In the current work, a series of three-dimensional (3D) numerical modelling has been performed in order to study the effects of the relative locations of tunnels with respect to the position of pile tips which governs the behaviour of pre-existing, adjacent single piles. In the numerical analyses, several governing factors, such as tunnelling-induced pile head settlements, relative displacements, volume losses, axial pile forces, interface shear stresses and apparent factors of safety have been analysed. When the pile tips are inside the tunnelling influence zone, of which the pile tip location is considered with respect to the tunnel position, tunnelling-induced pile head settlements are larger than the ground surface settlements, resulting in tunnelling-induced tensile pile forces. On the contrary, when the pile tips are outside the influence zone, compressive pile forces associated with downward shear stresses at the upper part of the piles are developed. Based on computed load and displacement relation of the pile, the apparent factors of safety of the piles inside the tunnelling influence zone have been reduced by 36% in average. The shear transfer mechanism based on the relative tunnel locations has been analysed in great detail by considering tunnelling-induced pile forces, interface shear stresses and the apparent factors of safety.