W844 RHR

Pink Daihatsu Hijet

• This beaten-up little panel van camper is probably one of the longest-standing 'dumped' vehicles in Hollingdean.

• Known to belong to a resident of the adjoining Fiveways controlled parking zone, local residents report that it had been recognised as being kept in Hollingdean as early as 2014, often not moving at all from one year to the next.

• The MOT history for this van seems to support this, having only travelled 3,000 miles in the past decade. The entire rest of the time, it was left, dumped wherever the non-resident owner could find space, unchecked-upon, unmoved, and slowly succumbing to the elements, eventually with flat tyres and a broken window.

• The owner often chose to leave it in dangerous positions, such as shown in the photographs here. For a full year, it was left parked on the junction between Roedale Road and the bottom of Hollingdean Terrace, completely blocking the pedestrian crossing, on an extremely busy walking route for the local infants and junior schools.

• As of the start of 2023, it had not moved from this position in over a year. It is clear that it had badly failed it's last MOT in December two years earlier, and had been left there ever since. It had flat tyres and broken windows, but still remained in this same position and condition for several weeks more before the council finally removed it as abandoned.

• This is not uncommon, the residents of Hollingdean often see unloved or unwanted vehicles simply abandoned in the area, left to rot on our streets whilst the owner forgets that they even exist. As you might appreciate, this type of use of our streets only adds significantly to the terrible congestion and parking problems the residents here experience day-to-day.