Another What Would You Do Thread
Discussion
Idle musings for an eggy Sunday.
A few days back I returned home after a long trip and found that one of the brick pillars on my driveway had been damaged.
The pillar is a cube, about five/six courses high constructed of engineering bricks. It looked quite obviously hit by a vehicle as the top three or four courses were completely broken away from the cement and twisted off centre. I found it balancing, held on by the armoured cable for the brick-light inside it.
My initial thoughts were that some <insert industrial language here> had overshot the footpath and reversed into it, probably a courier van. When I looked a bit closer, I spotted a slither of metallic blue paint stuck to one of the bricks. I carefully picked it off and it's very obviously fresh and off a metallic coloured vehicle. As much as I tried to tell myself to wipe my mouth and move on, I couldn't; I needed a little time to process it.
The slither of paint was a bit puckered, like a concertina door. I carefully stretched it back out and it's shaped like a small island. I'll say Corfu for illustration purposes firstly because I've been there a couple of times and now that I've checked, it almost is that shape. You can clearly see the metallic paint colour. An alarm immediately went off in my head because it looked like the same colour as a car belonging to the daughter of someone a few doors away on my street. My dog was delighted with the extra walk he wasn't expecting...
With an assured degree of certainty, I can say the colour is a match. I slyly looked at all four corners of the car as I walked by, and sure enough, there's a knick of paint missing on the near-side rear bumper, shaped suspiciously like a small island. Short of me holding the evidence I have against the damage on the car, I cannot say it's a match. But, it is enough to want to offer the piece up to explore that. I'd be surprised if it isn't a perfect fit in terms of shape and size. Only placing the piece onto the damage will take it from a very strong suspicion to definitive conclusion.
A few days passed after my little investigation and I had a builder friend come and carry out a couple of jobs in the house. We talked about the pillar and he is convinced it's that car. For a few extra sheets, he reconstructed the pillar and whilst it's no longer broken, it clearly looks different to the other pillar now. Irritating, but not as annoying as a broken one obviously.
Would you approach the suspect? Potential plot twist: her old man is a builder. Like the Four Tops, I did reach out to closer neighbours to see if they saw - or even catch on their doorbell cams - anything that might help identify the responsible vehicle. They didn't. But I need closure! Aforementioned builder dad is someone I've drank with in our local. We're not really mates as such, but we live on the same street and help each other our if and when needed. Maybe the daughter didn't tell him. Perhaps she didn't realise what she did... These are all questions but it's bad form not to 'fess up if they truly are responsible. I was thinking to ask the question but then, if they did witness someone doing it, why wouldn't you walk over and knock on my door (or even send a message as we have each others numbers).
What would you do?
A few days back I returned home after a long trip and found that one of the brick pillars on my driveway had been damaged.
The pillar is a cube, about five/six courses high constructed of engineering bricks. It looked quite obviously hit by a vehicle as the top three or four courses were completely broken away from the cement and twisted off centre. I found it balancing, held on by the armoured cable for the brick-light inside it.
My initial thoughts were that some <insert industrial language here> had overshot the footpath and reversed into it, probably a courier van. When I looked a bit closer, I spotted a slither of metallic blue paint stuck to one of the bricks. I carefully picked it off and it's very obviously fresh and off a metallic coloured vehicle. As much as I tried to tell myself to wipe my mouth and move on, I couldn't; I needed a little time to process it.
The slither of paint was a bit puckered, like a concertina door. I carefully stretched it back out and it's shaped like a small island. I'll say Corfu for illustration purposes firstly because I've been there a couple of times and now that I've checked, it almost is that shape. You can clearly see the metallic paint colour. An alarm immediately went off in my head because it looked like the same colour as a car belonging to the daughter of someone a few doors away on my street. My dog was delighted with the extra walk he wasn't expecting...
With an assured degree of certainty, I can say the colour is a match. I slyly looked at all four corners of the car as I walked by, and sure enough, there's a knick of paint missing on the near-side rear bumper, shaped suspiciously like a small island. Short of me holding the evidence I have against the damage on the car, I cannot say it's a match. But, it is enough to want to offer the piece up to explore that. I'd be surprised if it isn't a perfect fit in terms of shape and size. Only placing the piece onto the damage will take it from a very strong suspicion to definitive conclusion.
A few days passed after my little investigation and I had a builder friend come and carry out a couple of jobs in the house. We talked about the pillar and he is convinced it's that car. For a few extra sheets, he reconstructed the pillar and whilst it's no longer broken, it clearly looks different to the other pillar now. Irritating, but not as annoying as a broken one obviously.
Would you approach the suspect? Potential plot twist: her old man is a builder. Like the Four Tops, I did reach out to closer neighbours to see if they saw - or even catch on their doorbell cams - anything that might help identify the responsible vehicle. They didn't. But I need closure! Aforementioned builder dad is someone I've drank with in our local. We're not really mates as such, but we live on the same street and help each other our if and when needed. Maybe the daughter didn't tell him. Perhaps she didn't realise what she did... These are all questions but it's bad form not to 'fess up if they truly are responsible. I was thinking to ask the question but then, if they did witness someone doing it, why wouldn't you walk over and knock on my door (or even send a message as we have each others numbers).
What would you do?
Without trying to being flippant, just get a camera up so you won't have any doubts if it happens again. She's not going to admit it or she would have done by now. If she's a proper Daddy's girl he will get the arse if you ask him about. It's all fixed now so move on.
People don't own up to their mistakes. Some ghastly chav tart reversed into my partner's car (who was waiting for a parking space) and claimed my OH had driven into her. Her slutty mate backed her up. What can you do? We bought the OH a dashcam.
People don't own up to their mistakes. Some ghastly chav tart reversed into my partner's car (who was waiting for a parking space) and claimed my OH had driven into her. Her slutty mate backed her up. What can you do? We bought the OH a dashcam.
similar thing happened to me some years ago. A nieghbour developed the habit of using my driveway as a turning point. One day I came home to see a chunk of render off the house wall and broken plastic on the pavement. Picked the plastic up and walked down the road to where the nieghbour's car was parked and the broken plastic was a perfect match with the broken rear light!
I confronted the nieghbour, who denyed all knowledge of the incident, but she did stop using my driveway for turning purposes!
I confronted the nieghbour, who denyed all knowledge of the incident, but she did stop using my driveway for turning purposes!
I had this exact situation a couple of years ago. Parking on the street and the paint left on our car matched an MPV that was usually parked on the same street.
I left a polite not on the MPV saying that I thought they must have accidentally hit our car and mentioning the paint.
Got an apologetic message back and it was dealt with on their insurance.
I left a polite not on the MPV saying that I thought they must have accidentally hit our car and mentioning the paint.
Got an apologetic message back and it was dealt with on their insurance.
Cheese on Toast with Worcestershire Sauce said:
RC1807 said:
Sellotape the paint slither to a piece of paper. Knock on their door and ask them if they’d like it back to repair their car, since it was stuck to your broken brick built pillar. Await their reaction.
"Prove it"?Chris Peacock said:
Cheese on Toast with Worcestershire Sauce said:
RC1807 said:
Sellotape the paint slither to a piece of paper. Knock on their door and ask them if they’d like it back to repair their car, since it was stuck to your broken brick built pillar. Await their reaction.
"Prove it"?One morning last year I came home to the wall between us and our neighbour looking like this....
The neighbour had a new window cleaner starting that morning so she phoned and asked them if they had knocked it or seen any damage.
They said they seen nothing.
Another neighbour came round with his camera footage of the whole thing. Huge window cleaner van drove out and turned too early and wiped the end of the wall out. He got out the van had a look then f
ked off and subsequently denied everything....until his company was given a copy of the footage.
People are lying scumbags so I wouldn't expect any admission of guilt unfortunately.
The neighbour had a new window cleaner starting that morning so she phoned and asked them if they had knocked it or seen any damage.
They said they seen nothing.
Another neighbour came round with his camera footage of the whole thing. Huge window cleaner van drove out and turned too early and wiped the end of the wall out. He got out the van had a look then f
ked off and subsequently denied everything....until his company was given a copy of the footage.People are lying scumbags so I wouldn't expect any admission of guilt unfortunately.
Edited by nessiemac on Sunday 20th April 17:34
Chris Peacock said:
Cheese on Toast with Worcestershire Sauce said:
RC1807 said:
Sellotape the paint slither to a piece of paper. Knock on their door and ask them if they’d like it back to repair their car, since it was stuck to your broken brick built pillar. Await their reaction.
"Prove it"?There is little you can do without risking some unpleasantness, i can understand why you feel as you do because low life irresponsible sneaky behaviour as usual wins in modern Britain, would be bad enough a stranger but you expect better from a neighbour.
At the end of the day the damage is not too drastic.
The silver lining on this cloud is that you're wiser than you were as to the moral compass of this particular neighbour, apples not falling far from the tree?
At the end of the day the damage is not too drastic.
The silver lining on this cloud is that you're wiser than you were as to the moral compass of this particular neighbour, apples not falling far from the tree?
My wife parked her car in a street when she came back she was puzzled that it seemed to have moved, later ispection revealed a cracked rear bumper. Nobody came forward to accept responsibility, except a friend across the road had Ring doorbell footage of the recycling truck pushing the car and the driver getting out looking at the damage and driving off.
Coumncil accepted full responsibility and I hope the driver had an interesting conversation with HR.
I’d be inclined to leave it.
Good neighbours are not guaranteed.
A builder neighbour who’s on friendly terms is even rarer.
I’ll assume it’s the case that the daughter has neglected to mention the location of the incident to her parents, you don’t know why she’s chosen to hide it, but no good will come from dropping her in the st, embarrassing them and causing friction.
That’s my POV anyway.
Good neighbours are not guaranteed.
A builder neighbour who’s on friendly terms is even rarer.
I’ll assume it’s the case that the daughter has neglected to mention the location of the incident to her parents, you don’t know why she’s chosen to hide it, but no good will come from dropping her in the s
t, embarrassing them and causing friction.That’s my POV anyway.
Sellotape the patch of paint you recovered back on to her car and post an invoice for the bodywork repair job through the door, equivalent amount to what it cost you to repair the pillar.
If her old man is a builder, you could have had him round for advice on the repair and an estimate and shown him your evidence!
I large suspect he doesn't know or he'd have rectified it himself since the skills and materials are naturally at his disposal.
If her old man is a builder, you could have had him round for advice on the repair and an estimate and shown him your evidence!
I large suspect he doesn't know or he'd have rectified it himself since the skills and materials are naturally at his disposal.
My two takeaways:
- Too many people are scared to have any sort of words with people about stuff and just suck up any loss or harm. I'm surprised no-one has come out with the PH classic of how you should move house to avoid the potential conflict.
- Next time you get some pillars done give them a deep foundation, and have some heavy rebar tied into it running up the pillar, then add some concrete as a core. I prefer my structures to win and leave a proper dent, not come home to a fleck of paint and a toppled gate or fence pillar.
- Too many people are scared to have any sort of words with people about stuff and just suck up any loss or harm. I'm surprised no-one has come out with the PH classic of how you should move house to avoid the potential conflict.
- Next time you get some pillars done give them a deep foundation, and have some heavy rebar tied into it running up the pillar, then add some concrete as a core. I prefer my structures to win and leave a proper dent, not come home to a fleck of paint and a toppled gate or fence pillar.
“I needed a little time to process it.” Personally I’d pop round with the evidence and your witness, if she refutes, what is undeniable, I’d point out ‘Mutt’ witnessed the entire occurrence.
If she continues to be in denial, point out, ‘Muttly’ had sniffed the paint sample, had a nose of the wall, walked around her jalopy, immediately sitting by the damaged area, wagging his/her/its tale.
Time to divvy up luv.
If she continues to be in denial, point out, ‘Muttly’ had sniffed the paint sample, had a nose of the wall, walked around her jalopy, immediately sitting by the damaged area, wagging his/her/its tale.
Time to divvy up luv.
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