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Report it to the police. Demand it's put right. Said neighbour is never going to be your mate.
My car has been vandalised by the next door neighbour this Friday, picked up on CCTV.
Would value the forums thoughts on how to proceed next.
Situation.
Terraced house with on street parking, my car parked outside of my property but overhangs to the front of the said neighbours property by default of the next car in the road overhanging in the same way to my property.
Whilst I'm out, said neighbour returns from what looks like a night out in the taxi, and later in the night proceeds to get their car from their allocated bay behind the property, to then pull up next to my car and pass it twice with a key supposedly on the way to and from their property going and returning with nothing but keys. They then proceed to drive off.
I discover the damage in the morning on Saturday, and pick up the above detail from my CCTV.
How would you deal with the situation, I think my options are as below?
- Report to police and recover damages through court.
- Report to police and offer the option to settle damages with neighbour, to then drop charges.
- Report to police, and recover damages through insurance as a hit and run claim since he was in charge of his car, despite doing the damage in person.
I'm not going to post content of damages or evidence at this stage, but for context it is two deep scratches on rear quarter panel including light. You could clearly see the dusting of the scratches in the morning and hear the scratching sound on CCTV.
Report it to the police. Demand it's put right. Said neighbour is never going to be your mate.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Report to the Police and your Insurance provider. See what they say.
Does this neighbour have a letterbox?
Genuinely surprised how many forumites seem to have their own CCTV, wow.
But yeah, speak to Plod and your insurer...report back. Good luck.
Last edited by Passenger; 14th January 2024 at 14:14.
Beat me to it!Originally Posted by Passenger
If you'd reported it early Saturday morning they may well have still been over the drink driving limit also. Too late now and unlikely the police would have acted fast enough anyway.
But definitely report to the police with your evidence, no point trying to reason with a neighbour like that.
Plod are the obvious first recourse, but I'd brace yourself for a fobbing-off with a crime number and having to pursue a private prosecution.
Police then insurance. Unlikely to have a productive conversation/outcome with someone with like that.
Hope for the best but prepare for the norm.
Can’t even count the amount we have here. Some hardwired and some cloud based, two different systems.
Comes in handy and even sends alerts to our phones if no one is home and something is detected in the garden, down the side, or any of the internal cameras.
Like a fox or the neighbours cat do you mean...lolz.., kidding. Does seem like it´s the norm nowadays in certain parts, just going on what´s reported here...wow, guess it´s a bit of an arms race with the neighbours then, since thieves will mostly target the ´soft´ prospects, don´t be the residential equivalent of the old-injured wildebeest on your street, in the herd, I guess.
Do you get a break on home or car insurance with one of these systems installed?
Last edited by Passenger; 14th January 2024 at 14:39.
Thanks for all the responses so far,
Totally agree, reasoning with the neighbour seems pointless given their actions.
I'm so glad the CCTV is there in this case.
I can’t believe you’ve waited till now to consider what to do when criminal damage (vandalism) has been put on you for which you appear to have evidence of a sort! And you’re asking folk you don’t know who’ll give an eclectic mix of what they’d do and what they wouldn’t do.
Make a decision FCS and get the police involved.
Only then can you plan what next.
Jim
I must add, this has been reported to the police at the moment of discovery, hence all options I've considered start with the same action.
The point of the question is that there may be knowledge or experience in the forum of things not considered but that could be useful or vital in dealing with the situation.
Of course I acknowledge that opinions will remain opinions.
Last edited by Litcan91; 14th January 2024 at 14:52.
Ah so Saturday morning then and what did the Police say, any indication they´ll review the CCTV évidence, press charges?
Do you know why the neighbour has done this? Have you had altercations/disputes before?
If they have their own parking bay at the back of their house, it can’t be a parking dispute can it?
If you can clearly see it is him in the video, including his face the police might take some interest, but don't hold your breath.
Why do people do anything they do...
We once had an altercation with a neighbour over parking, we´d come home parked on the street about 3 or 4 car lengths from our flat, totally just a public road free for anyone to park on anywhere, the bloke whose house we´d happened to park in front of came storming out, that´s his spot! Starts talking smack about the wife, I wasn´t driving then, gets confrontational... it devolved to me putting the guy on the road in the gutter, I was fairly gentle, he´s still mouthing off, just as I´m debating whether to hit him for being such a see you next Tuesday, plod arrives...Despite his racist rather hateful remarks about my Missus, they tell him to behave, get inside his house, Oh and he better not touch our car. That was it...they´re pretty rubbish really, don´t expect too much and you won´t be disappointed has been my experience.
And then the whole street clapped?
We don’t declare cameras or alarms. We declared the fully serviced and certified alarm one year and it saved us £5 annually so never bothered since.
One of the neighbours up the road had their car stolen and our cameras got it. Pretty handy for the neighbourhood WhatsApp.
For the detection in the garden it’s quite good, it won’t alert below a certain size so we’re safe unless a midget comes to hobble through a window.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
We were out for dinner last night, neighbour called to say house alarm going off. Whilst internal sensors are fine for a cat not triggering it, when cat moves door, alarm goes off. FFS.
What was nice is the outside cameras capturing our neighbours popping outside to check nobody was in the house. One had a key, so went in and reset the alarm for us after the phone call.
Multiple bottles of Prosecco as a thank you for checking on our house / apologies for the disturbance.
3 external ones, 4 internal which are mainly for keeping track of the cat when we are out / away. Love watching foxes on them in the morning, or watching the cat chase them off his manor!
What is the backstory here? He must have had a reason?
Smells like more trouble ahead sadly.
Asking the real questions.
"Bite my shiny metal ass."
- Bender Bending Rodríguez
I wouldn't be surprised if it was down to 8 pints of Stella for him and a bottle of Prosecco for the wife. Unfortunately some people are just hardwired to be an absolute c**t.
Having been the key witness in an assault occasioning actual bodily harm case, with body cam footage and three separate witnesses to the attack, I say to the op, prepare to be utterly disappointed but do follow through. Make sure you have and keep copies of the footage and make sure the police don’t simply record your playback on their body worn cameras. Best of luck.
If it were me, I would report it to the police and your insurance company. I would also send them both a copy of the clip. Make sure you have back-ups.
If the police do not want to become involved, which would be disgraceful, seek advice about restitution from your insurers. Some policies include legal advice. The stage after that is to contact a solicitor who could advise about small claims.
Don't engage with the neighbour, there's no point. They have already crossed the line from being a nuisance to being a criminal.
If you haven't already, create a diary of all interactions between you and them. Keep it factual and if possible have other sources of evidence, such as video / CCTV or audio footage. Hopefully this is a one-off and he was just being a pissed up a-hole that night. You'll know better than us.
Best of luck.
David
Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations
haha nah...don´t expect too much and you won´t be disappointed has been my experience...the only exception to the rule thus far, was the guy who stopped his car when I'd been stabbed and offered me and Mrs P a ride, he said hospital I insisted home, well it was only a couple of hundred yards round the corner. Ancient history.
Back on track...
OP what did the police say about potential next steps...
Police, insurance and note in your car window to state reported to Police, full incident on CCTV.
Yup. Exactly that. Plus phone dialling alarm.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Had the same thing after the baby was born. A helium congratulations balloon set off an alarm sensor downstairs in the middle of the night. I was sleep deprived enough and it took me a solid 30 seconds to realise it was the house alarm and not my phone alarm clock then I was running downstairs to the knife block to investigate
Never mind being on track.
You are Jack Reacher & I want my £5
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We have cameras which trigger an alert on our phones. Just sat down on the sofa to watch TV on a Friday night when this appeared on my phone. What you can't see is why he decided to leave, the outside lights had come on in the garden as I ran towards the gate picking up a convenient half paver on the way. Unfortunately they drove off before I could practise my bowling. Also you can't see there were 2 other guys in the car, picked up by my neighbours cctv.
This was just after we moved in and I was already concerned that this was a weak point for security. So I had screwed the garage doors shut, he was never getting in. There are six foot gates across the entrance now, which I had fitted soon after.
https://youtu.be/1NC1Cfnkxuc?si=oArmW8QnKwCQKysC
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Report to the police.
Be prepared for the "thats what insurance is for"fob off by them.
I sincerley hope I am wrong and they help.
If they send a PCSO it will make matters worse,believe me.
You've got the proof on camera, it's an arrestable offence, call the police and notify your insurance, depending on the damage of the keying
So easy to install now. A neighbour installed two small outside cameras producing good quality pictures as a deterrent and wired them up to his home computer for less than £150. Was more to stop the bored local youths causing havoc than any break ins and he's happy enough with it.
I think I'd just go round and see the neighbour, let them know you've got a recording of them causing the damage and firstly ask why, then ask if they're going to cover the cost of the damage.
You could get some answers and not be out of pocket. If the neighbour denies it, or is a dick about it, then it's time for the police and insurance. Police will do sod all and the insurance will increase your premium.
I know the police have already been contacted, and rightly so, but I'd also want a word with him telling him calmly that what he did is on film and has been reported to the police, just to stop him doing anything else in the interim.
I guess so re ease of installation and so on, I just don't recollect their use in private homes was so widespread when we left in 2011, in shops and commercial spaces sure....times always a changin'
I bought one of these ‘ring’ indoor cameras a while back.
It simply plugs in and then works off your Wi-Fi to send images to your smartphone.
Perhaps the best £50 I’ve ever spent.
The Ring’ app is great, you can watch camera footage live, there is a facility which alerts you to movement,
the camera has a speaker so you can talk through
the phone app to anybody in earshot of the camera, or you can set off an audible alarm.
Once set up there is no ongoing cost unless you want the recording function.
It really does give peace of mind when out knowing that if a burglar is in my house the ring app will send an alarm to my phone……ideal to conceal the camera discreetly at the edge of a bookshelf or similar overlooking your watch collection hiding place!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ring-indoor...s%2C165&sr=8-1
Last edited by farmkid; 14th January 2024 at 23:59.
I’d imagine it’s the same the world over. You didn’t move to mars.
"Bite my shiny metal ass."
- Bender Bending Rodríguez
Many more cameras in this country than in France for example. We're talking an order of magnitude, both official (in streets, managed by authorities) and private.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Could also help gauge the individual-is he likely to escalate if it comes home to roost,do you have a letterbox?
A limited data set, but an indicator.
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No not Mars sure but honestly I don´t see so many cameras here, not on private homes leastways, or public spaces even...though for perspective Cartagena isn´t Madrid or London...Mind you here generally speaking if the house is going to be empty any length of time, even if not, and traditionally speaking in many parts, barred ground floor windows, reja´s so a barred outer door for doors...pretty good for peace of mind, anyone coming through that lot means business, no quarter given then, not especially big on home invasions in t´village though, plus it's gonna require time, and an angle grinder, sledge hammer and/ or car jack, not exactly a quiet burglary of opportunity....that said when I- we are at home or out back by the pool the front door´s always unlocked...cordial, social relationship with the neighbours doesn´t hurt either...and crucially no letterbox in the front door! Posty generally won´t walk up to the house anyway, not unless its Govt. bizzo and then they knocks, insists it´s signed for.
I believe the stats might well show Spain's not especially high on Europe's CCTV top ten...maybe that´s changing, modernity, progress! sigh.
Last edited by Passenger; 15th January 2024 at 11:02.
A telling set of figures showing perhaps the expectation of crime under the present policies.A limited data set, but an indicator.
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Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Didn't we rather jump at the CCTV thing in some part due to the 'RA back in the day, then just kinda culturally ran with it, the illusion of enhanced safety- security, plus fewer boobies on the beat so the individual took up the burden of providing deterrence and occasionally proof? Remember Mag´s words on society.
Last edited by Passenger; 15th January 2024 at 11:13.
Now that really is a Freudian slip.
Legacy of when our Irish friends used to come over
No way i would inform my insurers at this point. Police and get a quote first
Then councils installed them on the promise that "These are only for security purposes" - then once in place, used them primarliy for revenue-earning from parking/loading infringements.
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