Stolen Motorcaravans Database

[Anne1]

Hi We've just had our Motorhome stolen early this morning from outside the house. It was our first motorhome & had been our dream for ages, so we are gutted at the moment. We have reported it to the police who said the details would be passed to the local forces & motorway police, but all they asked us was the make, model & registration number which could easily be changed/disguised by now. We know the van was there at midnight but not at 8.00am so they had plenty of time to get away. We are not sure if we want to carry on motorhoming even if we get her back(yes she is a her)as we are worried this could happen again. We had only had her 3 months. If anyone sees a Peugeot Boxer Autosleeper Harmony reg no. P357 DNU please can you either get in touch with me or phone the police. I have sent a message to the Lancahire police address that you have given with details & all distinquishing marks, so if this helps I will let you know. Anne1 :-(

[bigal55]

i had my caravan broken into 2ys ago every electrical/gas/water appliance was taken including the kitchen sink total value £4500,dorsets finest response, fingerprints, scenes of crime officer? no ring next week and we will give you a crime number for your insurance, it,s not just your van that is valuable and don,t expect the police to help,they were very nice thieves they crimped the gas pipes very neatly alan

[Brian Kirby]

Anne

Make sure you give the details to your insurers as quickly as possible, and try to make sure any details such as engine and chassis numbers are included in your report to the stolen motorhomes database.

Don't be put off by this; it is very disappointing and upsetting but, sadly, it happens.  It is nothing to do with you in particular, it is just that someone who wanted a van saw yours and decided to steal it.  If you think the location of your house may make it vulnerable to this kind of theft, consider additional security for any replacement you may get.  When and if you decide to replace the van, I hope the new one turns out to be even better than the one you've lost!

It may help others to spot it if you say what area you live in, since it may not have travelled all that far.  Good luck!

[Anne1]

Thanks Brian We have been onto the insurers so hopefully that will be sorted out. Our immediate problem is that is was our only vehicle & the insurers do not give a courtesy car for stolen motorhomes only ones involved in an accident, so we now have to take time off work to look for a cheap car to run around in until the claim is sorted. We would both love another van but are too devastated at the moment to consider one. Silly as it seems we already considered her as part of the family. Anne

[Thai Bry]

Anne

I'm very sorry to hear about the theft of your pride and joy. Not as bad as you, but we had our pride and joy broken into last year, 1 day before the Easter break. It was absolutely sole destroying, and we did not get all the repairs done until 5 weeks before our summer hols at the end of August.Our drive way now resembles Fort Knox. Retractable security posts, and an all singing and dancing security system, which texts my mobile if the alarm goes off.

Hope that you will soon be abck to normal, whatever normal is from now own. Once again sincere sympathy.

Thai

[Dansky]

Sorry to butt in here, I am a Military Police person and have been for the last 10 years, I'm also a qualified Crime Reduction Officer (CRO) and just thought it might be of use to offer some brief info, as I am not a Civilian Police Officer working in the UK, I'm unsure what operational initiatives Lancs Police or other Home Office Forces have in place regarding Theft from or Theft of Motorvehicles which of course would include MH's. Therefore all I can really say on the matter is that in my line of work the CRO for the relevant area would give regular briefs regarding thefts of vehicles amongst other things to be on the look out for. Because of the amount of traffic on the road it would be unrealistic to get a vehicle check on every motorhome a patrol came across, but also because of the Data Protection laws any officer requesting information relating to any vehicle check must be able to justify the reason for the check, with so many cars stolen across the UK it would be impossible to check every car which of course may have positive results in identifying stolen vehicles, but it's just not practicable however unfortunate it is. It seems to me that what Lancs Police are doing is compiling a list of stolen motorhomes with as much detail so that they can provide up to date briefings for the patrols, this must be a considerable heavy work load but clearly one which Lancs Police have chosen to take on to benefit the MH owners. If I were offering any Crime Reduction advice to the owner pf a MH I would probably advise them to property mark any removable items within their vehicle, I would probably use 'Smaridioter' this could also be used to mark the vehicle itself but before rushing out to purchase any property marking kit, do some homework, contact your insurer and ask what property marking devices if any they would reccomend and ask about discounts, usually if you have taken steps to improve the security of your property companies will give you discounts. Also contact your local Police Force and request a meeting with your Crime Reduction Officer, ask for their advice and if they are currently running any property marking schemes you would be surprised what freebies are available. Alarm the vehicle and of course photograph the vehicle, especailly any individual markings such as scratches, bumps, dents all these could be forwarded to the relevant Police Force if you were unfortunate enough to have the vehicle or contents removed by person(s) unknown. Take care, sorry for rambling on a bit :-)

[Dansky]

Smaridioter was not the product I was attempting to mention clearly the product I was referring to is unable to be typed on this forum :-) please don't rush out to find smaridioter you probably won't find it :-) Take care. Dave

[kmoorman]

Having had a quick skim through the database, it's quite scary just how far they will go to steal a motorhome... some of the vehicles were parked on the owner's drive with a car parked behind it!! Is nothing safe? Is motorhome theft a big problem, as I will need to improve the security at home? Also - what precautions should we take; 1. At home 2. On holiday To deter thieves.. Cheers Kieron.

[Guest JudgeMental]

Kieron, this has been extensively covered, really is best to do a forum "search" but as it is playing up.... Cat 1 alarm that can be set while you sleep in the van dead locks on cab doors and habitation doors and lockers problem is most cab doors can be forced with a screwdriver in seconds. if you have dead locks they have to smash window and climb through, most theives will move on to next less protected van *-) other things: a tracker or new and cheaper sim based system such as Eazytracker. some sort of large lettering on roof to ID your van (police helicopter) while on the drive some use wheel clamps, security posts, steering wheel locks. I think the first two are essential for peace of mind when traveling in unfamiliar places. *-)