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Amsterdam craze: tossing Smart cars into the canals
Amsterdam, July 25, 2009 [DutchAmsterdam.nl] — Amsterdam police is deeply concerned about a new craze in which vandals toss parked cars from the Smart brand into the city’s canals.
The so-called ‘Smart tossing’ takes place mainly during the weekend, when many youths are out for a night on the town.
Photo by Tinou Bao
According to locally-published newspaper De Telegraaf police has not wanted to publicize this form of vandalism for fear of copy-cat incidents. However, police officers are paying extra attention to Amsterdam’s canals, especially during the weekends.
The Smart cars are small enough to be parked with head or tail pointing to the water.
One man who parked his Smart car that way said police woken him with the message that his car had been pushed into the canal.
“Several weeks ago the same thing happened to my companion’s Smart,” Casper de Jong said. “In both cases the Smart was declared a total-loss.”
Alongside most canals a low guard rail helps prevent cars from taking a dip, but the Smart car is small enough to be lifted and tossed.
It is not clear how many Smart cars have been vandalized this way, but an employee of Smart Center Amsterdam confirmed the company has recently been confronted with it ‘a number of times.’
Car Tipping
In recent years vandals have also targeted other small vehicles, including scootmobiles and tiny cars from the Canta brand — both used primarily by people with handicaps and limited mobility.
In an urban version of cow tipping, yobs apparently derive fun from tipping over these types of vehicles.
More articles on this topic: Amsterdam NewsMore about these tags / keywords: canals • Smart car • Smart tossing
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