Two months ago we became very excited thinking that the end of this mess was near when the Fuel pumps and the subterranean fule storage tanks were ripped out.

Unfortunately for us, that is all that has happened and there is now a huge crater on what used to be the fore court of this once excellent petrol station.

Last night we had a community meeting at Lyndhurst Primary School (regarding the relocation of Xenophobia "refugees" to our neighbourhood) where a manager from Lyndhurst Toyota announced his business OWNS this site.

I thin that I can say "I REST MY CASE!"

This is amazing since they have been denying ownership and claiming that a legal dispute has prevented them from maintaining this site.

At least my actions have resulted in these non owners finally being motivated to clean up this site.

Courtesy of Amanda Watson, the following article appeared in our "knock & drop" the Northern Tribune on Tuesday.

"Sites for Sore Eyes

Lyndhurst: With development poised to explode along Johannesburg Road, things are about to get a lot messier before they get better.

Residents have been complaining for a while about problems, which always appeared to fall on deaf ears.

"Mosquitoes and rats are making our lives hell here. There are three, larvae infested, stagnant water features and it seems as if the owners of the property do not care about their responsibilities to the community," said David Kahn.

He lives next to the vacant BP station on Johannesburg Road, and feels the current owners are dragging their feet over the property.

Robbie Matticks, Operations Executive for Super Group Dealerships (SGD), explained there were a number of issues that had to be overcome before they could build.

"The property belongs to Lyndhurst Toyota. We've been there. There are no rats, nothing that's breeding rats or mosquitoes. We've had an insecticide company go through there twice already," said Matticks.

A legal merry‑go‑round between the previous owners and SGD, the BP shop owner and SGD, and BP Petrol and the previous owner has prevented their R40‑million development for a long time. The project involves the building of a car dealership which will be the new home of Lyndhurst Toyota.

"These have now all been resolved.

Before we start building, the fuel tanks still have to be removed by BP and a health certificate issued to the effect that the ground is clear of contaminants."

A complicated process still lies ahead before any sod turning is done.

"Corporate governance does slow things down, if it were up to us we would go ahead. We're hoping to start construction before the end of the year." Matticks is sending in a garden service to clean up the property in the meantime. The property where mechanics are currently housing themselves behind the garage, belongs to the City and Matticks is hoping to lease the land in the near future.

'It's not our intention to aggravate neighbours, but when construction does start, there's going to be a fair amount of dust."

It seems as if we are dealing with politicians here and not corporates. I visited this site this morning and in less than three minutes counted no less than eight huge rats.

The main reason for my visit was to investigate the pungent smell of burning plastic - VERY HEALTHY STUFF I might add.

The source of the smell was a fire lit by a female living in a zozo hut on the site - she was burnign some rubbish. I insisted that the security guard must extinguish the poison which he did.

Mr Matticks if you cannot find the rats give me a call and I will show them to you. My time was very limited this morning so I could not check on the mosquitoes I will report on this part of the issues in my next post

Support us in boycotting Lyndhurst Toyota

Approximately 3 years ago, a petrol station and convenience centre next door to our complex closed down.

After a few months signs pictured to the right were erected on the building.

Since that time, absolutely nothing has been done at the site and it is now starting to look totally neglected.

I have contacted management at Lyndhurst Toyota 1.5km up the road - opposite Eden College on Johannesburg road (Neil Hermann tel: 0118804455) and at Rand Stadium Toyota.

I have spoken to management at the JSE listed company Supergroup (Robbie Matticks robbie.matticks@supergrp.com Tel: 0114351270, Cell: 0834097478 about the problems that we are experiencing, however we are constantly ignored. These peoples attitude is devaluing our properties.

What are these problems you may ask? Stop whinging about your neighborhood you might state! Stop behaving like an old aged pensioner!



To begin with, this is the state of the forecourt pictured above.

The surrounding gardens are neglected, the site is progressively being stripped of recyclable materials at the expense of the owners, vagrants have made fires at various locations on the site and have even burned the building in places.


As we move into the site we find a stagnant neglected water feature that has been the cause of our constant plague of mosquitoes in the area for the past 3 years.





The vagrants living on the site are using a shipping container to store their rubbish. It stinks and is rat infested as is the rest of the site.

The rats are a bit camera shy but I managed to catch one as it scurried under the container.

There were at least 12 running around before I pointed my camera.

When I opened the container pictured below a few ran out as well.

Management argue that they cannot attend to the site since they are embroiled in a legal dispute.


What constantly puzzles and irritates us is that Lyndhurst Toyota are storing their excess stock of vehicles on the site. What puzzles us even more is that as soon as a summer hail storm smashed some of the windows of this warehouse, somebody involved in a legal battle managed to repair them.

Why can Lyndhurst Toyota / Rand Stadium Toyota / Supergroup not look after this propety, it is depreciating the value of our homes.













Please excuse the poor quality due to the reflection, but you can clearly see that there is a lot of stock in this warehouse.












The far right windows were closed with steel sheeting after the storm.









Between our Townhouse Complex and this site, their gardens are totally neglected, fowled up with litter and infested with rats.



For the past 3 years I have not supported Lyndhurst Toyota for fuel, I have encouraged the 30 residents in our complex to follow my example, I have e-mailed, complained on www.hellopeter.com to no avail.

Hopefully this blog will achieve something positive.

All that we want is a well maintained site and to have a good relationship. The problem is that only one of us wishes to Tango!

Come Super Group, Rand Stadium, Lyndhurst Toyota.