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Posted by: richy rich May 7 2010, 07:30 PM

Just a rant, on how can the damage of cars in Newbury be stopped, three windows on my car were smashed and the and the drivers door damaged, yes I am insured but have to pay 250 pounds excess, who can we complain to, the police were very helpful, but realistic, no witnesses, no chance of catching anyone. Another 5 cars were damaged that night. it is not funny

Any ideas

Posted by: Iommi May 7 2010, 07:32 PM

What area/road, etc, was this?

Posted by: richy rich May 7 2010, 08:25 PM

We are in Greenlands road, in south Newbury. I know its not around the best area, but you still should be able to park a car outside your house and expect it to be alright in the morning, nothing stolen, just willful damage.

Posted by: Biker1 May 7 2010, 09:04 PM

You should see the number of dents in the sides of my car caused by mindless, thoughtless twats parked next to me and banging my car with their open door.

Is this "wilful damage"?

Sorry, not much consolation but I sympathise with you.

Posted by: GMR May 7 2010, 10:47 PM

The trouble here is what will happen if they caught the culprits? A warning and then sent on their way is probably the likely outcome; going by how the police deal with thugs where I live. As long as youth believe they are untouchable and the police treat them as untouchable then such crimes, as the one you have experienced, will continue.... sadly.

Posted by: Newbury Expat May 8 2010, 12:50 AM

Ugh, sorry to hear Rich - this stuff makes me cringe.

I would be very much in favour of 'eye for an eye' style punishment. If the culprits are caught (doubtful I know), you get to go round to their house and deal equal damage to something that belongs to them (car, tv, ipod, all of the above) only they wouldn't be covered under insurance. Oh and they get tp pick up your excess too. Oh and any further damage to you property is automatically assumed to be down to them, unless they have a cast iron alibi, so they suffer further consequences. And if it isn't them, well tough, this way they will know what unfair feels like.

Wishful thinking, but the thought of such a possibility makes me smile.

Posted by: JeffG May 8 2010, 09:13 AM

I thought the default in the US was to shoot them.

Posted by: GMR May 8 2010, 09:53 AM

And, no doubt, some deserve it.

Posted by: Berkshirelad May 8 2010, 01:27 PM

A black BMW perchance?

I would have thought that the excess was very much lower for glass damage; I know mine is £60 as opposed to £250)

Posted by: Iommi May 8 2010, 01:44 PM

I suspect it is dependent on the policy.

Posted by: x2lls May 8 2010, 01:54 PM

Glad to see you are getting some sympathy on this. Considering the comments on the latest bollarding incident re BMW owners, you are lucky.

I too have had numerous attacks on my car and therefore I know how you feel. Wing mirrors, roof buggered etc, so I wish you well.

Posted by: Roost May 8 2010, 03:52 PM

Don't quite grasp the relating of mindless criminal damage to a car and driving into a signed no-driving zone andbeing 'bollarded'!!

I too have every sympathy with the car owner.

While I can never condone the actions of for example, drug addicts stealing to feed an addiction it is at least partially understandable as they are committing crime to feed their addiction, I will never, ever grasp the mentality of the mindless idiots that commit such damage for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

Maybe the little luvvies had 'nuffink to do'! They could always have been at home playing on one of the 5 games consoles that they no doubt own, or watching TV on the 50 inch plasma attached to the wall while kicking their Chavdogs and sipping from a can of Stella....!

Posted by: richy rich May 8 2010, 04:29 PM

Posted by: richy rich May 8 2010, 04:32 PM

Yes , it was the damage to the door that made it less than funny, and obviously more expensive. It is just frustrating how some people in Newbury seem to find this amusing it seems to happen quite often.

Posted by: GMR May 8 2010, 06:55 PM

I presume you reported it; what did the police say to you?

Posted by: richy rich May 8 2010, 08:03 PM

They were at my door at 6 am to inform me of the crime, unfortunately as there were no witnesses, no CCTV, the chance of catching anyone was very low. They thought the people who did damaged the cars had caused a disturbance at Tesco's around 5 am and then continued back into Newbury, smashing windows and damaging cars.

A taxi was damaged further up the road, just mindless, making someone lose an income for a morning.

Posted by: GMR May 8 2010, 08:52 PM

Even if they had no CCTV where you lived they must have had it at Tesco's. Also bet they knew who it was, even though they couldn't prove it.

Posted by: Roost May 8 2010, 11:25 PM

But I guess half the problem seems to be proving it!

From what I've read on these pages, seems that most actually acknowledge that there is a large difference 'tween what po-leece know and what po-leece can prove!

Reckon then that the problem lies with an antiquated justice system as opposed to pet else!

Posted by: x2lls May 9 2010, 02:53 PM

Try this from the 'Bollarded' rant..............
His Canute mind set was that BMW drivers think that
Bollards
Make
Way

and traffic restrictions are only applicable to non BMW drivers.
and maybe ......................

Shame. Given that BMW drivers own the road, you would have thought he would have had control over the bollards. Was his name Canute?

Posted by: richy rich May 9 2010, 05:22 PM

More than one BMW in the world, maybe ? if my car had been bollarded ( great word, even describes a good night out). I would not rant about it on a forum, that clearly knows that the bollards go up and down between 10 and 6.

Posted by: x2lls May 9 2010, 06:39 PM

My point is that when, for all we know, a genuine mistake was made by someone who just happened to be in a BMW, the response was a generalisation that BMW owners are all the same. Yet when a BMW owner says his vehicle has been attacked, a completely different view is displayed. Sounds like hypocrisy to me. And, as a BMW owner, I found said responses offensive, to say the least.

Posted by: Roost May 9 2010, 07:17 PM

Problem is x2, that it's not a valid comparison.

One is purely down to the mindless actions of others while t'other, genuine mistake or not is down to the individual actions of the car owner.


Ps, shoulda bought a Ford....!

Posted by: Biker1 May 9 2010, 07:42 PM

Try the survey on the bottom right http://www.bennetts.co.uk/Bennetts-News/Irritating-Car-Drivers/

Posted by: richy rich May 9 2010, 08:37 PM

I was glad when Top gear rated Audi's the worst car on the road, replacing the BMW, I am the worst BMW driver, staying on the inside lane trying to keep my mpg at 80 not my mph.

Posted by: x2lls May 9 2010, 08:44 PM

You really can't label people by the car they drive. The reason 'makes' get labelled is because that is usually the only recognisable connection between drivers when an incident occurs. Take the middle lane hoggers. You make all sorts of assumptions about the driver, but you will almost always be entirely wrong. Like being surprised when you meet someone you have only ever had telephone conversations with.

The survey is rubbish, it simply offers a list of different manufacturers.
Do you really think that the make of vehicle has a direct bearing on the drivers attitude?

There was no comparison in the comments made in the bollarding topic, they were simply stating that 'BMW' drivers had a certain attitude.
By that logic, eventually after every make of car had been damaged by the bollard system there would be no make of car excluded from such comments. So, that would only leave the common denominator, EG the person behind the wheel.

Posted by: Biker1 May 9 2010, 09:08 PM

I think it was only meant to be a bit of fun!

Posted by: Phil_D11102 May 10 2010, 01:06 PM

Since 2007 we have had 3 cars damaged, one of them severally enough to be written off at a loss to us.

There has been other damage in our area to include a bus shelter destroyed, a neighbors fence damaged, and one of our christmas decorations stolen and burned on a nearby school fence.

Fair enough in the last 6 months things have quited down quite a bit, but we have spoken to every clerk, councillor, police officer, etc we could to see if a CCTV cam could be put up, but sadly the finger pointing is amazing.

It's no different to when we had the snow this past winter. A lot of talk, not enough action, and we the taxpayers inconvenienced.

Phil D

Posted by: Bloggo May 10 2010, 01:14 PM

Everytime I come up against ASB I e-mail Richard Benyon so that it is on file. If enough of us keep him informed of what is going on at grass roots level he can't say he was unaware odf the situation and maybe, just maybe he will get something done.

Posted by: Jayjay May 10 2010, 03:12 PM

Think that is a good idea. But we have to decide what can be done. IMHO I think do the crime pay the time whatever your age. Human Rights cannot be a defence, nor can poverty. We all know decent, law abiding people who were poor as kids. We need to get back to an age where crime was punished, respect and rights are earned.

Posted by: TallDarkAndHandsome May 10 2010, 03:20 PM

I'm afraid their are too many 'do-gooders' around that want to forgive crime because of a person's circumstances.

We all have choices in life and if you choose to commit crime in my opinion you should be punished accordingly. And that includes alcoholics and drug users.

Posted by: HJD May 10 2010, 04:55 PM

Presuming Tesco's CCTV was working at the time.