‘Bully’ neighbour locked in 10-YEAR parking war over shared driveway hit with £60,000 bill after ‘boxing’ in cars
A "BULLY" who has been locked in a 10-year parking war with his neighbours has had a £60,000 bill confirmed by a judge.
Ivan Soares, 55, was stung with the fine after a judge found he was "selfishly" parking and boxed in his neighbours - the Kothari family.
The row erupted over three parking spaces on a shared driveway outside the families' two homes in a West London cul-de-sac in 2015.
Last week, Ivan went back to court to try and appeal the 2023 decision in a battle that has already cost £100,000 in legal fees.
He claimed that a bad toothache had prevented him from turning up to court when the row was being heard - which had ruined his case.
But a judge turned his appeal down saying the accountant "didn’t have a good reason for not attending the trial".
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Judge Graham Wood KC: said "If he was unable to speak he could have written to his solicitors and given them instructions in relation to the trial."
The decision comes almost ten years after the parking row began.
In 2023, the judge heard Ivan would park "inches" from Manish Kothari's family car and would regularly block them in.
The families initially had a swap agreement where the homeowners could park their cars in front of the properties they belonged to.
But that agreement fell apart and Ivan, who owns the land with his wife, stopped the deal.
Ivan was ordered to pay £60,000 for his "oppressive" behaviour that included parking right up against his neighbours.
Manish claimed Ivan's actions had shaved a whopping £750,000 from the value of their home.
He bought the three-bedroom property in Harefield for £375,000 in 2006.
It came with a single parking space sandwiched between Ivan's two parking spaces.
Bindu Kothari, her husband Sandip and brother-in-law Manish claimed their neighbour had frequently boxed them in by parking inches from their car, and had obstructed their garage.
Ivan and his wife the Kotharis of trespassing on their own parking space.
The judge agreed and awarded them £2,530 trespass damages from the Kotharis after they had used Ivan's parking space.
Tensions have run so high during the row that police have been involved.
Historically, the neighbours had allowed a "sensible" swap arrangement, whereby they parked their vehicles in the two adjacent spaces on the left, closest to their house, with the Kotharis using the space on the right.
Shared driveways: what are your rights?
Shared driving spaces can sometimes be a point of contention for neighbours. Here's all you need to know about your rights.
There are two types of shared driveway in the UK. The first is an access way - where both owners have right of way. It is split on both homeowners' land.
The second is where one neighbour owns the land outside another neighbour's house.
According to The Highways Act 1980, people shouldn't obstruct highways - this includes shared driveways.
This means you are breaking the law if you block a driveway - even if it belongs to you.
For more information on shared driveways, visit
But the neighbours fell out over the parking arrangements - after allegations of inconsiderate parking - with Ivan and his wife pulling the plug.
The parking feud ended up before a judge in 2021, when it was ruled that Ivan and his wife had validly revoked the swap agreement and that the space on the right is rightly theirs.
In 2023, Judge Jane Evans-Gordon labelled Ivan's parking “high handed, insulting and oppressive".
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She awarded the Kotharis £60,090 to compensate them for their neighbours' trespassing on their space, damage done to their parking area and for the reduction in value of their house caused by the dispute.
She said: “Given the claimant’s behaviour - which amounts to bullying - a potential purchaser might be fearful of repeat incidents. Hence the reduction in value."