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 ?

The person who came in had a uniform with the logo of the borough and same on the van she came in with . So I know for sure she came in from the borough .

No lanyard?

Why are some people on here so determined to pretend racist things aren't racist?

It's like a weird twilight zone sometimes!

Saying OPs husband must be doing something illegal if they can afford a house is obviously racist.

I have one account 🙄 . I don’t know what you are on about . I am 100% Black African . I am not from West Indies . You have been trolling on and on to get a reaction and attention @ATenShun like your name . You are not being forced to be here or contribute. My question still remains should I call the borough yes or no . God bless

That is shocking! I would definitely be ringing the council to ask why they sent someone out to ask about a car on your own driveway! That is weird. Tell them that you think whoever made the vexatious complaint may have had racially motivated reasons for doing so. They likely can’t and won’t tell you who made it but you will have a record of reporting it.

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Surely anyone can report a car as abandoned, most people do not know if a car is taxed nowadays as there is no tax disc. Usually the council put a note on it giving the owner a month (or whatever) to get in touch or it will be towed.

That said a neighbour reporting a car that has only been outside a few days is a bit OTT at the very least.

This is one of very few sensible posts on this thread. And i agree, you can try but probably won't get very far. Keep a record it for yourself. Don't act for now, but if anything similar happens with neighbour(s) (and it may be others, who are also racist, but less overt) monitoring or reporting you and your family, I would start to look into malicious complaints.

The efforts to deny your experience here are bizarre - why would you make it up, have multiple accounts, dare to write in a way that doesn't conform to how people should write (I can't work out if the accusation or being american is worse than being black and experienceing racism or worse than making things up on Mumsnet - but apparently it's alllll wrong)?

I am sorry this happended to you in life and on here. It's exhausting, vexing and boring to have to deal with the insideous and persistent crap when you are just trying to live your life. As a PP said mentioning (justifiable) experience of racism is somehow more awful than actually being racist. But the repeat deniers show us exactly who they are.

Ugh quote function didn't work. And now I can't find it.

I always see MN as a place where posts are largely taken at face value and OPs are advised based on their experiences, as expressed in the OP...

But mention racism and a different set of fuckers appear 😢. Every damn time.

@M2BANTRIM , you can make a request as advised above.
As for the insinuations about your family, you can confront those head on if you ever get a chance to speak to the ignorant ass. Or you could ignore and let the twats stew in their own bitterness.

This one!

It certainly sounds like your neighbour is a nasty racist. But I doubt the council will tell you who reported the car. If you have any more trouble with the neighbour, do report it though.

If the car is legally parked and MOT and tax are up to date, I'm amazed that the local council came out, are you in the UK? I doubt they will tell you who reported it.

Exactly. And accusing someone of sock puppetry is not on.

I don't doubt your post at all OP I'm just wondering why the neighbour would do this because all that has happened is you have had 5 minutes of your time wasted by someone coming out to check and seeing it's not an abandoned car and then leaving again and that only makes the neighbour look like a right twat. If it was abandoned though I'm struggling to see what impact it would have on you anyway because you wouldn't personally get any shit for someone abandoning a car that has got nothing to do with you. As I said I don't doubt that you experience racism and I'm not saying this didn't happen, I'm just wondering what the neighbour was hoping to achieve because it seems like a pretty pointless thing to do especially as it was on your property. Unless it was someone else who genuinely thought it was an abandoned vehicle and reported it then went about their day but why would anyone just assume it was abandoned when it's on someone's property.

Between the gossip and the visits from the authorities, they're probably hoping to drive the OP and her 'criminal gang' out of their nice upstanding neighbourhood.

Rationality as reasonable people know it, plays a small role in matters of racism.

If I told you my neighbour had cameras inside and outside his house and TV screens to watch and listen to every movement and sound we made would you believe me? My partner is black and I am white sometimes the unbelievable is the truth. We have a new neighbour he bought the house from him and he was telling us how creepy he was. There is holes in the walls where he had his TV screens. He wanted to control us and make us paranoid and it did he was unhinged.

We live in a predominantly white area and what we have had to put up with from most of our neighbours is ridiculous. Our next move is Birmingham where there's culture.

@ThatRareUmberJoker why would I not believe you? Your story is awful, and not related to my post. I haven't said or suggested OPs neighbour isn't racist. But based on OPs posts (before changing it to say the car was on her private property, not just parked outside the house), there was nothing to suggest the neighbour had made this report to be racist as OP specified that the neighbour did not know the car belongs to her cousin.

In answer to your question on whether or not you should call, what would you gain from the phonecall? What outcome do you think it would give you? I don't think there is any gain to be had, regardless of what is said on the call. So, why waste your energy?

Hugely disappointing responses from some posters on here - but this is the political climate we live in today.

@M2BANTRIM Sorry you've experienced this.

This one is tricky. You could do a subject access request and find out all, get a fuller understanding of what you are dealing with in your neighbour, and potentially pursue a racial discrimination claim - however, in doing so you will be devoting headspace to this horrible bigot.

Or, you could just make a mental note that this is an individual to be avoided, and be particularly short and sharp with her in any future interaction.

You are probably worn down by the adversity but remember to have pride and confidence in yourself, achievements and socio-economic success.

Don't take the words of a bigoted narrow minded individual to heart simply because they happen to live near you. You're bigger than her - so much so that you don't even notice her. She's an ant. Microscopic. Irrelevant.

I'd definitely contact the council and get them to note the malicious/nasty racist element that you suspect is behind the call about the abandoned car. Even if it was abandoned, it's on your private land so nothing to do with the council. It sounds as though the call that was made was exaggerated to the point that they felt they needed to follow up.

In England I do not believe the Council will tell you who made the complaint. Usually complaints are kept anonymous to protect the complainant from neighbour disputes / revenge / etc.

No do not let it go.
especially if it is racially motivated these idiots need to be held accountable.

what a ridiculous woman. Sorry your neighbour is such a twat.

You won't get an answer from the borough, however you can say phone them and say that if it was Mrs X from next door that you would like it to be recorded against the anabdoned car report that she has been anti social to you and your husband. You can also ask for that report number. They don't have to give it but they might. To the people who cannot understand that the borough looked into this within a week... it's northern Ireland. They are not happy with abandoned cars, especially certain areas. Dear op, if you are in certain areas it might not be racism, but religion ism... still not nice. Unfortunately some posters on mumsnet are quite xenophobic.