Back in a bit...

[Gob]

A couple were left "flabbergasted" after a student dumped his car on their drive and went home to China for the summer.



Tom and Julia Ebenezer found the black Citroen and a cactus outside their house in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion.
A note asked them to look after the vehicle and plant, adding "I will bring present from China".
Ms Ebenezer told BBC Radio Wales they could not move the car as he had not left the keys.

She told the Eleri Sion programme the car had been on their drive for three weeks and due to concerns about safety, Dyfed-Powys Police and Ceredigion council had been out.
Other neighbours are now concerned more students could try to park on their drives in order to avoid being fined by parking on roads for weeks on end.
"He's parked over our man hole, which could be quite serious," Ms Ebenezer said.
"The other issue is that if someone did something to the car and it went on fire, the vehicle is on private property and the police cannot do anything about it."

Ms Ebenezer said she was "flabbergasted" when she spotted the car and the cactus as they had only spoken to the student briefly a few times.
"It is quite a nice note, obviously thanking us, and he's going to bring us a present back from China," she said.
"He telephoned yesterday full of apologies, and would I please please accept his apologies, he's heartbroken in China of what he's done.
"Ok he's done wrong, I've accepted his apologies, but the main concern is to get the message out to the community what can happen to them."

I'd have sold it.

[dales]

It's a Citroen, Gob.

[Lord Jim]

"The other issue is that if someone did something to the car and it went on fire, the vehicle is on private property and the police cannot do anything about it."

If somebody sets a car on fire on private property in the UK, it's not a police matter

[Gob]

I think they may be a little confused there Jim...

[MGMcAnick]

I think they may be a little confused there Jim...

I sure hope so.

I do know, from personal experience, that a car reported on fire is not necessarily considered to be on fire. They may assume that it has a burst radiator hose, and that the smoke is really steam. The time my car caught on fire, the small-town fire chief came out, got in his radio, and told the dispatcher that they'd better roll a truck. "It's really on fire". By the time the truck got there, my 18 month old Chrysler was fully engulfed. The next time I need to report a car on fire, I will remember to say "code three, flames are visible."

[Big RR]

I think they may be a little confused there Jim...

I think so too; if someone set the house on fire, could it not be put out because it was on private property? And could the police not pursue the arsonist?

[MajGenl.Meade]

"The other issue is that if someone did something to the car and it went on fire, the vehicle is on private property and the police cannot do anything about it."

If somebody sets a car on fire on private property in the UK, it's not a police matter

An inelegant expression of an English conversational mode. They really mean: the other danger we foresee is that someone may set the car of fire. Because the car is on private property, the police cannot take it away to stop that from happening.

Obviously, the fire brigade would respond to a fire and the police would show up for crowd control. But that was not their point all.

Of course, the police couldn't really respond if someone drilled a hole in one window and filled it with water via a hosepipe, either. Fire risks can be minimized