Tea Cup Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 We are off to France via Calais tomorrow, we've stayed at Cité Europ a few times recently and found it very good, but the latest All the AIres suggests it is not safe, use double locks and alarms. We felt quite safe there, there were no strange groups of people wandering around, police station just around the corner, shops open in morning with nice croissants etc. We quite enjoyed our overnight stays Anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshortcircuit Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 Its how you feel and do not pay attention to the reviewers comments. The aires is surrounded on three sides with a barbed wire fence, cctv and police station and your fellow MHs. This review of the aires, like many others, are opinions based on an observation without ascertaining facts. I stayed on an aires that had brilliant reviews on the outskirts of a lovely tranquil village. The reviewer obviously had not stayed there as the aires was directly beside the main road at the bottom of a hill with a hump at a bridge that was being used by lorries 24hrs, so absolutely no sleep. Take it as to how you feel as some of the rubbish written in the reviews should be ignored. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 the older fiat base was as easy to open as a can of pilchards apparently ..Just dont leave the van unmanned when shopping in supermarkets wherever you are.....One of us always does shopping alone the other stays in van. http://www.motorhomefacts.com/forum-printtopic-1-125492-0-0-asc-viewresult-1.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshortcircuit Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 Your MH can b e broken into anywhere. Are you going to have somebody in it all the time as that would make for a really boring holiday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tea Cup Posted July 2, 2013 Author Share Posted July 2, 2013 sshortcircuit - 2013-07-02 12:18 PM Your MH can b e broken into anywhere. Are you going to have somebody in it all the time as that would make for a really boring holiday. That's the next thing on the list, security. But yes, we don't leave the van unattended, and take great care in parking in sensible places etc. We felt perfectly safe previously at Cité Europ, but wondered if things had changed. We are booked to go first thing in the morning, staying in the UK overnight, but may go late tomorrow night and stay in Calais. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BGD Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 Let's just be clear here: nowhere is safe. There is no such thing as completely safe. It simply ain't possible. All you can do is add some anti-break-in measures to your MH, in the hope that a prospective thief will go elsewhere; and try to minimise the loss associated with any actual break-in by not taking really valuable stuff on tour with you; hide any valuable things/papers very very well inside the vehicle, and park/stay where your common sense tells you the risks are minimal. But I see so many MH's where the owners have spent many tens of thousands of pounds on their toy, but appear to have invested utterly zero on additional, effective, visible security. Seems nuts to me. Consider things like:- Alarm, with visually obvious sensors/armed flashing lights on doors/windows. Secondary external deadlocks on outside of cab doors, and internal additional locks (Heosafe or equivalent) Secondary, visually obvious lock security on habitation door. Internal security bar across inside of habitation door. Bars fitted across any windows vulnerable to opportunist theft. Remove front of stereo, and don't leave flashy TV out on show. Do everything you can reasonably do to convince a prospective thief that: 1. There ain't much obviously on show/worth nicking from your van, and 2. You're very obviously serious about the security of the vehicle, and 3. It'd be a pain in the neck to try to break in to your van, and thus 4. He'd do better to go and try to break into someone else's van. Just have a real good look around other MH's next time you park up in a group of them. Ask yourself which of them would you have a go at breaking into, which would you avoid, and why.......'cos that's exactly what Mr Thief does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly58 Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 We were there last week and have not had any problems over the past seven years w e have stopped there on every trip usually five trips a year. We will be there again this Thursday or possibly the Auchan at St Martin Bologne. Then its onwards to Le Tour 100 for Tuesday and Thursday stages . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshortcircuit Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 "we don't leave the van unattended" well you obviously have a paranoia about the most remote possibility of being broken into and surely you do not mean all the time? Surely you go out for a meal together or to visit attractions but to do it all on your own on a shift system cannot be enjoyable and I would just sell up if every we got to that position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ips Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 Acctually Judge said "when shopping" as this is no doubt prime location / scenario for theft,and I agree we do the same even in this country. Generaly the only time we leave the van unattended is when we are parked on a bonafide site. There is one thing to be said about club sites and most if not all CL/CS and that is that you have a high degree of security. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshortcircuit Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 ips - 2013-07-02 12:58 PM Acctually Judge said "when shopping" as this is no doubt prime location / scenario for theft,and I agree we do the same even in this country. Generaly the only time we leave the van unattended is when we are parked on a bonafide site. There is one thing to be said about club sites and most if not all CL/CS and that is that you have a high degree of security. I was referring to Tea Cup. I will agree with you that CL/CS do tend to have a high level of security mainly as a lot are remote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 We don't worry too much about where we leave the but Cité Europe is one place we don't as friends of ours had their van broken into there a couple of years ago, only a few quids worth of CD's taken, but they did thousands of pounds of damage to the van getting in. Friends had one of those Fiamma Security door handles, they pulled the mounting bolts right through the body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 Thank you IPS...... its all about risk assessment and supermarkets are a high crime area in most countries, So if you choose not to treat them with suspicion you deserve all you get.....we have a safe and use it, so park up and walk or and cycle around all the time *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cattwg Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 Hi Tea Cup, I can only say as I find. We have overnighted here on a several occasions with no problem. The last time was two weeks ago on our homeward trip, We were one of four British ‘vans, again we had no problems. We did not do any shopping this time and the situation is of cause different depending on whether it’s night or day. Cattwg :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tea Cup Posted July 2, 2013 Author Share Posted July 2, 2013 Our van has fixed windows, we take whatever precautions we can such as one person only in the supermarket etc. They can get in anyway if they really want, as has been said, can do more damage by breaking in, but this van has no alarm, unlike my last. I was intending to get the Milenco external locks, but as has been said, the perps can just lever them off. The only time we've been under threat was in a car park near Annecy (we were there at the same time as the murders last year), we were sitting in the back, a bloke was obviously going to break in, but didn't see us till the last minute (we have heavily tinted windows). We drove off, shaken. I think I'll take a look at Cité Europ, decide then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 never ever had a problem parking there. We have gone off shopping and had meals and never worried about security, it's overlooked by a large police station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 there are plenty of alternative places to stop within an hour or two...Only report I found was from 2012. we have stayed there many times without incident as well..but I do remember a post on one forum awhile back and someone reported thieves forcing/pulling bikes of a rack in broad daylight..we have expensive e bikes so since downsizing to a panel van haven't risked staying there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tugga Posted July 3, 2013 Share Posted July 3, 2013 We stayed there last Saturday night with no poblem at all overnight. In fact there was about 20 motorhomes there and we felt very safe. Our biggest problem was getting there as being a Saturday the French were out in force and talk about a traffic jam, it was solid and took us 30 minutes to get to the car park! They were still pouring in at 21:30 but all was quiet by 22:30 and we had a good nights sleep as usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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