Friday the thirteenth: 5 x Zoetermeer mega blunders

Folded double in a suitcase

In the summer of 2017, the police tried to arrest a Zoetermeer resident in his home, but the suspect’s family indicated that he was not at home. One of the bedrooms was locked. Strange of course, so the police decided to investigate. Once inside the room, officers found it empty. No suspect. After some investigation, the police found the suspect. He had hidden by folding himself and lying down in a suitcase. Ten points for creativity and flexibility. You can read the message here.

Horrorpoller

There is a bollard in the road surface on Vierde Stationsstraat in Zoetermeer. This prevents cut-through traffic from quickly crossing in the direction of the Berkelseweg. In 2023 the bollard was temporarily disabled due to repair work after a collision.

Apparently a motorist was not aware that the bollard at the bus lock was active again. As a result, the gray Citroën ended up with its bottom on the tip of the bollard. Bert Strathausen cycled by shortly after the collision and took a photo of the unfortunate motorist.

Mistake, thanks

In October, a Zoetermeer resident parked his car in the parking lot next to the Buytenwegh shopping center. While he was unsuspectingly shopping in the supermarket, an ‘accident’ happened outside. The garbage collector emptied the paper container next to the car, but the underground bin fell off the hook. This caused the heavy thing to fall onto the hood. The car was declared a total loss after which a salvage company towed the car away and dropped the driver off at home.

Stuck in the mud

How romantic can it be? Your partner organizes a date at the Zoetermeerse Rozenberg in the Rokkeveen district to propose to you, surrounded by fragrant roses. Sounds nice, right? But something didn’t go quite right when proposing a Zoetermeer resident in May 2022.

The man needed some things for his proposal, so he decided to bring them up in a van. His bus got stuck and a tow truck had to pull him off the mountain. He got a hefty bill and a fine because he is not allowed to drive there at all. Completely sad: the marriage proposal did not go through.

Still no appointment

This year, the municipality announced that an appointment system for bringing waste to the Self-Bringing Depot would come into effect from February 1, 2025. After this decision, councilor Wim Blansjaar arranged information boards and advertising flags and ensured that the appointment system worked. The press was invited for a tour and everything seemed fine.

But it turned out that the city council was not aware of this decision, and several council members did not like the plan. Councilor Wim Blansjaar was criticized during the council meeting. The appointment system was put on hold.

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