Abysmal caravan security
In the early hours of this Friday morning my caravan, which was in storage, was stolen. Mine was not the only one to go whilst others in the compound had locker doors forced to get at the batteries. My point is that I had done as much as possible to make
it secure. Caravan alarm on, AlKo hitchlock on, Nemesis ultra wheel lock ( gold secure) on. The hitchlock was just prised off and left on the ground and the expensive wheel lock had 2 dents near the lock and it had popped off and was also on the ground. How
the alarm was silenced I dont know. Really this is just to say, dont put too much faith in these expensive security aids, they may look good but are really not up to it.
Comments
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Sorry to hear that, G10. I fear there is no way to stop the determined thief.
As One said, give us some details.
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There are some people who say that details of the methods used by thieves should be hushed up. I take the opposite stance that the more that the methods are publicised the better chance other people have of taking steps to protect their property. So very
interested to learn about the hitchlock and wheel clamp removal.I believe that some alarms can be destroyed by feeding 24v or more up the power supply wires from the battery. Won't damage anything else as nothing is switched on.
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Sorry to read this but I watched a video a couple of years ago and it took precisely 7 minutes for the thieves to disable the alarm, remove all security devices and get the caravan away towed by a transit van.
Not sure I'd want it back considering what's probably going to happen to it.
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My stolen caravan is/was a 2010 Sterling Eccles Ruby and was beautiful, everything we wanted. At the moment we feel wrecked and are not sure if we shall replace it. Insured with Saga so will have to see how that works out. We live in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
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Comming to terms with the theft of our 2015 Coachman 450/2 between the hours of 1.00pm and 11.3pm last night. We'd travelled back from Wales a day early due to weather (Sod's law), leaving the caravan secured with all the appropriate protection. We returned to the farm this morning to find our van gone, two others broken into. The hitch lock had been burnt off and the alarm and mover box torn from inside the caravan and disgarded with other personal it s strewn about! Now the worries of claiming begin.
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My stolen caravan is/was a 2010 Sterling Eccles Ruby and was beautiful, everything we wanted. At the moment we feel wrecked and are not sure if we shall replace it. Insured with Saga so will have to see how that works out. We live in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
You're still in shock, G10. Don't let if put you off Vanning.
Thanks for the details - you never know, publicising it could help. You're in the same area as Oneputt.
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That's awful news. Clearly they were very determined. What security features does the compound have? Interested because our caravan is in a storage compound on a site locally.
...this was my first thought....
yes, these 'security devices' can be circumnavigated but getting in and out of a 'secure' compound, presumably with CCTV, seems too easy.....
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Comming to terms with the theft of our 2015 Coachman 450/2 between the hours of 1.00pm and 11.3pm last night. We'd travelled back from Wales a day early due to weather (Sod's law), leaving the caravan secured with all the appropriate protection. We returned to the farm this morning to find our van gone, two others broken into. The hitch lock had been burnt off and the alarm and mover box torn from inside the caravan and disgarded with other personal it s strewn about! Now the worries of claiming begin.
Sorry to hear of your problem as well, Mark. I guess it was in Gloucestershire so a long way from G10’s area. I hope your insurance company doesn't mess you around.
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Sadly, not seeing it again may be the least distressing option. I once recovered a 'van that had been stolen from me and settled with insurers for total loss of contents and fitments. Shortly after claim was settled, the outside wall started to come away
from the internal partitions - due to the van having been towed at speed over humps. It was beyond economic repair so it was sold off to be a static.0 -
That's awful news. Clearly they were very determined. What security features does the compound have? Interested because our caravan is in a storage compound on a site locally.
...this was my first thought....
yes, these 'security devices' can be circumnavigated but getting in and out of a 'secure' compound,
presumably with CCTV, seems too easy.....Sadly, unless the CCTV is monitored 24/7 by someone it is often little use. it will show some shadowy figures with hoods up, baseball caps. no distinguishing features. If there's a vehicle visible at all I'm guessing that thieves this good will be on cloned
or false plates.0 -
if i was paying the sort of money folk quote on here for 'gold storage' (many hundreds a year....) id be wanting an armed guard to ne walking round the site 24/7
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Very sad but I am not sure what more you can do but it does sound like the clamp was not on tight enough. It does need to be on very tight using the spacers provided. If it wasbe levered off then it was probably not tight enough on the wheel. Not sure if
that would have saved it anyway.It would not be a caravan I would expect to be stolen as in most storage sites where there will be newer more valuable caravans which are the most attractive to thieves. The most at risk are twin axles that attract those who live in them and I am afraid
the German ones are the most sort after.Sounds like it was stolen to order as I cannot see why it was picked otherwise although not sure what tyhe others were, but you cannot rely on logic when dealing with these things.
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Thanks for your comments folks. I can assure Wildwood that the wheel clamp was indeed correctly fitted, spacers used and really tight against the wheel. It wasn't prised off. The discarded casing showed heavy indentation near the lock where it was struck
with some force, the lock then presumably popped out of the socket. These people certainly know how to find design weaknesses.0 -
As far as I see from literature, the actual lock part is a smooth barrel with two spring loaded balls that are fixed by turning the key. So it relies on a couple of millimeters of ball being behind the tube in the frame. As shown, distorting the tube lets
the lock slide out.Motorcyclists use big chains with even bigger padlocks. Not invincible but harder to defeat. And, unless it is being stolen to order, you are just making other 'vans a more attractive target than yours.
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Have you put details of your caravan on this 'Theft Alert' website? http://www.caravantheftalerts.co.uk/
It's staggering to read about those which have been stolen, and just how many there are, given that the website probably only includes a very small proportion of all the missing vans.
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My stolen caravan is/was a 2010 Sterling Eccles Ruby and was beautiful, everything we wanted. At the moment we feel wrecked and are not sure if we shall replace it. Insured with Saga so will have to see how that works out. We live in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
Hope you get sorted quickly G10, I live in Gorleston and store our van locally at Bradwell. Which storage facility do you use?
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Have you put details of your caravan on this 'Theft Alert' website? http://www.caravantheftalerts.co.uk/
It's staggering to read about those which have been stolen, and just how many there are, given that the website probably only includes a very small proportion of all the missing vans.
If I remember correctly the Police figure for last year was a bit over 600, but I assume a few older low value ones never got into the figures so you are probably looking at near 700.
If you look at the new caravan sales figures which are between 20 and 30,000 a year this is a fairly high proportion although some types are more vulnerable than others. There also appear to be regional differences. The figures must be quite a bit higher
than for cars though which helps explain the higher insurance premiums.0 -
My daughter was looking to buy a caravan. One we looked at made us feel uneasy that it may have been stolen. We took the cris no: down so we could check, there is a charge of £15 per check so in the end she only checked the one she was buying.
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I really feel for you. These scumbags don't care a toss that you've worked hard to be able to buy a decent caravan.
We have our pride and joy stored at the side of our bungalow.It has an alarm, tracker, hitchlock and wheel clamp but we are not complacent.We are in a cul-de-sac and our neighbours know that if they see it being towed away by someone other than us then to
ring the police. (and they will) We have faith in our little dog. She sleeps in the kitchen, a few feet away from the caravan and hopefully she will bark if she hears anything.We always think though that a determined thief will try anything to get what he wants.
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