Parking in front of a garage: what are the rules?

An unknown car is parked on the public road in front of your garage entrance or driveway. You can no longer get your vehicle out or in. What should you do?

Parking rules: what does the law say?

Article 25 (Parking ban) of the Royal Decreeof 1 December 1975 on road traffic police and the use of public roads states:

"Art 25.1. It is forbidden to park a vehicle:
…
3° in front of vehicle access points to properties, except for vehicles whose registration plate is freely reproduced at these access points.
… "

A vehicle on the public road blocking such an access point is therefore in breach of the rules.
As a result, parking on the public road in front of a garage door or a vehicle access point of a property (e.g. the driveway alongside a house where you normally park your vehicle) is forbidden (although stopping there briefly is allowed), except for the vehicle(s) whose registration plate is reproduced at that access point. This may be the registration plate of the owner's vehicle, or that of another vehicle (e.g. a tenant's).

Also see the website "Driving licence online" (in Dutch).

What should you do if a vehicle is on the public road and blocking your access?

As this is a breach of the highway code, you'll need to call the police so they can come to the scene, assess the situation and draw up a report.
As a first step, the police will try to find the vehicle's owner in order to avoid having it towed. If it seems impossible to find the owner within a reasonable time, the police may consider calling in a towing company to have the vehicle removed. This decision will be based on the police's findings and assessment. They will intervene if the vehicle poses a danger or an obstruction to other road users. The costs linked to the offence and the towing (sometimes quite high!) will then be charged to the offender.

In practice, and in most cases, the police will decide to have the vehicle removed if its parking prevents you from leaving home with your own vehicle.
This does not always seem to be the case if you're already on the public road and access to your property is (temporarily) blocked.

Note: blocking access to a private entrance, e.g. while waiting for a passenger running an errand a bit further away, may also be considered an offence.

What about on private property?

The case described above concerns parking on the public road.
If the vehicle blocking access is on private property, the situation is more complex. The offence then no longer falls under the highway code. The police can only draw up a report on the basis of an official complaint filed by the property owner (or their representative), which will be handled by a court.
The decision to tow will therefore be up to the property owner, who, if the ruling is in their favour, can recover the costs after bringing civil proceedings before a justice of the peace.

For any further information regarding parking rules or issues, you can of course contact your local police station.