When you live on a narrow street with limited parking, it can be very important to get the spot that you want most.

What would you do if your neighbor borrowed vehicles just to save a parking spot in front of your house that he wanted?

That is what happened to the family in this story, but in the end, they were able to get their way.

Check it out.

Petty neighbors fight over public parking

When I was younger we lived in a suburban neighborhood on a narrow street with single family homes.

Each home had a driveway and there was additional public parking on the street, leaving only one lane for driving.

There was a public parking spot along our hedge that we usually used for our second car.

Across from us lived an elderly man “Bob”, a former business owner and stereotypical grumpy retiree who micromanaged his son, the new owner of the sound equipment sales business.

Bob’s driveway was directly across from our hedge.

I can see how that would make it difficult.

Bob frequently complained that parking our car along our hedge made it difficult for him to exit his driveway.

This was not true as you‘ll see in a second.

He started sending dozens of letters reprimanding us, then he called the police and the local authorities to try to get us out of the parking spot.

Since we were parked legally and he could exit his driveway they couldn’t do anything.

Soon an unknown car would regularly appear in that spot, whenever my parents left for work.

Initially just for a day or two, then a week, then a month at a time.

My parents found out Bob had somehow gotten himself a second car just to park it in that spot and keep us out of it.

Of course not.

Suddenly leaving his driveway with a car in that space wasn’t a problem.

So my parents started retaliating, initially just stealing the spot back whenever possible, then by calling the authorities on any issues with his fence and hedges.

His hedge was too messy or too tall for local laws, his hedge was growing around a traffic sign, etc.

They even moved a temporary parking ban sign from the construction site 2 doors down to include the parking space just to steal it back.

Then a different car appeared and stayed for 4 months.

I think if they are careful, they could do it.

After 4 months my parents had to cut the hedge to keep it neat and in line with local laws but the car made cutting the hedge impossible.

My parents left a note threatening to cut the hedge with their electric hedge cutting tool anyway and Bob better move the car if he didn’t want it damaged.

Bob called the bluff.

My parents then discovered that the car belonged to Bob‘s son‘s business.

Bob had been borrowing company cars to block the parking spot.

So, my parents called the son to try to reason with him.

The son however refused to move the car as well.

Wow, calling in the tax authorities.

So my parents called the tax authorities.

Turns out you can’t declare tax write offs for company cars if those cars are being used mostly for private purposes, like a petty neighbor fight of the owner’s father.

The car disappeared within a week, we cut our hedge and claimed back a parking spot we never owned.

I’m not sure who acted more entitled in this story, probably my parents, but I‘m pretty sure at some point they just did it for the lulz.

It is crazy how people will fight over parking spots.

Just look at what the people in the comments below say about it.

Interesting tax tips.

Yup, pettiness all around.

This commenter has a solution.

Here is someone with another parking story.

This person says to have the car towed.

Everyone in this story is very petty.

But I guess that’s what Reddit loves.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.