'My childish neighbour keeps blocking our drive and I fear kind gesture could go wrong'

A woman is struggling with her neighbours' "passive aggressive" and "childish" parking habits that's causing her great discomfort and anxiety. Keeping things cordial with neighbours is a goal for many people - nobody wants to live with the threat of awkwardness or confrontation hanging over them.

Of course, on a planet with billions of people, not everyone is going to get along and the many variations in personalities and lifestyles can lead to clashes among some people. This is, ideally, avoided among neighbours - because they're harder to avoid.

One woman has no clue what she's done to annoy her new neighbours but she's convinced they're personally targeting her and making her life more difficult due to the way they choose to park their cars, often blocking her car in her parking spot.

Taking to Reddit, the woman explained: "In my apartment complex we all have assigned parking. I have one parking spot as I live in a studio apartment. I park perfectly in my lines. I've never had any issues with [any] of my neighbours up until now."

This changed when her new neighbours moved in a few weeks ago. They're renting a two bedroom flat so have been allocated two parking spaces near the woman.

The previous neighbours who occupied the flat never gave the woman any "trouble", so this new situation has caught her off guard.

She continued: "I was surprised when the wife parked her minivan extremely close to me for no reason and her husband parked his HUGE a** truck in a spot that's not an official parking spot right by me as well, and he parked it in a way where if I tried to back out I would hit him."

The man has been doing this "a lot" but the woman is due to start an internship soon and it's making her worry about having to deal with parking problems early in the morning before she's able to get on her way.

She said: "I don't want to have to knock on their door at 5am to say 'move your big a** truck and your mini van crazies!' (of course I would never say it like that, I would be polite) but I don't know how to bring this up with these people at all."

The woman said her new neighbours "don't seem like reasonable people", so she's considering paying them a visit with a plant to "soften them up" and seem more welcoming as she's worried about "accidentally escalating the situation".

She added: "I feel like they just don't like me and are trying to communicate it in a very passive aggressive way and I don't know why because we've barely spoken to each other. "Their behaviour seems [bizarre] and childish to me."

The woman asked for advice on how to avoid escalating the situation. In the comments section, fellow Reddit users shared their thoughts.

One person suggested: "Take pictures and email them to your landlord. If he doesn't do anything then, find out your closest towing company is and ask them about towing your neighbours if they block you in.

"You need to know how quickly they'll respond so that you won't be late in the morning. Have them towed. They do not care about you."

But another person said: "Sounds more like getting used to new people. Knock on their door & do the 'when you park across from me it's difficult to get out'. I would feel really bad getting to know you over a damaged car."

The British Transport Police advises trying to solve parking disputes "peacefully". If this doesn't work, it advises to contact your local council or seeking guidance from Citizens Advice.

The BTP adds: "If a person has blocked your driveway and is preventing you from getting your own vehicle out, we may be able to help. You can report antisocial behaviour online."