Dr Barendina Smedley ignited a fierce debate after finding that an unknown person had repeatedly parked on her private driveway. Sharing her story on X, which was once known as Twitter, she wrote: “How unacceptable is it to park in the drive of someone else’s house without asking? I ask because someone’s been doing this to me and I find it really odd.”
The tweet quickly went viral, amassing almost three thousand comments and over 11,000 ‘likes’. One user expressed disbelief: “I can’t believe anybody would do that. Do you know where they’re going after parking? A polite note might be least confrontational.”
Delving deeper into the situation, Dr Smedley updated curious viewers about her subtle response: “Just to clarify, I’m not particularly bothered by this – just curious whether other people thought it was a strange thing to do. We left a polite note on the windscreen. As we don’t have a car perhaps whoever it was just thought there was no one about, which was incorrect.”
Meanwhile, another user suggested a pragmatic approach: “I would have left a bill for them. £10 per day – quite cheap really, especially if you live near a station. Unless of course someone else is renting out your vacant driveway on Find A Park…”
Another shared their friend’s bizarre discovery: “A mate of mine found out someone was selling his driveway on just park or some other app. The people parking there didn’t know anything about it until one day she was at home sick with her car still in the drive so they knocked to ask as they had paid to park there!!”
One person reassured her, saying: “Completely unacceptable. But is it possible that they think your drive is the public highway? One day I found a woman wandering round my front garden with her dog. I asked her pleasantly if she was looking for me. She responded that she didn’t realise it was private property.”
Other individuals suggested more drastic measures to prevent strangers from parking on her driveway again. One user proposed hiring a skip, while others recommended installing a chain or sign at the front of the driveway.
Some even advised her to note down the licence plate and consult a solicitor if it happened again. Many people saw the funny side of things, with one man joking: “I’m sure I saw flamethrowers in the middle aisle at Aldi last week.”
One couldn’t resist commenting on how different things are in the UK compared to the US, sharing: “Stuff like that doesn’t happen in the US, because it would end badly.”
“I find it pleasantly surprising that you don’t own a car. How do you get from place to place? ” To which Dr Smedley replied: “Walking, cycling – or if it’s a long distance, a lift from a friend, or a taxi. Plenty of people in our village don’t own a car!”
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