Tale of Woe - Word of Warning

Here's a little tale of woe to those of you that maybe take your car off the
road for the winter, or doing some long term work on your car.

As some of you may know, I have (had!) a beloved Citroen BX 16v. Not to all
of your taste, but it suited me, fast economical and somewhat of a Q car.
I've owned it over 4 years, and have fettled and improved it over that time.

This year I could finally take it off the road for the winter.
I put an SORN on it, parked it up off the road and out of the way, and
started it it once a fortnight, giving the suspension a bit of a work out
each time.

On Monday, a 7.5 ton flat bed with a hiab drove up the road, smashed the
front windows, put a chain through and lifted by the roof on top of a Polo
on the back, crushed the car down with the hiab to keep it on, and drove
off.

I know this because a neighbour stood and watched it happen.... "I thought
it was the insurance company come to collect it" ......... Why? has there
been an accident? And she didn't take the reg no either.

I've checked the Council, and the DVLA and reported the theft to the Police,
no official body took it. But the Police have had reports of this sort of
thing happening and the driver claiming he's from the Council and it's going
for crushing because it's untaxed. I can't find it anywhere, and to be
honest, I'm not sure that I want to see it again.

I'm gutted, swinging between feeling very sorry for myself and utter rage.

Just watch anything that may be sitting near the road untaxed, there was
nothing wrong with the car, no damage or even dirt.

 

Hi,

I get it.

Strange it happens. Here, in France, cars which have slightly not run for a
while invoke a procedure : cops try to find the owner (through plate
number), then control again the car still hasn't moved, then calls a
scrapyard who comes with a truck and the owner. Then, the owner has to make
the choice : 1/ He pays the bill for wreck aborting (something like £1k), 2/
he pays for the car breaker's journey (+/-£100). They often take the 2nd
choice, and the breaker goes away with the car.

I would have thought it was the same in UK.

 

What County do you live in?

 

Really sorry to hear about that - it makes me mad just thinking about it. I
have an old 305 GR in the front garden which is past it's best but doesn't
look too bad from the outside. A couple of weeks back, a guy knocked on the
front door and stated 'I'm in the area picking up cars and I just wondered I
could take that old Peugeot'. Frankly it just seemed really odd that a guy
would come up out of the blue and just think we'd want to get rid of it.
But to actually steal your car like that is disgusting. If it was my car,
I'd check every single breaker's in the area and keep on searching. Don't
give up - your car is most likely a wreck but you might be able to find the
people responsible. Of course, if you do find it, it probably wouldn't be a
wise idea to confront the perpertrators unless you have a decent-sized gang
of hoodlums at your disposal - but you can pass this information onto the
police. Whether they'd be able to act on it is another matter.

Chris.

 

Northamptonshire

 

My thoughts entirely, but I am honestly afraid to know. I don't know
whether I would be able to control my temper. I'd end up introuble with the
law or retaliation. Best I write it off in my mind.

 

I can't see anyone, round here anyway, taking it upon themsleves to steal
cars in that fashion.
I spent a whole morning phoning scrap yards to give away a K reg 605. Most
weren't interested.
You don't really say where the car was parked, was it actually on your
property?
Just because the council claim no knowledge of it, doesn't mean they aren't
behind it, it's not uncommon for them to make the odd mistake and casualy
forget it ;-) Or perhaps a neighbour set them on it??
I believe there is a notification procedure they're supposed to go through,
including posting a notice on the windscreen if they can't find the owner.
That wouldn't stop one of their gorillas getting the wrong car though.
I saw a prog the other week showing the cops starting to get tough on tax
evasion including crushing motors, but if it had a SORN and wasn't on the
road you shouldn't have had them wrecking your pride n joy.
Let us know if you find the answer, I hate an unresolved mystery.

Rick.

 

Sounds like you may have been a 'victim'of this:

http://smartnews.northamptonshire.gov.uk/index.asp?21224

 

"jel183 (UK)" wrote in message

Not at all, I did check and they compound the cars, without damage, or, as
in the case of mine, they would be sued for the damage. This tw*t put a
chain round the roof. Mine wasn't on their list anyway, and as the
registered owner, and local, would have been contacted first.

 

when you say "off the road" was it on your property, or just off the road
but still on council land etc ???
i think this is outragous either way, but i don't see how they have the
power to take it from your property SORN or not,
have you sent the log book off declaring the car scrapped....
personally if someone did that to my car i would smash the windows in the
truck that was towing it away....but i can get angry like that sometimes..
mind you, the level of scrap motors littering the streets can be an ugly
sight sometimes, something needs to be done, maybe not in this manner
though.

 

It was taken by thieving scum, nothing to do with the authorities, they had
no power, they stole it.

I agree with you over abandoned or vandalised vehicles, but this was in good
shiny undamaged condition.

 

Just thought I'd let you know of another instance of this - I read
"Practical Classics" magazine and one of the writters on there was restoring
an old "stacked headlight" Merc 280 - he had a donor car that he used for
spares parked (off road) and the exact same thing happened to that - guys in
a flatbed turned up, loaded it up and drove off.

I'm reasonably sure he's from the same part of the country as you too...

I wouldn't "write it off in my mind" - regardless of the cost to you, it is
blatant theft and I would stop at nothing to find out who'd done it - The
idea of going around all the breakers yards local to you is a good one -
they've obviously taken it for parts.

I'm angry just reading about it - christ knows how you're feeling...

Matt
--
1991 Peugeot 205 Roland Garros Cabriolet
TU3S 1.4 Carb
http://www.205rolandgarros.co.uk
2003 - Happy 20th Birthday Peugeot 205
SETI Team "Peugeot 205" Founder (and only!) Member
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/stats/team/team_152225.html
==

 

Angry enough to not want to be sure who did it mate.

If I had a focus for my anger, at a low point I may just be tempted to act
on it, and where might that end.

I know it's still theft, and would still annoy the arse off you, but, I
could understand someone mistaking a donor car, for an abandoned one, a
wheel off, or the interior full of other spare bits, but look at my car
http://mysite.freeserve.com/rude_racing Excuse the half-finished crap
website, I'm a total numpty at this keyboard.

Thanks for the sentiment anyway, it's appreciated.

 

Fair enough - It's one of those situations where the police are doing
"chocolate fireguard" impressions...

I would agree with you if it wasn't for the fact that the car was in a yard
in an industrial estate well away from the road - they people who took it
would have had to come looking...

Will take a look at lunch (got a web proxy at work so have to use it out of
working time!)

No probs...

Matt

 

Have you thought about going to the press, national or even local? What may
happen is that a bunch of people say me-too (AOL style) and the police are
forced to do something about it.

F.