General Discussion
criminal damage
I thought that the residents of Dawlish should know about an incident that occurred over the weekend in a residential road close to the centre of Dawlish. I was down for the weekend and enjoyed my stay, the carnival, etc., but this was then spoilt by a mindless act of criminal damage on Sunday night by a Dawlish resident. At the end of the weekend I parked my car on the residential road of Colyton Close in order to collect something from a house around the corner. I was gone for a couple of minutes and the owner of the vehicle behind and in front moved both cars so there was only an inch between these cars and mine, making it impossible to move. After trying to find out whose car it was I was left with no option but to phone the police, who called the registered keeper and he came out to move the car. After he had moved one of the cars he then proceeded to key the side of my car. The damage will cost around £900 to be fixed. I have no idea why he did this. There were no signs or bays or restrictions on parking, and it concerns me that tourists vehicles are being damaged in such a way by someone who obviously should not be mixing with normal members of the public. This is the sort of behavior that you may stereotypically expect of a teenage boy but this man was at least in his forties. This is an incident that can really put people off an area and it is something that the police and locals should not allow to happen in Dawlish. The person concerned lives at * Colyton Close and the two cars that he owns or has access to the keys for are: * and *. [edited to remove personal info by webmaster]
I've had similar parking problems in Teignmouth so I sympathise to some extent; although I'm also very unhappy when cars (mostly local) block access to my driveway (not of course an issue in your case). Trouble is the local planning decisions, whereby more and more people are crammed into a tiny space; for a rural town many of us are living in greater population densities than inner London and there just isn't room for all those cars. The situation has really changed over the last three or four years. I hope you reported the keying incident to the police - I would be interested to hear of their response. Bardwell
Bardwell "hope you reported the keying incident to the police" I had a similar incident in The Strand (keying my car) I watched and knew the person who keyed my car outside Chrissies florist, instead of decking the guy I called the police from Chrissies shop and was intervewed the following day as was he in Teignmouth Police Station he denied it, I told the Police to view the CCTV in front of the Coop which can see up the Strand -does not pan automatically- to be told 14 days later that it was pointing into the front door of the Coop and not being operated that day at 12 noon. so much for £80.000 + of tax payers money.
I did indeed report it to the police - one of the main problems was that I phoned them when my car had been blocked in and no one would move it. They said that they would phone the registered keeper and tell him to move it but I said anyone who would block someone in like that was probably a little off-kilter and could well damage my car deliberately. I asked for an officer to come out instead but they ignored that, phoned him and of course he then keyed it. They are looking into it and have details and descriptions - the policeman on the night said he doubted anything would come of it but seeing as I saw the guy I'm certainly going to push it as far as possible!
I am pleased that you enjoyed your stay. It is sad that it should have been spoilt by this incident.
Unfortunately, this is the reality of Dawlish. Mindless and pathetic crimes like this don't go unheard of. I've lived here my whole life and it's deteriorating at high speed! I blame ignorance and boredom for these random assaults.
I think that those involved should be named and shamed... That is why these cretins get away with it coz they are not named... as for shame, they have none. Different story when it happens to them, which sadly it doesn't. Still if the sheep of this town just let it happen and don't push the police into action then what can we expect. Also agree with Dawlish man... If you hate Dawlish so much... leave, and the sooner the better... I'll help you pack.