Theft from Vehicles Somme

[Frajohn]

Unfortunately there are reports of a couple of cars being broken into during he past few days. There is a report of one at the Ulster Tower and one at Thiepval. I understand that passports and handbags were taken during the theft at the Ulster Tower.

 

 

John

[SiegeGunner]

Neither of those parking places is either remote or secluded, so hopefully the thieves will be caught or the thefts will cease as they get busier as the season progresses.  Visitors who are athletic enough to challenge or pursue thieves should perhaps be warned that they may carry knives.   

[mva]

Passports & handbags should never be left in cars !

[Steven Broomfield]

28 minutes ago, mva said:

Passports & handbags should never be left in cars !

 

I must admit I do find it strange that people go off and leave such things unattended, and (very possibly) sitting in plain view on a seat.

[squirrel]

And some who put their "valuables" in the boot or glove box in full view of whoever may be watching. Stow the valuables away at another location before you park up and leave nothing in sight. Of course, having a UK registration number on the vehicle is a bit of a give away that there may be something in the vehicle worth stealing.

[Muerrisch]

Here is a thought! Just one per day if I am lucky.

 

Is it illegal in France and Belgium to display local registration plates on a non-moving vehicle? And even if so, is the potential punishment derisory or condign?

[sassenach]

1 hour ago, Steven Broomfield said:

 

I must admit I do find it strange that people go off and leave such things unattended, and (very possibly) sitting in plain view on a seat.

And we all pay for their stupidity in the form of increased premiums for travel insurance.

[Steven Broomfield]

9 minutes ago, sassenach said:

And we all pay for their stupidity in the form of increased premiums for travel insurance.

 

You might think that ... I couldn't possibly comment!

[mva]

1 hour ago, Muerrisch said:

Here is a thought! Just one per day if I am lucky.

Is it illegal in France and Belgium to display local registration plates on a non-moving vehicle? And even if so, is the potential punishment derisory or condign?

Being French, I'd like to answer the question ... if I understood it ! "local registration plates" = French ones for a British car ? You can have French reg. plates only if you have the official documents (carte grise) for the car = I can have some for my car, but not for my neighbour's

[Muerrisch]

Thank you. Probably not a good idea then!

[mva]

45 minutes ago, Muerrisch said:

Thank you. Probably not a good idea then!

the idea was (wasn't it ?) to give a British car the aspect of a French one ? But : wheeldrive on the other side, the British stickers on the windscreen, etc ...

By the way, robbers are 'active' too on French cars !

kind regards from the Somme

Edited 8 May , 2017 by mva
added : ?

[Hedley Malloch]

If you are going to have French plates, be sure to choose the right regional immatriculation - these days I think one can choose.  Avoid 75 (Paris) because they are Parisians and everyone hates them.  They are seen as rich, arrogant and generally asking to have their cars broken into. 59 (Nord) is good.  Everybody loves the Ch'tis.  They are seen as warm, cuddly, funny and will be left alone.  Best is Corsica (2A) which means break into my car and I will break every bone in your body.

[Sly]

6 hours ago, Hedley Malloch said:

Avoid 75 (Paris) because they are Parisians and everyone hates them.  They are seen as rich, arrogant and generally asking to have their cars broken into. 59 (Nord) is good.  Everybody loves the Ch'tis.  They are seen as warm, cuddly, funny and will be left alone.  Best is Corsica (2A) which means break into my car and I will break every bone in your body.

 

I guess you live in France since a long time to know that ! But I think that the thieves don't really care about the plate number, if there is an opportunity - whatever the car is or wherever it comes from - they will try anyway...

 

Sly, Parisian "75" born... with a "80" number plate on my car

[mva]

now, the plate does not change when the car has a new owner ; if I (80) sell the car to someone in 62 = pas de calais or to someone in 23 = Creuse , the car will still have 80 on it.

Like Sly (bonjour, voisin !) I think thieves don't care where the car comes from, the main thing is : don't leave passport, valuables & handbags in the car

[SiegeGunner]

Frankly, the object of the exercise, when there are thieves about, is to make your vehicle a less attractive target than others nearby.  Step 1 is not to leave anything remotely valuable in sight ... as far as possible, take such things with you when you leave the vehicle.  Step 2 is to strew the interior of the vehicle with things like hats, weather gear, maps, carrier bags of dirty washing, newspapers, food packaging, and other similar stuff of no particular value that would take time to rifle through, with no promise of finding anything worthwhile.  Thieves want a quick 'in-and-out', not a jumble sale rummage.  Think like a thief ... don't keep your lightweight rain suit in a carrier bag from a prestigious store ... if you buy a new laptop, don't re-purpose your old laptop bag as a briefcase for maps, guide books, leaflets, etc, and leave it on the passenger seat.   

[Dragon]

A few years ago I was in an hotel in Alsace when a team of four thieves visited the car park. I don't sleep much, so I was awake at 6 am, the hour before dawn. It's a village with four clocks, all timed slightly differently, so at 6 am there were 24 bongs: enough noise cover for them to drive up in their getaway vehicle and park it under the hotel's canopy out of direct view.

 

I watched them select their targets. Some drivers hadn't locked their car doors, so the thieves simply opened the doors and helped themselves. Some hadn't fully closed the windows, so the thieves either reached straight in, removed the window, or manipulated the car door open through the window. Some drivers had left desirable goods such as camera bags and rucksacks in full view. In those cases the thieves prised the door open by easing a crowbar into the door and standing on it so the door sprung open. Clearly in the first two examples any car alarm wasn't set or didn't have a sensor inside the car; when the thieves prised open the car doors, they evaluated whether there was an alarm or not. It took them under five minutes to rob at least twelve cars. Fortunately ours wasn't among them. They weren't looking whether a car was French, German, Swiss, British or Belgian; they were looking for easy and profitable targets.

 

Of course I phoned the police as soon as the thieves started and I was able to give good descriptions. Unfortunately, because this is a rural area, it took the police about 20 minutes to arrive; by this time the thieves were well away. The thefts were a well-planned operation and I found out afterwards from the police that there had been a series of raids on hotel car parks for several kilometres up the wine road. It was in the local paper that week.

 

I thought people should be warned and I suggested to the hotel that they might consider a notice warning people to lock their cars and not to leave valuables in view. I think the hotel owners were more concerned that any warning would put visitors off. I also mentioned movement-sensitive lights. No, this was a one-off.

 

That was Tuesday. On Friday at 6 am the thieves came back. I was awake.

 

The next time we visited that  hotel there was a warning notice in three languages and a movement-triggered floodlight on the car park. And there are still people who leave cameras, bags, phones and expensive purchases on the back seat of their cars.

 

Gwyn

Edited 9 May , 2017 by Dragon

[Moonraker]

Tourist centres on Dartmoor used to (may still) offer a  piece of card with "I'm Moor Aware - No Valuables Left in this Car" printed on it to be left above the dashboard when one left one's car. I've printed off my own version. Perhaps people with a good knowledge of the language of the country they're visiting could fashion their own.

 

I'm not sure what effect, if any, such signs have on criminals, but they can't do any harm.

 

Moonraker

[Hedley Malloch]

11 hours ago, Sly said:

 

 

 

Sly, Parisian "75" born... with a "80" number plate on my car

That's the way to go!

[sassenach]

47 minutes ago, Moonraker said:

Tourist centres on Dartmoor used to (may still) offer a  piece of card with "I'm Moor Aware - No Valuables Left in this Car" printed on it to be left above the dashboard when one left one's car. I've printed off my own version. Perhaps people with a good knowledge of the language of the country they're visiting could fashion their own.

 

I'm not sure what effect, if any, such signs have on criminals, but they can't do any harm.

 

Moonraker

I'd be wary of doing that. I'm no expert on the criminal mind, but might not some of them, on seeing that, think it funny to damage the vehicle just for the hell of it? A sort of "oh, yeah?," if you like? 

[healdav]

I don't think any thing much will stop someone who really wants to break in and doesn't care how he does it.

Best thing is to put a car where there are lots of people and put everything out of sight.

I go to Verdun regularly and don't put my car in the car park at the Memorial, but across the road from the entrance where there are always lots of people.

[Steven Broomfield]

Indeed: there's the story (possibly apocryphal) of the chap with a van which had a sing "No tools are kept in this van overnight" ... it was broken into, and a note "Just checking" placed with the original notice.

[SiegeGunner]

Another ploy, adopted by a friend of a friend of mine some years ago, is to leave a large lurcher asleep on the back seat.  Not in high summer, though, or it won't be thieves breaking your windows. 

[Dragon]

1 hour ago, Moonraker said:

... piece of card with "I'm Moor Aware - No Valuables Left in this Car" printed on it to be left above the dashboard when one left one's car. I've printed off my own version. Perhaps people with a good knowledge of the language of the country they're visiting could fashion their own.

 

I'm not sure what effect, if any, such signs have on criminals, but they can't do any harm.

 

There is an initiative called Project Warnhinweistafel which provides dangly cards which you hang from your mirror or put somewhere visible, saying  Attention, dans ce véhicule, il n'y a pas d'objets de valeur and the same in German.

 

I am merely passing on the information. I have no idea whether it is effective or not.

 

Gwyn

[Moonraker]

15 hours ago, sassenach said:

I'd be wary of doing that. I'm no expert on the criminal mind, but might not some of them, on seeing that, think it funny to damage the vehicle just for the hell of it? A sort of "oh, yeah?," if you like? 

A point of which I'm conscious, but someone of criminal mind approaching a car with intent might decide it's not worth the bother and time to damage it and move on to the next vehicle.

 

Moonraker

[healdav]

15 hours ago, Dragon said:

 

There is an initiative called Project Warnhinweistafel which provides dangly cards which you hang from your mirror or put somewhere visible, saying  Attention, dans ce véhicule, il n'y a pas d'objets de valeur and the same in German.

 

I am merely passing on the information. I have no idea whether it is effective or not.

 

Gwyn

I once had a car with a large RADIOACTIVE sign on the boot. Thieves still broke into it, and stole a bizarre selection from a whole load of holiday stuff: Paddling pool, one sandal, and my daughter's doll.