NuffNang

Friday, June 4, 2010

The Ferals, The fines, The Warrants, The Sherriffs

In 2005, the house up the road went up for sale, the couple who owned it were moving into the township, closer to amenities etc. New neighbours are a little like a lucky dip, you don’t know what you’re getting until you remove the shiny outer layer.

Well we got a winner, all bogan, moccasin wearing, VB swilling, V8 ute manic driving, his and her relationship with 20 years between the eldest child and youngest child. The joys.

At first it was okay – they were as nice as pie, invited us over for the inevitable BBQ’s, which we more often than not declined. These nights involved massive amount of alcohol. Very loud music and the bonus of the smell of burning rubber as they did burn outs in the top of the court.

When the complaints about the burn-outs resulted in police attending – they then took the vehicles paddock bashing. The last ‘bash’ saw a reasonable Toyota Landcruiser on its side in the dam, and left there for the new owners to retrieve, remove and dispose of some 12 months later. 5 years later you can still see the last effort at paddock bashing which went until 4am in the morning, with to the accompaniment of loud music and plenty of loud swearing!

In between all this – new furniture constantly arrived, garages turned into bedrooms, bedrooms, turned into animal cages, obsolete white goods thrown into the backyard, along with busted TV’s, that someone had fallen against last Tuesday and dropped it to the floor.

The neighbours down the road have the unfortunate coincidence of having the same surname as this residence. Phone calls at midnight received from police, your son’s here, intoxicated, needs a lift home. Your dog is at the pound, come and pick him up. I think you get the drift.

Finally murmurs were heard that they were having trouble paying the mortgage. A For sale sign went up. 30 days later the property was sold for a princely sum, well under normal market value. But who cares the neighbours from hell (The Ferals) left – Well we thought they had.

The first knowledge (besides the For Sale sign) that had left was the lack of noise emanating from the premises. It was silent. The house was still fully-furnished, 2 cars in the process of being ‘done-up’ were still in the shed. The beer bottles were still 4ft high against the back of shed.

Peace and tranquility returns to the street, or so we thought.

It’s now 2010 and letters continue to arrive, sheriffs constantly knocking at the door. Phones continue to ring for lost animals. The Ferals have not left the street. The mail is sent back, ‘unknown, return to sender’

The current residents have rung the sheriff’s office, they have been told, we can’t take your word that they no longer reside there. A state dec. will not be considered. If a Sheriffs notice arrives on the 1st of the month, you know that the knock on the door the following 5th of the month, will be the sheriffs. It is never ending. Only last week the neighbours down the road, received a call from the council, the dog was in the pound again.

It is known where they live, yet no authority will take the word of an honest citizen, so the cycle continues.

It is happening all the time, as I was alerted by this post
http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/app-my-state/view-idea-submissions/item/root/not-at-this-address-register.html

What avenues are available to the honest law-abiding citizen? – None that we are aware of.

So much for suspension of registrations etc for non-payment of fines, it’s NOT working. We have first-hand experience.

7 comments:

  1. A Not at this address register sounds like a good idea. I doubt if the govt. would adopt it though.

    It would certainly help with the mail that we keep receiving at our address for people we haven't even heard of. And we've lived here for almost 4 years now.

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  2. Ah yes, I know this type of story only too well.

    We had the misfortune of moving into a place which had been previously occupied by the bogans. SO many letters for overdue fines it was incredible and yes, just like you we'd contact the various depts, inform teh Sheriff when he came around(amazingly he knew they didn't live there but he had to keep showing up) Did it make any difference?

    Nope

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  3. Blossy and and Amos - The Sheriffs turn up - it's almost a social event now - not quite at the coffee stage - but the routine has been established.
    There appears to be nothing that can be done to stop these offenders re-offending and getting away with it.
    Next door actually dread the 5am knock on the door and then the door being kicked in by the police for arrest warrants.

    Thay are powerless to stop the harrassment, which is what this is.
    What happened to 'our rights' to live peacefully and within the law?

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  4. I have had two misplaced interactions with the Victorian Sheriffs Office.
    First was after I moved into a new flat. The Sheriff arrived at my door with an order to take possession of goods to cover the cost of money owed. The person named had the same name as me. I told the sheriff that is was not me (it wasn't)and he asked me to prove it, I told him he had to prove it was me, not the other way around. He left and I never from him again.
    The second time the Sheriff arrived at my home with a warrent to possess goods to cover the cost of money owed had my name and details on it for a car parking infringement, but for a car I did not own, but with a very similar number plate. I showed him my car's number plate, he noted the number and left, never to be seen again.
    So, from my end, both interactions have ended well!

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  5. Thanks for the comment Chirs.
    Sounds like you have a common name, and perhaps it's a common problem, that they have learn to deal with. Cogratulations to the officer concerned for seeing the light of day.
    I think because the offenders haven't changed their address is more the issue here and the fact that Sherriffs office won't take no for an answer is more the concern.
    Glad things went well for you!

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  6. Would an Australia card solve this problem :)

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  7. Nathan - if they didn't change their address - then unlikely and as they haven't changed their address - even the "Australia Card" would be useless!

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