Neighbour reported my cousin’s car as abandoned

[M2BANTRIM]

Hi y’all . So a cousin of mine went to Spain last week and she left her car legally parked outside my house . This morning I had someone come in from our local borough to say that the car was abandoned. I was so shocked and lost for words . The lady who came in was just doing her job and I mentioned it was my cousin’s car and that she is on holiday . So I know for sure it was my neighbour who reported as she has never taken a liking to us . I am black by the way and she cannot fathom that I am a homeowner in the neighbourhood she is in and she already told other neighbours that she suspected that my husband must be 'doing something illegal to afford that house and car '. Will I be unreasonable to call the borough and ask who made the call or I should let it go ?

Things are very different in NI yes. I've lived in both NI and England, and the councils in England are awful.

This. We've a car on our road - road tax ran out in 2020, MOT ran out in 2021. Got 4 flat tyres and weeds growing out of it. But council aren't interested and repeated reports from residents and parish council don't get any response.

If a council official has actually come out to look at it, I'd venture a guess that road tax, MOT or insurance has expired - they're really not going to waste their time on anything that's actually legally on the road. It's far easier for them to check online and stay in their office than to come out and look!

Just reading the thread. Point me out towards any actual racist incident. If there is none, then any claim of racism does a disservice to genuine racist incidents.

I agree wholeheartedly. The powers that be can barely keep up with the untaxed uninsured cars driving about without worrying about parked ones.

Buy the shittist oldest cheapest caravan and park it in the space outside their house

@bergamotorange I totally agree with you. Weird for PO to vehemently question whether OP has had racially motivated attacks, be they verbal or physical.

I find OP's thread perfectly easy to follow and understand. It seems very plausible. And yes people do use Americanisms in language! Not the point of the thread!

This happened to my now husband’s car when we first got together. He worked away a lot and there was one particular stint of around 3 weeks. The car was parked legally etc. but it was reported as abandoned. There was a car abandoned on our street once though, that got towed.

@Rarebitten that "sigh" comment is one of the nastiest things I've seen on MN.

It's racist by the fact the car was parked on OP's property and reported. If it had been parked on another neighbour's property the likelihood is that the car would not have been reported.

Can y'all stop insinuating that racism doesn't exist? Please.

You have the right to ask the council if you want to. But I doubt they will tell you who reported it due to confidentiality.

@ATenShun what you seem to have a problem with is the very possibility of it being racially motivated.

When put into context with what said neighbour has said previously about OP and her DH, it is a very great possibility that it was, indeed, racially motivated.

Without that comment, OP would not be as sure.

I doubt the council would agree to tell you who reported it.

Anyway, you know that it was your neighbour, you don't really need it confirmed.

Also, your neighbour is probably both racist and nasty. I would steer very well clear of her. Because I don't really see what else you can do.

If you think it's going along the lines of harassment, then you can keep a log of what has happened - dates, times, details etc etc and if it ever gets to the stage where it needs reporting, this will serve as evidence. I'd make a written note of what happened with the car.

As they say in N Ireland catch yerself on!

Even more remarkable thst they came and paid you a visit then. And no, they won't confirm who reported it.

Very odd, I have reported an actually abandoned car on a public road before and had no response
How did this lady get your number? A search of the numberplate would have brought up the car owners details surely?

Mine did.

I used to drive to a lay by. Got there at 7.30 am. Got bike out of the back and cycle the rest of the way to work. Left work at 5.00, cycle back to car.

To 9-5 council workers it looked like car was abandoned. (Car in more or less the same spot every day.)

Found official note on car threatening to have it towed.

Called council all sorted and I left an explanatory not in window every day.

I wasn't going to comment until I saw this, I'm in NI and I agree it's likely racially motivated sadly. You can call but I highly doubt they will tell you anything and if you mention you suspect it's been prompted by racism they will shut you down fast and definitely not give you any information. Call and see how far you get, if they tell you or it becomes obvious they are not going to tell you who called then explain why you want to know and get them to register that a "suspected" malicious complaint has been lodged against you/your house so if anything else happens it's recorded and can be shown to be part of a pattern given at this stage you've zero proof it's this neighbour and the neighbour has plausible deniability that they were being a good citizen not a malicious racist arsehole

You can’t do that now. You can only use one username per thread.

Did you read the timeline ? The car was left last week Thursday. The person from the borough came in today ! Read the original post first then comment. Dont be in a hurry just to put your word in please , respectfully!!!

No you’re not

OK then

Ring up the council and say you’ve seen vermin on her property - rat on a rat and all that!

Presumably you could if you have two different accounts with different email addresses.