crw1979

I don't know if anyone else has faced this recently. I came back to my car yesterday to find the door keyed and some one has also decided it would be fun to put a big scrape down the middle of one of my alloy wheels- very upsetting for a new car that is only a week old. I thought I had left the spite back in the UK- but it does not seem that way. Anyone else suffered similar problems? I can live with the odd door knock etc, but damage for the fun of it is not acceptable.

It has just cost me AED 1,400 to get a door resprayed.

Arrrgh!

Patsy Stoned

where do you live??

Jim Smith

In my years here I have never experienced I guess what you could call malicious damage. But for sure many people don't give a damn about slamming doors into a parked car, whether it be in supermarket, bank or cark parks at home. My car is peppered with "hits" from doors and a good swipe along the side whilst at the bank a few months ago.

I would never buy a new or luxury car here.

Arcadia

We had the name ''hamad'' scratched across the bonnet of our car. Also on the side of our villa wall in six foot high letters it says..'' Ali and kareem F**k and suck so F**k. Not a nice bunch of teenagers we seem to have n our neibourhood here.

I once caught them swinging a 2 week old kitten by its back legs, so I went out, took it from them, took it to the vets, were it cost ME 120 Dhs to have the poor little mite put down because of internal injuries.

Just a thought crw had you unintentionally blocked someone in, parked too close etc..I know this isnt an excuse but some people can be vindictive.

crw1979

Not too pleasant. This happened outside of Jebel Ali Club in a designated car parking space, when I parked nothing was on either side of me. So I think we'll put it down to bad luck!

busybee2

oh yes i have seen cars with massive scratches down the side. we moved around the corner in manasir in ab dabs, and later that same day, scratched all down the side, it was ok around the corner....! but why get anything fixed, people do not look after other peoples cars, as said they have no probs with opening the doors smack into the side of the car next door.

Kim67

My friend had her windscreen smashed in outside school the other day (she's a part time teacher too so her car is sometimes there all day). Our school is right in between two local boys schools so quite often she's had swearing and stuff written on her car in the dust, but this is the first time any real physical damage. Little darlings are always shouting out F you and give us the bird too as their school bus drives past. I love the 13 year old's walking by first thing in the morning with their coke, icecream and cigarette. At least when I was a teenager we were healthy, we had a bowl of cereal before we had our fag at the bus stop!!!

crw1979

I appreciate the viewpoint it will only get dented and scratched again but there is something particularly galling about having saved money, spent it on something only for this to happen.

seven seas

With all the pressure bearing down on people, it has to come out in all these little antisocial ways.

It used to be much safer- or at least it used to be that you could count on the little bastards being caught by a paserby.

I did see someone last week who'd paid for an hour of parking, and stuck the little ticket under his windscreen wiper. How innocent! But that's good. More people should do that. And whoever steals them can get their hand chopped off...

lionheart

We get lots of White Power and Nazi graffiti on some of the walls near the local mosque. Mostly caused by Arab teenagers on their way to/from school I suspect. It seems weird given that they are hardly white.

The Dean

You're not serious? Yea yea - during the Great Depression, gangs of unemployed people roamed around vandalising property, writing graffiti......

There is no excuse. It's just the politics of envy.

crw1979

You are quite right there is no excuse, sadly there always seems to be a vocal minority who take a standpoint that this sort of thing is justified because those doing it are so down trodden that this is the only voice that they have- one of the principal reasons for leaving the UK was the fact that to be successful was something to be apologetic about. People should treat each other and their possessions with respect- I have worked hard to get what I have just in the same way as the vast bulk of people in Dubai have. I am very disappointed and can only view this as a sign of things to come.

Millhouse

Actually I disagree.

We (the rich expats) are clearly to blame for ****ing up their country (in their eyes)... and to some extent it is partly true - as we always state we are a large chunk of the working population.

It's really no different to the poles at home feeling some pressure when the economy turns. When we were all making money speculating on property and getting Mr Pole in to plaster it on the cheap it really didn't matter, now it pisses off everyone that Mr Pole is even there. It's the same here, just we are Mr Pole.

I'm sure what with the bailing out of Dubai, the regional banks and the quiet soft bail out of many of the regional companies the oil cheques to the local population are smaller than they used to be despite the recent upturn in oil prices. This will always create friction.

Or, it could just be kids being kids... I seem to remember collecting car 'badges' in the late 80s/ early 90s when Run DMC made it fashionable.

seven seas

No that's not what I meant. No political or social outlets, people disenfranchised from society, little social cohesion, little sexual outlet, immense peer pressure, directed marketing, the politics of envy....

For people with no outlets, they end up doing this kind of stuff.

And the post-Versailles economic depression in Germany resulted in the rise of the nazi party and the brownshirts whose vandalism was much more extreme.

crw1979

Come what may and whatever the socio-economic reasons which might be attributed to such actions, the examples of vandalism given on this thread are all similar- they are all acts of mindless vandalism, which sadly is something which occurs right around the world.

I am quite surprised that much of the graffiti that is seems to be cropping up all over the place is not removed quickly- I am quite sure in today's climate that profanities over a wall are enough to offend an increasingly sensitive local populace.