Council.. Bastids..

[uk_senator]

Went to get more pics of that Allegro today, while talking the owner mentioned that the (locally well known) Vitesse round the corner has a council notice on it, so I went to look. Sure enough, there was.

Knocked on all the surrounding doors, no one answered bar one, who didnt know who`s it was.

When I`ve got home I`ve checked & found its fully legal, taxed, MOT`d & insured.

Obviously, any passing dodgy recovery drivers will now see it as fair game.

Bloody council, what gives them the right? 

I may go again tomorrow if I get time, to pump the tyre up, possibly give it a rinse over & knock a few more doors.. 

Bastids.. 

[purplebargeken]

Might be worthwhile phoning and saying that the vehicle is fully road legal. Barnet are cunts.

 

What you suggest about the tyre and a wipe down would be a good car neighbourly thing to do.

[Guest Hooli]

Council wankers. Bet they don't do anything useful though, they never do.

[davocano]

"Putting The Community First" (unless you happen to own a mouldy yet road legal piece of classic chod)

 

The "Barnet" part of the sticker might be an infringement of BBC copyright as it looks very similar to their corporate logo.

[Mally]

Someone will have reported it.

Maybe because it's parked in front of their house or possibly thinking it was stolen.

[DodgeRover]

Ring and tell them it's fully road legal, looking at the mot history it's been in use but not gone far this year.

[carlo]

How can a car be abandoned if it's fully street legal??

[hairnet]

tell them to FRO not in a permit space no lines

 

no yellas

 

legal

[gadgetgricey]

Was only taxed the start of the month, so someone's paid attention to it fairly recently

[gadgetgricey]

Just had a weird thought pop into my head. (always a worry)

 

I think I'd only knock on doors, and not touch the car.

Could be some weird argument with the council/neighbours trying to make the car look as ugly as possible.

 

I think the council would be on a hiding to nothing if they removed a perfectly legal/taxed insured car for disposal.

 

If you find the owner and be interesting to know the story......

 

Seeing the Herald made me think of the family one we scrapped years ago (20 years ago)

Just checked and its only back on the road.

Herald 12/50 Convertible in Valencia Blue, - SWA272F (tootles off down memory lane for a bit)

[uk_senator]

Someone will have reported it.

Maybe because it's parked in front of their house or possibly thinking it was stolen.

Its literally not outside any houses, which makes tracking down the owner a bit of a challenge.

 

Its not it in a road where theres a lack of parking (its always at least half empty). Its lived in this street (has moved numerous times) for at least 3 years.

 

And its fully legal.

 

So who do the council think they are?

[angle]

Some typically helpful responses here - report them to the BBC, that'll learn 'em. The legal position is explained here:

 

https://www.mylawyer.co.uk/law-a-A76076D35096/?A76076D35096=

 

Essentially MOT, tax etc is taken into account, but overall it's the council environmental officers decision whether the car looks abandoned or not. Part of that is looking at condition, flat tyres etc so a clean up and inflating the tyres can only help - but now it's been reported and seen in that state it's really down to the owner to move it, even if it's just round the corner.

[uk_senator]

Just had a weird thought pop into my head. (always a worry)

 

I think I'd only knock on doors, and not touch the car.

Could be some weird argument with the council/neighbours trying to make the car look as ugly as possible.

 

I think the council would be on a hiding to nothing if they removed a perfectly legal/taxed insured car for disposal.

 

If you find the owner and be interesting to know the story......

 

Seeing the Herald made me think of the family one we scrapped years ago (20 years ago)

Just checked and its only back on the road.

Herald 12/50 Convertible in Valencia Blue, - SWA272F (tootles off down memory lane for a bit)

That did cross my mind, which is putting me off washing it.. But, I dont want to see it towed & crushed, not on my manor, not on my watch.. 

 

London councils are heartless bastards, I`ve seen it happen before:

[AMC Rebel]

 

So who do the council think they are?

If they are anything like ours, a gang of worthless jobsworths who go around looking for things to do that will annoy people whilst bleating about "lack of resources" when asked to do anything worthwhile*

 

* I know this is unreasonable and I apologise to any Council Workers on here (especially the ones who have to listen to people ranting)

[rantingYoof]

On that note, for balance, I feel it necessary to point out that a significant majority of council workers would quite dearly love to be doing more worthwhile thing with their limited time and resources, and that behind complaints such as the ones in this thread there's very often one or two serial complainers/callers who know how to be annoying enough to get things escalated to the point where their relatively minor issues are fast-tracked for the sake of keeping them quiet until the next time a leaf falls on their head or someone coughs two streets away and they derive a complaint from it.

 

By 'serial' I really do mean some citizens who have taken it upon themselves to go around in their ample free time finding things to report. TV programs such as 'Call the Council' don't really help here.

[uk_senator]

On that note, for balance, I feel it necessary to point out that a significant majority of council workers would quite dearly love to be doing more worthwhile thing with their limited time and resources, and that behind complaints such as the ones in this thread there's very often one or two serial complainers/callers who know how to be annoying enough to get things escalated to the point where their relatively minor issues are fast-tracked for the sake of keeping them quiet until the next time a leaf falls on their head or someone coughs two streets away and they derive a complaint from it.

 

By 'serial' I really do mean some citizens who have taken it upon themselves to go around in their ample free time finding things to report. TV programs such as 'Call the Council' don't really help here.

I can empathize with certain council workers, apart from the obviously overzealous ones, like the one who has targeted this innocent Trummy.

[fordperv]

Bunch of bastards

[angle]

Let's face it, this is a pretty special corner of the internet and for most people, leaving a mouldy old Triumph to fester on their road for weeks or months at a time is as antisocial as leaving a dog piss stained sofa in your front garden, or turning up your Gary Barlow CD at 1am on a Tuesday.

 

If the owner wants to avoid it being taken away, it's really easy - he literally has to move it to the other side of the road. The person who owns the (tax and MOT exempt) A30 on my road has been doing this successfully for a while now - last moved in April, by my reckoning...

[eddyramrod]

 

Just checked and its only back on the road.

Herald 12/50 Convertible in Valencia Blue, - SWA272F (tootles off down memory lane for a bit)

Pedant mode: Triumph never offered the 12/50 as a convertible, only saloon, and I don't think Valencia Blue was a standard colour on the model.  It might have been on a 1200 or 13/60 convertible though.  How do I know this?  The first family-owned car I could legally drive on the road (on L plates) was a 12/50, in Valencia Blue, which had definitely been resprayed and was definitely a saloon.  ATD 315A, scrapped in 1978.

Also, the car shown in the opening post is a Vitesse, not a Herald; mostly the same body but rather more engine.

 

Also: bastards, how dare they!

[gm]

Could you stick a note of your own on the car ? "Dear council, this car is not abandoned, leave it the fuck alone ! Love from an angry owner x"

[omegod]

Were there any garages nearby ?, councils have a habit of  just pushing the cars out onto the road when rental isn't paid on their lock ups 

[Guest Hooli]

If the owner wants to avoid it being taken away, it's really easy - he literally has to move it to the other side of the road. The person who owns the (tax and MOT exempt) A30 on my road has been doing this successfully for a while now - last moved in April, by my reckoning...

 

And if they are away for work or holiday?

[uk_senator]

Were there any garages nearby ?, councils have a habit of  just pushing the cars out onto the road when rental isn't paid on their lock ups 

No, only garages at the back of houses. But its lived in this road for at least 4 years, & does move occasionally.

 

Admitedly it is dirtier than it was when I saw it for the first time, but it does move, I`m fairly certain its moved in the last month as I drive past it several times a month.

[Guest Hooli]

On that note, for balance, I feel it necessary to point out that a significant majority of council workers would quite dearly love to be doing more worthwhile thing with their limited time and resources, and that behind complaints such as the ones in this thread there's very often one or two serial complainers/callers who know how to be annoying enough to get things escalated to the point where their relatively minor issues are fast-tracked for the sake of keeping them quiet until the next time a leaf falls on their head or someone coughs two streets away and they derive a complaint from it.

 

By 'serial' I really do mean some citizens who have taken it upon themselves to go around in their ample free time finding things to report. TV programs such as 'Call the Council' don't really help here.

 

Sorry, but my experience as a customer & staff in the public sector is that you are referring to a significant minority.

 

Take my last interaction with my local council to get a black bin (missing when I moved in). About 2 hours on the phone for me, plus an online order and a complaint before they'd admit they knew anything of an order for a bin. Then they deliver two, on successive days so had to come back & collect one. Plus refund me the cost of the online order. How many paid hours of stupidity is that? no wonder council tax is so high for so little return.

[Guest Hooli]

Besides I can't see how they've got any legal right to touch a legally parked car that is fully legal.

[Mrs6C]

No, only garages at the back of houses. But its lived in this road for at least 4 years, & does move occasionally.

 

Admitedly it is dirtier than it was when I saw it for the first time, but it does move, I`m fairly certain its moved in the last month as I drive past it several times a month.

A quick on-line check for it shows you took a photo of it in its cleaner days and posted it up on Flickr. It is outside a house with what looks like a convertible on the driveway. Might that be the owning residence, or worth a knock on the door to make further enquiries? You may have done that, of course.

 

Local pub landlords, small car repair garages and MOT stations also tend to know owners of such vehicles. An email to the TSSC HQ might also be worth doing, if the car is known to them or the local Area Organiser, it may be possible to alert the owner that way.

 

Is there a recent Google Streetview image of it, showing it in another location along the same street, showing that it is a local resident that moves around?

[angle]

And if they are away for work or holiday?

Then you spend ten minutes with a foot pump and a damp cloth before you go. It's part and parcel of parking on the road - you wouldn't leave your car on double yellow lines, go on holiday then moan when you came back and it had been towed, would you?

[rantingYoof]

Sorry, but my experience as a customer & staff in the public sector is that you are referring to a significant minority.

 

Take my last interaction with my local council to get a black bin (missing when I moved in). About 2 hours on the phone for me, plus an online order and a complaint before they'd admit they knew anything of an order for a bin. Then they deliver two, on successive days so had to come back & collect one. Plus refund me the cost of the online order. How many paid hours of stupidity is that? no wonder council tax is so high for so little return.

*shrug* There are clearly jobsworths in all lines of work including public sector - it may even attract a higher percentage over other sectors for some reason. I've worked in it for nearly 10 years and in every work place there have always been a few people that jump at the chance to be awkward for no clear reason and you have to wonder why they choose to be servants of the public. But most others are generally keen to help as much as they can around historically unprecedented levels of cut backs and 'lean' initiatives that encourage them to ditch phone calls after five minutes regardless of outcome and require additional pointless paper pushing on top of already complicated and somewhat beaurocratic work.

 

Obviously some places are genuinely toxic and it's those places that causes the 'council are bar stewards' attitude which almost means some of us have to begin any interaction on the defensive.

 

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[Guest Hooli]

Then you spend ten minutes with a foot pump and a damp cloth before you go. It's part and parcel of parking on the road - you wouldn't leave your car on double yellow lines, go on holiday then moan when you came back and it had been towed, would you?

 

No I'd leave it legally parked & assume it'd still be there. The same as this legally parked and fully legal car has been left.

[uk_senator]

A quick on-line check for it shows you took a photo of it in its cleaner days and posted it up on Flickr. It is outside a house with what looks like a convertible on the driveway. Might that be the owning residence, or worth a knock on the door to make further enquiries? You may have done that, of course.

 

Local pub landlords, small car repair garages and MOT stations also tend to know owners of such vehicles. An email to the TSSC HQ might also be worth doing, if the car is known to them or the local Area Organiser, it may be possible to alert the owner that way.

 

Is there a recent Google Streetview image of it, showing it in another location along the same street, showing that it is a local resident that moves around?

Yes, That was the first house I knocked on, no answer, same with their neighbours.

 

That gold Merc is sometimes on their driveway, but I`ve never seen the Trummy on there, so not convinced its theirs, but, you`d think as fellow classic lovers, they`d know who`s it was.

 

I`ll be trying again tomorrow.