Neighbors can be a source of community and support. They can also be a sore spot that causes unnecessary conflict and hard feelings.

Not to mention property damage.

Like in this story, when a shared driveway causes an accident.

Let’s rev it up.

Baby Seat meltdown.

This happened about 5 years ago.

My in-laws had a shared drive.

They were on good terms with their neighbors and apart from a bit of musical cars when they wanted to get in and out it was peaceful.

Shared drive, requires shared kindness. Will that be the case here?

Then they moved and a squaddie (slang for British infantryman) bought the house.

He was away for a few months at a time but when he returned, he was a jerk.

He blocked the driveway then would only move if my in-laws wanted to get out after ten minutes of knocking on his door.

He renovated the house and the trucks would block the driveway etc.

Squaddie sounds like a baddie, and not in a good way. What else will he do?

Basically he was a tool when he was present.

One issue with the drive was it was on a steep incline of about 30m and not lit, so for my infirm in-laws it was a major issue walking up the incline when it was blocked.

One winter’s evening when it got dark about 16:00 (4pm for those who have trouble with the 24hr clock) I’d parked to pick my kids up.

Hm, feels ominous. What’s this neighbor gonna pull next?

The driveway was clear and I thought he was on deployment. I was in the house getting my toddler and my baby ready to go when we hear a loud crunch outside.

We find that he reversed his car at speed up the driveway in the dark and didn’t see my car. The car wasn’t a wreck but obviously needed work.

He was mad and tried to put the blame on me for blocking ‘his’ drive.

Talk about victim blaming. Will he own up ever?

Then said he didn’t want it going through his insurance and he would pay for any damage personally. I was fine with that, I got a quote and called him a few days later.

Now, in the UK they seriously advise that you replace any child car seat after any collision as the integrity and safety of the seat could be compromised.

Yeah, sounds like the right call. Will the neighbor cough up the dough?

He was fine with the quote for the repair work but when I told him about replacing the car seats he kicked off good style.

Accusing me of ripping him off and messing with him.

I lost it a bit and went off at him for driving at speed when he couldn’t see and my kids or in-laws could have been on the drive.

Communication is key…ing the car?

He hung up.

So I went to my insurers, explained what had happened, gave them his details and let them take it from there.

First thing they did was replace the child seats. Then the wrote off my car and I got the full market value for it.

Who says insurance is a scam?

His insurance premiums went up and I had the satisfaction of parking my new car (with hazard lights on, just in case he couldn’t see it) on the drive every time I went over.

Success is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. I think this neighbor will learn to share soon.

Let’s see what the comments have to say.

One person says, some people play dirty.

Someone else says, he did it to himself.

This poster says, life is about choices.

Baby, all’s fair in love and war.

Heh.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.