move".
The mum-to-be was in such a "stress and fluster" she just said "okay" and hurried into her house.
She added: "Thing is, I don't want to have to go and knock on doors and ask people to move when I have a newborn baby. I want to be able to use my drive, or not use my drive, or do whatever I like with my drive, which is one of the reasons I bought the house."
The post received mixed responses, with many people saying she should use her drive if he has one, and avoid taking up spaces on the road from people who don't have driveways.
One person said: "You need to start using your drive its not fair to take a space from others. Tell them you need to use your drive now the baby is coming. I'm sure they will be fine about that. But don't then start parking on the road."
Another said: "I would imagine it's very annoying when neighbours can't park near their house because your car is taking up a parking spot on the road and your drive is empty!"
However, many do think she's within her right to ask her neighbour not to park in front of her drive.
One commenter said: "You just need to go round to your neighbour’s house and say that going forward you will need your drive to be available at all times and they are not to park in front of it. It is your drive!"
What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
