EvilBevel

Not trying to stir things up, but looking for something constructive to do about all this.

In the light of all the recent & not so recent threads, I would like to ask your opinion about organizing a meet (something we are not unfamiliar with) in an orderly fashion, asking the governements for a better prioritization of police tasks.

If we can do this with dignity, with a list of people who fell victim of such crimes, and a reasoned letter/manifest where we explain why we think such a protest meet is needed... it might get put on the political/media agenda.

There is enough police to fight crime, and I think there are enough laws in existance to put away criminals for quite a while, especially where car jackings/home jackings are concerned.

Your thoughts please, but let's try to keep it cool/reasoned.

Do you think it would help (small bits can help) ?
Would you participate in such a meet ?

Theo

Luke

To get more media attention .I believe a demo against all crime. Car theft is such a small part in general crime against us.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

I'm with Theo on this, I'd be a part of it.

Elvis Presley

What are we actually asking for?

-Harsher penalties?
-An end to the anti motorist policing?
-More rights for the property owner?
-Improved police tactics in catching these scum?
-Zero tolerance policies dealing with theft etc?
-Less "community service" crap?

100 or so Scoobs in convoy through central London should get our cause enough publicity?

Jolly Green Monster 2

Have to be careful with this many nickable cars in one place...

Need to get lots of publicity!

Mo

Car crime might well only be a small part of general crime against us but it's pretty ******* major when you wake up to four black guys holding a gun to your head.

It is time we made an attempt at some action.

I think one of the biggest problems is Joe Publics awareness. How many people who dont own a scoob/evo/bmw/porsce etc know anything about what's going on. When I've discussed this issue with friends and family they've heard nothing of it and find it difficult to believe what is going on, and it's only gonna get worse.

A small paragraph in the papers isn't enough, Joe Public skims it and forgets it - until one day, god forbid, it happens to them.

How about everyone from all the car clubs gets together and blocks off the roads somewhere in the heart of London, that'd grab some attention.

mattski2

good idea Mo, but I reckon a *BIG* slow-moving convoy would be a better bet, at least we'd get a bit of support from the public that way, blocking roads will just p1ss peeps off (the convoy would too but not as much imho).

Matt

EvoRSX

Mattski,
I've just put the link to this thread on the MLR board and so you may well see a few Evo owners joining in. I'm definitely up for this but we need to make sure that it is done in a law abiding way and with as much help/advice from the relevant authorities as the best way to go about it. It's no good just turning up and 'blocking off streets etc' because that will just be a good excuse for the anti-car mob to turn it into negative publicity.

Andy

Jen

Definatly don't need negative publicity!

1) get a good agenda we can all agree we're "fighting" for.
2) Get a petition to prove public support - i.e. not just us. THis may also be a thing to present to number 10? This is frequently done and should be along a route to grab enough attention...

Anyone got contacts to find out the proper law abiding way to do this?

I'm up for it!!

Jen

Elvis Presley

We need positive action though. Let's not risk p!ss!ng people off.

I think a mass convoy would attract attention as everyone would enjoy seeing a load of tasty motors. We need to get the public on our side.

If each car had the same simple banner in the window people would realise it was for a cause and take notice.

Perhaps a brightly coloured flag reading something along the lines of:

"GOVERNMENT ACTION NEEDED TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC"

....no wait, that sounds crap. Er.....? Well, something like that anyway?

EvilBevel

Just to interject ... the meet would have to be 100% legal with the proper authorities asked for permission etc... and the idea would not be to anger innocent bystanders etc... I'm looking more in a "positive" way (maybe do a donation for a charity at the same time).

I can see 1001 risks with this, but I'm hoping we can identify them up front and see if we would be able to take appropriate measures etc...

The absolute LAST thing you want is negative publicity.

One other small point ... this is not something that only happens to performance cars/bikes, but also to "average" car drivers (and their family)

Luke, I hear you, but the problem is you can protest against many things, which would make for a very diluted "manifest"... hence my suggestion to keep it related to this type of crime, which can hit *very* hard ... even if no one gets hurt, it stays in your mind for a very very long time.

And I agree: it should be a manifest that *everyone* can agree on, not about capital punishments etc etc... which would devide more than unite I think.

Darren Thompson

Why just performance cars why not Jo public who have there cars broken into, I think it's a great idea but becareful as it could snowball, I would back anything like this even though the Scooby is long gone.

Daz.

Elvis Presley

Involve the abd?

Car magazines?

Cruisers?

AA/RAC?

Insurers?

Chris L

I'd suggest a car rally into central London to stop the traffic and make a point - but given the traffic congestion, I doubt anyone would notice

However, if you look at what the cyclist have done on a couple of occassions - perhaps we should try something similar?

Chris

Mo

Theo,

I understand what you are saying about negative publicity but a large meet with the authorities permission just would not get the media coverage. It would be deemed just another petrol_head_get_together and no-one, Joe Public included, would not remember it. Tomorrow they'll be thinking about their shopping lists again.

EvoRSX

Mo,
Surely that depends on the amount of people taking part.
Put another way, there is a Jap car meet going on in Bolney on 16th March and there are over 200 jap cars predicted to be there (see Southern meets section)
At this meet there is going to be Meridian TV and local newspaper coverage as well as the usual Fast Car, Jap Performance mags etc.

This meet was arranged purely as a petrolhead get together and this is what has resulted therefore if you get enough people involved with the correct backing then the publicity will be there.

Andy

johnfelstead

sorry for being a cynic but the problem with this country right now isnt the police to a major extent. The problem is the courts are being told not to pass custodial sentances because there is nowhere to put the *******s.

there is bugger all incentive to not commit car crime, or for that matter any crime that doesnt give a sturdy, automatic sentance. Thats just about everything short of a murder.

The odds are stacked in the criminals favour, even if they do get caught they have to be multiple offenders to get anything close to a sentance.

Any of you watch the Panorama programme last night. Toerag gets an exclusion order from an area for 5 years, he goes to prison if he enters that area. So he enters that area, does he get a prison sentance, does he ****. The courts are a joke at the moment, even when the police do catch these people (which isnt that often) they are not backed up by the courts. The courts would rather imprison people who commit crimes against the establishment or commit crimes that cost the government money, they dont give a stuff about protecting joe public.

Unless the government changes policy and builds thousands of new cells nothing will change either.

Question is, would a protest make that change start to happen. I very much doubt it, after all, when we do come to vote for the *******s all you hear is that you are making a choice for the euro or some other bollox. The political system in the UK is far from a democracy and joe public is not listened too.

shippd

John - 'Moderator' ? - just listen to yourself:

"The political system in the UK is far from a democracy and joe public is not listened too."

The UK is not a democracy compared to WHERE exactly ? You may have a point but it's hard to see what it is for all the ranting !

As a Scooby owner I'm as worried as the next about carjacking etc. but it is possible to over-react to all of this.

astraboy

sorry to throw a spanner in the works as I'm all for this, seriously. But if you consider that the public ran out of steam when it came to fuel protests, what chance have we on counting on their support about protecting our cars?
I'm not saying dont do it, but what we have to do is be very careful about how we do it. Perhaps doing it on Sunday when there is less traffic and less chance of Mr. Irate commuter booting off. Also, I think that Parliment square should be avoided. All we need is for one person to chuck a donut, launch into a burnout, go racing down Whitehall etc.etc.etc. then you can gurantee that is all the cameras will show on the news as nothing is worth more than a bit of anarchy in whitehall when it comes to a good story.
This could easily all go wrong and as such needs to be handled properly. As a cruiser I think I should warn you that if the police want to stop you going somewhere in your car, even if its on the offchance that tony might get a bit upset, then you aint going anywhere, no matter how good your intentions are.
sorry to p1ss on your parade, but we need to be realistic about how we are going to do this otherwise it will all go to rat**** faster than you can blink.
astraboy.

Mo

Andy,

who are Meridian TV, local newspapers as well as the usual Fast Car, Jap Performance mags etc?

How many people out there actually read let alone take in what these mags print.

To get ourselves heard it needs to be covered by national news programmes and the press. It aint no good Men and Motors saying as they end their show:-

"And here's to all the scoobyboyz and girlz attending this weekends meet against car crime, we're with you!"

johnfelstead

not wanting to go into a political debate. But my idea of democratic acountability is not electing a bunch of people every 5 years who toe the party line on every subject once they are elected.

We have a system of elected dictatorship right now. We dont have anyone in power actually taking the point of view of the average working guy. If anyone in the organised parties comes up with an independant thought they get whipped into submision.

Not sure what being a moderator has to do with having a free thought in my head and expressing it.

OK, on with the debate.

EvoRSX

Mo,
The way your previous post was, you were mentioning a lack of publicity for the event being a problem.

All I was pointing out that if some people can get local TV and newspaper coverage for a petrolhead get together then surely it won't be as hard as you think to get coverage for a national demonstration... especially as car jacking etc appears to be the 'in' topic of conversation on every morning TV show and in every newspaper at the moment.

Andy

Mo

That's my point.

If it's a meet in a huge car park or similar venus of some description it isn't going to get national media coverage.

It needs to be something to grab peoples attention to raise Joe Publics awareness. The only way I believe to do this would be to get everyone together to congregate somewhere where we're gonna get seen and people are going to want to know what it's all about.

If we all got together couldn't we ring the M25

banshi

John
You claiming to be an "average" working guy? The countrys in a worse state than I thought

As Darren said a protest needs to encompas a broad church not just high value/performance vehicles. After all car crime affects everyone and many everyday motors stolen by joyriders. There was also recent report of a 75 year old man being dragged from his new Vauxall, more media mileage than someone nicking a 30 year olds Scoob keys.

I'm happy to support a properly organised protest. A co-ordinated convoy of cars converging on London from each motorway or whatever is deemed suitable. There is certainly the capacity to organise that. The problem is with the numbers required to make the right impact how do you exercise control. You are bound to get the "cruisers" along so how do you prevent some hooligan grabbing his 30 seconds prime time with a burnout

As far as Bolney is concerned, it would be nice to know what spin the media will put upon that event. Wasn't it one there that was slated as a cupid stunts meet earlier this year?

Markus

given the media's sudden interest in car jacking, I think this meet would be an excellent idea, I'd certainly attend.

If we, a group of like minded performance car drivers, and this seems to be the main target for the car jackers, had a show of force to say we're not happy and we want something done, then I'm sure we'd get some media coverage.

Personally, a slow cruise past number 10 might be a good idea, maybe hand in a petition for some changes (what though).

Steve001

iTrader: (7)

i think most points have been covered, however, COUNT ME IN. convoy into central london.

tezza

Agree with John about courts being too soft on crime due to overcrowding.
If they were tougher and made people do the time that they were given, perhaps overcrowding would not have been such a problem in the first place due to the deterrent effect. As it is now sentences are small and early release is the norm, so why not take a risk if your a criminal?
Have a look to see what the Chief Justice reckons.
http://www.ananova.com/yournews/story/sm_536448.html

dba

What about a rally against EVERYTHING that is anti-motorist? Whether its money-spinning Dickensian anti-"speeding" laws,anti-anbandoned cars,anti-tolls,anti-speedbumps and anti-4x4.........just rally against everything that is anti-motorist!! Its getting silly,lets rally!! Good idea Theo!

DocJock

Yep !!

Convoy into London...lets get it done.

shippd

why stop there - let's rally against EVERYTHING ! And while we're about it, a suspended sentence should mean just that ! In the immortal words of John Cooper Clarke, "we're gonna bring back hanging - for everyone !".