MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Hoping for some collective advice, there has been a rather large old hymer camper van parked on the street opposite our house now for some 6 weeks. I don't think anyone is actually living in it but it's causing a real pain with parking (terraced road).
I've thought about phoning the council but it's got a valid tax disk. I have a sneaky thought it might be something to do with the back street garage a few roads over. (no proof though)
Neighbours don't know whose it is either. It's not in a restricted parking zone or anything like that.
Any suggestions? Any way I can get the council to move it?
If it's parked on a road, is taxed, mot'd and insured and not blocking anyones drive etc then there is nothing you can do to move it as it's legally parked.
You can get the owners details from the DVLA if you have cause for a few quid though. This would allow you at least to talk to the owners.
Move lodgers into it?
Why is it causing a pain?
Why is it causing a pain?
Perhaps its blocking the view of the hottie in the bedroom opposite??? 😉
£10 to some local scallies to pot all the windows one night. Then a call to the old bill to report it has been vandalised. Surely the police will then do something about contacting the owner. Or the owner will find out and then decide that parking such a thing on the Bronx is too dangerous.
You could always do the window smashing yourself, but easier and safer to pay some local kids.
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There'll be a lot of fireworks going astray on Thursday evening 😉
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A guy that lived in the next street used to park his Hymer outside my house sometimes, blocked out all the light those things are so big. Perhaps he moved to your neck of the woods and lives round the corner from you now? I can see why he wouldn't want to park it outside his own house.
Think there is a traffic and planning by law that if a vehicle for habitation over a certain length is parked for a certain period of time that it requires planning permission?
Hmm on the one hand I've no sympathy for those who complain about other people parking cars outside their house - if you want a space for your car outside your house get one with a drive or something. But on the other hand a behemoth like that? Why isn't it parked near the owners place?
Just a thought but can articulated lorries park wherever they want aswell? You can't let your leylandii grow too tall but a 16ft high vehicle is fine?! Seems a bit bonkers.
Lorries cant park where they like. There are council by laws which restrict wagons parking on streets.
Look on the bright side, Alan Bennett had some old tramp live in her camper van in his drive for about 15 years 🙂
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It's a pain because it blocks light to my neighbour's house. Parking is now difficult as it takes up a good two spots and if you park next to it getitng out safely is more difficult as it blocks visibility. Also means 2 cars can't pass safely at that point, making it more likely for wing mirrors to be knocked off etc...
None of these are huge deals, but after 6 weeks with no sign of being moved etc.. it's getting annoying especially as it might be sat there for the 51 weeks of the year the owner isn't using it....
I was wondering if there is anything I can do about it.
Whilst putting it's windows out / setting it on fire might seem attractive I would rather some 'legal' suggestions !
Ian Munro - MemberLook on the bright side, Alan Bennett had some old tramp live in her camper van in his drive for about 15 years
We saw Lady in the Van at Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, pretty good play. See, he didn't moan, he made good come from it 😆
Let the tyres down,tell the police it's been abandoned,and causing an obstruction.
Ian
I was wondering if there is anything I can do about it.
At the end of the day it's just causing an inconvenience, there's nothing legally wrong with it. My neighbours recently reported my other halfs car as it was parked outside their house (they didn't mind, just assumed it was pinched as it didnt move) and the police turned up, looked it over and said "its all legal, but thanks for checking, bye".
OK - ring the council & tell them that you believe that it's leaking some sort of effluent into the street & then into the surface water drains
they'll come out then
and check it out, realise you're lying and go away again. Wasted taxes...
Do something sooner rather than later. If its an obstruction tell the police. I had the same issue a few years back when a caravan made getting into and out of my garage very difficult. Inevitably I bumped it one day, refused to pay for the repair until they moved it. Glued up garage locks and damaged cars (mine) ensued but I was powerless to prove it was them (he was a postie, up at the crack of dawn so guessing he did it then).
I've moved now but still contemplating revenge.
Caravans have to be attached to the towing vehicle to be left there, by law, IIRC. A camper van has its own rights to be there. In this case the road is wide enough for cars to pass easily (just not side by side) so I can't see the problem. While annoying, it does seem a little NIMBYish.
I have absolutely no problem with people parking outside/near my house for short periods, that's part and parcel of having a terrace (yes I'd love a drive/garage etc.... unfortunately those aren't free..)
The issue I've got is it's not moved in 6 weeks and looks unlikely to.
At the end of the day, why hasn't the owner parked it outside their own place? - most likely for all the reasons I've mentioned, it's big, ugly, blocks light and causes parking / passing issues.
So yes a bit of NIMBY, but justified I think, doubt many of you would be too happy with a perm camper come lorry outside your front window.
Unfortunately unless it's untaxed I don't think I have any actual rights to get it moved so going to have to put up with it (unless anyone can come up with something I don't know)
Fairly easy to get hold of the owners address, just ask the DVLA IIRC.
[url= http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/AdviceOnKeepingYourVehicle/DG_4022067 ]Part way down, £2.50 request for keepers info[/url]
It's a pain because it blocks light to my neighbour's house.
Spend more time at your own house 😉
Stick a wheel clamp on it & see how long it is before someone turns up!
Just check there isn't a student in there who has seriously overslept.
(Based on my experience as father of 3 students)
Had a similar thing outside our place a year or so ago...on a terraced street too...almost identical to your situation. Unfortunately, beyond the front wall of your house, you have no jurisdiction over who parks there - as long as there's tax and insurance (not necessarily MOT) the owner has a right to leave it there. Pain the arse though - it shows lack of consideration on the owner's part I guess. Just have to suck it up.
[I did finally manage to catch the owner and just walked out to him and his missus and said, "I want that *ing piece of * moved and my neighbours and I don't want to even be able to see it with binoculars..ever again. Now ****ing move it yesterday!" and didn't wait for a response before walking off...shaking like a leaf. It was gone in five minutes and we haven't seen it since. Only thing is, it's probably being a pain in the arse outside someone else's house now...classic NIMBYism on my part 😳 ]
I live near a Uni where there is little parking so the employees and students park on my road, outside my house, across my drive so that I rarely get to park within a days walk of my house. That is annoying. The council claim to be making the area a residents parking zone but that will just move the problem to somebody's road a bit further out!
Legally, not a lot you could do. However, if the filler cap was missing the council would have to remove it as it poses a danger to public safety!
Might be stating the obvious,but have you not phoned the police with the reg? It could be an outstanding stolen.
I've told my boss that the first thing I'll do when I win the lottery is to buy a dirty rusty but legal old camper and park it outside his house. Oh and it'll be a proper home-made job at that.
Not called the police or the council yet as I didn't really think I had any right to (unfortunately).
Anyway the plot thickens, apparently the chap who owns it occassionally turns up during the week, and he arrives by car, which makes me think he's not even in one of the nearby streets.... cheeky get.
Would it cause any obstruction to a fire engine? If so, you might have a case for getting it shifted...
matchsticks are very good at letting tires down
after a couple of weeks he'll move it
alernatively make up a "police aware" label and stick it on the windscreen
If he is turning up regular to check on it then he is bothered about its wellbeing. If you dont want to do the £10 smash it up thing then fill a cup with nitromorse and walk past it one night and pour it over the bonnet or other panel. See how the owner feels getting wound up about someone being a git to them.
Maybe put a fake polite 'police' notice in the window warning the owner of break-ins in the area?
Just imagine...you had one of those breakdown policies that covered you to drive any car.
And you called up, under the pretence that you'd lost the keys to your lovely motorhome.
And you had it recovered to some dodgy industrial estate somewhere a good few miles away.
That would be terrible...wouldnt it... 😈
Polite notice on car stating what you have said here about it being a pain? Say you are warning them as some neighbours are threatening to damage it and you would not want that to happen. Un signed and escalate if you must.
Whip his valve cores out, very annoying but does little damage.
pay some dodgy recovery bloke to remove it and leave it somewhere else. Probably cost you £25
+1 on light vandalism.
Nothing too serious, but you have to make it more trouble than it's worth to keep it there.
Start with tyre's down then follow with a dose of paint/thinners over one side of it.
Anyway, perhaps that's not so light.
Isn't it bonfire night soon too?...
And if you want justification, I couldn't find a picture of one of those campers on fire on google. So perchance you'd be the first... ;o)
My, what a tolerant bunch on here.
....well, yes - it's gone from:
"Ooooh you NIMBY"
...to a bunch of, what I suspect are fellow NIMBYs*, empathising and giving spurious 'advice' on how to cause criminal damage.
Nice work! 😯
I don't suspect there's much you can do about it, save the most rational suggestions so far - i.e. having a polite word with the owner and if necessary getting his details from the DVLA.
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* This could, however, be simply a manifestation of the inane braindead STW group 'banter' that takes place around these parts though. 🙂
It sounds like the owner is being a NIMBY too. I'd vote for having a polite word (possibly via windscreen note) and mention is peeing off a few of the residents.
I must admit i'd find it a bit annoying, nimby or not. Look at it his way, some git's got a massive campervan, only he's too tight to pay to keep it on one of those storage places for cars/caravans etc, so decides that it's fair enough it park it outside your house, making the street look untidy, making it harder for you to park, blocking out the light from your house - and he knows all this but really doesn't give a flying one 'cos it's not in his backyard, or in front of his house blocking out his light, in fact it's no hassle for him at all!
The guy that owns it is taking the piss, and doesn't give a sh1t about you or your neighbours qaulity of life. To be honest i'd be pissed off at his selfish attitude and let him know it.
The guy that owns it is taking the piss, and doesn't give a sh1t about you or your neighbours qaulity of life. To be honest i'd be pissed off at his selfish attitude and let him know it.
so it's ok to vandalise it then?
no wonder community spirit is a thing of the past.
find an opening in the bodywork and stick a few frozen prawns in. the smell will drive him insane 🙂
offer to rent it for a couple of weekends to contribute to putting it into storage?
PS how about splitting the forum again with another tab for the mock vigilantes and petty vandals?
we could have a tab for nimby's, but nobody would be allowed to put anything in there...
Glad to see criminal damage is ok on STW.
How would all those on here suggesting vandalism would be ok if someone did it to their car?
If it's got road tax then you can't do anything about it as it's legally parked
Leave a note for the owner as a starter and see where that gets you.
If that doesn't work then persue it through the council. Put a matchbox on top of one of wheels to see if it moves and then report it as abandoned. The council will then sort it out as they'll contact the owner
I think Jamie Oliver's in America at the minute, the dribbling mockney **** should be round with his bell-end mates to collect soon enough. 'pukka'
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Put a matchbox on top of one of wheels
Random...
It is the standard test for an abandoned vehicle, don't cha know.. 😉
note on the windscreen detailing how you are having to hold back the hordes....
I would ask people like Ken Sheilds for their address and suggest the owner of the camper legally park there as the owner of the property will honour their right to legally park where they want. 😉
Leave a note, saying that you saw someone fiddling with the door/wheels/windows on it, and that you have had your car broken into recently, and you suspect the area has been targeted by thieves.
Works a treat. i do it all the time outside my house, and i've never seen the cars come back.
Most annoying one i had was a jeep thing that beeped every minute. Parked up for 3 days without moving. every minute ....beep....beep...beep.
SA - that wasn't just any old car beeping away every minute....
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Let's all hope Jamie Oliver and his 'bell-end' mates weren't inside*
*False
+1 to the attempted break in, scare owner into thinking the van isn't safe!
We live in a small court yard and the lane we use to access the court has recently become over parked with people parking on the corner and right on the junction onto the main road.
We got the council to paint lines to stop people parking as it was causing a hazzard and was dangerous but they still parked there and the council didn't want to know.
It got to the point where a note was superglued to a windscreen telling them not to park there and then someone did a flyer door drop telling everyone the police were now involved as the car had been vandilised (glue on windscreen) and anyone caught would be charged!
Go careful with the vandilising as you could end up worse off
I genuinely hate to say it.... But...... I've been following this thread and feel all [americanism] conflicted [/ americanism] about it.
My Dad is a serial offender in this way. He has a camper van, a beaten up old Iveco Daily van and a penchant for European / Eastern block 4X4 vehicles.
He parks them all over Edinburgh and often leaves them for months at a time - all taxed, insured and motted. He's been visited by the cops countless times to inform him of multiple complaints from neighbours, but they leave once they've been assured everythings legal and that the vehicles aren't abandoned - nothing they can do.
My Dad is a truly lovely bloke and helps out anyone who asks. He just can't see why people get annoyed by having a rusty hilk parked in their leafy suburban street. He laughs off the complaints saying things like, "Oh - they should be grateful - it's not every day you get to see an UMM (odd, massive Portuguese jeep thing)!"
The only way of getting him to shift a vehicle is to damage it. He fizzes and spits, takes it very personally and is genuinely hurt / bamboozled. Like I say, he just doesn't get it.
It really does pain me to say it, but if your camper van owner is the same as my Dad, it'll stay there until something bad happens to it. Then it'll be gone by the next day....
Still not justifiable to damage someones property because you dont like the way it looks.
Put the details into http://www.askmid.com/ownvehicle/
If it's not insured then ring the council and tell them it's been abaondoned. That should get it shifted.
Otherwise, there's not much you can do I doubt.
HTH
Neil.
Its not justifiable to dump your pile of junk outside someone else's house just because you don't want it outside yours 😉
i agree with steve austin here!!
ive posted on here before about people that do not live in my close taking up all the parking spaces because they dont want their shit box tranny van parked in their own close or they have too many cars parked on their drives aswell!!!!
grips me like no ones business this!!
find out who owns the thing , buy a bigger van and park it outside his house!!!! thats what im going to do
I shall put a polite note on his windscreen this evening, apparently he comes back on the occassional weekday lunch time so unlikely I will see him face to face.
Might also contact the council to complain about obstruction, even if it's completely legal - if no one mentions it there is definitely no chance of it getting sorted. Maybe if enough residents have a moan they might do something about it?
Oh if any of the 'get over it stop moaning NIMBY' brigade fancy offering up their house frontage for the monstrousity please email me your address and I'll let the chap know (presume he would prefer southampton area but you never know)
People do get very exercised about caravans and campervans don't they - I wonder why that is?
I agree with the suggestion of a note on the windscreen. If it's bothering you that much why not leave your mobile number and say you'd like a word?
Do you ever leave your bike chained up to railings? Non cyclists get annoyed about that...
I've a couple of addresses in the Brighton area I can give you.
Bike chained to a railing, whilst I can see how it could be annoying (especially if left there to rust for months) is not quite in the same scale as a camper van the size of a small lorry.
Yeah it's easy to accuse someone of being a whining NIMBY until you're actually faced with the situation they are in. It's taking the piss for someone to park it there rather than put up with the inconvenience/obstruction themselves. Does it justify vandalism? No but if a polite note doesn't work I know I'd be letting the tyres down. Not sure I'd go any further than that but I might change my mind if it was still there a few months later after a few tyre deflation sessions.
Print out this thread and slip it under his wiper.
If he reads it he'll realise that he's woken up a lot of latent vitriol and will probably get a nice warm glow. And leave his van there.
Some NIMBY in a street near where I stay in Edinburgh got fed up with people (including me) parking on "his road" so he started putting notes on cars which said something along the lines of:
"I watched you park here. I know where you live and if you do it again I shall call the police."
Mental! 🙄
Right your not going to believe this. Just got home from work. There is a second, slightly larger motor home parked next to the original one I started moaning about.
WTF??????? Is some one renting out the front of my house as a caravan park or something.
Turns out he's an STW member and is now finding it funny to cheese you off with perfectly legal parking. Suck it up 🙂
They'll be selling you lucky heather and offering to lay new tarmac on your driveway before long 😀
Well it would seem the latest one in not on the motor insurance database so means it is most likely uninsured. That gives me reason to contact the council.
My god I need to earn more so I can get a better house.
That has got to be worth a picture!
No joke - I just tried to take a photo. They are so big I can't get both of them in the same picture....
A montage perhaps?