Forum Topic

Cars dumped on grass verge

Why did it take the council so long to remove them, if they reappear tomorrow will it take another 6 months to clear them?

Roy Baker ● 4415d8 Comments

'struth Jack, two cobbers do not a summer make. I wish they'd go back to Capistrano instead of Ealing.

Gerry Tan ● 4415d

"Any car found to have a Chelsea sticker on the back window was removed as a matter of priority.":wishwehadsmilies:  :-)

Nigel Brooks ● 4415d

I once had the pleasure of working for a housing association removing abandoned vehicles that blighted some off the biggest housing estates across north and west London. There is a process and it does take a very long time. To give you an idea of how long it takes, first it has to be reported. Depending on the state of the vehicle, it might take two months for someone to contact the council that the vehicle has not moved. Once it has been reported a council officer will do a site visit and take photographs. The DVLA will be contacted for details of the owner. That could be two weeks (which is fast) before the information is released back to the council. Having discovered who the car belongs to, a letter must be sent to the owner informing them that the vehicle will be removed without further warning. (The letter is unlikely to be sent the day the DVLA reply comes in due to out of office / vacation etc!) As owners could be away on holiday a twenty - eight day deadline was given by me. Once the deadline is passed, details of location and registration will be passed to the scrap dealer for removal. It maybe that the date needs to be arranged in conjunction with the police presence in case there is breach of the peace. As you can see four months can be counted as speedy. Any car found to have a Chelsea sticker on the back window was removed as a matter of priority.

Ben Owen ● 4415d

There a bit like swallows then Gerry :)

Jack Ryan ● 4415d

The wandering campervanners are mainly Commonwealth types and they use the few free parking bays as opposed to the parking zones which have one hour no-parking in the mornings and a'noons. They start to arrive when its summertime and disappear come late autumn.

Gerry Tan ● 4415d

Are they usually Antipodeans, Gerry? That's what we had that time. Luckily, we now have anti-commuter parking restrictions for an hour morning and afternoon so have hopefully seen the last of them.

Susan Kelly ● 4415d

Occasionally we get abandoned cars in the few free parking places nearby. But each summer, we get campervan type vehicles for a few weeks - people in them overnight - goodness knows what they do with their sewage waste. The Council seem to take ages before they act, despite written complaints.

Gerry Tan ● 4415d

I've found it very hard over the years to get anything done about abandoned cars. The Council always starts by saying that there's no proof they're abandoned. Then, if the tax disc is out of date, they say you have to report it to the DVLA instead. Last time our road was being blighted by these eyesores (one of which had obscene graffiti on it), I ended up having to get one of the local councillors involved before anything was done.

Susan Kelly ● 4415d