Dumped car driving residents crazy
A car dumped on a small side street in Stoke has left some residents wondering about the council’s ‘‘common sense’’.
The neighbours are frustrated that the car was able to be moved when it was in the way of roadworks but now it’s taking up space in their street, the Nelson City Council is powerless to move the car.
The unattended Nissan Prairie was parked on Nayland Rd outside Broadgreen House for eight weeks before it was moved round the corner into Langbein St due to roadworks.
Langbein Street resident Jean Willis believed ‘‘the council is responsible for this one. ‘‘It’s in the nuisance category.’’ Willis said since the car ended up outside his house in October, he had called the council asking for it to be moved. Despite it already being moved once from Nayland Rd, the council said the vehicle was unable to be moved again as it was legally parked, warranted and registered.
‘‘They basically said they couldn’t do anything.’’
The car’s warrant ran out in early December and its registration expired on December 10. The residents hoped the car would be taken away soon but that wouldn’t explain why the dumped car was moved from Nayland St to outside their houses.
Langbein St is a popular thoroughfare for motorists driving off Nayland Rd and onto Devon St.
The car was parked legally but residents considered it a hazard and ‘‘an obstruction in a narrow street.’’
Willis was also ‘‘peeved off’’ that the car was parked in the way of an art project he was working on.
He had undertaken a personal photographic project, photographing the Broadgreen rose gardens from the same angle every day for a year.
‘‘That’s stuffed that up.’’ Residents presumed the car belonged to tourists who couldn’t sell it.
Langbein St resident and volunteer at Broadgreen House Janette Dimery said the car was noted in their ‘‘day book’’ on August 29 as being on Nayland Rd outside Broadgeen for a ‘‘fortnight’’.
The next time the car was brought to Dimery’s attention was more than a month later when she saw it pull up opposite her house on a trailer on October 7.
‘‘It was a bit funny.’’
The vehicle has been there ever since, much to the residents annoyance.
Dimery also called the council and received the same response Willis did, that the car couldn’t be moved while it was registered.
She said it was a ‘‘nuisance’’ as it was in the way when she backed out of her drive.
Nelson City Council communi- cations manager Paul Shattock said since the car’s WOF expired on November 14 and the licence expired on December 10, they could now treat the vehicle as abandoned.
Procedures from this point included sending letters to the registered owner and to properties near the parked car. If no response was received within 10 days, it would be towed.
Shattock said they would store the vehicle for 30 days and advertise their intention to dispose of the car twice before that can be done.
The residents were hoping to have the car gone by Christmas but it looks like it may be overstaying its welcome until after Santa’s visit.