'My busy body neighbour has threatened to call the council over my driveway plans'

A first-time homeowner is eager to revamp her , but her nosy 's dramatic reaction is causing her stress. The thrill of buying your first home, despite the upheaval, opens up a of potential. No longer under the thumb of a landlord, you're free to transform the 's look, both inside and out. One woman, who had been a council tenant for 10 years, was thrilled to finally be able to buy a small terraced house.

She moved in a few weeks ago and quickly spotted an issue with her driveway. Unlike the rest of the homes on her street, which all boast front , hers has been remodelled.

The hedge has been swapped for gates leading to a small gravel driveway instead of a garden, and the kerb has been dropped to accommodate a car's entry.

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While many would love a driveway, this one isn't quite up to scratch. It's so "tiny" that when she parks there, her car is practically touching her living room wall.

If she were to open her living room window, it would hit her car. On her street, there "isn't a shortage of parking spaces" and there's always ample room for cars, so she's keen to reverse the previous owner's changes and restore the front garden.

In anticipation of this, she's "slowly started shifting the gravel and replacing it with grass", opting to park on the street outside her house instead of the awkward driveway.

She was taken aback when her neighbour knocked on her door and threatened to lodge a complaint with the council against her for not using her driveway to park her car.

Sharing her story on , she wrote: "He wanted me to start using my front garden as a driveway like the previous owners and said that's what my driveway was for."

She explained to him that parking there is "actually a very tight squeeze for a car", only for him to retort that "the previous owners were able to fit a van in the front drive", a claim she "highly doubts".

The woman added: "I asked him if he felt there were a shortage of car spaces and he said no, but said if you have a driveway you should use it! He strikes me as a busybody who just wanted to control the street as he has been living in the street he told me since the 70s.

"I let him know that I was wanting to enjoy my front garden as a front garden, just like he had a front garden. He said he'd be contacting the council."

Deeply worried about the neighbour's threats, the woman posted that she is now panicking and considering "pausing work" on her garden fearing council reprimands.

In response, Reddit users offered advice and support. One quipped she should grow plants on the driveway and trim them to resemble a car, much to the chagrin of the "busy body" neighbour.

Another reassured her: "The absolute worst that'll happen is someone may call you from the council, just so they can tell him they did, to appease him.

"He's a busybody who seems to think he can tell you what to do with your land. The only regulations I could find were for the creation of a driveway and dropped kerb, not reversing that."