This week, someone wrote phrases such as ‘Get lost’ and ‘Leave’ on cars with German license plates parked in the Dierenriemstraat (in Paddepoel, just outside the paid-parking zone). Cars are often parked for longer periods of time during the week on the south side of the neighbourhood.
Suspects of the vandalism are the local residents: it is possible they are angry and sick of the parked cars, since they are taking up spots where people from the neighbourhood would normally park.
‘No warning’
The BSS faculty is within walking distance of the neighbourhood, and the RUG thinks it probably concerns cars from German BSS students, says RUG spokesperson Jorien Bakker. ‘But we’re not sure. We don’t warn people about it, since everyone is free to park there. But we will be telling our BSS students that they shouldn’t park their cars in the same spot for too long.’
The problem with people parking their cars for an extended period of time in neighbourhoods where parking is free is a problem in other parts of the city as well.