There's a car-sized Fiat van parked just up the road from me. It's legally parked, taxed and MOTed (I can't check insurance without spending money) but it's seemingly been abandoned. It hasn't moved in weeks if not months now, it's covered in green presumably from the local foliage and general atrophy.
It's not bothering me per se (before the usual suspects ride in on their high horses) but I feel like I should be doing something about it.🤷♂️ Like, maybe it's stolen and someone is looking for it, or some such.
WWSTWD? Notify the council (AIUI it's their responsibility for abandoned vehicles which are still driveable, but has it technically been abandoned if it's taxed etc)? Ignore it and get on my life, it's someone else's problem? Notify the police? Something else?
Ignore it - it's most likely just a surveillance van being used by MI5 agents to monitor the chemical weapons factory in that house down the road.
I think there comes a point that reporting it to the police is the correct thing to do in case there is anything amiss.
How long? Maybe a couple of months. It's not normal for vehicles to stand unused for long periods but maybe there is a valid reason. On the flip side there could be something wrong so letting the police know might be useful.
Ignore it - it's most likely just a surveillance van being used by MI5 agents to monitor the chemical weapons factory in that house down the road.
Ah, I see you've been to Burnley before.
Stupid website can't even get links to work simply. See next comment as even the edit failed
Google 'report an abandoned vehicle uk' and follow the link to the gov website
Go give it a wash? Then it wouldn’t be all green.
Google 'report an abandoned vehicle uk' and follow the link to the gov website
..which wil go through the process of determining that the vehicle is legally parked, taxed, mot'd, insured etc... and thus is not abandoned!
OP - I'd report to 101 with the registration and/or VIN number if you can see it through the window.
It'll either A) be of no interest to them as per above, or
B) it just might link to something else, missing person, stolen vehicle, theft etc etc, in which case they will investigate.
Not a lot else to do really!
Sometimes my car sits in its parking space for a couple of months. I can't actually remember where it is right now. So I'd not worry about it - might be just someone who doesn't rely on their car much.
report it via 101.
The police can check the reg against reported stolen vehicles. Other than that, maybe one of your neighbours has bought it as a project and not got around to doing anything with it.
or they cycle to work. Ours sits (on the drive) for weeks or months at a time.
Also green.
I get moaned at for leaving my car abandoned in my own road for weeks on end. My neighbour has a van that he uses as a skip - never uses it other than that. My elderly neighbour used to have a car, never used, just to "protect" her parking space. For a good ten years that one. Kind of shrugging my shoulders here.
We had a pharmacy car parked up for weeks on end, hadn't moved for months and the moss on the kerb stones had started growing over the wheels.
I was going to call the pharmacy after Christmas just to remind them that they'd left one of their work vehicles somewhere.
Very next day it has been moved...where it had been parked the moss had a nice imprint of the wheels as it had grown around and over them.
Doesn't add anything to this thread, but I've posted that and got it off my chest!
Write "clean me" in the grime with your finger.
Hammer frozen sausages up the exhaust pipe.
Had a similar situation many years ago.
Reported it after the local youths had start to dismantle it. Next day it was gone.
Reported it after the local youths had start to dismantle it.
That's an idea, I might put a sign on the windscreen saying "free van!"
Brick the window, then report it.
We had a similar thing. A van left for months opposite a neighbours house. Road legal but in a mess and parked in a bad spot for people passing or parking. They reported it to the OB who told the neighbour that it was all legit so couldn't do anything about it. Unless it had signs of a break in.
The very next day, mysteriously, one of the windows had been potted so it got shifted.
I had something similar a few weeks ago. Where I go running a Mazda SUV was badly parked on a corner, blocking the path, so you had to go on the road to get round it. It had been there since maybe October last year. Got pissed of with having to go on the slippery mud to get back on the pavement past the car. Also, by now it had a wing mirror broken off and a bunch of litter thrown on the bonnet.
So, I made a point of remembering the reg (a little poem in my head for about 3 miles 😏 ) It was registered in August 25 and was MOT'ed! Presuming it nicked and dumped, I checked the police website - no, they're not interested unless its been involved in a crime. Checked the local council, nope, they send you to the borough council website. So I filled in a form on there (one interesting thing was if it's parked on a pavement it's not considered to be breaking any laws... hmm) . Didn't get anything back. But a week or so later car was gone.
Write "I wish yer mum was this filthy" in the dirt with your finger.
Write "I wish yer mum was this filthy" in the dirt with your finger.
"... she is, with me."
Hold up... I'm not sure that's the correct response to someone saying your mums not filthy...
Is It Nicked will seemly tell you whether its reported stolen. If its not and its otherwise taxed and MOTd then owners of cars aren't under any obligation to use them. If its currently taxed then its still tied to the registered keeper so its not 'abandoned'. If it's parked legally thats all there is to it. It could be parked in the same place for 364 days between MOTs it could be parked in a different place every day for 364 days, theres no difference - street legal cars are allowed to be on the street, any street, anywhere. How long it has been parked isn't material. We all have the right to park a car we own (and tax/ins/MOT) anywhere - if we didn't cars would be unusable.
There could be plenty of sensible reasons for it not being used for a period of time - it could be broken down and awaiting funds or parts for repair, the owner could be ill or injured and unable to drive it at present. They might have won the lottery and be enjoying the holiday of a lifetime They could be in prison.
Until / unless the MOT or tax run out non of these things are an issue
My car sat on the drive a lot, got very green, was my SEAT Of special scientific interest. felt very guilty when i eventually took it to the jet wash
THere's a road out the village here where folks with their T5s etc but no extra room on the drive leave them to overwinter and then they disapeear again in the summer
A taxed, MOT'ed and insured car is none of your business. Go and worry about something else.
Cougar you can check its insurance status on askmid. If is free, although you might need to tell a wee porky about why you are checking.
nothing suspicious to me about a car not being moved for a few months - what would someone who got a totting up ban do if they didn’t sell their car? Longer bans are available and far from uncommon. Plenty of people end up off the road due to injury/illness for months on end. Some people work abroad for prolonged periods - ship crew, military etc could easily be away for 6 months.
Is It Nicked will seemly tell you whether its reported stolen.
Oh, handy. Ta.
A taxed, MOT'ed and insured car is none of your business. Go and worry about something else.
Please re-read the OP. Particularly the second paragraph and the bit in brackets.
I guess you just don't know the circumstances of the owner?:
-Long holiday/working overseas?
-Unexpected illness or even death?
-Imprisonment?
-Broken down and no funds for repair
-Lottery win and just stopped caring about their shitty old van?
Loads of legitimate reasons why a van might be left for a while...
I suppose now at least you know the tax/MOT expiry date, once that passes, check again and then report it perhaps?
You could always pop a note under the windscreen wiper asking if they want to sell the van making a cheeky offer?
WWSTWD? Notify the council (AIUI it's their responsibility for abandoned vehicles which are still driveable, but has it technically been abandoned if it's taxed etc)? Ignore it and get on my life, it's someone else's problem? Notify the police? Something else?
I've dealt with quite a few of these over the years - essentially if it is legally parked and it has tax and insurance there is nothing you can do. Your local council will move it but only when the MOT /.tax situation shows it as outstanding. My suggestion, make a note from the government website as to when either of these two expires and put it in your calendar. As soon as it has expired take some good quality photographs showing where it is and the state of the inside of the vehicle. Then reported on your local council website as an abandoned vehicle. Once it's MOT or tax has expired then you might see the council move a little faster
Where I live (not the UK), officially, a car cannot be parked in one spot for more than 72hrs on public highway, precisely to avoid vehicles being abandoned like this (and to stop "van lifers" cluttering up the roads). The council patrol and ticket frequently and will remove vehicles if needed.
As an aside, it always amazes me that "we" (as in western society) allows* private citizens to clog up public highways with private vehicles in areas where traffic is problematic (not that the OP says it's causing any blockage).
*I believe lobbying of politicians by the motor industry in the early years of the 20th century got us into this situation.
Please re-read the OP. Particularly the second paragraph and the bit in brackets.
Are you new here? (Irony fully intended given the number of posts alongside the username).
Have you checked there isn't a driver inside?
Ignore it - it's most likely just a surveillance van being used by MI5 agents to monitor the chemical weapons factory in that house down the road.
As someone who's WiFi is 'Mi5 spy van no5' I resemble that comment...
Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Surely hammering frozen sausages into the ground around the car would be more appropriate?
I can't check insurance without spending money
AskMID.com will tell you if it's insured or not for free (just tick the box that says it's your own car).
A taxed, MOT'ed and insured car is none of your business. Go and worry about something else.
Maybe this thread is none of your business. Go and worry about something else.
A taxed, MOT'ed and insured car is none of your business. Go and worry about something else.
Maybe this thread is none of your business. Go and worry about something else.
I didn't come onto a public forum and ask people's opinion, the op did and he got some.
In the dim and distant past when I was younger and poorer I had the cops turn up more than once because some nosey neighbour complained that my taxed, mot'ed and insured car didn't move often enough for their liking in their zone of interest, because I didn't need it often and could walk or cycle places. It's intimidating and massively passive aggressive if it's no bother to you. Just get lost and keep your nose out is the response I wanted to write and now have.
Thanks to this thread, I reported a Transit van that's been abandoned on the road outside work to the council. It's been there since well before Christmas, has at least 2 flat tyres, windows open and the tow rope that was presumably used to drag it there is still attached.
Although the registration does show as being taxed and tested, I'm not convinced these plates necessarily belong to that van.
I say report it Cougar, let the discovery process work through and it'll either get shifted or found not a problem.
Surely hammering frozen sausages into the ground around the car would be more appropriate?
Toad in the Pothole?
In the dim and distant past when I was younger and poorer I had the cops turn up more than once because some nosey neighbour complained that my taxed, mot'ed and insured car didn't move often enough for their liking in their zone of interest, because I didn't need it often and could walk or cycle places. It's intimidating and massively passive aggressive if it's no bother to you. Just get lost and keep your nose out is the response I wanted to write and now have.
It wasn't me.
Have you considered therapy?
I say report it Cougar, let the discovery process work through and it'll either get shifted or found not a problem.
Well, I have now, my thought process was pretty much this. If it's all fine then it's a waste of a few council tax dollars for someone to confirm that. If something further needs to be done then it's in the system. Way back years ago when I had my car stolen and dumped across town I would have welcomed a phone call from someone letting me know where it was.
In the dim and distant past when I was younger and poorer I had the cops turn up more than once because some nosey neighbour complained that my taxed, mot'ed and insured car didn't move often enough for their liking in their zone of interest, because I didn't need it often and could walk or cycle places. It's intimidating and massively passive aggressive if it's no bother to you. Just get lost and keep your nose out is the response I wanted to write and now have.
It wasn't me.
Have you considered therapy?
I say report it Cougar, let the discovery process work through and it'll either get shifted or found not a problem.
Well, I have now, my thought process was pretty much this. If it's all fine then it's a waste of a few council tax dollars for someone to confirm that. If something further needs to be done then it's in the system. Way back years ago when I had my car stolen and dumped across town I would have welcomed a phone call from someone letting me know where it was.
I'm not the one obsessed enough with someone else's car that isn't outside my house writing questions on a mountain bike forum demanding that readers only give answers that I like. Jeez. Fair point about the stolen car though, but seems straw clutchy when really you're just Hyacinth Bucket on a Santa Cruz.
why waste council money on a non-problem? they have little enough money as it is -
until the tax/mot has run out its legally parked.
the owner might just be on a 6 month trip around the world - therefore cant move/clean it.
until the tax/mot has run out its legally parked.
According to the Flintshire council website I reported on, then it's a DVLA issue and not for the council.
Fair point about the stolen car though, but seems straw clutchy when really you're just Hyacinth Bucket on a Santa Cruz.
That made me chuckle though. 😁
why waste council money on a non-problem? they have little enough money as it is -
until the tax/mot has run out its legally parked.
the owner might just be on a 6 month trip around the world - therefore cant move/clean it.
Having dealt with this type of thing umpteen times, there isn't any harm in reporting it to both the police and local council.
Both will have policies in place to deal with the reports. AFAIK, there isn't an obligation on councils to "waste council money on a non-problem".
It either fits police criteria to act because the vehicle is of some interest, or it doesn't.
Similarly with the council. It either fits council criteria to act because the vehicle is "disused" or it doesn't. The Civic Amenities Act 1967 says,
An Act to make further provision for the protection and improvement of buildings of architectural or historic interest and of the character of areas of such interest; for the preservation and planting of trees; and for the orderly disposal of disused vehicles and equipment and other rubbish.
