Life works best when people who have to live or work near each other can get along, or at least work out compromises that benefit them both.

In this case, it was a house located next to a bus depot where parking was at a premium.

When new owners took over, they changed the rules – but soon regretted it.

Read all of the details below!

One good turn deserves another. Or in this case, prevents one…

My friends live in a house that is in front of a bus depot – entrance one side, exit the other.

For years, with permission of the owner, they parked their cars beside the house, along a wide part of the exit for the depot.

It was convenient and friendly relations meant my friends did not complain when diesel engines fired up in the early hours to warm up outside their bedroom windows!

The new company had more than a few growing pains.

A couple of decades later, the business is taken over by a national chain – and with that come a number of changes: new, tall fences that obstruct views, gates on the entrance and exit, more busses stored that require more maneuvering, and more young, under experienced drivers – when moving busses they regularly clipped a fence post moving them from the exit to the entrance of the depot… the road was narrow with a big hedge on the other side, it was not a task to perform carelessly.

After a couple of broken fences, eventually the wooden post was replaced with a sturdy reinforced concrete equivalent, and the drivers stopped hitting it in a hurry.

Then, they asked these folks to stop parking in their lot.

Another change that came down the pipe shortly after, the owners required my friends to stop parking on the depot grounds. They wanted the space for their own staff.

After asking if there was other space that would be acceptable, they were told in no uncertain terms that the cars were not to be on the property at all, under any circumstances.

This did not turn out like they’d hoped.

Cue malicious compliance, and with it the dawning realisation for management that there was a reason the previous owner had been so accommodating … because now they parked their cars outside the front of the house instead.

As the law does not allow parking on the sidewalk, they must be parked on the road proper, so they absolutely block about half the narrow road.

Consequently, the long busses could no longer pull out from the exit and turn across the house without hitting the cars: if they needed to go on a route in that direction, or just pull a bus around to the entrance, they now have to turn the other way and drive a couple of miles around country lanes instead.

And the law was not on their side.

The impact was felt immediately.

The depots managers called the police to complain about the obstruction: the police not only confirmed that the cars are parked legally, but that they must not obstruct the sidewalk, so they could not be parked closer in.

Management also petitioned the local council to have that part of the road designated for no-parking, but that has so been fought off successfully.

Businesses really need to start thinking ahead.

I bet Reddit agrees!

No, but seriously.

Take notes, businesses!

Just to the ends of their noses.

Funny, that.

You’d think they would get it.

How long until they’re allowed to park in the lot again?

I guess it depends on how stubborn the owners want to be.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.