Three vehicles abandoned outside my house! 1 car and 2 big vans. On a street which is very hard to park on anyway, they have been there 3 months. 2 of them have no MOT or Tax. DVLA and police haven't done anything. What things can I do, which are not illegal and which might sort it/cheer me up?

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datboifranco@reddit

First, check the reg for each on the DVLA site. If they are untaxed or SORN’d on a public road, you have to report them to the council-it’s their job to tow them. If they’re on your land, you’ll need to follow the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act and put a 28-day notice on them. Once the legal side is cleared, or if you can actually get the owners to sign them over, the easiest way to clear the whole lot is through a licensed network like . They handle cars and vans, and since they work with ATF-registered yards, you get a proper Certificate of Destruction for each. It’s the only way to make sure those VINs are officially wiped from the DVLA database so no more tax or fines come back to haunt anyone.

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irv81@reddit

We had this on our street with a van. Took a little while for them to react but after a few complaints the council eventually stuck a notice on it saying it would be removed if it wasn't claimed in a week, and a week and a half later the council came back along and took it away

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MegaMolehill@reddit

Report it to your local council.

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Loud_Narwhal7721@reddit

I recently did this and the vehicle was removed within 24h.

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Powerful-Goat-1287@reddit

It took nearly 48 hours for it to happen in deepest Sussex 😂 but this is the way to go 👍

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mark35435@reddit

If you break one of the windows they'll be gone much sooner

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Turbulent_Shoe_2446@reddit

We had two cars abandoned in our small street. I reported it to the DVLA regularly over a few months and eventually the cars were clamped then later removed.

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Majestic_Rhubarb_@reddit

The vehicles are a fire hazard, uninsured too, the council will remove them.

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Poison_Jaguar@reddit

Mention to the police that you have seen people using the cars as storage, bingo it's now drugs

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EpochRaine@reddit

Tell them a homeless person is living in their car. They will be there in a heartbeat to move them on. They will be extra quick if you happen to notice a "bladed instrument". Nothing gets a copper more worked up than a "homeless degenerate", that might be feeding themselves rat-on-a-stick.

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Majestic_Rhubarb_@reddit

ha ha … no they won’t … there is nothing they can do about someone sleeping rough in a car/van … especially if it’s parked on private land. Source: had a guy sleeping rough in a car on our development, police told me over the phone they know exactly who it is and no there is nothing they can do.

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To_a_Mouse@reddit

If they were on fire do you think the police would do anything about them?

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Worldly_Let6134@reddit

What about if you happen to notice kids mucking around with them? Seems they might have left a rag in the fuel filler.......

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Thin_Pin2863@reddit

Careful, I said a very similar comment a week ago and Reddit fired me a formal warning for "threatening violence" 🙄

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To_a_Mouse@reddit

Yeh, fair, tone can be easy to miss in a text comment sometimes.

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Worldly_Let6134@reddit

2kg of bird seed and around 1kg of blueberries, blackcurrants or blackberries per vehicle. Sprinkled all over the top, windscreen, bonnet and boot. Do this about 1 day in 3 for 2 or 3 weeks and they'll be buried under so much vile guano that the council will remove them as a health hazard. Or the owner will have a lot of cleaning to catch up with.

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Potential_Coast8072@reddit

Wobble them into the road and report a blocked highway

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Far_Kaleidoscope_102@reddit

If get a couple of mates and tow them down the street late at night

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mark35435@reddit

Stick them on double yellows, they'll be gone soon enough

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zonked282@reddit

My neighbour across the road has had a cherry picker parked on yellow lines for 7 years, nobody gives a fuck

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bacon_cake@reddit

It really is a postcode lottery. My local traffic enforcement department at the council are really helpful. We had some issues with a neighbour parking on double yellows and they always sent someone down the same day. One time the manager went on annual leave and called me the day he got back to ask if we'd had any more problems.

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Far_Kaleidoscope_102@reddit

Most cherry pickers have a universal key. I’d also get a couple of mates and move it down the road late at night.

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Wretched_Colin@reddit

Would he not hear it moving and come out with a baseball bat?

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Far_Kaleidoscope_102@reddit

That’s what the mates are for..have a game of rounders with 3 people.

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MostlyBoatsandBikes@reddit

Decorate the vehicles with various paraphernalia - just outside Oxford, an overturned car was left in the verge for months, it eventually acquired an estate agents sign, advertising it for rent or sale, it was decorated for Christmas…we were sad when it was removed. You could open the van doors and run an honesty shop, put some fruit and veg and take payments through PayPal or SumUp.

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Zeri-coaihnan@reddit

This is the way! Chapeau!

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No_Battle_6402@reddit

You can report abandoned vehicles online

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FloofyRaptor@reddit

Abandoned cars you report to the council and they deal with it, not sure why the police didn't tell you that, they should have a section on their webpage. We had an abandoned van on our street that was out of MOT and they took it away two days later.

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gigglesmcsdinosaur@reddit

Bird seed. Lots of bird seed. You get a nice nature area and they might end up with knackered paint and think about moving them.

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nofrillsjahmes@reddit

Just don’t worry about it

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ukbot-nicolabot@reddit

A top level comment (one that is not a reply) should be a good faith and genuine attempt to answer the question

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Kalisuperfloof@reddit

Council 7 day order

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HorrorAccomplished78@reddit

Inform your local authority. They can remove them.

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tightloops1971@reddit

Report to the council and don't feel bad about it, they were ignorant enough to dump their shit in the street by your house not theirs, plus the council by law cannot say who reported it.

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opaqueentity@reddit

See if a tow company would be willing to shift it. Some will oddly enough

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Extra-Sound-1714@reddit

Just to say the one with MOT and tax may not be abandoned. People are allowed to leave vehicles for months without driving them. May be in hospital or abroad for example and will drive it again.

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opaqueentity@reddit

Not in public roads

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Extra-Sound-1714@reddit

Why not?

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opaqueentity@reddit

Sorry I meant the other one :) And you are right up to different levels depending on the councils. Some you can basically have plants growing in them but pus them into another space and the council is done with that!

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SignNotInUse@reddit

The others need to go. If they're untaxed and no MOT and still wanted by the owner they need to be declared SORN and kept on private property.

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semorebunz@reddit

seems no one cares , i repeatedly reported no tax/mot car for months and it never got clamped or towed

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Beartato4772@reddit

Yep, a few people have got lucky in this thread but in my experience they completely ignore you.

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External-Piccolo-626@reddit

Using your finger draw a massive knob on them.

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pasithea2311@reddit

Keep reporting them to DVLA we had the same issue - a neighbour was using visitor parking spaces to park cars he was selling - No tax or MOT. I reported them daily - he must have had loads of reminders - but it stopped eventually

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Cunthbert@reddit

Can you give an anonymous tip off to tell the police that there’s something criminal about the cars? Maybe that they contain something illegal?

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Extra-Sound-1714@reddit

Don't lie to the police.

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Extra-Sound-1714@reddit

Thanks for award

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PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit

It is the responsibility of the local authority (and the National Park Authority if you live in one) to remove abandoned vehicles. If they have been there 3 months and have no tax or VED, that is a clear signal that they're likely abandoned. They may not get removed immediately as the authority ought normally to try and locate the owner and ask them to sort it out. It is possible that the owner(s) do do this and they tax and MOT them and park them back again. Sounds unlikely though. If they do have tax and MOT they can still be considered abandoned. Being parked in the same place for 3 months is one potential basis. If they've got flat tyres or are otherwise clearly unroadworthy, that's another potential sign. But yeah, contact the council and hope for the best.

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ForeverSalty9484@reddit

Paint em with flags. They will be gone in the morning.

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InformationOk3503@reddit

Particularly foreign flags. I'm sure they'd love a big french tricolour

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ForeverSalty9484@reddit

Or another tricolour?

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To_a_Mouse@reddit

You say that as if the French flag is the only tricolour flag

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ForeverSalty9484@reddit

There are many

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To_a_Mouse@reddit

Yes, and you were the one implying that suggesting there were many was silly

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ForeverSalty9484@reddit

In you're opinion. Which is youre,for you,and not to be thrust upon others. I simply made a comment to try and see how many tricolor flags folk knew about. So be happy with your opinion,hold it,cherish it,give it love. Then shove it up yer arce mate.

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To_a_Mouse@reddit

You seem nice

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Suspicious_Steak_696@reddit

The SAVE R KIDS drunks will be a long in no time to move them if they are sober enough

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ForeverSalty9484@reddit

Tell folk its an hmo?

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Dissidant@reddit

Yes, but be sure to wear a dinosaur costume when doing the deed 😀

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ForeverSalty9484@reddit

Report of dinosaurs arsoning around. ...

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Aggressive_Drop_1518@reddit

Keep reporting the no VED to DVLA and get others to do the same. [https://www.gov.uk/report-untaxed-vehicle](https://www.gov.uk/report-untaxed-vehicle) DVLA contract out the ticketing/clamping/lifting to a private company so you need to make it worth it for them, so take a walk around your local area trying to find more untaxed cars... Councils usually won't take no tax/MOT as abandoned, but flat tyres and damage does tick the box, so all you can do is hope the tyres go down on their own or someone else lets the tyres down etc. My council states: An abandoned vehicle will usually display visible signs that it has not moved for some time. For example, it might have: Weeds in or under the vehicle Mould or rubbish inside the vehicle Missing or flat tyres, or wheels Broken windows

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Effective_Topic_4728@reddit

I had a similar problem recently, but the DVLA won't do anything. They will only act (if they feel like it) when a car/van has no tax but a valid MOT. If it has neither, the DVLA aren't interested. Stupid, I know but it is on their website.

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Aggressive_Drop_1518@reddit

Odd, I've been successful (in so much as they've been yellow stickered and clamped and finally removed, although probably by owner) reporting a fleet of white vans dumped with no VED (and most also without MOT) around Bath, perhaps because we're closer to Swansea... I just ignored the "There’s a different way to report: a driving or insurance offence an abandoned vehicle a vehicle with no MOT" As took that as if it has VED but no MOT. Took persistence though.

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SignNotInUse@reddit

Try and find a no questions asked scrap man to take them.

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TheSecretIsMarmite@reddit

Report it to the council you pay your council tax to

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Used_Hand_700@reddit

Your local council is the right call here, as they're responsible for removing abandoned vehicles from public roads.

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who-gives-a@reddit

Get some mates, bounce them in to the middle of the street, blocking the street. They'll soon get shifted once the whole neighbourhood starts complaining.

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geeered@reddit

You can also get wheel dollies, both cheap ones that need a jack to lift the car onto and more expensive ones that are self-jacking and so quick and don't risk damage. I suspect probably not legal, however.

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MostlyBoatsandBikes@reddit

Paint slogans on the side… “I support Palestine Action” will be enough to have the vehicles removed in 3 hours and the former owners taken to Belmarsh.

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geeered@reddit

Or 'I support ISIS', though they haven't directly attacked the UK military recently like your suggestion has, so your suggestion probably is better, actually!,

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Stunning-Pudding-514@reddit

Here in Birmingham both the police/ council say it's the others responsibilty. It took a year of reporting to the DVLA every week about 3 cars on seperate occasions before they actually did anything.

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greenpowerman99@reddit

Leave notes on the windscreens offering to buy the car for scrap value. If you're lucky, you can buy them and scrap them. You might even make a small profit...

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Additional_Jaguar170@reddit

Call the council and say you can see something moving around in there.

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Character_State4109@reddit

Someone smashed my car window and reported it broken into. The police impounded it in hours!! /s

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Impressive_Field_262@reddit

roll them across the street then report them or leave it for your neighbours to report , they'll get lifted in no time

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armenianfink@reddit

Had this a few years ago, reported to the council and it was gone in a couple of weeks

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Extra-Sound-1714@reddit

Post on your towns Facebook group with a photo and number plate? Someone may just take them.

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EarthReal2196@reddit

Maybe burn it, then they will collect it.

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Top-Cat-a@reddit

As they are on the road, its the responsibility of the local council to sort it out.

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Snooker1471@reddit

I suppose it's area dependant. Where I am in south east kent if it's on the road without tax/mot and you inform the council they will come and stick a notice on it after about 2 weeks from you reporting it. If the notice is then ignored/not acted upon they will remove it within a month. The other route is filling in the online form at the DVLA - again probably area dependant but round here they DO come around in vans/cars with their wheel clamps which they put on the offending car and after a month or 2 they come and tow it away. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix. We had this for 6 months same deal no tax no mot done all of the above and it disappeared just before xmas lol.

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gord2002@reddit

Have you reported the banging coming from inside the boot? And there's a dodgy Firestick on the passenger seat

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ashww005@reddit

Get a can of spray paint

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Boboshady@reddit

Keep reporting it, it's all you can do. They're not technically abandoned, but try your luck with the council, anyway. They will be shifted eventually, because the registered keeper will be getting letters and fines about it. Also start pestering your local councillors and your MP - that's what they're for. Basically, make enough noise about them that someone ends up doing something about it just to shut you up. But then also do note that the person who has parked them there will not be too happy, even though they're in the wrong, so best to keep the general noise down and just report / make noise through official channels, otherwise you'll find those untaxed vehicles eventually gone, but a legally parked one left outside your house for the next 6 months.

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Zestyclose_Drive4060@reddit

Had the same issue. DVLA are useless although they finally got back to me and they proved to me the vehicles had been moved for a very short time (apparently they were using google maps which is interesting). I just kept and eye until they forgot to move them and they finally got towed.

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bareneth@reddit

Have you told the council?

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