Neighbours revelation causes headache!!

[lairdAl_374474951]

Hello All,

Well, we are disgusted with the neighbours revelations this evening.

As always arround 5.30 pm, we stand at the front gate leaning on the wall with a cuppa in hand just passing the time of day and the topic of parking cropped up.

I had my usual moan about two particular people on the street double parking and making it impossible to get down the street when I have caravan in tow.

On two or more occasions, we have had confrontations with said car owners. We or should say I, gave them three options if they weren't to move.The last option was to call the police and let them sort it out,the latter took place.

Now my neighbours,who we thought were decent law abiding people, aged 62 yrs and 59 yrs respectively,look after their two small grandchildren whilst parents go out to work.The grand kids are now three and half years old,and they have looked after them since being six months old.

As we are having a new football stadium built here, I said that the parking could get worse especially on football days,and should we approach the local council to get some sort of idea and consult other residents and get their views on what could be a problem.Then the bomb shell came.....

"They wont (f)bleep bleep ing well park here cos they will get what we have been doing to cars that have been parked on pavements when we have been walking into town with two small kids in buggys and can't get passed safetly and we have had to walk on the busy main road"

"Why, what have you done?" I asked.On reply they said "They have been KEYED from one end to the other".

I was gob smacked,"You can't do that I said, thats criminal damage."

The answer was, !"So what, it'll teach em to park on pavements." Well, I can be sure that they are being truthfull as we have known these people for a very long time,but obviously not as well as we had thought.

The problem I have now is what do I do? Do I just keep my gob shut or inform the authorities.Being part of the neighbourhood watch scheme and sitting on community police/council estate forums poses a problem for me.

Whats your thoughts???

Cheers Laird Al

 

[Damian]

Do nothing,,what people SAY they do, and what they ACTUALLY do can be two totally different things.

Unless you have irrefutable evidence (photographs, times , dates, registration numbers of cars "allegedly" damaged) that they have done anything,it is none of your business.

Heresay is NOT admittable in court proceedings, nor should it be taken as anything but.

 

[cathymac]

OMG. What horrible people and what an awful thing to do but what would they to your property if you shopped them ? They obviously would know when your away because the van wouldn't be there. I honestly can't advise you on this.

 

[PhilFraeHowMill]

Completely agree with Damien, its all hear say and not admissable in court, and would you be prepared to stand in court and give evidence?

 

[PhilFraeHowMill]

Completely agree with Damien, its all hear say and not admissable in court, and would you be prepared to stand in court and give evidence?

Sorry Damian, must pay more attention!

 

[thursdays child]

Matey,just take a minute to think this out!If these people have been so busy keying cars surely it would have been the cause of complaints in the area.Sometimes folks just say things for effect.It must have given you a jolt to have to hear their "confession".Put it to the back of your mind because as has been pointed out without proof you are powerless.If they are guilty then at some point they will be found out.I am a believer in "the things you do 2 by 2 you pay for 1 by 1.

Thursdays Child

 

[Pat_374304630]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Neighbour confesses.

You are on the neighbourhood watch etc. Your neighbours expect you to help protect them. However as has been pointed out there is absolutely no evidence. But this is playing on your conscience.

Nose around. Find out if anyone has had their cars keyed. Maybe you should tell the others on the watch so that you can keep tabs on your neighbour. I would not be happy to have my car keyed(I don't park on pavements anyway). If you consider it your duty to report this matter to the police, only do so with evidence to back you up and maybe through the neighbourhood watch committee and not your individual self.

It's easy for me to give advice as I am not on the neighbourhood watch or any estate committee. Whatever your decision it will not be an easy one.

 

[Philspadders]

Thats all well and good, but have you ever had to push a single never mind tandem buggy along footpaths littered with cars half parked on them.... i have.

The owners of the cars are themselves commiting an offence and should be prosecuted.

If you park your car on a FOOT path , please remember that a childs safety is a lot more important than your car.

FOOT paths are not places to park your car.

 

[Damian]

Quote "Nose around. Find out if anyone has had their cars keyed. Maybe you should tell the others on the watch so that you can keep tabs on your neighbour"

Woah,hang on..... If car owners have had their cars keyed, the ONLY authoritative place to report anything is to the Police.

Going around making groundless accusations about neighbours is,or anyone else, is a shameful thing to do, and if someone were to do that to me and I found out about it, I would most certainly take legal action against the person spreading rumours.

 

[Robert_374373903]

You remind me of our late neighbour who was a great chap, we spent many hours together with him telling me his war tales.At one time he said about couple of men coming throught the bushes into our place whilst we were away, he had a double shotgun at the time and went after them, one ran off and he caught the other and said he was going to shoot him in the leg to learn him a lesson. I was horrified that he might have done that for us.He was 87 at the time and sadly he no longer is with us.

 

[Guest]

Hardly likely to be true, if there was a spate of keying of cars, I would have thought the Police would know about it, and dropped the neighbourhood watch a line, unless that is the cars didn't belong to anyone in that neighbourhood.

 

[lairdAl_374474951]

Hello all!

Thanks for your replies,much apreciated!!

I have tonight asked the neighbours if they were telling me the truth or winding me up.They replied most adamantly that they have done it and would do it again if/when they cannot get buggies passed cars parked on pavements,although their actions have not been on their own doorstep,so to speak.

I have got a big neighbourhood watch meet next week with a police presence and I am in dilema as to what to say should the matter arise. Do I mention what I know or keep mum?? The latter of the two is not in keeping with the essence of neighbourhood watch.

I agree it would be imposible for me to gather proof and technically this is hearsay but I have no intention of spying on my neighbours.On the otherhand,I have no reason not to believe what they claim to have done!

Cheers Al

 

[LMH]

Just give those horrendous people an extremely wide berth and make sure your own car is safe.

I wouldn't mention their revelations at NW meeting. If there's further instances of damage, then let the victims report it to the police.

It's a pity these old duffers don't get caught in the act by the owner of a vehicle they were damaging......

Lisa

 

[cara89]

Could you have a quiet,informal chat with a police person?There is a policeman round here who is very open to giving informal advice to young people. Thats what made me think.It would just be raising awareness if there was a problem. However I dont really know. I am reading both sides of things on forum.

 

[cara89]

Although actually, again thinking of a situation similar round where I live. Why arent the police alerted to the pavement parking too. It`s very dangerous to children crossing the road. I think something was done about it.

 

[cathymac]

We have neighbours who park 2 cars half on the pavement and half on the road leaving their 4 car driveway empty. It's also on a blind bend. Just an accident waiting to happen with mums pushing babies in buggiesi having to walk on the road round their cars. I spoke to the traffic warden/community police and was told it wasn't an offence ? ? ?

 

[ValA.]

We have neighbours who live opposite and also park on the pavement, (outside their house and ours) and someone (not us) has complained. However, we've had an offical circular from our Neighbourhood Policing Team, posted through every door in the cul-de-sac warning that IT IS an offence, and that the situation is being monitored. Anyone found to be causing an obstruction to pedestrians or other nuisance to any road users will be fined

 

[ScouseIan]

There are some roads that were build long before everybody had a car. We have lots of terraced streets here where everybody has to park on the kerb. The kerb is wide enough of course. Say 3 or 4 flags. If the car takes up one then a buggy can still get past.

On the subject of the keying, I would do nothing at the moment. You don't have any real evidence apart from hearsay (is that an americanism?) so I would just wait and see what happens, keeping a polite distance away from them.

I think if you know anybodies actual car that has been done then you should report it, maybe anonymously to crimestoppers. By the sound of them they would probably boast about it to the police when questioned anyway.

Ian

 

[Philspadders]

its IS AN OFFENCE to park your car on any public footpath. If you cause an obstruction you can and will and in my mind should be prosecuted. The road is for mechanically propelled vehicles , the footpath is for pedestrians.

It seems to me that some of you place parking your car more highly than a pedestrians safety.

Why should anyone be expected to walk in the road or take a child in the road in a buggy to avoid your illegally parked car.

As for informing the police make sure your all your neigbours are in agreement as they may not be too happy when they all received fixed penalty notices of

 

[Philspadders]

Ps, Traffic Wardens and PCSO's are unable to give fixed penalty notices for parking on footpaths. They have to be issued by the real police.

 

[whitetop]

I am astounded by some answers here about the keying...the "don't get involved" brigade cannot really be serious.

Having been a victim in the past of these morons and been out of pocket to the tune of over

 

[LMH]

I wonder why crime is on the increase. Can you explain it to me please?

Lisa

 

[Damian]

David, whilst I have read your reply and you stating that you are a Police Officer, then perhaps you can enlighten me as to why , when my car was keyed across the bonnet, not once or twice, but four times, and I caught the person responsible on CCTV, the Police decided they could not identify the person, despite being told his name and address????????

Why , when a girl was being beaten up by 2 men, and the Police were called, they failed to even drive by until 2 hours AFTER th girl was taken to hospital, even though they were only about 1/2 a mile away in Cowes at the time, watching the fireworks???

Why when a known uninsured and unlicenced driver was seen driving and had been every day, to work, and th ePolice informed of his exact route, they did ,,nothing?

Why known drug dealers in an area are not dealt with but left to peddle their drugs to anyone and seem immune to being caught?

When the Police get back to doing what they should be doing, and stop chasing stupid "quotas" for easy results to make their figures look good,,then maybe, just maybe, the public will give the support they need.

Until then it is absolutely no use reporting anything to the Police as it will be largely ignored unless it falls withtin the Target Crimes for stat purposes.

 

[ValA.]

We still have faith in our police here. As I mentioned earlier they've responded to complaints about parking, are a visible presence on our cul-de-sac, driving in and around every so often, and were absolutely first-class when we were burgled (again small scale stuff, with my handbag, car and house keys and two mobile phones taken) a couple of years ago.

We've also had a couple of low-level incidents of vandalism in the area (kids late at night on their way to a local meeting place) and again the police have been quick to respond.

We live in a semi-rural area and things are probably a lot different in some areas, but it's always best to contact the police if you are worried - and then if the response is not to your liking at least you can make it known to the powers that be. If you do nothing the problem is not likely to change.

 

[LadyC]

The reference to discounted insurances by David R is a bit below the belt I think for a person of his comunity standing.

People do not join such associations/panels for these reasons alone.They join to make a difference(however small) in the comunity where they live.In some rural areas,police rely heavily on information recieved from such people.

I can understand the dilema of Laird Al.Their actions are totally out of order and needs to be stopped.If,as I suspect,the information was "given" in confidence in the course of conversation then any police action could cause reverberations for him.It would not take a genious to work out where information came from.

I do not think Laird Al is shrinking from his duty as this situation is clearly playing on his mind.Its a question of what to do for the best and what support will he recieve from such people as the police?

Lady C