A Volkswagen Beetle that was covered up in Buckland, Porstmouth which meant it could not be moved for nine months. This caused outrage amongst local residents as the yellow Beetle was taking up valuable parking space and causing residents to have to park on double yellow lines. Despite the car having three flat tyres and looking as if it had been abandoned Porstmouth council said they could not take the car away. The reason was that as the car was covered up the council did not have the legal authority to check the numberplate. Yes, that is correct, the council were not allowed to simply walk up to the car and have a quick gander under the grey cover.
Jamie Hibbard who lives near Byron Road - where the Beetle was parked - had complained to the council but to no avail. His original complaint in May last year but it was not taken any further because of the Volkswagen's cloak. However, Mr Hibbard caught a lucky break when the cover blew off slightly on a windy day, exposing the numberplate. With this new information he was able to look up the car and found that the MOT had run in 2014 and it had in fact been marked as SORN. Therefore it should not have been on a public highway and was finally removed recently once the council were armed with this new piece of information.
Mr Hibbard was quoted as saying: "It just goes to show that if you want to leave your car on the road anywhere in the city, all you need to do is cover it up." Alan Cufney, director of transport backed up the council, saying: ‘We appreciate it is frustrating when vehicles appear to be left on the road for a long time and we will always take necessary action when we are legally able to. If a vehicle is covered, the DVLA guidelines are clear that we are not allowed to lift the cover to check if a vehicle is taxed.’
Who would have thought yellow Beetle with a grey cover on top could cause such a fuss?