Elderly driver refuses to stop parking in resident's rented spot, claims he's been "parking there for 30 years”, forcing resident to block him in overnight

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  • 01
    An elderly driver in his car.
  • 02
    AITA for blocking in an older guy's car after he kept blocking my paid parking spot?
  • 03
    I live in a city where parking is a nightmare. If you get home late, you're usually driving around for 10-15 minutes looking for a spot.
  • 04
    A parking space across the street from my house became available to rent, so I took it.
  • 05
    It wasn't cheap, but I drive a lot for work, so having a guaranteed place to park was worth every penny.
  • 06
    When I rented it, the owner warned me that one member of the congregation of the church next door occasionally parked in the driveway.
  • 07
    He gave me the guy's phone number and told me that if it ever happened, I could just call or text him and he'd move his car.
  • 08
    I figured it wasn't a big deal. The first time it happened, About 20 minutes before I had to go, I called him.
  • 09
    No answer. I texted him. No answer. About 10 minutes before I absolutely had to be on the road, I went into the church to find him.
  • 10
    He was praying and basically ignored me until I finally got his attention. Instead of moving his own car, he handed me his keys.
  • 11
    I asked, "You want me to move it?" He said yes. I didn't have time to argue or make a scene in the middle of church, so I moved his car myself.
  • 12
    What really bothered me was that there were other parking spots available. Most of the times I've seen him park there, he hasn't actually needed to block the driveway.
  • 13
    He's older and not in the best shape, so maybe he wanted the shorter walk, and I was willing to be understanding, especially for when it wasn't an inconvenience, so I let it go.
  • 14
    About a week later, I had to leave very early in the morning. Since I didn't know what time he'd arrive, I texted him ahead of time and said, "Hey, I need to leave by this time tomorrow.
  • 15
    Please don't block the driveway." His entire response was six words: "Make sure to leave on time." That really annoyed me and i kind of went from 0 to 100.
  • 16
    I replied, "Let me be very clear. If you block me again, I will have you ticketed and towed.
  • 17
    ‘Do not block this driveway’ sign.
  • 18
    This is the parking space I pay for, and you're not going to tell me when I can come or go from my own property." That morning, he either wasn't there yet or decided not to block me.
  • 19
    Fast forward to today. I had just driven almost six hours and finally got home. In my city, we have alternate-side parking for street cleaning.
  • 20
    There were no open spots on the correct side of the street for the next day, meaning if I parked elsewhere, I'd have to wake up early just to move my car.
  • 21
    Meanwhile, he was once again parked in my rented driveway. He could have parked elsewhere. There was parking across the street, on the side where tomorrow it was cleaning.
  • 22
    Instead, he blocked the space that I pay for. So I parked Infront of him and blocked him in.
  • 23
    A little while later, another member of the congregation called me, not the guy himself, and asked if I could move my car by a certain time.
  • 24
    I said no. I had just gotten home, I was relaxing, and I had already warned him not to block me anymore.
  • 25
    The response I got was, "He's been parking there for 30 years." I said, "Great. Then he can pay for it.
  • 26
    I'm the one paying for this parking space now. I was nice enough to let it slide before, and then he told me to 'leave on time' instead of simply not blocking me." I told them I wasn't moving my car that night and that he could get his car tomorrow.
  • 27
    To be clear, if he had called me himself and was standing by his car ready to leave, I probably would have gone out and moved mine.
  • 28
    What I wasn't willing to do was sit around waiting for him, then move my car, and then pull back into my own driveway just because he wanted to leave whenever it was convenient for him.
  • 29
    So, AITA for blocking him in until tomorrow when I feel like It would have been okay to have just had him ticketed and/or towed?

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