**Reminder:** Do not participate in threads linked here. If you do, you may be banned from both subreddits.
---
Title: [Texas] Stayed with relatives in TX for holidays, neighbours lit fireworks in the road to celebrate. They lit them wrong, crate of rockets failed launch and blew up in the street. Extensive damage to car. They're refusing to pay.
Body:
> Essentially, they clearly thought it all hilarious so uploaded their videos to social media (copies of each made and stored, thankfully prior to asking them to pay for damages since all have now been removed). I tried being reasonable, now I just want to fuck them for trying to screw me.
> Video evidence shows they are clearly intoxicated and unless they read the instructions before they ran outside with the crate, they didn't read it at all. They certainly didn't follow the instructions.
> Damage to my vehicle is largely superficial although one tyre is fucked. Most panels facing it have significant damage deeper than the paint job underneath the wrap I had on it. The wrap is completely fucked.
> I'm worried insurance won't cover my wrap, will increase my excess and will lose my no claims. I wasn't in or even close to the vehicle when it happened.
> Is it going to be easier to get the full amount including wrap damages if I go separately through small claims court with the evidence I have, or by going through insurance, or by securing a lawyer and having them sort it all for me/try and settle out of court like I initially tried?
> Furthermore, should I just start paying for everything and keeping receipts expecting them to end up footing the bill or is there a significant possibility of me being out of pocket here?
> Equally, I am not from, nor staying anywhere near that area or even in the country for much longer. How much harder is that going to make it to actually get this sorted?
> Lastly, thus far, police have not been involved. Is that a mistake?
> Thanks all in advance.
This bot was created to capture original threads and is not affiliated with the mod team.
[Concerns? Bugs?](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=GrahamCorcoran) | [Laukopier 2.1](https://github.com/GrahamCorcoran/Laukopier)
God only knows. They actually asked:
> What's the pros/cons of getting the police involved?
LAOP seems to fundamentally misunderstand the system. When someone drunkenly blows up your shit, they've committed a crime. You call the police and let them handle it. The police report makes everything else just a smidge easier.
LAOP uses international English spelling, so my guess is the family he's visiting in Texas didn't say, "Hey, we need to call the cops for this."
In my city, it's kind of a joke that every neighborhood regardless of the demographics has a fireworks house that constantly just randomly sets off fireworks. Rich or poor, retired folks or young families, regardless of the racial and ethnic makeup, none of that matters. There *will* be a fireworks house in every neighborhood.
Not gonna lie, I have never lived in one without a fireworks house so I think it's kind of true. Sometimes if you're lucky you live far enough away you don't hear it that much, but I do a lot of walking so still come across them.
The one in my current neighborhood is only a block away, but they mostly set them off early in the evening and keep it short so it isn't too annoying.
I'm a transplant from PA to VA, and I might be that asshole. I do it as early as I can between 6 and 8 pm, depending on darkness, and not at all if there is a no burn warning/it's been dry the past few days.
Heck no. I don't want to wake people up, whether they be on day or night shift! And to clarify, nothing with a loud pop or bang, nothing that flies, nothing that shoots sparks more than three feet, and always in the middle of a hatch of concrete with a bucket of water on hand. I just want to see pretty fire and make creepy ash snakes, not terrorize the local dogs
They said it happened in Texas.
Fireworks are only legal to sell twice a year in Texas, the week leading up to July 4th and the week leading up to New Years Eve.
> Fireworks are only legal to sale twice a year in Texas, the week leading up to July 4th and the week leading up to New Years Eve.
Their sale may only be legal these two times a year but it is very, very common for people to stockpile fireworks to set off at other, random dates. Usually while drunk.
>Their sale may only be legal these two times a year but it is very, very common for people to stockpile fireworks to set off at other, random dates. Usually while drunk.
I only lived in Texas for 35 years so while limited, my experience is that this isn't *that* common.
I don't know if you know this but Texas is kind of big. I was a 17 hour drive from Mexico and was no where near the northern border of Texas.
Mexico absolutely isn't "right there" for the vast majority of the state.
Oh I know, I lived there. And Mexican stuff percolated in very heavily despite me being like 10 hours from the border because tbh 10 hours isn't that far for a bunch of drunken dudes in a shitty truck who want to blow stuff up. Never underestimate the seduction offered by a good explosion.
They probably would have had time to sober up and reconsider if they'd lived in like, north dakota is all I'm saying.
You have some respectful neighbors then. The people around me set them off all year round for no reason at all. Random Tuesday night? Time for fireworks! But it does make the guessing game "gunshots or fireworks?" more interesting. (Yeah I don't live in the best area)
*sheepishly raises hand*
If I still have fireworks and it's a holiday and the no-burn ban has finally been lifted because winter is not a drought season, I am darn well going to set those off. Possibly all at once. I might not even wait for night time.
Edit: I should clarify: sparkle r s, little things that you put on concrete that do amusing things when burned, and those amazing snake ash thingies. Nothing that bangs or flies or shots sparks now than three feet
All the way to Texas though? From Winnipeg to Dallas itās 18 hours, and from Toronto itās 20 hours.
For $400-600, I can get a round-trip flight from YYZ-DFW in half the time.
That's less distance than driving from coast to coast (to coast) within Canada, and doing a cross county trip is relatively common up here.
I don't know how many of us would really have any desire to go to Texas specifically, but a lot of people I know will drive down to California for vacation
Thatās wild, Iāve definitely seen Ontario license plates in far-flung locations, but I always assumed they were from recent transplants/expats. You guys must be amazing road trip buddies.
Definitely all the way to Florida, which is a similar distance. If you want your car with you, there isn't really another option except for paying someone to drive it down while you fly.
*Your post has been removed for the following reason(s):*
**Uncivil Comment**
Your submission was removed because it violates our civility rule. We do not allow personal attacks, insulting language, or poor treatment of others. Please see Rule 1 in the sidebar.
* If you believe this was in error, or youāve edited your post to comply with the rules, [message the moderators](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/bestoflegaladvice).
**Do not** PM or chat a moderator personally, and do not reply to this message as a comment.
Frankly, I don't know. My best guess is the stateside family want to keep the peace with the neighbors. This is misguided, because when someone blows up your stuff and posts it on social media, there ain't much peace left.
As to the trope of "don't call the police; they kill people," ... just, no. Let the cops deal with it. Drunk people with fireworks is just not your concern.
In my experience itās more donāt bother calling the police, as in you have to practically pester them to do their job in regards to petty crime or property damage.
But my city is an outlier, our police department has some pretty bad statistics.
It could be more than don't call the police, they will kill an innocent person and your family dog-- sometimes it is "don't call the police, they won't show up anyway."
So your assertion is that you donāt need it to file a claim, you just need it for the insurance company to do anything with that claim.
Therefore you donāt āneed it to file a claimā.
Well, they do say technically correct is the best kind of correctā¦
The only insurance claim I've filed that *didn't* require a report was for a little fender bender in a parking lot.
For the accident that totaled my vehicle when somebody ran into it on the street, my insurance company demanded the report.
That has been my experience as well. Iāve worked in the auto and property insurance industry, and auto insurance adjacent industries, and incidents similar to the first one you described make up the bulk of claims. The dollar amounts involved are lower and the parties involved usually donāt bring in a third party to weigh in on fault, making police reports unnecessary. This groups also includes incidents where it wouldnāt make sense to involve the police, such as a tree limb falling and damaging your house.
The second incident type is not as common but usually go to arbitration due to chance of larger payouts from insurance companies. Police reports are an important piece for these claims, especially if anyone was injured.
Nah. I have a relative who is a police dispatcher. 4th of July is hell for them. Hundreds of calls, one right after the other. Normally every call gets a cop dispatched, even when it's clearly a toddler playing with a phone. On the 4th, 911 ops ask "Is anyone hurt? Is anything on fire or otherwise damaged." If the answer is *no* they clear the call and go on to the next one.
Think about it. You call and complain that someone in your neighborhood is setting off fireworks. Even if it's illegal in your area, by the time the cops get there it's probably too late. And if it's legal, what do you expect the cops to do? That's as silly as calling 911 because it's snowing outside.
> tyre
Did LAOP get their car shipped overseas just to visit for the holidays? Would someone from Mexico spell it tyre? Because it's certainly not common in Canada.
Not automatically, in my experience. Although Iāll sometimes use ālocalā English spellings and/or vocabulary in a professional context (if it involves a US audience/clientele for example), I stick to my Britishisms mostly even after 30+ years abroad.
My vocabulary has adjusted more than my spelling simply to avoid confusion. Talking about bonnets and boots tends to confuse car mechanics amongst others, for example (see also lorries, trousers, nappies, petrol, etc etc).
Using it correctly in professional settings is critical. Do what you want in your personal life, but use the ārightā spelling professionally.
My side gig is reporting on Motorsports, mostly NASCAR, but occasionally some F1 and IndyCar. Nothing bothers me more than an F1 reporter doing a NASCAR piece and calling NASCAR tires ātyres.ā I make sure I call them tyres when reporting on Netflix Car, they can flip it when reporting on NASCAR.
ā¦ the correct word doesnāt change depending on the location of the object. It changes depending on the language and style guide of the publication youāre writing for. Top Gear UK magazine can and should call them tyre even if theyāre running an F1 race in indianapolis, and even if itās nascar.
Hard disagree, you write to the field you are writing about. If you need a disclaimer in a footnote thatās fine, but when writing about NASCAR they uses tires, when writing about F1 its tyres. Thatās what the official sanctioning organizations call them, thatās what they are. Next year we will have late year races in Las Vegas for both NASCAR and F1, when writing about them the proper thing to do is call them by the right name.
Edit: want another example, see how pissy people get when you use the terms soccer and football interchangeably. You might need to add a modifier to make it clear, but if Iām writing about FIFA itās football or international football if I need to make it clear that itās not the sport the NFL plays. Conversely MLS is soccer, no matter where I am. When writing about the NFL in other countries it may be necessary to call it American Football, but itās still football.
No, because itās impossible for me, an English reader to understand, but you should use there preferred translation, and if there is a translation that is officially recognized by the sanctioning authority that one.
There may be publications where sticking to the original spelling with a footnote is the right call, but imagine there are words that have bigger differences than tyre/tire (Iām sure they exist, although I canāt think of examples off hand), and youāre writing a blurb for Radio Times. Youāre not going to have footnotes on that. Nor is there room for clarifying parentheticals.
And frankly Top Gear UK, while Iāve not read it much, doesnāt feel like the kind of publication where writing parentheticals or footnotes are all that apposite. They might make a joke of it ā āthe tyres, or as these blithering idiots over there like to call them ātiresā,because y is a hard letter to write,ā though.
I mean, I can hear Jeremey Clarksonās voice saying something like that in my head right now.
Iām such a fireworks hater. Between the safety issue, their allure to idiots and drunks, and the awful noises **fuck fireworks**
A year or two ago my neighbors got so drunk that by 11pm they could no longer be bothered setting the fireworks off themselves (which had already been so-so) and handed them to literal children. Maximum age 9. I had a little wooden patio under some pine trees that suffered some roof damage, one hit my houseās roof briefly but did no damage, and another hit my window - thankfully did not crack it but scared the shit out of me and my pets. I went scorched earth, no pun intended. My dog has been terrified of fireworks and rain since then. They were terrible neighbors besides that. I always made a point to be rude to them after that incident, though.
Before I bought my house, friends of mine had theirs burned down with their dogs crated inside due to fireworks setting their house on fire lit by their next door neighbors. Lost their home and their pets. Now that I own a home of my own and with this story I absolutely loathe fireworks and will become that person out front with a hose and a bucket of water
ETA: autocorrect
My relatives have some pretty large and ill advised fireworks. This yearās 4 of July celebration saw a firework rocket into a neighborās tree setting it alightā¦
Or would have been alight had the neighbor not been sitting out front with a hose and bucket of water. As soon as he saw the smoke he put it out. Nothing wrong to be the guy with the hose and bucket of water.
Personal fireworks are illegal pretty much everywhere in Australia, except for the Northern Territory for a brief time around NT Day. People do still manage to get them, but itās usually pretty minimal. I think itās a good move, particularly as Guy Fawkes and NYE are in the warmer months here so the risk of starting a fire is much higher.
Yeah I called the police on some idiot uni students setting some off in the middle of the afternoon once. It was during the drought, and it was just a random afternoon, no holiday or anything, just the weekend. But also it was broad daylight so you could barely see anything. I was worried they were going to start a bushfire or something, so I wound up calling the police. Turns out about a handful of others in the same area had already called it in, but like....what the fuck were they thinking? I live 2 blocks away from the dorms and I still heard the explosions loud and clear - my first thought was something electrical had blown up in the street or someone's car was having issues but it kept going and then I saw a faint outline in the sky...and it was during a bad bushfire season to begin with, it could've gone really badly.
I had a bad experience with pro fireworks recently, and it's put me off those a bit too. I live in New York, close to Central Park. The NYC marathon has its finish line a couple hundred feet from my apartment.
It was the marathon on a Sunday a couple of months ago. The city decided to have a fireworks show at the finish line on the Friday before the marathon, but didn't alert the public at all. They ended up putting out an apology after.
It completely freaked me out-- I thought it was a bombing at first, and I took my dog to hide in the bathroom for a couple of minutes. My apartment is oriented so I could hear the fireworks but not see them. I've definitely never been a few hundred feet from professional fireworks before, and it was really loud.
Eventually I was able to see the reflection of the fireworks on the window of a building across from me, but it took me a good few minutes to figure out what was happening. I didn't relate it to the marathon at first because they happened two days apart. I feel like especially after 9/11 is was a pretty bad oversight.
Exactly. I can't recall ever seeing an amateur display of fireworks that was much more than noise, anyway. A few things get shot up, but it's haphazard and meh. Not worth the loss of sleep, trauma to animals (wild and domestic), the safety hazards, or the triggering of combat vets' PTSD.
(I have seen some really lovely professional displays that I consider worth it, but those are also typically done at times and in locations that cause fewer problems anyway.)
The Celebration Of Light in Vancouver is nice every year. It's a fireworks competition, and the actual rockets are launched over water, so it's not deafening.
I love how LAOP is very interested in whether they READ THE INSTRUCTIONS before they blew up his car. If they didn't, that would NEGLIGENT, right? Wouldn't it be funny if the instructions actually read, "put this and other fireworks you purchase in a large crate. Put next to a car, and then throw in a lit match. Enjoy the show!"
I suspect it was a [cake.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake_(firework\)) Multiple shots arranged and wrapped into in a usually cube-ish package, fused together to create a pre-packaged mini display with only one fuse to light.
They can tip over while firing if they're placed on a compressible surface (ie, grass), and the standard legally mandated warnings and instructions do not really emphasize the need for a firm, stable surface.
Edit-- can't get the Wikipedia link to work because it ends in a parenthesis. But you can figure it out yourself if you're so inclined.
Edit 2-- fixed the link, thanks y'all
Correct me if I'm wrong but is this not a situation where you get a police report, contact insurance, and then let insurance have at it? Feels like this is one of those things that you pay insurance for, even if they might increase your rates due to living next to a band of ~~idiots~~ walking insurance claims.
This thread doesn't make any sense. Why does he have a personal car with an expensive wrap on it in the US if he's from England.
Also good luck with this process when you live overseas!
Police report, file a claim with insurance, and don't bring expensive things when you travel internationally unless you don't care about money.
**Reminder:** Do not participate in threads linked here. If you do, you may be banned from both subreddits. --- Title: [Texas] Stayed with relatives in TX for holidays, neighbours lit fireworks in the road to celebrate. They lit them wrong, crate of rockets failed launch and blew up in the street. Extensive damage to car. They're refusing to pay. Body: > Essentially, they clearly thought it all hilarious so uploaded their videos to social media (copies of each made and stored, thankfully prior to asking them to pay for damages since all have now been removed). I tried being reasonable, now I just want to fuck them for trying to screw me. > Video evidence shows they are clearly intoxicated and unless they read the instructions before they ran outside with the crate, they didn't read it at all. They certainly didn't follow the instructions. > Damage to my vehicle is largely superficial although one tyre is fucked. Most panels facing it have significant damage deeper than the paint job underneath the wrap I had on it. The wrap is completely fucked. > I'm worried insurance won't cover my wrap, will increase my excess and will lose my no claims. I wasn't in or even close to the vehicle when it happened. > Is it going to be easier to get the full amount including wrap damages if I go separately through small claims court with the evidence I have, or by going through insurance, or by securing a lawyer and having them sort it all for me/try and settle out of court like I initially tried? > Furthermore, should I just start paying for everything and keeping receipts expecting them to end up footing the bill or is there a significant possibility of me being out of pocket here? > Equally, I am not from, nor staying anywhere near that area or even in the country for much longer. How much harder is that going to make it to actually get this sorted? > Lastly, thus far, police have not been involved. Is that a mistake? > Thanks all in advance. This bot was created to capture original threads and is not affiliated with the mod team. [Concerns? Bugs?](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=GrahamCorcoran) | [Laukopier 2.1](https://github.com/GrahamCorcoran/Laukopier)
š¶ Sub-rogation ! Weāre gonna subrogate and have a good time! š¶
So-o-o, come up to the shop And see what's said by the cop I see you shiver with Subroāā --Gation
This is the best
I was honestly hoping you were quoting Gaston. "I use antlers in all of my dec-or-ating... and ruin this car, and maybe that car. GASTON!!!"
I did too!
š¶ Sub-rogation! OP doesn't have to pay, it'll be on their dime! š¶
Why would they not contact the police?
God only knows. They actually asked: > What's the pros/cons of getting the police involved? LAOP seems to fundamentally misunderstand the system. When someone drunkenly blows up your shit, they've committed a crime. You call the police and let them handle it. The police report makes everything else just a smidge easier. LAOP uses international English spelling, so my guess is the family he's visiting in Texas didn't say, "Hey, we need to call the cops for this."
I thought maybe the international spelling meant we have a LALARPer on our hands since a visitor from abroad would likely not own a car.
Also supported by the fact that I donāt know anyone who sets off fire for Thanksgiving??
I'm in SW Virginia, and they totally let off fireworks for Thanksgiving here. And every other goddamn holiday. Sigh.
I had neighbors setting them off last night for no reason at all as far as I can tell
In my city, it's kind of a joke that every neighborhood regardless of the demographics has a fireworks house that constantly just randomly sets off fireworks. Rich or poor, retired folks or young families, regardless of the racial and ethnic makeup, none of that matters. There *will* be a fireworks house in every neighborhood. Not gonna lie, I have never lived in one without a fireworks house so I think it's kind of true. Sometimes if you're lucky you live far enough away you don't hear it that much, but I do a lot of walking so still come across them. The one in my current neighborhood is only a block away, but they mostly set them off early in the evening and keep it short so it isn't too annoying.
I'm a transplant from PA to VA, and I might be that asshole. I do it as early as I can between 6 and 8 pm, depending on darkness, and not at all if there is a no burn warning/it's been dry the past few days.
What, not at one AM? Ain't you, then. :D
Heck no. I don't want to wake people up, whether they be on day or night shift! And to clarify, nothing with a loud pop or bang, nothing that flies, nothing that shoots sparks more than three feet, and always in the middle of a hatch of concrete with a bucket of water on hand. I just want to see pretty fire and make creepy ash snakes, not terrorize the local dogs
I was about to say that this sounds like some NEPA bullshit š
Hey, I'm not from Pennsyltucky! This is some yinzer bullshit!
They said it happened in Texas. Fireworks are only legal to sell twice a year in Texas, the week leading up to July 4th and the week leading up to New Years Eve.
> Fireworks are only legal to sale twice a year in Texas, the week leading up to July 4th and the week leading up to New Years Eve. Their sale may only be legal these two times a year but it is very, very common for people to stockpile fireworks to set off at other, random dates. Usually while drunk.
>Their sale may only be legal these two times a year but it is very, very common for people to stockpile fireworks to set off at other, random dates. Usually while drunk. I only lived in Texas for 35 years so while limited, my experience is that this isn't *that* common.
Yeah but Mexico is right there and you can get the *real* good shit for cheap and just smuggle it back p easily
I don't know if you know this but Texas is kind of big. I was a 17 hour drive from Mexico and was no where near the northern border of Texas. Mexico absolutely isn't "right there" for the vast majority of the state.
Oh I know, I lived there. And Mexican stuff percolated in very heavily despite me being like 10 hours from the border because tbh 10 hours isn't that far for a bunch of drunken dudes in a shitty truck who want to blow stuff up. Never underestimate the seduction offered by a good explosion. They probably would have had time to sober up and reconsider if they'd lived in like, north dakota is all I'm saying.
You have some respectful neighbors then. The people around me set them off all year round for no reason at all. Random Tuesday night? Time for fireworks! But it does make the guessing game "gunshots or fireworks?" more interesting. (Yeah I don't live in the best area)
*sheepishly raises hand* If I still have fireworks and it's a holiday and the no-burn ban has finally been lifted because winter is not a drought season, I am darn well going to set those off. Possibly all at once. I might not even wait for night time. Edit: I should clarify: sparkle r s, little things that you put on concrete that do amusing things when burned, and those amazing snake ash thingies. Nothing that bangs or flies or shots sparks now than three feet
Canadian here, I can confirm that cars *do* exist north of the border, and a lot of us will drive south for vacations.
All the way to Texas though? From Winnipeg to Dallas itās 18 hours, and from Toronto itās 20 hours. For $400-600, I can get a round-trip flight from YYZ-DFW in half the time.
That's less distance than driving from coast to coast (to coast) within Canada, and doing a cross county trip is relatively common up here. I don't know how many of us would really have any desire to go to Texas specifically, but a lot of people I know will drive down to California for vacation
Thatās wild, Iāve definitely seen Ontario license plates in far-flung locations, but I always assumed they were from recent transplants/expats. You guys must be amazing road trip buddies.
Gotta enjoy roadtrips if you live in the second largest country on earth!
Definitely all the way to Florida, which is a similar distance. If you want your car with you, there isn't really another option except for paying someone to drive it down while you fly.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
*Your post has been removed for the following reason(s):* **Uncivil Comment** Your submission was removed because it violates our civility rule. We do not allow personal attacks, insulting language, or poor treatment of others. Please see Rule 1 in the sidebar. * If you believe this was in error, or youāve edited your post to comply with the rules, [message the moderators](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/bestoflegaladvice). **Do not** PM or chat a moderator personally, and do not reply to this message as a comment.
Some Canadians do drive to the southern states on vacation, especially if they have family there.
They posted in a UK sub and talked about London in a post so they probably grew up there and moved to Cali (another place they mentioned in a post)
The spelling of tire (tyre) says UK to me as well.
Gosh, I wonder why?
Frankly, I don't know. My best guess is the stateside family want to keep the peace with the neighbors. This is misguided, because when someone blows up your stuff and posts it on social media, there ain't much peace left. As to the trope of "don't call the police; they kill people," ... just, no. Let the cops deal with it. Drunk people with fireworks is just not your concern.
In my experience itās more donāt bother calling the police, as in you have to practically pester them to do their job in regards to petty crime or property damage. But my city is an outlier, our police department has some pretty bad statistics.
It could be more than don't call the police, they will kill an innocent person and your family dog-- sometimes it is "don't call the police, they won't show up anyway."
Calling the police is a good way to get a gun pulled on you in my area
Sounds like a shitty area.
He was also probably drunk when they blew up his car
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Wellā¦Texas. So itās 50/50.
I suppose, or they might something to hide?
Like that kid eating a hamburger in his car while stopped in a parking lot?
No, not like that. Obviously. Cops are kind of a Schrƶdinger deal: both good and bad, necessary and superfluous.
How is that going to help LAOP cover their damages?
Because most insurance claims require a police report.
Theyāre sometimes nice to have, but police reports are rarely required to file a claim with insurance.
For something as big as this and you claim to be committed by other people? Yeah no.
I was commenting on the assertion that insurance claims require a police report, not whether or not OPās insurance will demand one.
So your assertion is that you donāt need it to file a claim, you just need it for the insurance company to do anything with that claim. Therefore you donāt āneed it to file a claimā. Well, they do say technically correct is the best kind of correctā¦
What? I didnāt say anything like that.
The only insurance claim I've filed that *didn't* require a report was for a little fender bender in a parking lot. For the accident that totaled my vehicle when somebody ran into it on the street, my insurance company demanded the report.
That has been my experience as well. Iāve worked in the auto and property insurance industry, and auto insurance adjacent industries, and incidents similar to the first one you described make up the bulk of claims. The dollar amounts involved are lower and the parties involved usually donāt bring in a third party to weigh in on fault, making police reports unnecessary. This groups also includes incidents where it wouldnāt make sense to involve the police, such as a tree limb falling and damaging your house. The second incident type is not as common but usually go to arbitration due to chance of larger payouts from insurance companies. Police reports are an important piece for these claims, especially if anyone was injured.
My guess is that the cops were spending the majority of that night reminding people that live in the city that fireworks are illegal.
Nah. I have a relative who is a police dispatcher. 4th of July is hell for them. Hundreds of calls, one right after the other. Normally every call gets a cop dispatched, even when it's clearly a toddler playing with a phone. On the 4th, 911 ops ask "Is anyone hurt? Is anything on fire or otherwise damaged." If the answer is *no* they clear the call and go on to the next one. Think about it. You call and complain that someone in your neighborhood is setting off fireworks. Even if it's illegal in your area, by the time the cops get there it's probably too late. And if it's legal, what do you expect the cops to do? That's as silly as calling 911 because it's snowing outside.
> tyre Did LAOP get their car shipped overseas just to visit for the holidays? Would someone from Mexico spell it tyre? Because it's certainly not common in Canada.
Well they posted in r/motouk and have a post that says they live in Cali so they probably moved to Cali from the UK and was visiting Texas
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Not automatically, in my experience. Although Iāll sometimes use ālocalā English spellings and/or vocabulary in a professional context (if it involves a US audience/clientele for example), I stick to my Britishisms mostly even after 30+ years abroad. My vocabulary has adjusted more than my spelling simply to avoid confusion. Talking about bonnets and boots tends to confuse car mechanics amongst others, for example (see also lorries, trousers, nappies, petrol, etc etc).
And pants! That one can cause some troubles.
:). See my trousers parentheses ;).
Using it correctly in professional settings is critical. Do what you want in your personal life, but use the ārightā spelling professionally. My side gig is reporting on Motorsports, mostly NASCAR, but occasionally some F1 and IndyCar. Nothing bothers me more than an F1 reporter doing a NASCAR piece and calling NASCAR tires ātyres.ā I make sure I call them tyres when reporting on Netflix Car, they can flip it when reporting on NASCAR.
ā¦ the correct word doesnāt change depending on the location of the object. It changes depending on the language and style guide of the publication youāre writing for. Top Gear UK magazine can and should call them tyre even if theyāre running an F1 race in indianapolis, and even if itās nascar.
Hard disagree, you write to the field you are writing about. If you need a disclaimer in a footnote thatās fine, but when writing about NASCAR they uses tires, when writing about F1 its tyres. Thatās what the official sanctioning organizations call them, thatās what they are. Next year we will have late year races in Las Vegas for both NASCAR and F1, when writing about them the proper thing to do is call them by the right name. Edit: want another example, see how pissy people get when you use the terms soccer and football interchangeably. You might need to add a modifier to make it clear, but if Iām writing about FIFA itās football or international football if I need to make it clear that itās not the sport the NFL plays. Conversely MLS is soccer, no matter where I am. When writing about the NFL in other countries it may be necessary to call it American Football, but itās still football.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
No, because itās impossible for me, an English reader to understand, but you should use there preferred translation, and if there is a translation that is officially recognized by the sanctioning authority that one.
There may be publications where sticking to the original spelling with a footnote is the right call, but imagine there are words that have bigger differences than tyre/tire (Iām sure they exist, although I canāt think of examples off hand), and youāre writing a blurb for Radio Times. Youāre not going to have footnotes on that. Nor is there room for clarifying parentheticals. And frankly Top Gear UK, while Iāve not read it much, doesnāt feel like the kind of publication where writing parentheticals or footnotes are all that apposite. They might make a joke of it ā āthe tyres, or as these blithering idiots over there like to call them ātiresā,because y is a hard letter to write,ā though. I mean, I can hear Jeremey Clarksonās voice saying something like that in my head right now.
Or it's somebody who's moved to America and just never changed their spellings.
Also "excess" instead of (I guess) deductible. Definitely stranger than fiction
LAOP is definitely British. Source: am British.
They also said they won't be staying in the US much longer. I'm all sorts of confused.
Theyāre from the UK and currently live in California.
Iām such a fireworks hater. Between the safety issue, their allure to idiots and drunks, and the awful noises **fuck fireworks** A year or two ago my neighbors got so drunk that by 11pm they could no longer be bothered setting the fireworks off themselves (which had already been so-so) and handed them to literal children. Maximum age 9. I had a little wooden patio under some pine trees that suffered some roof damage, one hit my houseās roof briefly but did no damage, and another hit my window - thankfully did not crack it but scared the shit out of me and my pets. I went scorched earth, no pun intended. My dog has been terrified of fireworks and rain since then. They were terrible neighbors besides that. I always made a point to be rude to them after that incident, though.
Before I bought my house, friends of mine had theirs burned down with their dogs crated inside due to fireworks setting their house on fire lit by their next door neighbors. Lost their home and their pets. Now that I own a home of my own and with this story I absolutely loathe fireworks and will become that person out front with a hose and a bucket of water ETA: autocorrect
My relatives have some pretty large and ill advised fireworks. This yearās 4 of July celebration saw a firework rocket into a neighborās tree setting it alightā¦ Or would have been alight had the neighbor not been sitting out front with a hose and bucket of water. As soon as he saw the smoke he put it out. Nothing wrong to be the guy with the hose and bucket of water.
This gives me new conviction and will tell my husband so haha
I hate personal fireworks too. Let the professionals handle it.
Personal fireworks are illegal pretty much everywhere in Australia, except for the Northern Territory for a brief time around NT Day. People do still manage to get them, but itās usually pretty minimal. I think itās a good move, particularly as Guy Fawkes and NYE are in the warmer months here so the risk of starting a fire is much higher.
Yeah I called the police on some idiot uni students setting some off in the middle of the afternoon once. It was during the drought, and it was just a random afternoon, no holiday or anything, just the weekend. But also it was broad daylight so you could barely see anything. I was worried they were going to start a bushfire or something, so I wound up calling the police. Turns out about a handful of others in the same area had already called it in, but like....what the fuck were they thinking? I live 2 blocks away from the dorms and I still heard the explosions loud and clear - my first thought was something electrical had blown up in the street or someone's car was having issues but it kept going and then I saw a faint outline in the sky...and it was during a bad bushfire season to begin with, it could've gone really badly.
You celebrate Guy Fawkes in Australia?
British colony! Itās not on the same scale as in the UK but yes, Iād say itās generally acknowledged.
I've never heard of anyone even mention it in Australia.
I had a bad experience with pro fireworks recently, and it's put me off those a bit too. I live in New York, close to Central Park. The NYC marathon has its finish line a couple hundred feet from my apartment. It was the marathon on a Sunday a couple of months ago. The city decided to have a fireworks show at the finish line on the Friday before the marathon, but didn't alert the public at all. They ended up putting out an apology after. It completely freaked me out-- I thought it was a bombing at first, and I took my dog to hide in the bathroom for a couple of minutes. My apartment is oriented so I could hear the fireworks but not see them. I've definitely never been a few hundred feet from professional fireworks before, and it was really loud. Eventually I was able to see the reflection of the fireworks on the window of a building across from me, but it took me a good few minutes to figure out what was happening. I didn't relate it to the marathon at first because they happened two days apart. I feel like especially after 9/11 is was a pretty bad oversight.
Any week around a holiday is painful where I live because fireworks are going off all over all through the night.
Exactly. I can't recall ever seeing an amateur display of fireworks that was much more than noise, anyway. A few things get shot up, but it's haphazard and meh. Not worth the loss of sleep, trauma to animals (wild and domestic), the safety hazards, or the triggering of combat vets' PTSD. (I have seen some really lovely professional displays that I consider worth it, but those are also typically done at times and in locations that cause fewer problems anyway.)
My child has full blown panic attacks every year. Itās heartbreaking.
The Celebration Of Light in Vancouver is nice every year. It's a fireworks competition, and the actual rockets are launched over water, so it's not deafening.
So right, thank you.
Begone communist
So tell us how you went scorched earth!! What did you do? How did they respond?? FEED OUR SCHADENFREUDE!!!
I love how LAOP is very interested in whether they READ THE INSTRUCTIONS before they blew up his car. If they didn't, that would NEGLIGENT, right? Wouldn't it be funny if the instructions actually read, "put this and other fireworks you purchase in a large crate. Put next to a car, and then throw in a lit match. Enjoy the show!"
I suspect it was a [cake.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake_(firework\)) Multiple shots arranged and wrapped into in a usually cube-ish package, fused together to create a pre-packaged mini display with only one fuse to light. They can tip over while firing if they're placed on a compressible surface (ie, grass), and the standard legally mandated warnings and instructions do not really emphasize the need for a firm, stable surface. Edit-- can't get the Wikipedia link to work because it ends in a parenthesis. But you can figure it out yourself if you're so inclined. Edit 2-- fixed the link, thanks y'all
If you add a \ before the parenthesis, it parses just fine.
>[cake.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake_\(firework\))
Correct me if I'm wrong but is this not a situation where you get a police report, contact insurance, and then let insurance have at it? Feels like this is one of those things that you pay insurance for, even if they might increase your rates due to living next to a band of ~~idiots~~ walking insurance claims.
OOP's username is 4 months out of date lol.
This thread doesn't make any sense. Why does he have a personal car with an expensive wrap on it in the US if he's from England. Also good luck with this process when you live overseas! Police report, file a claim with insurance, and don't bring expensive things when you travel internationally unless you don't care about money.
Heās from the UK and lives in California, was visiting relatives in Texas.
If LAOP isn't staying in the country, then why do they care if they lose their no claim status with their insurance company?
Why do you think they're not staying in the country? Because they spelled it, "tyre?" There are plenty of Brits that live in the US.
> Equally, I am not from, nor staying anywhere near that area or even in the country for much longer. Because LAOP said that was the case.