Seems like appropriate justice to me. On the off chance that they have not done it before and any sort of lesson will stop them from doing it again, then a punch in the face is far preferable to the alternative which is a criminal record.

If you had done something stupid what would you prefer: a punch in the face or a criminal record for life or at least for the best part of a decade until it becomes expunged?

So, if they deliberately scratch it AND dent it, is it fair to kidnap them?
What if they set fire to it? Rape the perpetrator's daughter?

I'm curious as to how this medieval justice works.

No I wouldn't protect it.
I'll protect my family and friends if I can, but some pieces of glued-together metal? No I will not risk escalation or retribution for a car. It's insured and replaceable.

Apart from anything else, if they are prepared to key a car, I suspect they may have no qualms about going much further, and I suspect most PH'ers have a lot more to lose from escalation than a scrote does.

Jealousy? Idiocy? Boredom? Who knows.

My old Golf GTi was keyed along one door and a wing by some chicken-footed imbecile. Fortunately, a subsequent ding from a carelessly-secured barn door where I lived meant my landlord paid for it to be repaired. OH had his old Seat keyed outside a bar in Cheshunt - no idea why, it wasn't even a particularly flashy car.

A guy I went to college with told me quite proudly about how he and his mate used to get drunk and go and smash the windscreens of BMWs/Mercs and other cars of that ilk because according to him if they had expensive cars they must be wkers. He got a piece of my mind, I can tell you. .

a bunch of hippy fk wit students from newcastle university used to regularly do this sort of thing in the early hours of the morning to any large high end or 4x4 vehicle parked around the jesmod area a few years back (dont know if it still happens)- also used to run over vehicles, throw buckets of mud or st on them etc... eco warriors - probably all lecturers now ffs.....

I don 't think jealousy comes into play with my other halfs 97 Punto,she just won't part with it lol.It's been keyed on both sides and one morning the door was bent in half,someone tried to half inch it!!I've now made a drive in front of the house and nothing's happened since.I just think it's with car's out on the street prompting wanton damage from youths or pub goers on their way home.

A while ago there was a Green activist group going around London posting stickers on 4x4s and I wrote about it, suggesting that it wasn't the place of environmentalists to dictate what cars people drove or vandalise them because they disapproved and got lots of criticism and abuse with a bit of patronisation just for good measure.

It pisses me off - sure, no-one NEEDS a Range Rover in the inner city but there's no law to tell people what they can and can't drive based on where they live so tough titty.

As a car owner and a student a few years ago I used to regularly get asked for lifts to various places and it wasn't uncommon to find myself being lectured about climate change and how motorists were the spawn of satan. From someone sitting in the front seat, enjoying a quick ride home rather than a long walk, feeling that they could tell me I should sell the car (despite me telling them I lived 25 miles away and worked 40 hours a week) and cycle, this didn't go down too well.

Now thats where you're wrong, they seem to do it under cover of darkness when they think no one will be around.

I disagree with oyster though I take his point. There are lines of how you deal with stuff:

- you look out of the window during the day and see someone walking around your car on the drive so you go out and are reasonably polite but ask what they're doing and are reasonably forceful though not aggressive.

- it's getting dark and someone approaches you as you get out of the car on your drive and starts questioning you. You talk to them but you feel suspicious/threatened, you make it clear you're not up for conversation and are slightly more aggressive.

- it's night time, you're inside and it's late. You see or hear someone poking around your car outside. You open the door and someone fronts up to you immediately and you can't see a weapon. What do you do?

The majority of people, myself included, in the last situation would respond in the same manner and aggressively ask what they're doing along with threats to call the police or whatever (the latter for the muscled company directors on PH).

It's not the right thing to do, but you do it anyway. Is there anyone on here who would shut the door immediately and not say anything to the person on the drive?

Yes, it is metal and insured, but it's also your property and a massive hassle to replace so unless someone approaches you with an actual weapon, I think I'd be inclined to put up at least a semblance of a fight in the hope that they did a runner instead.

I had my first car keyed all along the right side from bonnet to boot (nearly 4 years ago) and only recently found out who did it, turns out he'd seen me talking to his girlfriend at a bus stop or something. Some people really are pathetic!

Also last week some scumbag bent the wiper arms up and badly scratched the bonnet of my car which I'd foolishly parked on the street. I can safetly say if I caught the fkers in the acti would do everything inmy power to severely hurt them. In order to have a relatively nice car at my age I have a high insurance excess to make it affordable, why should I fork out several hundred pounds because some scumbag thinks its funny to vandalise a car on the way back from the pub?!?! tts the lot of them and I'm pleased to hear about someone knocking one out!