Scrap cars and long-term parkers in Bad Godesberg VW Polo has been parked for months in Bonn forest

Bad Godesberg · Mehlem citizens are angry that the city does not remove a car that had been in an accident. The owner had said they would have it towed away. In the villa district, residents are angry about long-term parkers.

 A tree stopped the red Polo on its descent.

A tree stopped the red Polo on its descent.

Foto: Axel Vogel

Scrap cars or long-term parkers in residential areas seldom please residents. However, the situation is particularly complicated in the case of a red VW Polo in Mehlem. Residents are angry about it, because it has been parked in the middle of the forest since the end of March 2019, above the Im Rosenberg road and below Heinrichblick.

When asked by the GA, the Bonn police said that it was a car that had been involved in an accident. “We were called to the Rodderberg on 31 March 2019 at 8.55 pm”, police spokesman Simon Rott said. A novice driver had been sitting with friends at the Heinrichsblick lookout point and wanted to quickly turn off the lights on his car.” He probably started the car with the gear engaged and without the handbrake on,” said Rott. The car jolted forwards and rolled down the slope and was stopped by a tree.

Residents were startled by the loud bang and called the police. “Colleagues tested the then 20-year-old for alcohol and drugs, but the results were all negative”, said the police spokesman. The person responsible for the accident had given assurances that evening and a few days later at the Godesberg police station that he was looking for a towing company. The police also at the time informed the city’s environmental office. “When our officers discovered at the end of April that the car was still in the woods, they reported it as an offence by the owner to the city", but nothing happened.

The city knew about the car since April 2019

Some nearby residents had not noticed anything until one of them took a walk on 15 December. “When I saw the car in the woods, I called the police, because someone could have been sitting in it”, said a woman from Mehlem, who, together with her husband, is now drawing attention to the case. Over his radio, the policemen learned that the whole thing was already known. “Only when we told several neighbours did it become apparent that they not only knew about the existence of Polo, but had also reported it to the city”, said the woman, who does not want her name to be published.

Dauerparker im Villenviertel von Bad Godesberg
6 Bilder

Dauerparker im Villenviertel von Bad Godesberg

6 Bilder

On request, the city confirmed that it had known about the car since April 2019. The police had also said that the owner of the car would hire a towing company to recover the car, said Markus Schmitz of the press office. Unfortunately, they had failed to check whether the owner had actually done this. “Since the vehicle has obviously not been recovered yet, we will now ask the owner to remove the vehicle and put right any damage that may have occurred”, announced Schmitz.

In Bad Godesberg on the other hand, “normally” parked cars are annoying residents. A Mercedes and a mobile home are parked on Beethovenallee. “As I already reported months ago, a Mercedes with French number plates has been parked on the pavement for more than a year”, wrote a resident who wishes to remain anonymous to the public order office and sent a copy to the GA. The car is rusting away and should be taken to the scrap yard as soon as possible, the man suggested.

This was not an isolated case for him, as a camper van had also been parked nearby “in violation of the ban” months ago. The city announced that after the first report in August it had determined that the car had been parked and registered properly; therefore, no measures could be taken. “Colleagues will now contact the police in Kaiserslautern again, who have access to the French owner's data, to check whether the vehicle is still registered”, said press office employee Schmitz.

According to the city, the camper van, which has Bonn number plates, is no cause for complaint. “Since it is registered as a camper with a vehicle weight of under 2.8 tonnes, the same legal conditions apply as for passenger cars”, said Schmitz. Parked trailers, however, would have to be moved after two weeks. One example is the caravan on Kennedyallee in the American residential estate, about which the GA reported in March 2019 and about which residents had also complained.

(Original text; Silke Elbern, translation John Chandler)

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