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I have read on here that some people secure their water containers and the like in order to reduce the chance of them being stolen, but I have always felt that our stuff was relatively safe on site.  After all campers in tents have no security at all for their equipment.

But we have just spent a week in Cornwall and when we were out one day someone stole our hitch cover!  I am pretty stunned to be honest, as they are not exactly expensive.  They didn't touch the water containers, or any of the equipment which was in the awning.  Just the hitch cover.

So I guess we need to go out and buy some locks and chains as even fellow campers and caravanners can't be trusted.  It's a sad day.

No it definitely didn't blow away.  That hitch cover has survived some really strong winds on other sites, and there was no wind on the site we were at there in Cornwall.  It was held on with two secure straps.  I have no doubt it was pinched!

It is nice to hear than sometimes justice is done hawk!

When we were down in Cornwall a few weeks ago it was very windy at times.

Twice we found hitch covers blown onto our pitch.  We just humg them off the windbreaks until the owners claimed them.

Have had solar lights stolen on 2 different sites over the last 12 months, because they were a little different i guess but still only worth a few quid each.

Had my tent broke into while we slept in it 3 tears ago and that was on a C&CC site  

Must be unlucky

We have only had things stolen twice and that was when we were tenting. Stayed at a poor site near Swanage and a vanload of young blokes arrived, went through all the tents, stole our food and sleeping bags but not the duvet strangely enough. Another bloke was left with an empty tent. We also had our saucepans nicked in France. I can't imagine why anyone would want to steal a hitch cover.

Anne

While we were staying on a site in Norfolk in May the weather turned exceptionally windy one day while we were out. We got back to the site quite late, and in the morning we found a new cover off part of a Cadac stuck in the hedge behind our van - as everyone who had been in our vicinity had packed up and left by then we had no idea who to return it to, so we kept it and it makes a brilliant hitch cover!

Its shocking that people in the same situation can resort to stealing.  Like a lot of you say, none of us have good security while away so we like to think we can trust our fellow campers.

My sister a few years ago left her van on site while the family went out to the beach for the day at Brean. On their return they found their awning missing but the stuff that was in it was still scattered around. Although the campsite was full, no-one actually noticed the theft take place. They had to pack up and go home as there were 6 of them and the awning was needed for the kids to sleep in.

Id be grateful it was just a hitch cover you lost, infuriating though it is. My sister had saved for a year to take the family away and they were all devastated.

If you consider human nature, it isn't really surprising that theft occasionally happens on campsites.  I think there are two main reasons for this having become more common.

In the first place, camping/caravanning is followed by many more people from a much wider background than was the case some years ago.

The relaxation in the forces of law, and the lessening of pride and self-discipline, has resulted in a greater number of thieves who feel no guilt in stealing the property of others.

At one time, everyone treated a thief as a social outcast; now we have organisations only too ready to "help him/her to adjust", and put the blame on society itself.

Bertie.