Can't Understand Why

Author
Discussion

MikeyT

Original Poster:

16,847 posts

277 months

Friday 17th May 2002
quotequote all
Can someone please have a go explaining what enters a scrotes head when he feels he has to wreck/torch cars that are left/broken down/nicked by the roadside?

On my two-mile journey home there is/was a red H reg Escort Turbo parked up on the verge on the edge of a dual carriageway. Day one it was OK, then on day 2 it had been moved slightly, the rear windscreen had been smashed and the door was open. Day 3 it had been torched. Over 100 cars a month are wrecked like that in this city!

Some of the cars have the 'POLICE AWARE' sticker on – now besides the bleedin' obvious, what does that mean? Do the cops make any attempt to contact the owner – cos I can't believe it's been left there BY the owner ...

What upsets me is that someone can actually have that little respect for someone elses's property. Not living in a bad area I don't come across wanton vandalism much and when I do – I get MAD ... both for the poor owner and for the future of society as a whole.

Ultra Violent

2,827 posts

275 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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Because he was jealous it might beat his nova! Now at least the both look shite.

castex

4,975 posts

279 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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look!
Fire!
Fire hot.
Pretty flames.

stu_allen

53 posts

270 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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Normally between days 2 & 3 someone dumps some carpet offcuts through the broken window...

Don

28,377 posts

290 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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Yeah. But *some* of these cars have been left by the side of the road for a reason - their owners have abandoned them as it costs too much to get the scrappy to process it.

Apparently it can take days/weeks for plod/council to legally be allowed to remove the eyesore and get rid as the car is still legally someone's property.

In good old Basingstoke we have quite a bad abandoned car problem - its not bad but every so often there's one just left on the grass by the side of the ring road.

Its a personal rant but surely some of our road tax could be spent on subsidising scrappies for every car at the end of its life that they take on to make it worth their while to recycle even these old sh**boxes - if the owners (who, frankly, cannot afford £xxx to scrap the car) got a few quid for being responsible and taking it there then the problem would go away.

And the scrotes wouldn't have anything to burn...

mel

10,168 posts

281 months

Friday 17th May 2002
quotequote all
Just to add a little slant on this one, on the industrial estate where I work we had a sudden spate of dumped cars over a period of 3 months, one of the other unit owners is a magistrate and we decided on his advise that we could contact DVLA and get previous owner details sent to us and then charge the last registered keeper for removal. This is what we did on the last 4 cars and oddly enough 3 out of the last 4 were all shown as having been "sold recently to a local main dealer" now being a sinical bastard and the facts that all these cars were old shiters, the local dealer offers a £1500 min px for any car it looks to me that for some dealers its cheaper to either dump there shit or bung a local pickie £10 to do it for them. Oddly enough when the dealer was contacted they claimed to have recently "sold" all the cars in question but we haven't had any dumped since !!!!!!!!

Twin Turbo

5,544 posts

272 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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It's such a pity it's only old bangers that are abandoned. I'd happily find a home for something a little more interesting. One of the Autocar contributers recently mentioned that they had "aquired" a Lotus Eclat (admittedly a full restoration needed) from a lay-by!

I pass a Astra van that's clearly been abandoned near where I live. Who's should I contact first, the police or the local council (there's no police aware sticker despite the fact it's been there a couple of weeks)

trefor

14,656 posts

289 months

Friday 17th May 2002
quotequote all
What I don't get is why people leave them in the most stupid places. OK, sometimes they just break down and the owner decides to abandon them, but why not at least leave them in a car park or park off the road properly?

There's an old Escort parked on a back road into Bracknell at the moment - it's currently aiming for the world record of an abandoned car that hasn't been trashed - it's been there for a week now. Police Aware stickers were on it yesterday so I guess it will move soon. By why to heck did they abandon it half on/half off the road? And why the heck didn't the police push it off the road properly? All the traffic has to slow/swerve around it at the moment.

ianpicknell

107 posts

271 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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Isn't there some legislation on the way that will make it the responsibility of car manufacturers to dispose of cars ready for the scrap-heap? (Basically follows the "polluter pays" argument.) This may help reduce the number of abandoned cars.

Twin Turbo

5,544 posts

272 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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I could be wrong, but I think this only applies to new cars produced after 2004?

Can't see too many of them being abandanded!

nmlowe

1,666 posts

273 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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I noticed a really crappy N-reg Astra dumped in tesco's carpark after taking my mum shopping...then i realised it was mine...bummer!

ianpicknell

107 posts

271 months

Friday 17th May 2002
quotequote all
quote:

I could be wrong, but I think this only applies to new cars produced after 2004?

Can't see too many of them being abandanded!


Sure. But by 2020 these cars will be a little long in the tooth and would be at risk of abandonment. It's a l-o-n-g term solution.

Steve Harrison

461 posts

273 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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By a strange coincidence I was on a Fire Safety Course yesterday run by Surrey Fire & Rescue Service and one thing that really hit me was the speed with which a fire can grow and trap you. Vehicle fires these days are particularly nasty with all the plastics used in trim, insulation - sound and electrical, and bodywork (all you TVR types). They all go up like matchwood and produce a really evil cocktail of poisonous fumes. You can be dead in just a few seconds

Having done the smoke-filled room, extinguisher practicals etc. I can tell you two things.

a) I am totally in awe of the professional firefighters who tackle these things for a living

b) the next time I hear a fire alarm I'm gone on the D of ding-a-ling

JohnLow

1,763 posts

271 months

Friday 17th May 2002
quotequote all
Also on the firefighters theme -

The fire brigade will often take a scrap car off your hands - if you can drive it there - as they use them to practice chopping up and rescuing stuck people.

JohnLow

1,763 posts

271 months

Friday 17th May 2002
quotequote all
Hmm, could have punctuated that better

GregE240

10,857 posts

273 months

Friday 17th May 2002
quotequote all
quote:

Also on the firefighters theme -

The fire brigade will often take a scrap car off your hands - if you can drive it there - as they use them to practice chopping up and rescuing stuck people.


....but can they be tin tops please, as we find convertibles a bit too easy ?

JMorgan

36,010 posts

290 months

Friday 17th May 2002
quotequote all
quote:

By a strange coincidence I was on a Fire Safety Course yesterday run by Surrey Fire & Rescue Service and one thing that really hit me was the speed with which a fire can grow and trap you. Vehicle fires these days are particularly nasty with all the plastics used in trim, insulation - sound and electrical, and bodywork (all you TVR types). They all go up like matchwood and produce a really evil cocktail of poisonous fumes. You can be dead in just a few seconds

Having done the smoke-filled room, extinguisher practicals etc. I can tell you two things.

a) I am totally in awe of the professional firefighters who tackle these things for a living

b) the next time I hear a fire alarm I'm gone on the D of ding-a-ling



Article in Sprint several years ago. Fireman TVR owner had a call out to a Lotus a couple on minutes away. By the time they got there, chasis, rims and block was all that was left. Had to crane the chasis up as it had melted into the tarmac.

mel

10,168 posts

281 months

Friday 17th May 2002
quotequote all
quote:

....but can they be tin tops please, as we find convertibles a bit too easy ?



Glad to see Greg's found his sense of humour again over night

CarZee

13,382 posts

273 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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must have got his oats last night

GregE240

10,857 posts

273 months

Friday 17th May 2002
quotequote all
quote:

must have got his oats last night


I'm married, man.

And my birthday's not 'til November