how do i stop this from happening?

[bl1300]

Those who have been on the forum a while that I have problems with the local youths. Now they have struck again and big style this time!

This is whats left of my triumphs instrument cluster after it was ripped out and laid into with a hammer. These children are between 8 and 10 years old.

After sweeping up the area around the car this is all that was left! Goodness knows what has happened to the remainder.

[g164rge]

Grrr, little feckers, do you know where they stay at all?

That's shocking though!!

[10mpg]

Good god, where do you live!

all you can do is talk to the parents and the police, film them if the parents ect need proof, though it's not admissible in court..

If that doesn’t work I'd send them a bill for damages and install a truly deafening alarm system, i had one on one car that made it almost unbearable to be in the car with it going off...

[bl1300]

Yep they live about 3 doors down and their parents couldn't care less!

In fact Daddy's response was "your a mechanic. Fix it!)

Oh and I live in pretty much the quitest area of the country. Lampeter in West Wales. Miles from anywhere. I don't think id dare own an old car if I lived in the city

[ben711200]

That's terrible

Without wishing to state the obvious-
If it can't be parked securely, park it somewhere well lit and in plain sight
Alarms don't stop people stealing cars but they are a deterrent that would probably stop the kids going at your car
Are they smashing their way in or picking the locks? If they're anything like the ones that were on my Herald, or Dyane, then you could unlock it with a stick, a 20 pence piece, a screwdriver... A fresh new set would be harder (though still not exactly taxing..) to get in through.
Report it to the police every single time.

[nomad]

Ouch

I lived in inner-city and just before I moved out was getting problems with little &*&)(*^& poor misunderstood childen (and teenagers) trying to get into the garden, the shed, and the garage.

There were 2 main reasons I moved out - and that was one of them

Now in a quiet little hamlet (14 houses - not marked on most maps).
Sounds ideal, middle of nowhere, yada yada yada.
We had a motorbike nicked out of the back yard 2 years ago, and has a helpful chap knock on the back door (at the end of a private lane) yesterday asking if I wanted any scrap taken away Spent the rest of the day moving anything that wasn't nailed down into secure storage

Trying to be positive here, hope you get sorted.
Report everything to the police when it happens is one option (but might backfire if you ever try to sell the house and have to declare any problems)
Another option might be CCTV? It's sad that you need to think like that, but even Aldi/Lidle are selling ready-to-use kit now.

edit for typo

IBTL

[MiniDan]

I used to have a problem with the local kids where I used to live. The final straw was when the ringleader rode his bike straight into the door of my brand new Bini cooper while I was getting out. I lept out, and one handed, grabbed him by the throat and lifted him a foot off the ground. I can't remember what I screamed at him, but it wasn't very plesent as you can imagine.

If my partner hadn't also lept out of the car after me I would have mashed the little fuckers face into the ground, but she pursuaded me not to, so I dropped him on his . Him (crying his eyes out) and the rest of his gang very sheepishly walked away.

I'm not a bully, for the people that know me/met me will all say how quiet and what a nice guy I am, but when I do loose my temper I do go a bit mad.

Never heard anything more off them or parents. Every time I seen them from then on they'd cross the road or look stright down at the floor. Never even came near the house either. Most chavs/little curse word don't care about what their parents or police will say/do, but if they think they are going to get a kicking, they'll back down instantly.

NB: I'm not held responsable for what you do/what happens ;D Hope you get it all sorted though matey

[nofrills]

Thats is disgraceful mate, i would have a quiet word with teh little scrote, in the nicest possible way, i had a similar thinga few years ago (well my parents when they lived in laaarndan) they were being victimised by the local 14 year olds, so i popped down one day and before teh little scrote could pounce out of his front door i pushed back in and had a chant with him and his dad, good to say they never bothered my parents ever again and the boy that was causing the trouble was sent off to live with a aunt lol, still i never used violence and got a happy resolve

[bl1300]

Ive been looking through it I don't think there is a single part that is salvageable.

Speedo is absolutly goosed.
3 instrument cluster well you can see its mangled face in the picture so thats never working again.
Warning light cluster is smashed to smithereens.
wiper switch and ignition switch are dust.
Weirdly the plastic housing is still in one peice but it is pretty badly cracked.

Now luckily I spotted a full instrument cluster on ebay a couple of weeks back and baggsied it. So that has now been fitted. Sadly the chrome work is nowhere near as good as the original and the speedo has twice the mileage. Ive had to piky wire it in though as most of the cables had to be lengthened as there connectors where ripped off. It is working for now but I think I am going to be looking for a new wiring loom

Only minor issue is the fuel and temperature gauges are very temperamental so I think I will be checking the voltage stabiliser wiring when the light returns tomorrow

[ben711200]

Paul, I've always liked the idea of an alarm that plays an absurd song for absolute disruption of the peace to make sure everyone comes to their windows to find out what is going on...

You would be an actual hero if you could get some sort of unpleasant rap metal type thing as a car alarm.. Crazy Legs by Hed (PE) would be a number one choice for me.

Glad to hear you had the bits in stock to fix it, but that really isn't the point.. And the attitude of the kids' father is appalling. It should never be necessary, but I'd be putting a for sale sign up on the house if I had to live with that sort of attitude

[Battles]

I keep a couple of bikes on the street and had problems last year during the school holidays with them getting moved, knocked over and eventually bits going missing (plugs, a coil pack and the chain).
I've always parked them next to a lamppost so that I had something solid to chain them to when I went away so I made a smallish (smaller than A5) notice that just said "Hello, if you're standing where you can read this note you're being filmed by my security camera" and stuck it to the lamppost. There was never any more damage and, of course, there was never a security camera*.

If you park your car outside your house or in your drive, a note on the dashboard saying something similar might do the trick. If you need to park away from your house, it's more difficult to believe that you've got a camera trained on the car.
An actual camera would be great, of course, and a quick look on eBuyer shows a couple of decent kits for about a hundred quid.

Visiting the parents and getting physical is a great way to turn this into a really big ball-ache so I'd steer clear of them completely. Again, this might cause an unpleasant escalation but if you do complain to the Police, follow it up with the local authority. The local authority need to at least investigate and having some nosey coppers and council bods sniffing around might persuade the aforementioned Daddy that he needs to do something about it, especially if they're Council or Housing Association tenants.

*Someone above said that CCTV footage couldn't be used by the Police, I'm not sure if that's true.
Loooongtime after the bike hassles stopped, the Police appeared at our door asking to see our security camera footage. Someone knew they were my bikes and sent the Police our way after a break in. They reckoned that it would give them a face to work from and would back up any weak physical evidence.

[Battles]

Oct 11, 2011 19:31:59 GMT ben711200 said:

Paul, I've always liked the idea of an alarm that plays an absurd song for absolute disruption of the peace to make sure everyone comes to their windows to find out what is going on.

That's an awesome idea.
Or, if your car alarm uses your car horn, upgrade your horn to a Stebel Nautilus job.

[PandaSelecta]

Oct 11, 2011 19:39:42 GMT Battles said:

Oct 11, 2011 19:31:59 GMT ben711200 said:

Paul, I've always liked the idea of an alarm that plays an absurd song for absolute disruption of the peace to make sure everyone comes to their windows to find out what is going on.

That's an awesome idea.
Or, if your car alarm uses your car horn, upgrade your horn to an intercity train horn.

corrected that for you

[bl1300]

I don't own the house we all live in a small 10 house culdisac owned by Tai Cantref housing association.

[scotty82]

Phone the police.

If they are council tenants then they have to adhere to certain rules and their kids causing trouble could ultimately void the terms of the council contract.

[Rev. Dick Deluxe]

We had bother with little scrotes a few years back chucking eggs at the house. Parents and police proved a total waste of time so we went up the school and gave a list of names to the headmaster.
Must admit, it seemed to do the trick.

[will930]

i have a similar problem i have a bunch of lovely gypsy orientated family living down my road and a good few chavs around here

and for as long as i can remember there has always been problems from them, for one they stare at you from there door step as they are hardly ever inside the house.... but onto the damage caused

my dads roved got caked in mud once from someone doughnutting a minimoto or something beside it on the grass verge.... various accounts of cars being scratched and damaged around here.... constant verbal abuse etc etc

around christmas time my dads 106 mirror was smashed of while parked on the road.... funny thing is the entire mirror was smahed off on the side of the grassverge and the damage came from on top... from the scratching and cracking....

next day done exactly the same to my micra but both were fixed asap....

just this saturday left my house about 10pm and someone had booted the side of my micra and left a big dent and a foot print, which pretty much peeved me off the rest of the evening... luckily it popped out alright as there was no creasing....

another prime example in the snow and ice in the freezing cold i had to change a snapped drive shaft at the side of the road in the dark.... terrible conditions and i had lost feelings in most limbs and was tired and getting very fustrated.... got it all back together and was struggling to get the oil filler cap off the gear box as it was seized and stubbon so i though warm it up a bit to not damage my gear... packed everything away and as i was finishing i had them very compact snowballs which go like ice thrown at me towards my face and head, and once in the car thrown at the windows, went to turn the car around after threatening to call the cops and they were simply waiting for me to come back down to leave my road.... luckily no damage done here but they were all early 20's, and the police were called straight away as i knew names and nothing has been done whatso ever over the years and the police are there often enough

if i could remember more details of other situations then i would post them up....

[KillyBamp]

Incineration. They can only be missing persons if they can't find any bodies.

[Soopahfly]

[bxer]

Try talking to them, but with respect (yes I know they've smashed your car up) and calmly to explain why what they've done is wrong.

Or else speak to your Housing Association, they should have a complaints procedure or policy on harassment.