Ratingen/Dusseldorf.
A Ratinger complained in vain about an ATM under his apartment. Now the machine was blown up by unknown persons.
Ulrich Möller suspected it, almost knew that there would be a bang at some point down in the bank above which his apartments in Ratingen’s pedestrian zone are located. “It’s only a matter of time before something happens here, too,” he said almost a year ago in the hallway of the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. Where his lawsuit, demanding the dismantling of the machine, was heard. Möller lost in court. Now strangers have blown up the bank’s ATM and also severely damaged Möller’s house.
It is Wednesday, shortly after four o’clock in the night, when residents on Düsseldorfer Strasse in Ratingen hear two explosions within a few seconds. The first police forces, who arrive shortly afterwards in the pedestrian zone, are presented with a picture of the devastation. Two machines blew up the sprinklers. One in the Santander branch under Möller’s apartments, the other just a few meters away on the wall of a Deutsche Bank branch.
Judges deemed danger ‘abstract and small’
Both the branch office and the facade of the Santander Bank were severely damaged by the force of the blasts. Lucky in misfortune: According to the police, there is no danger of the affected residential and commercial buildings collapsing. Residents did not have to leave their homes. The extent of the damage is not yet clear.
Nevertheless, it is exactly the scenario that Möller has warned about again and again. It was of no use, nor was his lawsuit in court, which was dismissed in spring 2022. The judges considered the risk of an explosion to be “abstract and low”. After all, the number of blasts in 70,000 ATMs nationwide was 350: “That’s 0.5 percent,” said the presiding judge.
Owners disagree
A statistic that Möller no longer uses. “I feel helpless and resentful. In my opinion, this could have been avoided here,” he told WDR hours after the blast and was annoyed: “Both the banks and my co-owners seem to put the security of money before the security of buildings and people.”
In fact, in the present case, a declaration of division by the owners from 1971 – i.e. a formal division of the building – is the problem. It allows a bank branch on the ground floor and thus in principle also an ATM. Its installation was neither “an unacceptable change to the house nor an unacceptable use,” according to Unger.
Just not a new ATM
In order to subsequently change such a declaration of division, the consent of all co-owners is required. “Agree,” the court advised Möller during the hearing. Then the dismantling of the ATM could probably be enforced. But an agreement is difficult. Because the co-owner who persistently refuses to give his consent is, unsurprisingly, the landlord of the bank branch.
“Probably,” Möller pointed out after last year’s hearing, “we’ll have to wait until the thing blows up. Then the problem was solved.” He no longer wants to rely on that. He now wants to talk to his co-owners: “So that there isn’t another ATM at this point.”
On Thursday night, another ATM was blown up in the Lintorf district of Ratingen. Witnesses were able to see several people fleeing in a dark vehicle, presumably from the BMW brand. When they arrived, emergency services found that they had blown up an ATM in a bank branch. The premises of the bank branch as well as the entire building complex with the residential units above and several vehicles parked in front of the building were severely damaged by the detonation.
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