Another incident - robbed with knockout gas (closed)
News story here on Daily Mail:
i don't know if this is a new story or not but I have been reading more and more of these. I would not stay overnight at services but I know a lot of people on here do. I suppose it's a case of keeping doors and windows shut; Alarming them; Fiting secondary
security to door catches, etc.
I tend to plan and book ahead when touring in France but it does defeat the sense of freedom you should have when touring.
Be sensible and be safe.
Comments
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We need to sort Myth from Fact:
A full discussion is required on this Subject to alay fears and misconceptions.
Statement on alleged gassing in motor vehicles
A statement from the Royal College of Anaesthetists 2014Despite the increasing numbers of reports of people being gassed in motor-homes or commercial trucks in France, and the warning put out by the Foreign Office for travellers to be aware of this danger, this College remains of the view that this is a myth.
It is the view of the College that it would not be possible to render someone unconscious by blowing ether, chloroform or any of the currently used volatile anaesthetic agents, through the window of a motor-home without their knowledge, even if they were
sleeping at the time. Ether is an extremely pungent agent and a relatively weak anaesthetic by modern standards and has a very irritant affect on the air passages, causing coughing and sometimes vomiting. It takes some time to reach unconsciousness, even if
given by direct application to the face on a cloth, and the concentration needed by some sort of spray administered directly into a room would be enormous. The smell hangs around for days and would be obvious to anyone the next day. Even the more powerful
modern volatile agents would need to be delivered in tankerloads of carrier gas by a large compressor. Potential agents, such as the one used by the Russians in the Moscow siege are few in number and difficult to obtain. Moreover, these drugs would be too
expensive for the average thief to use.The other important point to remember is that general anaesthetics are potentially very dangerous, which is why they are only administered in the UK by doctors who have undergone many years of postgraduate training in the subject and who remain with the
unconscious patient throughout the anaesthetic. Unsupervised patients are likely to die from obstruction of the airway by their tongues falling back. In the Moscow seige approximately 20% of the people died, many probably from airway obstruction directly related
to the agent used.If there was a totally safe, odourless, potent, cheaanaesthetic agent available to thieves for this purpose it is likely the medical profession would know about it and be investigating its use in anaesthetic practice.
14 July 2014
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Thanks Briandoc. I take you are/was from a medical profession? What you say sound true to me in which case the stories I have been reading are myths as you say. So the conclusion is that some people go into such a deep sleep they do not realise that they
are being robbed. They assume that some sort of gas is used.The danger is still there in terms of staying overnight at service stations but perhaps not from gassing.
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This is something which comes up regularly on many forums. If you Google "Gassing in France", or similar, you'll find lots of discussions on the subject. The extract above, from the Royal College of Anaesthetists, is also to be found on a lot of forums,
in response to it.Staying overnight at service stations is something many people do each year without problems. We've done it ourselves when time was short. We haven't done it for many years now, as we are now time-rich. The areas further south in France are by some considered
more of a risk to stay on than those further north.0 -
There is another current post on this forum, in the
Caravan and Motorhome Chat section on exactly the same subject - and coming to the same conclusions.0
