Black scorch marks and soot particles mark a notorious intersection in Veen, a village in the municipality of Altena. Every year, scrap cars are set on fire there on New Year’s Eve. The first went up in flames at the beginning of December. An annual tradition, according to the distillers. But local residents are tense about New Year’s Eve. “Tradition? Criminal offenses, those are!”
“Am I afraid? What do you think?” A resident of the Witloo apartment complex in Veen looks out at the intersection of Witboomstraat and Van der Loostraat. Every year, on the night of December 31 to January 1, many people gather there to burn scrap cars. Last year, eleven went up in flames. The senior flat was then left with two shattered windows and a damaged door.
The road surface suffers approximately one and a half tons of damage every year. “Those distillers believe they are entitled to their tradition, while we are in fear every year. I no longer call it tradition, but war!”
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This year too, we didn’t wait until New Year’s Eve. The first weekend of December, more than 150 young people gathered at the intersection in Veen to drive a car. “That racket and noise…” The woman takes a drag from her cigarette. “They can just go about their business because no one is doing anything about it.” The fire brigade eventually extinguished the fire and a towing company towed the car away.
“They come from far and wide to set cars on fire here. Even from Urk!”
In the 1950s and 1960s, fireworks were only set off on a modest scale at the intersection. From the 1980s onwards, wood was also set on fire. “There was a sense of solidarity then,” says another woman from Veen. Meanwhile, a mother and her son walk by suspiciously with their dogs. “You shook hands with everyone and even wished the police your best wishes,” the woman continues. “Now it has gone completely crazy!”
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“Since I was a child, I have known nothing better than that cars are being set on fire,” says a 55-year-old woman. But that tradition only really started around the 1990s. “Even now they come from far and wide to set cars on fire.” She lists: “Breda, Den Bosch, The Hague and even from Urk.” She herself is not concerned about the Veen tradition. This appears to be moving to nearby Poederoijen, in Gelderland.
“My wife is very anxious. I don’t leave them alone on New Year’s Eve.”
“A tradition? Criminal offenses, those are!” It brought a lot of misery to a man in a mobility scooter. For years he had a furniture store at the intersection. The smoke from the torched cars entered his shop, causing five to six thousand euros in damage annually. “The entire contents were in ruins. We saw everything on camera images, but the municipality did nothing with it.”
Due to his health, the man now lives in a nursing home in Andel, his 85-year-old wife still lives at the intersection. She is very anxious during New Year’s Eve because of the car fires. That’s why the family offers her company. “We don’t leave her alone on New Year’s Eve.”
The police and the municipality of Altena have been trying in vain for years to get a grip on the many car fires and disturbances that take place in Veen on New Year’s Eve. For example, concrete blocks were placed at the intersection in 2021 in an attempt to prevent more cars from being set on fire there. This year, as in previous years, camera surveillance has been installed from November 28 to January 7. A municipal spokesperson cannot reveal how the municipality and fire brigade are preparing for New Year’s Eve and the car fires in Veen. “What I can say is that the safety of first responders and residents comes first.”
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