Whats "dangerous"about overnighting on motorway service stations?

[Patricia]

On my way out to France in February I was obliged to pass the night on the N154 service area near to Dreux (supposedly the most crime ridden city in France) and all passed well, no problems, no incidents.

 

On my return to the UK last week I overnighted on a new aire in Pont de l'Arche. There is now a dedicated space for 4 m/homes. As usual I set the alarm so that it would go off if someone tried to open a door then put the straps across and went to bed. In the middle of the night I was awoken by the radio blasting out and nearly broke my leg in my haste to turn it off. I went back to bed, awoke a few times and once suspected that I had heard tapping on the habitation door. I was so tired after miles of driving that I slept the rest of the night. In the morning I supposed that I must have just turned the radio down, rather than off, but then realised that the volume was very loud. Big mystery which I still have not solved!

 

I did not rush to get up as I had all day to get to Calais so had not even had breakfast when a policeman knocked the door and told me I had to get off the parking as he had to close the height barriers. As he turned to go he noticed, and pointed out to me, that the front nearside tyre was completely flat. Obviously I could not move until the spare was put on. The problem turned out to be not the tyre but the valve which is a reinforced one and only a few months old.

 

So, could it have been tampered with? Not so keen on staying on aires now!

[lennyhb]

If it is the metal screw in type they can work loose if not fitted correctly, as for the radio must be your resident spook.

[oldlowie]

For those of you who baulk at shelling out your money to stay on a site, why not think of the site fee as an insurance premium against overnight robbery?

 

Better daylight robbery than a 3:00 am encounter with a 'tooled up' thief? :D

[lennyhb]

Having been on a 4 star site in Spain some years ago where vans were robbed during the night what's the difference,.

People who don't like Aires always use this argument if you take our experiences it makes Aires safer. (lol)

[Brian Kirby]

lennyhb - 2011-05-11 11:41 AM Having been on a 4 star site in Spain some years ago where vans were robbed during the night what's the difference,. .................... (lol)

So, does anyone actually have any information on this; are more vans robbed while on campsites, or off them?

All I have heard suggests that most break-ins take place on motorway service areas or rest areas (confusingly both also referred to as aires in French), in the peak summer season, along the main tourist transit routes. 

Elsewhere, I would not expect break-ins on those "aires camping-cars" designated as overnight stopping places, to be more, or less, than those on campsites.  The risk seems to lies much more in where (geographically), and when (time of year), you stop, rather than whether it is a designated overnight "aire" or a campsite.

Maybe a bit too far south to be useful to Patricia, but we found a vary nice little municipal campsite a couple of weeks back at Salbris: Camping de Sologne (N47.43055 E2.05461), just off the A71 between Vierzon and Orleans.  A well maintained, lakeside site with flat, good sized, hedged, reasonably firm, pitches, good facilities, a helpful reception: takes cards, E17 paid.

[Patricia]

Brian Kirby - 2011-05-11 1:01 PM

 

Maybe a bit too far south to be useful to Patricia, but we found a vary nice little municipal campsite a couple of weeks back at Salbris: Camping de Sologne (N47.43055 E2.05461), just off the A71 between Vierzon and Orleans.  A well maintained, lakeside site with flat, good sized, hedged, reasonably firm, pitches, good facilities, a helpful reception: takes cards, E17 paid.

 

Thanks Brian for the recommendation - might give that a try sometime as it is certainly on one of my itineraries. As it happens where I stopped was a dedicated m/home aire just outside the campsite that I usually use and I thought that I would give it a try as when I next return to the UK, planned for late October or November, the campsite is closed. I have no proof that anything untoward happended there but the tyre was ok on arrival - maybe it was a natural occurrance (the garage repairer thought so) and just a coincidence but taken with the radio coming on (was the van shaken?) and the strange noises I am not so sure. Perhaps someone did it for a lark (it was a fete weekend) or maybe someone who didn't like the Brits or even m/homes? If it was a deliberate act then they could just as easily have walked into the campsite. Next time I go I will ask the gardien if they have ever had any problems.

[Mel B]

Regarding the radio coming on ... I wonder if it was due to a late night/early morning radio station suddenly coming on stream and, as you hadn't turned it off properly, it sprung into life - that's assuming of course that you don't have a cut-off for your radio after an hour or so. :-S

[oldlowie]

Mel B - 2011-05-11 8:15 PM

 

Regarding the radio coming on ... I wonder if it was due to a late night/early morning radio station suddenly coming on stream and, as you hadn't turned it off properly, it sprung into life - that's assuming of course that you don't have a cut-off for your radio after an hour or so. :-S

 

Mmmm... what about a traffic alert? They seem hellish loud when they cut in on my radio 8-)

[smifee]

I've been stopping on motorway rest areas & laybys for about 20 years ( not continuously) ;-)

 

When travelling south in the winter I just drive with breaks to walk the dog, eat etc until I feel I need to sleep. If I don't like the look of a place I drive on to the next one.

 

Van is alarmed, has deadlocks fitted to cab & habitation doors and an everlasting hot waterbottle/security guard ( a cocker spaniel ).

 

Stopped at a rest area near Valladollid, Spain, and as usual took the dog for a walk to check the area out. A bloke was walking towards me and didn't 'look right'. After he had passed me a car pulled out from a parking place and flashed his lights at the walker. I turned back and they both went round the corner towards my van. When I got round the corner the car was right behind the van with the walker by a grassy bank behind me. I got to the car and wrote the reg no. down. The car immediately reversed, picked up his mate & drove off at speed.

 

Stayed & had a good few hours kip.

 

Not everyone has that 'sense' of a place not being right. I have pulled onto a rest area and when walking the dog found broken window glass on the ground with beer bottles & cans strewn about. I left but there was a MH there obviously staying the night.

 

When we towed a caravan with a small MH I've also stayed on 2 campsites that I felt were dodgy. The first was a Caravan Club recommended overnight stop at Fismes. It was full of 'travellers'. Reception was closed and I was just telling the boss it was no good when a UK reg caravan pulled up behind us. We agreed to pitch up together in a corner away from the 'travellers' and that one of us would stay on site at all times. Police arrived the next morning and moved them on. Second site was near Arles but I was too tired to find another site and one of us stayed in the van all the time.

 

Off site or on site you just have to be aware.

[MattR]

We have been told that the closer the aire is to a port to the UK or major tourist hotspot, such as Barcelona, the greater the risk. The former mainly due to illegal immigrants hoping to find cash and passports to help them on their quest to the land of milk and honey (AKA the UK) and the latter looking for easy pickings - cameras, mp3 players etc. thoughtfully provided by "rich" tourists. So we avoid such places.

 

We also keep windows shut to minimise the chance of being gassed - although we haven't heard much of these type of thefts recently.

 

We are aware of people that have been victims of distraction thefts - their tyre was slashed and the thieves happened to be available to help put the spare wheel on. Fortunately, my friend was in convoy with others which the thieves had not known - so when several of his friends got out of their cars to help, the thieves drove off.

 

We had a situation in Luxemburg when we were flagged down by some teenagers in the car that was passing us on the motorway, pointing to our wheel. We did have a puncture (slashed wheel) but they appeared to just be letting me know and drove off - we took precautions and made it difficult for anyone else to stop near us. Fortunately, our tyres we filled with a goo that significantly reduces the chances of punctures and slows down air loss so we could drive further than other vehicles.

[Losos]

Patricia - 2011-05-10 11:27 PM In the morning I supposed that I must have just turned the radio down, rather than off, but then realised that the volume was very loud. Big mystery which I still have not solved!

That is a mystery since one would have thought that the volume would stop you from getting to sleep. Could I ask if it was the vehicle radio or a portable one. On my vehicle, the radio automatically turns itself off after 30 mins. and I don't use the portable radio in the evening. I am wondering what a thief might hope to gain by tampering with the tyre valve, very mystifying isn't it.

On the subject of overnighting on a motorway service area, no I wouldn't do it, it would be too easy for someone to get away and once on the motorway even the Police have difficulty in finding offenders.

[eddievanbitz]

In short nothing in my opinion.

 

I am off for three or four weeks touring in France next week. We shall be staying on Aires whenever we are travelling and will sleep soundly in my bed.

 

I will have Strikeback on and armed, I will have the security loop around my bikes, on the back of the car (which will also be included in the Strikeback loop)

 

I will not leave any money in sight, nor handbags, credit cards or passports.

 

I would not stop at a Aire that appeared to look or feel "rough" prostitues and rubbish are a bad sign (lol)

 

We do not use Aires to save money, but simply to save time. We can be driving in the direction that we want to go, and once we have had enough of driving, simply pull off the motorway and be grilling a steak and a cold beer in hand in minutes. We are not wasting time looking for some where suitable to spend the night and having to be there by a certain time thus loosing travelling time.

 

We have used Aires for over twenty years. I was very "anti " the idea at first. But after a couple of nights of watching car drivers arrive, sit at a picnic table with their families enjoying a meal, ready to roll up with a blanket to sleep on the grass overnight.

 

All this of course was going on whilst I peered at these “foreign types” very suspiciously, from behind my curtains, on a door that was locked and had deadbolts on! They appeared to be cool and comfortable, whilst we were sweltering as I refused to have a window open for fear of being burgled or mosquito infested.

 

After a couple of nights of this nonsense I started to relax a little and realised that the people in and out of the Aires, were, like us genuine travellers en route to and from our holidays, simply tired and wanting some where to have a bite to eat, perhaps and drink and a few hours sleep.

 

You could of course forgive the Continental motor homers for not wishing to come to the UK! Not because we treat everyone like a potential gypsy instead of a potential customer in the UK, not because we make no real provision for travelling motorhomes and caravans in the UK but as a dangerous place to travel in.

 

Some will recall that sadly two Germans were shot dead whilst travelling in their VW in Scotland about 10 years ago, If I recall overnight by some nutter. So with a ridiculously high vehicle crime rate, two murdered motorhomers It is here that you should be worried about!

 

I talk to people all the time about motorhome crime and in my opinion there are as many crimes committed on campsites as motorway Aires.

 

True perhaps more people stay in campsites to the numbers are flawed, but take normal common sense preventative action, and you can use an impressive network of overnight stops the way that they were intended to be used

 

Eddie

 

[JamesFrance]

There is a big difference between Campingcar Aires and Motorway service areas. No doubt many of the latter (away from cities) are perfectly safe to stay overnight on, even if noisy from trucks.

 

However there are some which are notorious. Nothing would persuade me to stay overnight at the Autoroute Catalan Village Aire close to the Spanish border, as I know several people who have been robbed there. Similarly it would be very foolish indeed to stay on the Autopista when passing Barcelona.

[eddievanbitz]

JamesFrance - 2011-07-18 4:26 PM However there are some which are notorious. Nothing would persuade me to stay overnight at the Autoroute Catalan Village Aire close to the Spanish border, as I know several people who have been robbed there.

 

Yet we often arrange to meet friends there when we are travelling from different areas.

 

We have sat out under the tress, with a bottle of wine, or walked through the cut to the artisans village and enjoyed a pleasany meal.

 

Never seen any problems there, and will probably overnight there this year if the weather forces us into Spain.

 

Different strokes, different folks!

 

Eddie

[JamesFrance]

Eddie I am sure you will be better protected than anyone. Yes it does look attractive there but so many have good reason to regret staying. Obviously everyone who stays there is not robbed, so I just hope you are one of the lucky ones. :-D