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        General >> Off Topic Subjects >> Good day, Bad day
        
(Message started by: Jonnycab on Jan 30^th, 2011, 2:39am)

Title: Good day, Bad day
Post by Jonnycab on Jan 30^th, 2011, 2:39am

For every positive, there is always a negative, as they say ;)

The day started fine, with a rebate from the taxman :D

Then some low-life opportunist/amateur thief/retard decided to vandalise my Scorp overnight...obviously in a vain attempt to access the car by smashing the rear light bar, thinking that might give him access to the boot lock ::)

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i101/jonnycab/P1290043.jpg

While making a few enquiries for a new light bar, I find a private seller locally who (unfortunately, sold the lights recently) just happened to have a real nice condition facelift interior (front seats airbagged), that he wants off his hands for £40 8) (my drivers seat has collapsed & a really fat guy broke the front passenger seat when he fell into it a few weeks ago)....& for another tenner he chucks in a 2.3 alternator, starter motor & expansion tank....happy days :D

I'm starting to think that I'm not so unlucky after all ;)

P.S....I phoned the local police & they are sending an officer 'round tomorrow lunchtime (Sunday) to take a look at the damage...something to do with the local neighbourhood watch initiative.

I'd imagine that he/she will concur with my theory as to how the rear light bar came to be in that condition...attempted break-in by a retard with a hammer :P .... >:(

Title: Re: Good day, Bad day
Post by PJDavis on Jan 30^th, 2011, 12:00pm

I would find it very hard to stop kicking the effluent out of someone if I caught them vandalising any car! I can never understand the likes that try to steal others property, or vandalise other peoples cars.

Well-done to you for finding the bits you need, and lucky with the alternator and seats.

Peter

Title: Re: Good day, Bad day
Post by gozz on Jan 30^th, 2011, 2:36pm

JC.
Commiserations re the illiterate cretinous anal pain,those sods lead a charmed life,we have had a spate of drilled fuel tanks in the village,I think they prefer the plastic variety though >:(.
You must send me a plain brown envelope containing the secrets of obtaining money from HMRC,they've just about skinned me again ;D
GOZZ.

Title: Re: Good day, Bad day
Post by Highlander on Jan 30^th, 2011, 6:53pm

on 01/30/11 at 02:39:40, Jonnycab wrote:

obviously in a vain attempt to access the car by smashing the rear light bar, thinking that might give him access to the boot lock

It DOES!! ;D

if you can get the rear light bar off theres a small round hole in the dead centre of the boot that lets you insert a screwdriver and pop the boot lever.... you were lucky ;)

Title: Re: Good day, Bad day
Post by Jonnycab on Jan 30^th, 2011, 8:30pm

on 01/30/11 at 18:53:02, Highlander wrote:

It DOES!! ;D

if you can get the rear light bar off theres a small round hole in the dead centre of the boot that lets you insert a screwdriver and pop the boot lever.... you were lucky ;)

Shhhhh....he might read this & come back to finish the job ;)

Title: Re: Good day, Bad day
Post by gozz on Jan 30^th, 2011, 11:00pm

on 01/30/11 at 20:30:21, Jonnycab wrote:

Shhhhh....he might read this & come back to finish the job ;)

It must have been a Scorpio owner,that narrows the search to easy apprehension ;)
GOZZ.

Title: Re: Good day, Bad day
Post by Jonnycab on Jan 31^st, 2011, 1:10am

on 01/30/11 at 14:36:56, gozz wrote:

You must send me a plain brown envelope containing the secrets of obtaining money from HMRC,they've just about skinned me again ;D
GOZZ.

For the last 10 years I've used an accountant & never had a rebate. This year, to save a bit of money, (accountancy fees keep going up) I decided to sack my accountant & do my own self assessment online.

I couldn't believe how easy it was & how instantly they worked out how much tax I had to pay. Anyway, without going into too much detail, it turns out that they owed me more than I owed them ::)

That really doesn't say alot for my old accountant ???...for a while now I've been wondering whether I've been paying too much tax, as some years net profit have been down on the previous year. But I still seemed to pay more than I thought I should & then more 'on account'.

I intend to ring HMRC to find out if there were any other rebates due for me in any previous years that I didn't receive & possibly my old accountant did receive (on my behalf) & pocketed it without telling me :-/

I dunno though, maybe I'm just getting paranoid ?....got to admit, 09/10 was a bad year & profits were well down & expenses were well up. So maybe I would have got the rebate anyway if I was still using that accountant :)

We shall see ;)

Title: Re: Good day, Bad day
Post by Jonnycab on Jan 31^st, 2011, 1:54am

Local plod came 'round at lunchtime to view the damage & tended to agree with me that, because there was no damage to the bumper or boot, then it was most likely a case of criminal damage/attempted break in.

They said it was strange because this particular area never really suffers from much crime (copper said he'd never been called to this road before).

I suppose though, with this housing estate being approx 15 years old, then alot of the small (innocent) children of that time have now grown into teenage urchins (na'at ah meen bruv) with not alot to do apart from hang around outside the local Tesco extra & try to look intimidating ::)....my personal observations ;)

Had a phone call a couple of hours later from a very nice sounding WPC, saying she was the local foot patrol for this area & although she doesn't really come to this road very often, she will now make it part of her route. She seemed concerned that although this area is pretty 'quiet' as far as reported crime is concerned, it may be becoming an easy target area for thieves (due to lack of police patrols ? :-/)......

........Finally getting some money's worth out of all that council tax I pay ;)

Title: Re: Good day, Bad day
Post by Mike H on Jan 31^st, 2011, 3:49pm

This is all very well and good, but is there actually anything in the boot worth nicking?

Was there a badge or logo at all in the centre of that plastic? Might just have been vandalism, extraordinary sometimes what attracts these types.

BTW I went self assessment years ago after the accountant's fee went up to £320 a pop, (started as £50); AND, although I'd give them all the bumf in April they still sit on it until the last possible minute! So if you're owed any tax back you don't get it 'til six months later. >:(

Title: Re: Good day, Bad day
Post by Jonnycab on Feb 2^nd, 2011, 12:52am

There was no 'Scorpio' badge on the light bar, never has been for some reason :-/....so they weren't trying to nick that. Only stuff in the boot is a box with a few essentials like oil, water, air freshener, rags, WD40 etc....& a fire extinguisher.
So nothing worth nicking really.....but they didn't know that, they might have been stupid enough to think I kept my takings in there or something...who knows ? ::)

Could have been just plain vandalism...but why my car & no-one elses in the area. The police said this seems to be an isolated incident.
A disgruntled neighbour maybe ?....can't think I've annoyed any neighbours (well not recently ;D). Besides I went round knocking on doors to see if anyone knew or heard anything, but no-one had. Even spoke to the local neighbourhood watch guy (who lives right opposite to where I park my car) & he never heard anything :(

If it was a case of a vehicle with a towball backing into it, then it would have to be a very high towball, be small enough & stick out far enough to only break the light & not cause any damage to the bumper or boot.

Heres a close up pic, judge for yourselves....

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i101/jonnycab/P1290044.jpg

If anyone would like to try an experiment by smashing their rear light with a hammer......Then fit another light & back into it with something with a towball that is between 25" to 29" (bottom to top) above the ground (light bar is 5" in height) & compare the two breakages, then I'd be very interested to see the the results ;)

Title: Re: Good day, Bad day
Post by Toriitom on Feb 2^nd, 2011, 4:06pm

on 01/31/11 at 01:54:33, Jonnycab wrote:

Local plod came 'round at lunchtime to view the damage & tended to agree with me that, because there was no damage to the bumper or boot, then it was most likely a case of criminal damage/attempted break in.

They said it was strange because this particular area never really suffers from much crime (copper said he'd never been called to this road before).

I suppose though, with this housing estate being approx 15 years old, then alot of the small (innocent) children of that time have now grown into teenage urchins (na'at ah meen bruv) with not alot to do apart from hang around outside the local Tesco extra & try to look intimidating Roll Eyes....my personal observations Wink

Had a phone call a couple of hours later from a very nice sounding WPC, saying she was the local foot patrol for this area & although she doesn't really come to this road very often, she will now make it part of her route. She seemed concerned that although this area is pretty 'quiet' as far as reported crime is concerned, it may be becoming an easy target area for thieves (due to lack of police patrols ?

Enough said when she states that she rarely patrols that road. Maybe if they patrolled it more it would be a deterrent and this crime may not have happened.

I suppose that crime will now appear on the new police website and if there are any more the value of your house will deteriorate.

Tom

Title: Re: Good day, Bad day
Post by Mike H on Feb 11^th, 2011, 6:13pm

Next silly question ~ was there any bit(s) in the road?

Title: Re: Good day, Bad day
Post by Jonnycab on Feb 12^th, 2011, 2:53am

on 02/11/11 at 18:13:09, Mike H wrote:

Next silly question ~ was there any bit(s) in the road?

Yes....mainly in large shards.....but a couple of bits were missing, so I couldn't piece it all back together ::)

Title: Re: Good day, Bad day
Post by Mike H on Feb 14^th, 2011, 11:17am

Just wondered whether it happened somewhere else but you only noticed after you got home.

How does that happen? Bits missing? Magpies? ;D