Criminal Damage where do I stand?

[landytd]

On Saturday night next door but one had a party for their 15yr old girl and as usual by 10pm underage drunken kids spilled into the street shouting ect, one particular boy obviously having a row with his girlfriend kicked the wing of my car and punched the quarter panel causing a large dent in the wing and a fist indentation on the quarter,being dark,I came out of my house But couldn't see the damage as it was dark but of course see it Sunday morning,I then knocked at the house where the party was and asked for the boys name,the girls mother got quite irate telling me it was gate crashers & it's nothing to do with her and what the f*** do I want her to do about it by then my wife got involved and the woman backed off but said she didn't know who the kids in the street were, I spoke to the other neighbours who all witnessed it and said they heard one boy say 'not the car!!" then heard a bang then said they saw 2 girls come from the house and say " get him inside" and took him into the house, the mum and dad say they were in the house all night but I don't believe them as there was up to 20-25 kids running up and down with bottles of Archers,cider ect all drunk witnessed by myself and my other neighbours,

I have reported criminal damage to the police and my neighbours are willing to make statements, we know the boy came from the party and went back to the party as was witnessed so if they don't name him would the girls parents be responsible as these were all kids drunk and underage and under their supervision? Had a quote to repair the damage £537 + Vat,insurance is £300 excess for criminal damage and I'm fuming why should I have to pay when it's no fault of mine! Police have said unless the boy owns up nothing they can do and even if he does they can't force him or his parents to pay for the damage! No wonder this country is going to the dogs,

Are the neighbours holding the party liable?

[letsgetitsorted]

i would have thought as it was a party for youngsters, the the parents of the house would be responsible for the actions of the guests.

 

just a thought..sure others with more knowledge should be able to advise

[SuperVillain]

i would have thought as it was a party for youngsters, the the parents of the house would be responsible for the actions of the guests.

 

just a thought..sure others with more knowledge should be able to advise

 

This is moving away from criminal law and into civil law.

 

Generally there is no duty of care owed by Person A to prevent loss or damage to Person B which is caused by the deliberate actions of Person C.

 

There are certain circumstances where a duty of care may exist however I don't see that any of those apply here... maybe someone will swoop in and say different.

[unclebulgaria67]

Not quite true the the person responsible cannot be made to pay. If he is prosecuted for criminal damage, you can put in a request to Magistrates for a restituition order, for you to be repaid the relevant sum related to the damage they caused.

 

The way to proceed here is to embarass the parents of this house into dealing with the situation. You could put a leaflet together to put through the doors of all your neighbours, just stating the facts of what has happened. You could also put information online, but obviously not here, as CAG would not allow names and addresses to be posted.

 

You could also put in a complaint to the local council authority about what has happened e.g anti-social behaviour. parents allowing children underage to drink alcohol, which led someone damaging your car. The local council authority may have a team that deals with these situations.

[Ganymede]

i would have thought as it was a party for youngsters, the the parents of the house would be responsible for the actions of the guests.

 

I very much doubt that.

[goodatresearch]

Neighbours child admitted criminal damage to our property and admitted it to the police. He then changed his mind but we wouldn't let it drop. Went to court and the mags believed us and he was ordered to pay for the damage and we received our money. Quite frankly the police aren't interested in criminal damage and they'll tell you anything to make you go away. In our case the teenager had attacked the police so they were a little more interested.

[steampowered]

If the same thing had happened before that might be a reason for saying the parents are liable, but if this was the first occasion unfortunately I think they probably aren't.