Steve928 Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 June 9th. the owners of a very nice 2015 Hobby returned to the car park pictured in Bath to find their van had been stolen. There followed the usual sharing of van details around Facebook etc. and the owners returned to Scotland by train. 4 days later later, allerted by the authorities that their van was running up a big parking bill, they are returning to Bath by train to collect the van which has been 'found', parked exactly where they left it. They had been looking in the wrong part of the car park. As you get older you realise just how easy it would be to do this sort of thing as the panic sets in. Good of the owner to share his story on one of the Scottish m/h groups and he seems to be taking it all in good spirit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stvekay Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 Sounds like the sort of thing I would do!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 That's not a very large park, if that was the one, they didn't look far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 From this person jumping too quickly to the conclusion it had been stolen, I sort of did the exact opposite 40 + years ago. I came out of my house one morning to find the car was not on the Drive. So I then went down the road to see if I had parked it down there, as the Driveway of the 'House Share' in Croydon could get quiet busy. I then walked up the road to see if it was there, which it wasn't. I went back into the House and asked all of the 5 other House sharers if one of their friends had borrowed it. I just could not believe any one would steal a rusty 20 year old Humber Sceptre!! But secondly I had fitted hand built Electronic Ignition with anti theft so I struggled to believe they had got it started to drive it away. It was found 30 mins later by a House mate on her way to work, just further on down the road at the bottom of the hill towards Long Lane. It had been Hot wired, yet clearly they hadn't managed to get it going. They had seemingly pushed it off the Drive and then freewheeled it down the hill to try and start it. If only I had walked another 50 yards I would have seen it. I still don't understand why they picked on my heap when Ryan's new Escort company car was easier to get into and was also more accessible!! However, I do understand why Sues's newish Skoda 110 had remained untouched. She was truly upset that they had chosen my wreck over hers!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 I think this Thread encourages me to fit the Tracker I bought a couple of years ago which is still on a shelf in the house. At least a Tracker would give you some help finding your vehicle if it hadn't been tampered with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek pringle Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 hi, We went in to a hypermarket in France, noting which entrance we went in. On leaving we thought we had left the way we went in and shock/horror no van. I was in such a state as all our documents and everything were in the van. Panic for what seemed an age and eventually my wife spotted our van in a different part of the car park. When I finally got myself together I did notice that every section of the car park was duplicated and looked exactly the same. Glad to hear the people in this story got their van back ok. cheers derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 Stuart, If you do fit your Tracker, be aware they take a lot of power from the battery. We fitted a handful of budget versions in early 2016 but the draw on the battery was so high that after 2 weeks they had dropped the Starter battery so far the engine wouldn't start. The power draw was actually 3 times higher than it stated in the Technical Specifications. These were the budget 'No contract' Trackers, but we have seen similar power consumption figures from Contract Trackers. We would suggest you wire it from the Leisure Battery using the same circuit on the Power Distribution unit as the Frost Protection valve. That way it remains 'powered' when the Display/Control unit above the door is turned off. If you fit a fuse that you can easily remove to prevent it drawing current when the Solar Power contribution drops to almost nothing in mid Winter you should manage for most of the year. You never know, the new Votronic MPPT Solar Regulator just purchased might just make a big enough difference over the old regulator to even see you through mid Winter as well? Assuming you don't get bad snow on the Solar Panel blocking the light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zydeco Joe Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 Nice story with a happy ending for a change. B-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve928 Posted June 14, 2017 Author Share Posted June 14, 2017 Owner and van now re-united :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonflyer Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Hi I have an app on my old smartphone Find my car I have never used it, but it works by setting it to current location when parking in large car parks. Then being able to locate it again on return due to GPS. Very frustrated trying to find our hired RV in Edmonton, Canada (largest mall in world at time) so downloaded this app when bought new phone. Hope this may help somebody. Joyce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 We have a car with no key, just a fob, that needs to be within a distance to start the car. I would prefer to have a built in gps that locates the car in a big car park. I always try to park in a certain area in my local supermarket, for the reason that i can find it. Had a fright in a town car park when I went through the wrong door and thought the car was stolen ! An age thing me thinks!! The app sounds a good idea, but I do not have a smart phone! PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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