Someone keeps putting dog shit on car

[lilraven]

Just that really. Someone has taken to smearing their dog shit on my car door handles and wing mirrors, it's happened 3 times now.

I'm guessing it's someone who objects to me parking (LEGALLY) on this particular road.

What can I do? Is this illegal/classed as criminal damage? Was thinking of fitting a camera of some kind in the car but I'm not very technologically advanced!

The garage will fit a dash cam for you. That's disgusting.

I know. I'm having murderous thoughts trust me. I think I know who it is but no proof. Don't want to spend out on a camera if proof won't do anything anyway! If I know they can be prosecuted for criminal damage then I will buy a camera.

Do you have a friend with a dash cam who's not busy? Better than having a dash cam in your car (though I cannot stress this enough: GET A DASH CAM! They're worth their weight in gold if they're ever needed) it would be better to have your friends car facing yours so you can actually see the culprit and hopefully even which house they've come from. You need dash cams with parking mode however. Ones that turn off when the car does are no good for catching vandals.

Even if you can't prosecute you can still embarrass them on social media

Criminal damage had to be permanent damage but its horribly antisocial and I'm sure police would have a word if you can identify an offender.

Awful!
I was going to say dash cam, mine sets off if there is any movement- ie someone bumping the car-and also has parking mode but DamonSalvatoresDinner suggestion is excellent. Or you could just borrow their camera and make sure it’s pointing towards your window/mirror and hope it catches them.

As disgusting as it is this is happening to you, you say you're parking legally but what sort of area are you parking in?
You may be parking in a residential area that has limited spaces already, I live close to a train station and people do it all the time to avoid paying for parking without thinking of the affect it has on the street. It doesn't excuse what they're doing but how long and how often do you leave your car there and for what purpose?

Dash cam! And keep posting here!

Whereabouts are you parking OP? Is it a residential area?

Yes it's a residential street with no parking restrictions. There are allocated spaces on this street for the houses as well as a stretch of road that isn't allocated to anyone.

Yes this might be where I am perhaps being unreasonable, it is 8 minutes walk from a station which is why I park there. I don't park there to avoid paying for a space closer to the station, as there are no spaces available closer to the station (or in the station car park) due to me needing to drop my DC's to nursery and school before I go to the station.

I don't get the impression that lots of other people are parking here for the day for the station as it isn't right next to the station, but I suppose they could be if they are arriving earlier than me I'm not seeing them. However I haven't seen dog shit on anyone else's car so far.

I used to have the same thing near a station, but it was aggressive notes not poo. I changed where I parked and it stopped. I know it's legal to park there but I found it wasn't worth the stress.

That is absolutely disgusting - who cares enough to do stuff like this?!

I hope you catch them - this kind of vigilante/anti-social behaviour isn't acceptable.

They may not like you parking there, but it is not illegal and, on balance, I think your reasons are fair (you aren’t just being cheeky to avoid paying elsewhere).

I also understand the point made by a pp that it isn’t worth the stress and you should just park somewhere else, as the simplest solution.

However, if you can be bothered and lucky enough to catch them on camera and report their anti-social behaviour, then I would. The friend with dash-cam is probably your best bet (although very complicated) to get an image of their face, or your own dash-cam pointed at your door. Have you taken photographs of all the previous incidents as well, so you can prove it is a repeated offence?

I hope you catch them. It is utterly vile behaviour and if you just park
elsewhere you let them win and they learn that this behaviour works. Their proper course of action should be to appeal to the council to make their whole street residents only parking, or install meters with permits for residents. Or move.

You said you suspect someone op, who do you suspect?

Make sure you tell the garage that it's on your doors so hopefully they can turn the camera the wrong way till you find it. Then yes, I would shame on social media. Also print out a picture of them doing it and leave it first on the inside of your window facing out ready for when they come back to do it again and see their own face leering back.

Perhaps a little note that also says it's clear that you have children in the car, that it's cruel and unsanitary to soil the car every day and if they have a problem with LEGAL parking they can contact the council for permit parking.

Hope you catch the fucker.

How disgusting. Contact the local PCSO. They should be able to advise you.

It's not illegal to avoid parking charges, if you can. What this person is doing is harassment, I would definitely go down the dash cam route and also photograph the mess and take it to the police. They will advise you and nat well keep an eye on that area.

Just don't park there and the problem is solved, tbh.

Honestly, I live near to a business park (which has expanded greatly since we moved there, with the planner's usual lack of car parking) and it really does cause difficulties getting around our estate. We've had to have parking restrictions enforced so they only park on one side of the road leaving us all room to move about! Yes they are parking legally but the restrictions were needed because they parked like idiots. Delivery drivers still complain and as residents, if we have workmen we have to park elsewhere ourselves so the workmen can use our drives to avoid the restrictions.

Yes, it's legal. But it can really inconvenience the people that live there.

How do you know/suspect who it is?

Although you have perfectly legitimate reasons to park there, the (presumably disgruntled) residents won't know this. Hence they may have limited patience or sympathy. doesnt excuse their appalling behaviour of course, but may explain it.

A note saying "dash cams now fitted due to vandalism" may be sufficient deterrent.

Does it really matter to posters who or how she suspects?

Even if it's because they object her parking there,it's still a disgusting thing to do!

Do you take a little kit of gloves and wetwipes with you nowadays?

take a loud hailer and shout loudly telling the world what a disgusting human is doing and that the neighbours should report them to the police for soiling a legally parked vehicle

fit a ridiculously super sensitive motion alarm and if it goes off for the rest of the day after somebody soils it that's their fault

get some kind of dashcam you can log in to watch remotely and also some alarm you can trigger (and switch off) remotely

fantasise wildly about all of the above then find somewhere else to park

Leave a note on your car saying if any more shit is found on it you will identify the culprit and shove it through their letterbox.

Leave a note on car saying if it happens again you will take the footage from the dash cam to the police. ( Even if there is no footage or dash cam just yet - it might be enough to deter them).