August 10, 2024 at 1:22 pm

Neighbor’s Friend Keeps Blocking Their Mailbox With A Car So The Police Are Called, But After The Car Is Towed They Are Demanding Reimbursement For All The Fines

by Heather Hall

Source: Reddit/AITA/Unsplash/ifer endahl

When you’re a visitor in a new neighborhood, it’s always best to park out of the way.

After all, you don’t live there, so you shouldn’t cause issues for people who do.

How would you react if your neighbor’s friend kept parking in front of your mailbox? What if you’d already asked them not to do that?

Would you go ask again, or would you call the police when it keeps happening?

In the following story, a homeowner finds themselves in this exact situation.

Let’s see what they did.

AITA for having my neighbor’s friend’s car towed?

I have a neighbor whose guest blocks my mailbox when they visit (2-3 times a week).

Everyone’s lawn is fairly large, and they technically have plenty of space to park in front of my neighbors house.

So, while I find it weird that they’d rather park in front of my home, I wouldn’t fuss over just that.

My problem is my son has medications that get delivered via USPS bi-weekly.

Twice, I’ve received an “undeliverable” notice from the mailwoman because of the car blocking my mailbox so often.

The request is completely reasonable.

I have already been next door multiple times to speak to the neighbor about it and explain the situation to them.

I only asked that they don’t park there during mail delivery hours, so I can make sure I’m actually getting my mail.

Especially since my work schedule doesn’t usually afford me the ability to just go to the post office to pickup undelivered mail immediately.

They seemed nice enough about it, but the behavior hadn’t changed.

Yesterday, it happened again.

So, instead of going back over there, I called the non-emergency line to file a complaint and told them what was going on.

Some areas have laws against blocking mailboxes.

I’d already called them a few days before to ask what my options were and was told the driver could be ticketed if police were called out there because blocking the mailbox (or parking within 15 feet of a residential mailbox) is against the local ordinance.

I did not know the police could either ticket or tow the car at their discretion, so when I called, I was expecting them to get a light ticket.

Well, the officer that came out decided to tow it.

Now, my neighbor is angry and demanding I reimburse them at least partially for the towing & storage fees because I could have just asked them to move the car instead of calling the police.

Confused, she’s not sure what to do.

I do feel bad because I wasn’t expecting the car to be towed, but my thing is I’ve already asked multiple times for them to not block my mailbox during delivery hours.

Part of me wants to just give them some money because I’m not trying to cause issues with my neighbors, but another part of me doesn’t feel like it’s my fault even though I’m the one that called the police.

AITA?

Yikes! It’s easy to see both sides of this, but blocking someone’s mailbox is rude.

Let’s take a look at what folks over at Reddit have to say about this issue.

This person doesn’t think they should pay.

Source: Reddit/AITA

Yet another person who only views this as the friend’s fault.

Source: Reddit/AITA

This is great advice.

Source: Reddit/AITA

And more excellent advice.

Source: Reddit/AITA

Bet they won’t park there again! They need to pay their own bill and take it as a lesson learned.

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.