My neighbour uses pegs to stop me parking on the grass outside his home but I pull them all out, it's ridiculous | The Sun

A RESIDENT has told how his neighbour keeps trying to stop him from parking on a grass verge by stabbing pegs in the ground.

Defiant Steven Riley, 59, claims he has no choice but to yank the pegs out and park over them due to a lack of parking space on their street.

Steven insists the grass verge is fair game and claims he should be allowed to park where he likes near his home in Tibshelf, Derbyshire.

But neighbour Matthew Hooton says he has a "licence to maintain and plant on the verge" from his local authority.

Matthew has put in new bulbs in time for summer – and claims Steven is NOT allowed to park on the small green patch at all.

And Derbyshire County Council backed up his claims, stressing that it is "an offence to drive any vehicle onto this grass verge".

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But Steven hit back, insisting his neighbour is "talking a load of bull s***".

He told The Sun: "He's trying to lay down the law about who can park where.

“He applied for a cultivation but he doesn’t own the verge and he has no right to stop me parking there as a last resort.

"So if he puts pegs in the ground and I need to park I pull them all out.

"I am not doing it to be awkward. Parking is a nightmare around here if like me you have no off street parking.

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"There are lots of terraced homes and bungalows and not nearly enough spaces to park. It's a struggle.

"Matthew is taking away four to five spaces on the verge, he is doing it out of spite.

"All we want is out parking back and he is causing all this unnecessary trouble."

Matthew – a former Derbyshire Police cop – said: "I can’t stop him parking.

"There’s nothing to stop him driving onto the verge it but he shouldn’t park there."

The neighbour says he has a "licence to maintain and plant the verge" and added: "I’ve put plants and bulbs there and it will make it a lot nicer.

"The county council owns the verge but I maintain it.

"There is a lack of street parking here and over the past months parking has become such a problem, I don't know why.

"People park right up to my fence, running across our dipped entrance, but the only problem neighbour is him.”

PARK OFF

Matt explained that he and his wife – who have two vehicles which are parked on his large drive – encounter problems reversing out into their narrow cul-de-sac when cars park on the verge.

He said: "It blocks our view and can be quite dangerous."

Matthew has now put up notices on his fence stating: "No parking, privately maintained grass verge."

Last week, another neighbour of Matthew and Steven documented a heated argument between the pair – which went viral on TikTok.

Matthew said he got on with most of his neighbours and had not been aware of the TikTok clip because he "doesn't do social media".

Mum Lucy Hill, 23 – who filmed the video "for a laugh" – said she isn't picking sides in the row.

She added: "People have gone crazy about it. They’ve been asking for more information about ownership and parking rights.

"There a lot of split opinion about who is right and wrong and the first clip had four million views.

"I couldn’t believe it! I’ve had to post a new updated one."

Neighbours River and Mohammed told how they have been forced to park in their back garden to combat parking issues on the street

River, 23, explained: "We moved here three years ago and have an end of terrace house.

"We only have one car between us but there was nowhere to park. So we park at the back in our garden.”

Mohammed, 29, added: “Luckily we’ve had no need to park on the verge opposite our house.

"People are only parking there as a necessity but it’s caused a bit of friction."

Elsewhere, one couple are trying to sell their house but found that the neighbour had built a shed on their land.

And another homeowner found themselves facing legal action after being accused of stealing their neighbour's garden.

And a legal expert reveals the most common property spats and what your rights are in relation to them.

A Derbyshire Police spokesperson said: "Officers were called to reports of minor damage to a vehicle in High Street, Tibshelf, on June 6.

"No further action was taken in relation to the incident."

A Derbyshire County Council spokesperson said: "It's an offence to drive any vehicle onto this grass verge.

"The offence is enforceable by the Police, but they do actually have to observe the offence taking place to take any action against offending vehicles.

"We have approved a cultivation licence to allow a resident to plant on the highway verge to deter parking but it would still appear that people are not observing this.

"Parking is at a premium like many streets due to its terraced nature."

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