Calais Warning

[ham]

Just got back from Calais . Whilst we were there Yesterday we saw 3 British Cars that had been broken into 1 at Auchan, 2 At Citie europe ,We went into the center to have look around and when we came back there was a black bag underneath my Van .On checking it out, i found it contained lots of documents and Tacho graph discs,Luckily there was a name with the discs and the coach company Name, On checking the coach was parked up in the coach park and had been broken into and it was the drivers bag..Shortly after the police and citie europe security arrived . and we where told that it is now a regular occurence and they were stepping up patrols. Fortunatly there were a couple of Motorhomes parked up and People in them. The Police believe it is the illegals looking for items to nick. we later saw one going through the bins looking for food.

[hallii]

Thanks for the info, we don't hang around now anywhere near the ports, we shop further in and just drive straight on to the ferry port.

 

There are to many undesireables hanging around for our liking.

 

H

[Klyne]

At the Cite de Europe where was the parking involved was it the surface parking of the undercover section near where Tesco used to be?

 

David

[Randonneur]

We stayed at Calais Port on Sunday night with no problems. On setting off on Monday morning we were just coming out of Coquelles onto the A16 and about 50 yards along the motorway were a man and a woman with 2 very small children and a baby in arms trying to cross the motorway, by the way they were dressed they were definately immigrants. Whilst we were filling up at the Auchan petrol station we also saw another 2 men going into the long grass at the rear of the station and another 2 walking along the main street in Coquelles. This is the most we have ever seen in all our trips between the Uk and France.

[lennyhb]

In the past I've seen dozens of them praying to Mecca in the field behind the Auchan. A friends Motorhome was broken into at Citie Europe 2 years ago.

 

We nearly always go to the Auchan at either Boulogne or Dunkirk depending on which direction we are heading.

 

In our experience the French police always blame crime on immigrants regardless, even in deepest rural France.

[ham]

The 2 Brit cars were 1 in the carpark on the opposite of the road to the entrance for Motorhome parking. The other was parked next to my mates car on the opposite of the building surface area just above the petrol staion I think the entrance is porte 8. Immigrants lots hanging around down by the Yacht basin also quiet a number wandering around citie europe but always took a dive for cover when the police drove around the car park. There was one going through the bins as we left looked like he was after any discarded food

[Dave225]

Ham, could you not have been kind and offered them a lift???

 

Please excuse my poor sense of humour, but cynicism tells me sooner or later you will meet them in London.

 

However, do not assume that only Calais has the break in scenario. It can happen in any large supermarket especially for motorhomes as they tend to try and park away from the rabble of cars. It happened to us in an Auchan near Montpellier a good few years ago. We parked in clear spaces and went in to shop. On coming out we found the side window open and obviously someone had gone through the van quickly. Probably a child by the size of the window that was forced. Nothing serious was taken except my 4 year old daughter's toy, again why i suspect a kid.

 

From then on we always left someone in the van. Now we have a caravan and do not have the same problem as usually we only have the car at supemarkets and cars are harder to break into as they do not have plastic windows, and do not look so obvious.