Problem with cyclists

Tip_Top_Tony

Hi everyone
I am have Problem with cyclists in my street, well its the children to be fair they age from 3-15 and all use the path to cycle on. My car keeps getting scratched and dinted by them. Sometimes there are as many as 9 out at once ( very hectic) we also have been hit 3 times by careless cycling as we leave our property.
We do have CCTV cameras fitted and I have told their parents and they said tough its children playing. Just had the car repaired at a cost of £700 and they have scratched it again, right down to the metal :mad:
What can I do ?

Strider590

Tell em to go play by their parents cars!!!!

It's amazing how parents don't seem to care as long as they're not the ones being inconvenienced :mad:

When I was with the ex, my last car got used as a "base" by 2 kids from up the road (i had no idea), next thing I know there's a huge noise outside and I flick the curtain open just in time to see half a house brick land on the bonnet of my car :mad:

It's not JUST kids playing (I HATE THAT EXCUSE), I didn't behave that way when I was that age, I knew if I damaged anything i'd get a good lamping and now at the age of 30 im sure the older folk around here will say very much the same thing!!!

pitkin2020

I agree with strider, parents need to take responsibility of their kids. I wouldn't let mine anywhere near your car if it got damaged.
Have you tried parking on the pavement, effectively blocking them from coming down the pavement??

Tip_Top_Tony

We tell them on a daily basis, go play down your end of the street but they just give a load of cheek back and laugh at you. My wife is 6 months pregnant and one of the children cycled into her, luckily she didn't fall. I told the child's mum and she said they are not doing any thing wrong just playing, oh nd dont get me started on ball games in the street...

Strider590

There's another possible that I considered, the use of a high frequency high gain oscillator with a single speaker. Transmit a frequency that only children can hear, it's not painful, but so irritating and impossible to pin point that they soon give up and leave the area. Apparently it's highly effective and being used on shops etc in area's of the country where youth's are a problem.
Wouldn't be too hard to set up I reckon

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1578387/Sonic-youth-deterrent-should-be-banned.html

Should be encouraged more like

I'm pretty sure I could knock one up from spare parts i've got lying about...... Unfortunately i've got too many projects on the go and can't focus on yet another at the moment.

Yorkie1

It's called a mosquito ... but don't use it after your baby is born or it will upset them too! (and any children trying to sleep in neighbouring houses)

dandelionclock30

Get rid of the car and buy a bike.If you cant beat em join em!

Moneymaker

If the footway outside your house belonged to you, you could install a metal grid, made of metal strips arranged lengthways and of such a distance apart that they allowed a bicycle tyre to pass through. (I don't know whether this would be legal, even if you erected a warning sign, since children could not be expected to read such a sign.)

Although riding on a footway is technically illegal, the law can't be enforced for children younger than 10 years (and tricky even for older children with no income). There doesn't appear to be a way to refer the responsibility to the parents.

You could go through the process of sending letters to the parents, warning, threatening, cajoling etc. but it would be a waste of time. I know what I would do (I have friends in low places) but I can't discuss it here! So, basically, I think your best bet is to move house.

sequence

Are you parking part on the pavement or on the road ?

jonnyd281

Sue the parents for the damage ... not sure if it's possible, and one of the legal eagles might correct me, but if you can prove it's thier kids, you could spend the money for a small claims court case.

Tucker

They are kids and kids ride bikes on their street. You probably did the same.

Park your car on your own property and not the public highway! Problem solved. If you don't have that facility perhaps you chose the wrong house.

Sorry, but too many people don't consider their own parking needs properly these days and rely on the public road for parking.