Neighbours

[Anonymous]

The house next door to us has it's driveway right next to ours with no partitioning down the middle (and no room for any). They have two young children aged around 5 years old who have somehow managed to congregate all the other kids in the street round their house.

Now, coming back from a bike ride yesterday, I found some nice scratches down the side of the car   s:evil: :evil: s:evil:   I popped over to see the mum yesterday to ask her nicely if she could ask the children to take more care when playing around the cars. I assumed (possibly wrongly) from her expression that she wasn't that bothered.

Where would I stand if I ended up with a big scratch down the side (or even more little ones). I don't want the car to look a state, and I know kids are kids so will play about, although it did worry me when one was running between the cars with a 4-5 ft metal pole, given the distance between the cars is about 2-3 ft.

This is one of the things that is helping get ourselves into looking at moving which we've been talking about for a while. It's a shame, and yes I'm probably just a grumpy old git, but it's the lack of respect for other people's property that gets on my tits and the fact that it will be me that will more than likely have to shell out to get the scratches fixed  s:( s:(

[GSB]

Grab hold of the sprog my the scruff of the neck, and tell him that if he so much as breathes on your car, you'll hang him upside down from a lamppost for a week...

Respect is guaranteed...  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

Unfortunatley, some kids know exactly what police and other people are and arent allowed to do... Hence they push you to the limit. Plant the seed in their heads that potentially you have little regard for such things as laws and will mete out punishment as you see fit, and the respect you deserve is won. It certainly worked when I caught some little toerag stealing my post. He was very surprised to find his hand suddenly hauled  into my letterbox, but not nearly as surprised as when he recieved a kick up the arse that changed the way he walked for a week or so.  Not legal, not PC, but damn it was effective.

[Anonymous]

Mate your situation sounds similar to mine with repsects to the parking bay.  Luckily the couple next door do not have children and have a sparkling Z4 so obviously cares about such things.  If he had kids running between the cars I would not be that impressed by the whole affair.  I had kids playing on my front garden loads last summer .. one dya I came home to find them with a rops swing attached to my tree.  They scarpered and I through the rope swing in the wheelie bin, I have not seen any of them since.  You should use a certain amount of force without being over the top, its hard to find the line coz the kids will probablty just go and tell mommy and then it could be Worl War 3

[kanujunkie]

can't you even erect a thin mesh fence?

may not look good but cheaper than a respray!

[Anonymous]

Problem with the thin mesh fence is that because the houses were built in the early 90s, you only have about enough room to open your car door and get out partly utilising the neighbours side   s:roll: :roll: s:roll:  

I guess next time I see the kids riding their bikes and running between the cars, I'll have a quite word in their ear  s;) s;)  Since I've warned the mom, if I get any more scratches, I might just point them out and give her an idea of the cost of getting them removed. She might then make sure her kids are more careful.

To be honest, it could be her kids or the others that come round. Without CCTV, I don't know. Unfortunately I've seen their lack of stability on bikes so it could easily be that  s:( s:(  

The other thing that annoys me, is that she doesn't seem to want to let the kids go and play anywhere apart from round the house. There's a bloody huge field behind the houses where they could all play, but no, they choose to play outside our house which is unfortunately at the bottom of a cul-de-sac so ideal for playing kids  s:( s:(  Wouldn't mind if they went and played at one of the other kids houses, but I guess their folks don't want them making a mess and racket on their own turf.

Can't help it....I'm a miserable old git  s;) s;)

[Liz]

Sign of the times I'm afraid, mothers don't want the kids out of sight in a field in case Mr Nasty is hanging around. But parents seem content for their kids to go around to others houses, understandable I suppose.

We have the same problem down our close, I groaned when I saw next door but one putting up a basketball ring on Christmas Day, I was right, like a Harlem Globetrotters convention most evenings, with kids from surrounding roads coming around to play. A shout out of the window has been enough in the past to stop them coming anywhere near to the car, I think that they are scared of me now!

[Anonymous]

Liz, do you want to pop over to ours and give them a good telling off?   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:    s8) s8)    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[Liz]

Let me at 'em!!!   s:D s:D

[Anonymous]

Buy yourself a wireless cctv camera off ebay and record it when they are around.

When you see the scroats on tv scratching the car, present the video to the parents and your insurance company.  I am sure they wont be too pleased loosing their no-claims bonus.

[Anonymous]

Good idea, but CCTV would be on my side of the house, and the damage is done on the other side of the car  s:( s:(

Unless I mount it hidden between the shed and the fence somehow.....

Always a possibility. Will see if they have been spoken too and are avoiding the cars.....

[Bongo]

You could mount it in the car if it's wireless?

Or on the back/front of the the Puma but facing your car?

[Anonymous]

Buy yourself a wireless cctv camera off ebay and record it when they are around.

When you see the scroats on tv scratching the car, present the video to the parents and your insurance company.  I am sure they wont be too pleased loosing their no-claims bonus.

How are you going to claim on their (car?) insurance when their vehicle, and an insured driver, is not involved in damage to yours?

Only way forward with CCTV would be a small claims court action.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately as Phil says, would probably have to go through small claims unless they were willing to stump up for it. Hopefully it won't come to that tho. We've been thinking of moving for a while, and I think this has finally got me motivated into finding somewhere else. Just annoys me that some people have little respect for other peoples properties, and it was the particular way the mom didn't seem bothered at all. If it was me, I would have felt bad and apologised straight away regardless of knowing what they had done! But then I was brought up old skool  s;) s;)

Bongo, I think if I mounted the car on the Puma, I might suddenly find some interesting driving shots given how Kath tells me she was driving sometimes   s:shock: :shock: s:shock:   s;) s;)

At least with the wet weather it means the kids aren't around.....I mean, letting kids get wet, next they'll be letting them out of sight   s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

[Anonymous]

CCTV can be powered by battery (and are pin hole cameras which can be hidden anywhere).

Fair play with the insurance thing, unless of course, they park their car next to yours, then you can claim that their car did the damage.  Their word against yours

[Anonymous]

...and the moral of the story is:  "Get a garage"!  (Or invest in a machine gun if you have contacts in that sort of area   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  )

Sundance   s8) s8)

[Anonymous]

BUY A GUN or  A BIG DOG or ME AND SEAN   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

that wil scare them LOL

[Anonymous]

Sundance, my main pre-requisite for the next house is a garage, preferably a double, or room to build one. Missus gets the kitchen  s;) s;)

Buster....how cheap are you and Sean?  s;) s;)    s:P s:P   Gonna have a good websearch on Friday to see what houses we can find and afford. Never know, by the end of the summer, we could be somewhere else  s;) s;)

[Tem]

BUY ME AND SEAN

Didn't know you two are that kinda boys  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

[Anonymous]

Have you tried parking really close to the other car so not to leave a gap? You could always climb out of the opposite door!! Maybe the mum will get the hint?!  s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:

[Anonymous]

The house we looked at this weekend had a double garage, which was double length as well!!! LOVELY!  It had enough room for 4 - yes 4 cars!

[Anonymous]

I doubt it....she'll just slam her door into mine and the kids will just squeeze through  s:evil: :evil: s:evil:    s:roll: :roll: s:roll:    s:cry: :cry: s:cry:   Could always try it with the missus' car though   s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:    s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Anonymous]

The house we looked at this weekend had a double garage, which was double length as well!!! LOVELY!  It had enough room for 4 - yes 4 cars!

How to make friends really easy   s:( s:(    s:P s:P  

Wish we had the money for it   s:( s:(

[Humble Jim]

Is there somewhere nearby you rent a lockup, or maybe know someone who might hire you garage space (drop hints they could have a ride or two!)? Apart from peace of mind your insurance would likely dip as a result too thus offsetting the rent some.

[filcee]

Reverse psychology: get the kids interested in your car AND looking after your car - maybe if they helped to clean it in return for pocket money - assuming that you can persuade  5 year olds to be really careful with sponges and stuff (don't envy you there).  Once they realise it's a thing of value, and find themselves involved in looking after it, they may not be so keen to break it.

Just my 0.02 - feel free to shoot me down.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice folks. Fortunately it's been raining most of the time and I've not seen a kid since the weekend  s;) s;)

Got tomorrow booked off work, partly for an ex-colleague's leaving doo, and partly to look for houses in the comfort of my own home  s:) s:)