CCTV Footage of theft of a catalytic converter from a Toyota Prius in Ipswich

Last Updated on February 18, 2023

Life is good, but sometimes a little more challenging than at other times.  This video shows the catalytic converter being stolen from my car.  At 7.20pm on the night of Wednesday the 2nd October 2019.  It took around two minutes.

Pending any insurance payout this has cost me £520 and two days of a lot of hassle.  Since we moved to this street 19 years ago a few challenging things have happened.  A few years ago my car was written off when someone drove into it and then left the scene (they did come back eventually).

Every single car we’ve owned has been vandalised repeatedly.  You might have seen the videos I posted a while back showing the multiple times our milk was stolen from the doorstep.  There was once a police chase through our garden.

A couple of years ago someone even stole the brass numbers from our front door.  There’s quite a long list of, admittedly fairly low key hassles, that we’ve experienced since we moved in.

Over the years we’ve seen and heard quite a few altercations in the street.  Some more serious than others.

So why do we still live here?

Some of our best and closest friends ever live in the two houses next to us.  We have made friends with lots of the great people who live on our street.  Neighbours have helped us out too many times to remember.  Often the introduction we’ve had to one of our neighbours was when they were doing a good deed without fanfare.  When our daughter was born neighbours who we had never met before knitted clothes for her and made it clear that if there was anything we needed they would gladly help out.

We have enjoyed bonfires and all sorts of get-togethers over the years.  The walk to, or from, our front door is frequently augmented by cheerful conversations with the great people who live in the houses surrounding ours.

We have a great Facebook Group used by the people who live on our street.  Everyone is incredibly helpful to each other, but the Facebook Group is just one example of the warm neighbourhood spirit here.

So when negative things happen, as they do on any street anywhere, and people roll their eyes and talk shit about Old Stoke they can only be commenting on the small number of negative aspects of life here.  There is so much positivity, community and support on this long road of small Victorian Terraces that I feel blessed to live here.  This is a good place.