Police and council dealing with abandoned car: a rant
Discussion
Just a bit of a rant really at how useless both Derbyshire Police and Derbyshire County Council have been…
So three weeks ago a blue Ford Focus got left here:
.
It’s blocking the view of traffic that’s coming down the hill on a fast bit of road that’s a challenge at the best of times. Along with it being an entrance to our farm which we come in and out with a cattle trailer quite often it is quite a bad hazard.
I looked the reg up online- YE60 ZXF and it comes back as a grey focus not a blue one. Seeing as it has been there for quite a long time now it was reasonably obvious that there was something amiss.
So I emailed the police suggesting that it was abandoned with cloned plates. The police’s response was “we have looked up the reg and it is taxed and MOT’d, you need to take this up with the council”.
So my mum spoke to the council, who also said “it’s taxed and MOT’d so isn’t our problem”.
Even when my wife complained they wouldn’t do anything about it, despite it being in a dangerous location.
I then got the serial number of the car and sent it to the police, only for them to come back and say “the car isn’t known to us so we won’t do anything”.
Mum had a visitor today who had had a van abandoned in his farmyard so had one of the rural crime police teams direct mobile number. He gave him a ring, gave him the serial number and the response was “yes, this car has no registered keeper and is on cloned plates, I will try to get this moved for you”.
Why didn’t the police even look up the serial number when I gave it them?
Apparently if the car isn’t moved in the next few days we have permission to move it out of the way. Do pallet tines cause much damage?!
So three weeks ago a blue Ford Focus got left here:
.It’s blocking the view of traffic that’s coming down the hill on a fast bit of road that’s a challenge at the best of times. Along with it being an entrance to our farm which we come in and out with a cattle trailer quite often it is quite a bad hazard.
I looked the reg up online- YE60 ZXF and it comes back as a grey focus not a blue one. Seeing as it has been there for quite a long time now it was reasonably obvious that there was something amiss.
So I emailed the police suggesting that it was abandoned with cloned plates. The police’s response was “we have looked up the reg and it is taxed and MOT’d, you need to take this up with the council”.
So my mum spoke to the council, who also said “it’s taxed and MOT’d so isn’t our problem”.
Even when my wife complained they wouldn’t do anything about it, despite it being in a dangerous location.
I then got the serial number of the car and sent it to the police, only for them to come back and say “the car isn’t known to us so we won’t do anything”.
Mum had a visitor today who had had a van abandoned in his farmyard so had one of the rural crime police teams direct mobile number. He gave him a ring, gave him the serial number and the response was “yes, this car has no registered keeper and is on cloned plates, I will try to get this moved for you”.
Why didn’t the police even look up the serial number when I gave it them?
Apparently if the car isn’t moved in the next few days we have permission to move it out of the way. Do pallet tines cause much damage?!
james6546 said:
Apparently if the car isn’t moved in the next few days we have permission to move it out of the way. Do pallet tines cause much damage?!
Depends if you go under or through... 
Get this a lot around these parts too, takes an absolute age to get anything moved when it's obviously been dumped.
BrettMRC said:
james6546 said:
Apparently if the car isn’t moved in the next few days we have permission to move it out of the way. Do pallet tines cause much damage?!
Depends if you go under or through... Get this a lot around these parts too, takes an absolute age to get anything moved when it's obviously been dumped.
FilH said:
You mention Farm and cattle trailer. I would assume you have a tractor?
If so drag it down the road to the next layby early on a sunday morning, return home, shoot some pigeons and think no more of the Focus. Hope that helps.
That is going to be the plan if it doesn’t get moved.If so drag it down the road to the next layby early on a sunday morning, return home, shoot some pigeons and think no more of the Focus. Hope that helps.
We don’t actually have any tractors left as we are in the process of moving from the farm but the JCB telehandler might do it
BrettMRC said:
Depends if you go under or through...
Get this a lot around these parts too, takes an absolute age to get anything moved when it's obviously been dumped.
I was going to say that, if you go through door windows you'll surely bend roof Get this a lot around these parts too, takes an absolute age to get anything moved when it's obviously been dumped.
Our rural officers are brilliant at things like this, had one car abandoned, they wrote to owner who put a sorned car just inside field, and they said sorry, I'm skint and no drive, would we like to keep it? lol
Just a shame they don't have the vehicles for chasing anything off-road.
Had a similar issue here where no one wanted to know about it when I reported an abandoned vehicle.
Car had been in the same spot for at least two years (possibly more) and was slowly rusting into the ground. No air (and very little rubber) left in the tyres, bit falling off it, cracked windows... the lot. And amazingly, a valid MOT and it was taxed!
My first attempt to report it was fobbed off with the reason that it had valid insurance, tax and an MOT, so nothing could be done (ignoring the photos I'd included of it rotting into the ground!). Eventually, the insurance/tax/MOT did expire but even then the council would only attempt to find the owner and ask them nicely to move it. Eventually, the council replied that they hadn't managed to find the owner and they considered the matter closed.
Car had been in the same spot for at least two years (possibly more) and was slowly rusting into the ground. No air (and very little rubber) left in the tyres, bit falling off it, cracked windows... the lot. And amazingly, a valid MOT and it was taxed!
My first attempt to report it was fobbed off with the reason that it had valid insurance, tax and an MOT, so nothing could be done (ignoring the photos I'd included of it rotting into the ground!). Eventually, the insurance/tax/MOT did expire but even then the council would only attempt to find the owner and ask them nicely to move it. Eventually, the council replied that they hadn't managed to find the owner and they considered the matter closed.
There can be grey areas as to what's 'private land' and what's 'highway'.
If the police have had it shifted, who's going to prove no part of it was on the highway?
Have the police taken it away to a pound, or have they told a scrapper to take it away, do not pass go, do not collect £200?
If the police have had it shifted, who's going to prove no part of it was on the highway?
Have the police taken it away to a pound, or have they told a scrapper to take it away, do not pass go, do not collect £200?
Reminds me of the chap in Durham a few years ago.
Get the forklift out and leave the car upside down in the road.
Fair play in my opinion.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/u...
Get the forklift out and leave the car upside down in the road.
Fair play in my opinion.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/u...
james6546 said:
NFT said:
james6546 said:
That was fast, it’s gone!
Hope wasn't the crim that took it, did you see recovery truck take it? If so, happy days 
I'm local
OutInTheShed said:
There can be grey areas as to what's 'private land' and what's 'highway'.
If the police have had it shifted, who's going to prove no part of it was on the highway?
Have the police taken it away to a pound, or have they told a scrapper to take it away, do not pass go, do not collect £200?
Think will have been a s165 seizure to pound, likely just wrote "cloned plates" on the form as no driver about, seen them do it before.If the police have had it shifted, who's going to prove no part of it was on the highway?
Have the police taken it away to a pound, or have they told a scrapper to take it away, do not pass go, do not collect £200?
Recovery operator will take payment and keep most of it/value of any sale to copart if not collected, rarely crush them as want to claw the cost of service back.
DaveH23 said:
Reminds me of the chap in Durham a few years ago.
Get the forklift out and leave the car upside down in the road.
Fair play in my opinion.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/u...
Remember that at the time, bit over the for me. but shows there is literally no problem telehandler can't help with.Get the forklift out and leave the car upside down in the road.
Fair play in my opinion.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/u...
We had a very smart Urban Defender parked down the road, not a local (on the street anyway) car and literally didn't move for 5 weeks to the point where it was sagging on its suspension. My friends JLR car got found the same way when it was parked on cloned plates. Seemed fishy to me so I phoned the 5-0, the guy on the phone totally understood the issue, but.... 'that VRM isn't showing any interest from the police' (or words to that effect). I pointed out that it was potentially on cloned plates and then got the same response.
It's disappeared now so who knows who took it? Hopefully the owner who was visiting.
It's disappeared now so who knows who took it? Hopefully the owner who was visiting.
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