18 car scratch attacks may be linked to GCHQ parking row

“"24 hour security that patrols our streets saw nothing" Which 24 hour security ? If you mean the 'HQ one then I doubt they patrol every street 24 hours and I don't think they're patrolling to see if cars get stolen?”

“There is no excuse for this type of vandalism but I seriously doubt that the people who are doing it is because the cars are parking along there as there are very few houses that this would affect. It is no doubt petty vandalism. My car was stolen from outside my house, near there and dumped just a mile away. In both these cases, it is ironic that with these 2 instances, the 24 hour security that patrols our streets saw nothing! Makes you wonder just how safe we are supposed to feel & what good it is actually doing. The thieves had to wheel my car off the drive backwards, break into it, sheer off the ignition barrel then race along the road where it was dumped and where the Security van patrols! The police didn't catch them because, in the main, the idiots who do it know they will get away with it.”

“It also happens on other roads and they slash tyres too, pitty that the idiots don't have better things to do.”

“damaging peoples cars is childish and if caught whoever and whatever the circumstances they should be made to pay, many GCHQ have parking spaces given to them, and causeing damage to cars is wrong no matter how you feel. many years ago i lived opposite the hospital in great western road and we would be woken all hours by staff leaving shifts and very often my housemates could not park outside the house we rented but we did not vandalise cars. think how you would like it someone did it to you if its that annoying go via the correct channels dont act like a terroist as you are going to those levels think about it.”

“There can be no excuses for this wanton vandalism. That said, any 'good neighbour' employer would provide free and ample parking for all employees and if a large government agency cannot set an example by doing so then who can? Personally I think such provision should be writ in law and also apply to colleges of further education, with regard to students' cars. And please no lame excuses about a responsibility to save the planet by steering people towards public transport - for most folk this is simply not practicable.”

“Donut? This isn't the USA. The word is "doughnut" in the UK.

While the cars parked on Fiddlers Green Lane do cause some problems, mainly when two large vehicles are trying to pass in opposite directions, there is no law to stop the cars parking there, no yellow lines, no time restrictions etc., except the fact that according to the highway code, you are not supposed to park within 10 metres of a junction, but almost every day, you will see cars parked extremely close to the junction on Fiddlers Green Lane, certainly closer than 10 metres.
Apart from that, they aren't really causing a problem, are they?”

“HEADLINE NEWS!

LOCAL RESIDENT INSULTED TO BE ACCUSED OF DOING THIS!!

I'm local and find GCHQ a pretty bad neighbour for all sorts of reasons, but I couldn't care less that workers park along Fiddler's - they're not blocking anyone's view of anything or their driveways. It's a bland rural road, no harm done to anyone, so I think it's unlikely anyone would be exercised enough to do anything like this. More like boredom and vandalism - I saw piles of glass in the gutter there in the summer as if a number of cars had been targeted during the daytime. The parked cars do make it a little harder to drive along there, especially if two large vehicles need to cross as they don't leave any gaps to pull into, but that's not just local residents affected - it's a through road for lots of people.

My suspicion is it's the new car park owner making people think they'll be safer in his over-priced 70-bay parking area once it's built..?”

“CWB54 - very true.

And whilst the assumption is that all the targeted cars belong to GCHQ staff, it might also be that some cars belong to local residents, or people visiting them and therefore nothing to do with GCHQ. Not that the destination of the car's occupants has anything to do with this vandalism.”

“It's damaging to the local residents as well as people working locally. These crimes will be reported to insurance companies and be reflected in the insurance premiums of people living locally.”

“Sheer wanton vandalism, and nothing more. Totally out of order.

I assume these are all road-legal vehicles, parked legally on public highways (there's a clue in the name). Therefore they have as much right to park there as they do to park (legally) on any public highway in the country. We know that the local residents don't like the GCHQ workers parking in their roads - except they aren't THEIR roads, they're everybody's roads. If you don't like having members of the public parking on the public highway on which you live, then move.

Hope those responsible for this latest vandalism are caught and punished, to include the FULL costs of making good the damage to the vehicles.”