Car abandoned in Chelsea School’s parking lot for almost a year

The vehicle, a Renault Clio, has been taking up one of the shaded parking bay spaces at the school and will now be towed to a scrapyard if the owner of the vehicle does not come forward to remove it.

Chelsea Preparatory School security guard, Eric Zondi, shows the abandoned vehicle parked in a shaded bay at the school.

MANAGEMENT at Chelsea Preparatory School have reached a decision to remove an abandoned vehicle which has been parked in the school’s parking lot for almost 12 months. The vehicle, a Renault Clio, has been taking up one of the shaded parking bay spaces at the school and will now be towed to a scrapyard if the owner of the vehicle does not come forward to remove it.

According to deputy principal of the school, Nici Hilliar, the vehicle has a sole number plate stuck to the back window.

“One of our staff members has the same car, in terms of make and colour, she lends it to her son who often parks at the parking lot. So for a time our staff thought it was a fellow member who was parking their vehicle there. But after a while we realised there were two cars and this one has presumably, been abandoned. We approached the Durban North SAPS and Metro Police informed us they were not able to tow the vehicle as it was parking on private property, this despite Chelsea being a public school. If the vehicle was parked outside our school then they could act.

“We’ve consulted with several people about the matter and were told, from a legal standpoint, that we needed to advertise that the vehicle would be towed within a two week period if the owner does not come forward. It’s ridiculous that we will have to foot the bill to get the vehicle removed as its an eyesore and has taken up one of our parking bay spaces. Very few schools have on property parkings and we don’t feel this is fair to the school,” she said.

Hilliar said the owner has until Tuesday, 10 April to collect the vehicle or else it will be towed to a scrapyard.

The vehicle has also been vandalised while it’s been on the school premises and has its windscreen wipers, a rear passenger door and the battery stolen.

Durban North SAPS spokesman, Capt Raymond Deokaran, said the vehicle had been traced to a home in Westville. However, tracking down the owner of the vehicle has proved problematic.

Metro Police spokesperson senior superintendent, Parboo Sewpersad, confirmed that they could not tow the vehicle as it was on private property.

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