To think you'd just throw the sodding ball back

[GraysAnalogy]

attached is a post from our local police force on twitter

for those who can't see picture

^An incident was reported on Tuesday where a child had kicked a ball which unfortunately landed in a neighbour’s garden. The neighbour refused to return the ball to the child and the matter escalated as the child’s parents became involved. A PCSO visited the address to try and retrieve the ball but the neighbour still refused to return it. This resulted in a police officer having to attend to ensure the ball was returned to it’s rightful owner!
With the summer holidays fast approaching, there will be a lot more children playing out and we would ask that whilst residents should not have to tolerate anti-social behaviour, a common sense approach is applied to each situation! A simple conversation between adults could have easily resolved this matter.
As we are sure you are aware, police resources are not as readily available as they once were due to Government cutbacks and whilst we endeavour to ensure the safety of the community we serve, we also need a little a assistance in more minor incidents!^

oh balls i attached the wrong thing:

this is it

Getting the police involved is slightly ott over a ball - but I loathe getting balls in the garden, used to have hundreds when we lived in the uk, and once took several black bin bags full back to one family. But no, I don't throw balls back, if your garden is that small, or your kids so energetic, go to a park and play there

S

A simple conversation between adults could have easily resolved this matter.

If that is indeed the case then yes, it was daft to make a massive deal of it.

However, who knows which party was being unreasonable? Was the man so sick of footballs hitting his windows that he reached the end of his tether, for eg.? Maybe he has spoken to the parents about it a hundred times before.

Either a total knob or massive back story.

I read the first attachment before your post, and became alarmed that perhaps the ball referred to was a gonad!

Depends on how often the ball is going over. If it's once in a blue moon then it shouldn't be too much hardship to throw it back when they realise it's out there. However, if it's everyday, several times a day, then it becomes annoying and intrusive. In the latter case I agree with a pp take them to the park.

Agree getting the police involved seems a little bit OTT but maybe the person whose garden the ball was in was at the end of their tether.

Lapsed oh that ones from another thing altogether, although interesting

(involved a medical student talking about how she harnesses her hatred for men in ever 'weiner cut she does' when performing circumcision. That was her universities response)

I throw balls back when I find them. But there's usually loads of them because next door's kids are really annoying and without boundaries extremely energetic so I only do a trawl for them once a week, I'd be out there all the time if I kept watch for them. If they knock to ask for it back I obviously retrieve and return it immediately, I'm not horrible.