Ware Online Forum

Reply ID 696

It's a long shot, but it just might work. [url="http://www.eastherts.gov.uk/environ/abandoned_cars_form.htm"]Report Abandoned Cars[/url] to EHDC. And they've got an [url="http://www.eastherts.gov.uk/environ/abandoned_cars_form.htm"]Report about the subject with aim of a 48 hour response. Best of luck.

Reply ID 698

Whilst I fully appreciate you situation of unsightly abandoned vehicles in your road , I feel that the Police have far more serious incidents to deal with .I think it is totally unjustified for you to say that the Police response is 'Wholly inadequate' . They have a limited number of resources as it is and as the EHDC do have a department specifically devoted to Abandoned vehicles , what would you expect them to do ?

Reply ID 699

Aren't the Police able to contact the DVLC to get the owners details. I simple phone call to the owner can quickly indicate if the car is abandoned or otherwise. If the Police are too busy to do this, which I agree with James7, they do have more pressing issues to deal with, surely the local authority (EHDC) should be given access to the DVLC system to chase and charge owners or their removal.

Reply ID 707

In reply to James, I also understand that the police have limited resources, but the abandoned car scenario creates problems that have been faced by New York - the fact that abandoned cars/vanadalism/graffiti etc attracts further crime. My particular gripe is that one of the cars has already had windows smashed and is just waiting for a bored teenager to chuck a match inside. Also, these cars are blocking people's access to their own homes, and when you are 7 months pregnant (like me) or are disabled (like the gentleman next door) or elderly (like my neighbour opposite) this is a genuine problem. Also, we know one of the culprits who is dumping these cars, but he seems exempt from any form of prosecution. This is patently wrong - we fight to get the cars removed and then this culprit thinks he can just continue to keep dumping stripped cars as someone else will remove them for him. It's selfishness of the worst kind, and yes, the police do encourage it by the inability to act.

Reply ID 708

How about getting your neighbours together and push the things down into the high street. They'll get moved then.

Reply ID 710

We had the same problem (although the cars were not smashed up at that point) but were untaxed and quite frankly unfit to drive. I phoned the police they gave me a number to phone at the council which I did, the woman on the phone took down the reg number and details and if they hadn't acted within 1 day i was back on the phone to them. Apparently the bloke that keeps dumping his cars is known to the police - they have several complaints about him dumping cars all over Ware.

Reply ID 711

His name is ********* and he lives in Cromwell Road. The more people who complain about him, the better. Pushing the cars is a)dangerous as the tyres are flat and handbrakes jammed b)as inconsiderate as dumping the cars outside someone else's house. However, I share the frustration of having my view outside the window blighted by a scrapyard. On Broxbourne Council's website they aim to remove abandoned vehicles within 15 days, which is much better than the 6 weeks Hertford & Ware give as their target. I discovered that you can report untaxed vehicles directly to DVLC which I am definitely going to do to try and speed things up - the email address is vehicles.dvla@gtnet.gov.uk with make and model and colour as well as the location, registration number and expiry on tax disc. ***Note*** - Name removed - Naming and shaming isn't permitted on this forum, sorry .Ed

Reply ID 717

Maybe you could take a picture of him pushing these cars to where they end up and then notify him in writing that you would like him to remove them at his own expense otherwise you will have them removed and charge him for it. Maybe that won't work if he is just a skint mad person who likes playing with cars like it seems that he is, although the picture of him doing this could work wonders when made in to a poster and put up on the local lamp posts etc... Putting stickers on the cars saying, this car was put here by the guy plus the picture of him doing it might get something happening. It would be good if showing the police the picture would be enough for them to get him on dumping charges, but alas they prefer to drive around Ware eyeing up the girls on a nice sunny day.

Reply ID 719

Craig, We have community policemen is it not possible to have them comment on items like this and answer their criticism's directly. It would be a big public relations exercise for them and maybe sort out some of these problems before they get out of hand, or even a police/legal section. The opportunity to communicate directly with the people in the area they police would I thought be to their advantage.

Reply ID 720

Wareshome - They have certainly been invited before but they decided not to participate. Perhaps it's time to renew the invitation now the site is proving so popular. I'll let you know how I get on.

Reply ID 723

The Govt was looking into paying people £100 for their old cars to reduce this problem but nothing has come of it yet. The following link has some interesting info with regards to the law etc. http://www.roads.dft.gov.uk/consult/abandon/pdf/abandoned.pdf "Abandoning vehicles is a criminal offence under the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978, carrying a maximum penalty of a fine of £2500 or three months’imprisonment, or both. In practice, the difficulties in tracing the person currently in possession of the vehicle mean that the number of prosecutions is negligible." Also the Road TAX Law changed this month , so only the registered owner (or the person with all the correct forms) can tax a car this will either reduce the number of Abandoned cars or Reduce the number of Taxed cars !

Reply ID 735

I'm really heartened by your responses - the policeman I ring at Hertford & Ware Police station knows me and the abandoned cars off by heart now but alas, they are still there. The problem I see with the new taxing law is that these cars are not taxed, and most probably uninsured in the first place. I think the culprits buy them or pick them up without the V5 so that ownership cannot be traced to them, and then strip them or pass them on without fear of being identified. Maybe they claim, if they do have a V5, that they have dumped the vehicle. This is the problem, and the police will not stop them unless they are driving the vehicles around, which is not their intention. Unfortunately for us, these vehicles have been dumped in the middle of the night so catching the culprits on camera is impossible without mounting an all night surveillance operation! Also, no matter what posters/letters I deliver to the culprit, if he believes himself to be beyond the police/DVLA, what notice is he going to take of me? The only solution as I see it is co-operation between the various authorities - untaxed vehicles without an owner should be removed within 7 days. After all, who would leave their untaxed vehicle unlocked for a week if he had any intention of returning to it? Interested to know your further thoughts, and I would also like to talk to our community police officer.

Reply ID 742

Abandoned Cars, When do you see a Police officer walking round Ware, not like the olden days when the local Bobby could box there ears, and they had some respect.if we saw a Policeman comming we would run. ajw

Reply ID 743

Your right AJW, I remember when Inspector Parmer resticted the Air Men at Coliers End from the town for 2 weeks, because of 4 Air Men acting up in Ware. (I wasn't one of them but as an Air Police Man I was with the bobbys to make sure none sliped in.) Dean Hope

Reply ID 748

Littlelostelf - you could try PC Martin Swift who is one of the Ward Constables for Ware. He is on 01992 533062 or mobile is 07736 225372.

Reply ID 767

Two developments. The first regarding the abandoned Cavaliers is that we now have a 'lad' sent by his dad to strip the car for bits. My neighbour told him where to go and the lad has threatened to come back at night and strip the bits anyway. This is great! I spoke to the community officer and he told me that the reason EHDC is so slow to respond, apart from not having a pound to put the abandoned cars in, is that they are not linked by computer directly to DVLA. They have to write to DVLA, wait for a response and then contact the owners, an additional time delay of up to a week. North Herts has this system, apparantly.