How NOT to park (or How to not make friends with your neighbours)

I had to drive my wife to work this morning, so I'd have the car to drive our kids to her when she's done for the day, so we can take them to the dentist. Note that I said car and not truck. We have a loaner (a Ford Focus) while our truck is in the shop.

Anyway, I stepped outside to find that the neighbour from two doors down had parked their truck behind the car beside us, and it was partically blocking our car. The car beside us rents the spot from the neighbour right next door.

It's actually not too unusual to find the two-door-down neighbour parking their truck there. They tend to do it often, but usually for short periods of time, while unloading stuff from the truck.

My wife went out to ask them to move it. Before she got to their door, our neighbour's basement boarder came home. This was the first time I've heard him speak. He's a quiet guy, who works night-shift. He asked her if it was our truck. She said no. He said it had been parked there all night, apparently. He works with the guy who rents the spot and said that he blocked in car owner) had been ringing her (the truck owner) doorbell non-stop this morning to tell them to move I guesss he must have given up and found another way to work.

So my wife rang the "offender's" doorbell and knocked on her door a whole bunch, in attempt to wake her up. Finally, she answered the door and my wife asked her to move the truck. Her response was something like "Did I forget that I parked my truck there last night?"

Holy crap.. what kind of condition would you have to be in when you got home to make you forget that your truck was parked illegally all night?

I think they'll soon be hearing from their landlord. My wife and the guy from next door are going to call the condo management office and complain, and ask that they notify the owner who rents to them. We do have parking security that we're supposed to call if someone parks in our spot, but apparently you have to prove that it's your spot before they get it towed. All the home owners got letters a while ago stating which spot is their's, but I'm sure the guy who rents that spot doesn't have the paper. Still, I don't think you need to prove parking spot ownership to get someone towed or ticketed when they're parking behind you, which is technically in a fire lane.

This isn`t the first time we`ve had parking problems with them. I came home one day from work to find an unknown car parked in our spot. I parked in the fire lane and sat on my door step for about 5 minutes. I was about to move our truck directly behind them so they couldn`t leave, but then a kid came out of that house and left in the car. The woman who lives there (the offender from last night) told him that he`s not supposed to park there, and to use visitor parking. (Pot... kettle?) He said, "I was just there for 5 minutes" which was obviously BS.

The woman and her live-in boyfriend used to park in the neighbours spot all the time, when the unit was empty for months and undergoing renovations. They never asked permission. Even when the place was sold and the owner moved in, they continued to park there on occasion after he started renting his spot out to another neighbour a few doors down. That guy even once left them a note on their windshield telling them that he'd get it towed the next time.

It's too bad because they are generally nice people, but they're not making (or keeping) any friends by being so inconsiderate.