Car damaged in car park - can I request CCTV footage?
Discussion
Hello. Part question, part catharitc rant...
A few months ago I spent twice as much as I've ever spent on a car before having wanted the specific model for a long time. I really look after it, it is (was) immaculate and I'm careful to park away from other cars wherever possible but over the last week I've been a little unlucky.
In the middle of last week I had to travel to London on business at short notice and had to leave the car in the station car park. It was very early when I got there so I parked at the far end as I know the car park fills up during the day. When I got back in the evening there was a very obvious dent in the passenger door, right on the crease line where a door had clearly been opened into it. No sign of anyone or any note of course. It was going dark and I was tired so I just drove home, obviously fuming but not thinking I could do anything about it.
Last night I took my children to see the new Avengers film (it's great by the way
), they have been dying to go for ages so I treated them to an opening night performance - can you tell where this is going? Again, I parked as far away as possible from other cars (to much moaning from my teenagers) and when we came out there were scrapes down the side of the rear quarter of the car and the offside wheel is quite badly scraped and scuffed (there's white paint around the area).
Again it was fairly late and dark so I could only see it under the lights but I've had another look this morning and I'm not happy. In the few months I've had the car I've only parked it "at risk" twice and both times it's been damaged so I want to see if there's anything I can do.
The cinema is on a big retail park and I called their security office this morning. They said they can't release CCTV footage to me (or let me view it) and that I should just call the Police on 101, ask for a crime number and the Police will investigate. A quick search on PH and Google brings up conflicting results as to whether this is the right course of action and use of Police time - I would much rather give them a clip of video and say "this is my car, this is what happened, what can be done" than expect them to spend their time "investigating" a car park bump.
What's the general consensus about the best course of action here please? I'd also like to follow the same course of action on the station car park if possible.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
PS - I'm totally and completely sick of ignorant, thoughtless, selfish people. Whenever I'm out in public they seem to be everywhere and growing in number. However, I can't fix that - and maybe I can do something about my car. Thanks for reading.
A few months ago I spent twice as much as I've ever spent on a car before having wanted the specific model for a long time. I really look after it, it is (was) immaculate and I'm careful to park away from other cars wherever possible but over the last week I've been a little unlucky.
In the middle of last week I had to travel to London on business at short notice and had to leave the car in the station car park. It was very early when I got there so I parked at the far end as I know the car park fills up during the day. When I got back in the evening there was a very obvious dent in the passenger door, right on the crease line where a door had clearly been opened into it. No sign of anyone or any note of course. It was going dark and I was tired so I just drove home, obviously fuming but not thinking I could do anything about it.
Last night I took my children to see the new Avengers film (it's great by the way
), they have been dying to go for ages so I treated them to an opening night performance - can you tell where this is going? Again, I parked as far away as possible from other cars (to much moaning from my teenagers) and when we came out there were scrapes down the side of the rear quarter of the car and the offside wheel is quite badly scraped and scuffed (there's white paint around the area).Again it was fairly late and dark so I could only see it under the lights but I've had another look this morning and I'm not happy. In the few months I've had the car I've only parked it "at risk" twice and both times it's been damaged so I want to see if there's anything I can do.
The cinema is on a big retail park and I called their security office this morning. They said they can't release CCTV footage to me (or let me view it) and that I should just call the Police on 101, ask for a crime number and the Police will investigate. A quick search on PH and Google brings up conflicting results as to whether this is the right course of action and use of Police time - I would much rather give them a clip of video and say "this is my car, this is what happened, what can be done" than expect them to spend their time "investigating" a car park bump.
What's the general consensus about the best course of action here please? I'd also like to follow the same course of action on the station car park if possible.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
PS - I'm totally and completely sick of ignorant, thoughtless, selfish people. Whenever I'm out in public they seem to be everywhere and growing in number. However, I can't fix that - and maybe I can do something about my car. Thanks for reading.
Thanks for the replies and you make some good points. I'm obviously struggling to be objective but it's extremely frustrating that there's effectively no deterrent to behaving like a scrote and damaging other people's property. Probably time for me to just come and live in the modern world...
Also, thanks for the suggestion re dashcams - I think I'll need to look into them.
Also, thanks for the suggestion re dashcams - I think I'll need to look into them.
Edited by Tidybeard on Friday 27th April 10:07
C70R said:
Best (realistic) course of action, honestly? Suck it up, get a PDR guy in and move on with your life. I can almost guarantee that the police will not give two hoots, and nor should they waste their time on such a petty, civil matter.
If your car means that much to you, then don't put it in scenarios where it might get accidentally damaged by other people. Take a taxi to the station, for example. That is, unless you think the 'offender' deliberately nudged their door against yours, in some kind of spite-fuelled rage?
While your opinion of your car might align with the PH majority, you (and I) are in a tiny minority of people who see cars as anything other than a tool for a job. I live in London, and consequential decided that it's unrealistic to expect to keep a car in 'mint' condition when it's parked on the street and used for supermarket trips etc.. As a result, I bought a car that I'm not too precious about, and therefore I don't care when it acquires another 'ding'.
This is probably what I'll end up doing, I certainly don't want to waste the Police's time but wanted to explore what I can do myself.If your car means that much to you, then don't put it in scenarios where it might get accidentally damaged by other people. Take a taxi to the station, for example. That is, unless you think the 'offender' deliberately nudged their door against yours, in some kind of spite-fuelled rage?
While your opinion of your car might align with the PH majority, you (and I) are in a tiny minority of people who see cars as anything other than a tool for a job. I live in London, and consequential decided that it's unrealistic to expect to keep a car in 'mint' condition when it's parked on the street and used for supermarket trips etc.. As a result, I bought a car that I'm not too precious about, and therefore I don't care when it acquires another 'ding'.
Edited by C70R on Friday 27th April 12:29
I'm not sure I get your other point though - my car isn't the be-all and end-all for me, it just does a job. I don't live in London and I don't often have to leave my car in a busy place (one of the reasons why I was OK buying it). I do think we should have a reasonable expectation that our property won't suffer hundred's of pounds' worth of damage when taken out in public though. We shouldn't automatically just suck it up and pay up to be fixed - otherwise it just becomes acceptable to smash up other people's stuff rather than having a bit of respect for others.
I've seen people park up and then just wallop their doors open into the car next to them without a care - it's not "spite fuelled rage", it's utter selfishness and ignorance. I can't fix that behaviour but I can see whether I can do anything when it happens to me (in the second case, someone has clearly driven into the side of my car, scraped their car along the rear quarter and then driven off). I can't see that I should just suck that up without at least exploring the possibilities, even though I accept chances of a positive outcome are slim.
Although it's reactive, I am going to look into dashcams as they seem like a good idea for all sorts of reasons.
Thanks for the feedback and commentary. Incredibly frustrating - I got the same answer from the station. They're happy to take their £12/day for the space but you're on your own for anything else.
I'm not even sure about the point of dashcams now. It appears I could have a 4k video image with Dolby surround sound of someone taking a dump on the roof and then setting fire to the car whilst holding a giant copy of their driving licence up to the camera and there wouldn't be much I could do about it (apart from fund the repair myself one way or the other).
Maybe I'll take it to Asda and go for the hat-trick...
I'm not even sure about the point of dashcams now. It appears I could have a 4k video image with Dolby surround sound of someone taking a dump on the roof and then setting fire to the car whilst holding a giant copy of their driving licence up to the camera and there wouldn't be much I could do about it (apart from fund the repair myself one way or the other).
Maybe I'll take it to Asda and go for the hat-trick...
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