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I know some one (ex company manager)who had his van stolen at service station.
We Had a Gentleman of foriegn extraction show extreme interest in our van whilst parked at the American Diner North bound on the A1 in june this year, forunatly one load barking terrier and me sat where I could watch the van made him and his white van make a rapid exit from the cafe car park.So be very carefull out there.

Dave

My OH used to work in a service area, she left there 20 years ago & this was going on then. Only a year before she left a caravan was unhitched from the tow car in the car park while the family were inside the building.

The nerve of the scumbags is beyond measure, if they're determined they're having something they just seem to take it. They must watch families come in & have someone inside the building to make sure they're away long enough for their belongings to be taken.

Only recently I was on a roadside filling station forecourt, a lady went in to pay leaving her door open, her hand bag on the passenger seat & the keys in the ignition. I was there filling my lorry up with fuel so I was there long enough for her to return to the car. I mentioned the way she'd left the vehicle wasn't the thing to do & the look I got made me feel like something on the bottom of her shoe. I doubt if her insurance would have paid out had the car been taken.

We never ever leave our outfit without at least one of us with it.

BB

Hiya,

we never leave ours either, we go inside one at a ltime to use the facilites.

we had to stop overnight back in april and stopped at a services, we had the wheelclamps on, hitch lock on, car alarm on and even though we tried neither dh or i slept much!

we had phoned family on arrival and apparantly none of them slept well either they were so worried about us being parked up in services!

we wont be doing it again, we will book onto a site midway for 1 night so we can get a good sleep.

Quote: Originally posted by bacchante on 07/8/2009

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The van will now be home to a family at a so-called 'travellers' camp by now ... (I got told off on here for calling them p****s) ... the police won't do anything about it ... they probably even know where it is .... they're afraid of them!

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Quote: Originally posted by jeepster on 07/8/2009

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Quote: Originally posted by bacchante on 07/8/2009

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The van will now be home to a family at a so-called 'travellers' camp by now ... (I got told off on here for calling them p****s) ... the police won't do anything about it ... they probably even know where it is .... they're afraid of them!

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As a retired policeman I can assure you that "the police" are not intimidated by any group of people be they travellers or p****s!
People often say "won't" when they really mean "can't" or there is not enough evidence. Even if they know where it is that doesn't mean they have the evidence or are legally able to get it.
Although many people or groups of people break the law, the police have to abide by all laws in everything they do and act within the rules of evidence, and can not discriminate at all.
If you have a complaint about the police go and complain to them, instead of using this topic and forum to air your biased views!

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Just over 23 months ago, a diesel pickup with rear cab was stolen from a building site quite near here. The builder had left his jacket in the office and the keys werein the pocket. He wasn't bothered about the truck or indeed his tools, but he was very bothered by the fact that his dog, a young springer spaniel; bitch was in the back of the xab.

This was reported to the local constabulary, who took due note, and in fact said that in all probability it was soemone from one of the many travellers sites within 20 miles from here.

He did all the right things, put posters in all the shops, vets surgeries, advertised, posted on DogLost, etc etc, In desperation his wife took up the challenge,

She and a friend toured all the travellers sites, working on the correct assumption that a women would be perceived as less of a threat than a man.

She persevered, and eventually, some six months after the car and dog went missing, she tracked the dog down, and it was retrieved.

Now, why did she have to do this? Because, as our local constabulary told her, they do not go onto traveller sites.

I don't know which part of the country you live in, but there are a great number of travellers sites within a 30 mile radius of here, and a great number of stolen dogs have been recovered from them, not by the police, but by work of the local dog rescue organisations and the RSPCA.

Dogs ae taken for fighting and breeding, and simply selling on in a pub. It may seem trivial to a policeman, but apart from the cost of a pedigree dog, there is the heartache to the family of a much loved pet.

Caravans are also regularly taken, and have been seen being towed by what are clrearly travellers, but no action is taken.

Why? because nother dog nor van is perceived as a major crime, and does nothing to boost the solved crime statistic, and yes, the police are afraid of them!

 

The subject of caravan thieves always makes my blood boil - anyone that can rob a van off a family who are quite obviously enjoying their hard earned holiday is disgusting. 

Our van is 17 years old and a bit battered on the exterior so I reckon I'm less of a target but I would quite happily run over them in my 4x4 multiple times if I ever came across any - absolute scum of the earth, dangling from a lamp post with piano wire is WAY to good for them.

Quote: Originally posted by susa on 07/8/2009

Quote: Originally posted by jeepster on 07/8/2009

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Quote: Originally posted by bacchante on 07/8/2009

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The van will now be home to a family at a so-called 'travellers' camp by now ... (I got told off on here for calling them p****s) ... the police won't do anything about it ... they probably even know where it is .... they're afraid of them!

---

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As a retired policeman I can assure you that "the police" are not intimidated by any group of people be they travellers or p****s!
People often say "won't" when they really mean "can't" or there is not enough evidence. Even if they know where it is that doesn't mean they have the evidence or are legally able to get it.
Although many people or groups of people break the law, the police have to abide by all laws in everything they do and act within the rules of evidence, and can not discriminate at all.
If you have a complaint about the police go and complain to them, instead of using this topic and forum to air your biased views!

<IMG border=0 src="forum_images/smiley2.gif">

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Just over 23 months ago, a diesel pickup with rear cab was stolen from a building site quite near here. The builder had left his jacket in the office and the keys werein the pocket. He wasn't bothered about the truck or indeed his tools, but he was very bothered by the fact that his dog, a young springer spaniel; bitch was in the back of the xab.

This was reported to the local constabulary, who took due note, and in fact said that in all probability it was soemone from one of the many travellers sites within 20 miles from here.

He did all the right things, put posters in all the shops, vets surgeries, advertised, posted on DogLost, etc etc, In desperation his wife took up the challenge,

She and a friend toured all the travellers sites, working on the correct assumption that a women would be perceived as less of a threat than a man.

She persevered, and eventually, some six months after the car and dog went missing, she tracked the dog down, and it was retrieved.

Now, why did she have to do this? Because, as our local constabulary told her, they do not go onto traveller sites.

I don't know which part of the country you live in, but there are a great number of travellers sites within a 30 mile radius of here, and a great number of stolen dogs have been recovered from them, not by the police, but by work of the local dog rescue organisations and the RSPCA.

Dogs ae taken for fighting and breeding, and simply selling on in a pub. It may seem trivial to a policeman, but apart from the cost of a pedigree dog, there is the heartache to the family of a much loved pet.

Caravans are also regularly taken, and have been seen being towed by what are clrearly travellers, but no action is taken.

Why? because nother dog nor van is perceived as a major crime, and does nothing to boost the solved crime statistic, and yes, the police are afraid of them!

 

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Actually, I don't think it's scaremongering, it's very good advice.

I've always been told since I started caravanning, always put the hitchlock on, and preferably the wheel clamp too, if leaving the caravan in services, even if for just 5 minutes.

It might seem a pain, but as this story shows, it's a precaution worth taking.

So a good reminder, and a warning for anyone who hadn't considered it before. Posted here too

Ian

I  have never left our caravan unattended at the services  I go away myself with the kids so one of us is always there and I always put the wheelclamps on although I did see on several occasions this year people leaving quite new caravans unattended with no security on them.

A good point well made Jeepster.  If folk try to picture their caravan as £15,000 in cash then they might be less willing to leave it unlocked and unattended sitting on the back of their car.  I’m a serving police officer and I’ve lost count of the number of cars that have been stolen with keys in the ignition and the engine running whilst their owners have nipped into the shop for a paper or have left it to defrost on the driveway.  People don’t value what they have until it’s gone.

For the record I’m not scared of travellers and the police are never going to spend thousands of pounds of public funds and six months touring campsites to find a stolen dog.  Do you know how difficult it is for anyone but the owner to positively identify a dog?  The RSPCA do reunite many dogs with owners but usually when they have first been handed in to a police station!

The police don’t see these things as trivial, they make sensible decisions on how to spend the taxpayers money that is entrusted to us.  There would be an outcry if it was wasted on a ‘wild goose chase’ such as this.  Don't forget we've got to make the money last until April next year!

For the record, a great many dogs get stolen from thir own gardens and even from locked dog runs. The dog I quoted was not be used as "a guard dog" If you knew anything about dogs then you would have realised that a springer spaniel is not a Rottweiller. The dog had been left in the cab whilst the builder was on a site visit.

"Trivial". "wild goose chase" well maybe to you , but when a trained dog can be worth upwards of £4000, not so trivial.

I used the story to illustrate the fact that certainly in this area the police DO NOT go onto travellers sites to make routine enquiries as they would to your home or mine if the need arose.

Maybe they do "raid" with sufficient numbers, but there have been instances of stolen vans being seen on travelelrs sites and the police refusing to go.

Do not misunderstand, I do think the police have a hard job, and getting harder by the day, but its simply a fact that crime statistics are more important than crimes such as caravan theft and dog theft.

However, here is an interesting link:

http://www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk/clitheroenews/Stolen-caravans--police-enlist.5418720.jp

Did you know that 1400 caravans are stolen in the UK each year? Make sure yours isn't one of them!

We often leave our caravan on motorway services whilst we walk the dog and have a drink etc.Its nice just to get out of the car for a while. We put the Alko wheel lock on, a hitchlock and the alarm. It also has a tracker system. Are we still tempting fate?

Surely with all that on it won't go. Or will it?!!!!!!!