Neighbours car parked in front of mums house caused a break-in

ThisIsWeird

paul2louise said:

Thanks for replies, Yes the car was not parked on her drive but outside the front of her house. Yes he was polite to ask to park there. She used to have 2 cars and her partner passed away so didnt need the space at the front so the neighbour asked could he parked there. I think he doesnt park his car outside his house because he is on a busier road and she lives on a cul de sac just off this road.Yes there are assumptions but the police spent over 2 hours with my mum and neighbour and explained to them that they had strong feeling that it was the gang they were chasing in the area who were stealing the Golf cars. They couldnt get enough details from the CCTV unfortunately as they were hooded and its was dark but there were several of them. 

It is perfectly reasonable, then, for your mum to suggest they no longer park there. By the sounds of it, she clearly cannot force them to not do so, but I'd hope they'd be understanding; having random makes of car parking there would be less 'enticing' for perps, I guess.

If the perps were on the look-out for Golfs, then it would make sense that seeing one in the exact same place every day would lead them to suspect your mum was the hot-hatcher.

I hope she soon finds peace and calm in her house again.

sammyjammy

diystarter7 said:

Hi OP
Sorry to hear about the bad news. I hope mum is over this soon.
I'm sorry that some of the posts seem harsh.
Look at it like this, it can happen to anyone.
Therefore, may I suggest an intruder alarm that will be utilised and a Ring security type cam.
A determined crook or someone on drugs may still break in but the noise will make them run
Crroks often pick on property that is not alarmed so an alarm will help.

Take care

Poor form to apologise for other peoples posts when there is nothing harsh about them!

sammyjammy

So have you now asked neighbour not to park outside her house?  Its likely that someone else will take the opportunity to park there so if she thinks it was a factor she perhaps needs to look at further security measures.

SadieO

ThisIsWeird said:

paul2louise said:

Thanks for replies, Yes the car was not parked on her drive but outside the front of her house. Yes he was polite to ask to park there. She used to have 2 cars and her partner passed away so didnt need the space at the front so the neighbour asked could he parked there. I think he doesnt park his car outside his house because he is on a busier road and she lives on a cul de sac just off this road.Yes there are assumptions but the police spent over 2 hours with my mum and neighbour and explained to them that they had strong feeling that it was the gang they were chasing in the area who were stealing the Golf cars. They couldnt get enough details from the CCTV unfortunately as they were hooded and its was dark but there were several of them. 

It is perfectly reasonable, then, for your mum to suggest they no longer park there.

Is it though? What if someone else with a car that is desirable to the next lot of scumbags comes along and parks there, as anyone is entitled to do on a public road? 

If a stranger had parked there, would mum be trying to find out who they were, in order to pin some responsibility for the break-in onto them? 

OP, I'm sorry that your mum (and the other victims) went through that but I think it is inappropriate to claim (as per your post title) that the neighbour "caused" this.

EssexHebridean

paul2louise said:

MorningcoffeeIV said:

She should probably not let him park there again, if it's her space/driveway.

Maybe consider some CCTV if burglary is common in the area.

She may be able to claim on her home insurance, but the excess may not make it worthwhile.

yes she worked out she would have to claim for contents on the security fittings and buildings for the locks and door so she just paid it all out. The neighbour had a camera directed at his car and he said he saw the group and her security light coming on and off which is why they broke it. He also said he could see them climbing on her conservatory roof. He aslo said to her that if they had got in they would have forced her to tell them where the keys were. He was upsetting my mum a lot. 

If that had been my Mum then a quiet word would have been had with said neighbour pointing out how unnecessary that was, and indicating that we would be extremely unhappy if anything of that nature was said to her in the future. Absolutely no need for him to frighten her like that IMO, and also very likely complete nonsense - they’d have been hoping nobody woke up to start with! 

One good point out of this - NEVER leave your keys anywhere other than nearby you in the room you sleep in overnight, and never leave car keys in an unattended property either. 

ic

As long as the neighbour has valid tax, MOT and insurance, he is quite at liberty to park anywhere on public roads, as long as it respects any parking restrictions, doesn't cause a nuisance to pedestrians or other road users, or block access to properties.  It's upsetting having a break in (I had one last year), but it happens - thankfully insurance is in place to pick up the pieces.  Don't seek to blame an innocent neighbour, and worse still expect them to cover the insurance excess!

(As for the police opinion, it is just that - they don't know they were after the car.  Until they catch them and get a confession, they don't know what they were after.)

deannagone

other than advice to put an alarm in, I don't think any of the advice is actually going to help the OP's mum or the OP feel safer and more calm.  In fact, probably the opposite.  I'd word any comments very differently.  May have been well intentioned but kindof lacking in empathy.

The OP and his mother are the victims of a crime, not a perpetrator of a crime. \One would think otherwise from the tone of the reply above.

diystarter7

Hi OP
Please ignore the very risky advice of keeping keys in the room you sleep in as I've seen tv shows and met a few people years ago where the intruder had to come to the bedroom to get the keys and also entered kids rooms looking for keys.  

Have them on the stairs, out of sight of the letterbox/windows  etc etcand if anyone is unfortunate enough to have an intruder that wants to take the car, they will pick them up on the stairs and go away. Some may disagree but most people would not want to see an intruder in their bedroom and if they want the car, they will come in to get keys. Having a good deterrent, stickers advertising your alarms etc will turn away 99% of crims

As per my post, keep them out of sight from windows, letterboxes etc but the last thing I'd want is waking up to an intruder standing next to my bed.

When people are asleep, break-ins are rare but do happen. Cars with keyless starts, these days they crooks dont come inside, but keep keeps in a safety, antitheft box/pouch etc and out of sight

When were broken into years ago as per my previous post it was about 4, 43.0 as light outside and warm, thank God for the alarm and since that day, we've left the keys on the side of the stairs halfway up out of sight where they can be seen from the outside or via the letterbox etc

As I said before, consult the crime prevention officer for peace of mind and tips

An alarm will keep most away and when it goes off the alarm will drive almost 100% of the crims away so a good alarm that is utilised is the way forward. We never go to bed without turning the alarm on even though we live in a pretty safe area,, right at the top of the close. If you have an alarm, use it is what I say or get one.

As I said and I retiterate the OP/family are victims, next door is a bystander and the crims have appeared to got away with it, The only person/s you can blame is those that tried to break in

Thanks

 ..

jonnydeppiwish!

Really confused as to why you think the car owner should pay towards the damage. The road is a public road and it’s not up to your mum to say if someone can park on the road.

Get an alarm installed for your mum’s safety.

BobT36

"They failed to get into her house as she has clips on the door on the inside"
What sort of "clips"? Clearly they were pretty good.