My nightmare neighbour blocked my campervan in with her bins & a 3ft fence after petty row over fairy lights
WARRING neighbours have been locked in a bizarre parking row which ended with one putting up a 3ft fence to block the other in.
Jo Davis, 49, has been forced to climb into her van through the passenger door at her home in Quedgeley, Gloucestershire.
The factory worker said she was shocked to return home last Monday to find a three-foot high wooden barrier next to her car parking space.
It was the latest step in a months-long row which was claimed to have been sparked by her neighbour’s errant fairy lights.
Jo told The Sun: “They went all along the floor next to my campervan and around my parking space. I thought that was a bridge too far.
“It was a tripping hazard for me to get out of my vehicle and she never asked me if she could put them there.”
At the beginning of this year, Jo had some work done to her property and a skip was positioned in her parking space.
This seemed to exacerbate the conflict between the pair culminating in Jo’s neighbour parking over the gap.
She also created a bin barrier against Jo’s campervan at the start of June preventing her from accessing the vehicle.
“I woke up one night with such a start. I’d only just nodded off and my window was open,” Jo said.
“I could hear this dragging noise. She’d come out to empty her bin store. She then dragged it along with her other bins to the side of my van.
“She put it right up under the wing mirror blocking the driver’s door.”
The latest development saw Jo’s neighbour install a 3ft tall wooden barrier between their cars, cutting of a large portion of her space.
She said: “When I was at work last Monday, my neighbour rang to say that there was drilling work going on and when I got back a wooden barrier had been concreted in.
“It makes it impossible to me to park there because I can’t open my door. I had to squeeze into the van through the passenger door. It’s lucky I’m thin.
“She is just causing misery for no reason. I have reported it to the Housing Association, the police and the Council. She has no right to do this.
“It’s just ridiculous. There is plenty of space for both of us. When she had this wooden barrier concreted in while I was at work, it was the final straw.
“Now I can’t park my car there at all.”
Jo’s neighbour, who didn’t want to be named, said she put it up as Jo parked on the middle space, which she needed for her disabled child.
The neighbour said: “This is an adapted disabled bungalow for my disabled daughter. That gap down the middle is so I can open the door and get my disabled six-year-old out.
“I know that middle bit belongs to me. The Council have told me.
“It is a disabled space for my disabled child. (My neighbour) parks on it so I can’t get my daughter out with her additional needs buggy.
“The spaces are exactly the same size. She is no different to anyone else.”
The land the parks are on is owned by Stonewater Housing Association, which also owns most of the properties on the estate.
The housing association says that the rail has now been removed.
Issues between the pair began at Christmas when the neighbour supposedly put lights up along the fence and taped them to the ground by Jo’s parking space.
Jo said: “I wrote her a polite note asking that she put them on her side because I didn’t want to tread on them and they were a trip hazard.”
Jo said the next day she got a long letter from the neighbour complaining about her.
“One night I was nodding off in bed when I heard this loud, scraping noise outside.
“I looked and she was dragging the wooden bin storage feature from behind her parking space and putting it right next to my space.
“I asked her what she was doing and she said the bins were ‘nowhere near your shi**y van’ and carried on.”
Other neighbours say they too have had problems.
Kelly Rogers, 44, who lives with her 16-year-old daughter opposite the bungalow.
Kelly said: “When Christmas she covered her house in flashing lights and advertised it on the Spotted Facebook page.
“But my daughter has seizures and the lights were coming through the curtains and blinds. I asked her to stop but she wouldn’t.”
But the neighbour claimed that she had the lights up for charity and would turn them off at 8pm.
Stonewater Housing Association told The Sun: “Unfortunately, inconsiderate parking does cause tension between neighbours.
“In this particular case we own the piece of land where the barrier was installed and we did not give permission for it.
“It has therefore already been removed.
“We will continue to work to address any ongoing issues and help reach an amicable resolution.”
What are your rights in this situation?
As the land the parking is on is owned by Stonewater, neighbours cannot unilaterally build a barrier without the associations permission.
Residents using the parking also signed up to agreements which specified that they cannot modify the parks in any way.