As promised here is the response from Le Moulin
Must say I feel much more reassured
Twice in June 2007, tents at the far end of the campsite were cut and items taken, mainly wallets with cash. In September 2007, one similar incident occurred.
In 2008, we had one incident in June and one incident in September.
In 2009, we had one incident in June.
We have installed PIR lighting in various places and several fake cameras.
We did install surveillance cameras at the far end of the campsite but with limited success. The thieves appeared to know where they were and avoided them. It is also very difficult to capture significant images at night, especially over long distances and with so many trees, caravans and other obstacles.
Before the 2009 season, we closed off the far end of the site and put up a small barbed wire fence. This protects the end of the campsite quite successfully.
However, the length of the river is a right of way for fishermen and, as such, must remain open for pedestrian access at all time. We are not allowed to put up a fence.
We are constantly battling with the local and regional authorities to change this but in the meantime, we are limited with what other measures we can implement.
Discussing the situation with colleagues who own campsites in the region and beyond, we discovered that we are by no means the only campsite to have this problem. Other campsites in the area had similar incidents around the same time, but most places tend to hush them up.
With several colleagues who own campsites in Montrichard, St Aignan, Loches, Tours and Ballan-Miré, we now communicate fully and each time any campsite has 'nocturnal visitors', we phone each other up and step up security on our own sites.
Last year, we took the decision to personally warn all campers down at the far end of the campsite to be on their guard. The warning seemed well received by campers and we had no further issues.
We also organised internal rotas of surveillance by staff and regular campers who were happy to help.
For the 2010 season, we have employed a full-time night watchman and will continue with the other measures we already have in place.
The Trip Advisor comments are written by people who have had bad experiences and I fully understand their distress.
However, some are totally exaggerated and mis-representative of the facts.
We have a good relationship with the local police force who also patrol the area at night, and who do come onto the campsite when there has been an incident. However, they are also realistic and know that there is little chance of finding evidence/catching the thieves, and the only real course of action is the practical route of cancelling credit cards and filling in a form for insurance policies.
We take each incident very seriously. We love this campsite and view the thefts as violations of our own property as well as our campers.
It's also important to underline that for the thousands of people who stay with us each year, the thefts only affect a small proportion.
A number of people read the Trip Advisor reports last year and contacted me with their concerns.
You might be interested in the following email correspondance:
Hi,
We are due to arrive on 26th of July, whilst looking at places of
interest on the web I stumbled across this
/“/Robbed at night here while sleeping in our tent/”/
I found about three incidents, how common is this?
Alarm bells are ringing out loud, as normally our two kids sleep in the
awning.
Email 9th August:-
Hi,
Just arrived back home this afternoon. Just wanted to drop a line
thanking you for an enjoyable stay without any problems what so ever.
Particularly enjoyed your Tuesday evening night walk down to the
Chateaux....
I hope I have been able to reassure you that we are doing everything we can to prevent thefts and that campers are as safe on our campsite as they would be anywhere else.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions
Best wishes
Sarah Scarratt
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Some days are diamonds.......
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Topic: Camping Le Moulin Fort
. (She's fine)
