How did they unlock my cab?

[Barclaybasher]

I was travelling alone back from Spain 3 years ago...

Keys left in ignition?

I did that, they were still there in the morning when I woke to find my drivers door had been opened and a mobile phone stolen.

Old fashioned lock, no chipped key, the barrel on the lock had been 'screwdrivered" - door opened, phone nicked, door closed......

I'd left 2 phones on the dash !

They only took the good one

The day before I was feeling really ill, made worse by a really rough 8 hour sea crossing.

Left Barcelona in the evening, had to stop and chose a service area near the French border. Tried to make myself a coffee, gas had run out, stumbling about I managed to lock the van, dragged my jacket to bed an slept like a log.

Thankfully the thief left me with the crappy phone.......

No gassing, Rolex or laptop involved......

 

[pandas]

It doesn’t make it right but the is a general guideline about it not best to park overnight in a motorway Aire. Not sure what my source is though. Evidently easier for teams of crooks to do the motorway stop overs as plenty of opportunities and an easy escape were there an issue. It would never be my first choice here or abroad as usually plan a campsite near the motorway for a stopover. Just as well we are all different.

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

Makes you wonder why manufacturers bother fitting door locks if it's that easy

Think it was the new Ford Transit Customs about 10 years ago that if you put a half of a tennis ball over the lock and gave it a thump it popped the locks openI am forever forgetting to lock my vehicles at home and luckily so far have not had any problems.

Everyone does stupid things and 9/10 get away with it but always that 1 time you don’t

 

[chaser]

There is nothing nonsense about this thread on any level, though your input is getting there.

So you would say it's sensible to sleep on a french motorway aire with your keys in the ignition.
Ok I stand corrected.

 

[Richard n Ann]

So you would say it's sensible to sleep on a french motorway aire with your keys in the ignition.
Ok I stand corrected.

Nonsense isn't the opposite to sensible though

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[JockandRita]

Can I just say that I've been sleeping regularly on motorway services in the UK and Europe for years, without a single issue.

Ah yes Jim, but in the early days, especially when the kids were young, were you not accompanied by a "bite your balls off" Rocky the German Shepherd, who would certainly have deterred any one from having a go?

I have to admit that Autoroute/Autobahn/Motorway Service Areas have never featured in our overnighting arrangements.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[Jim]

So you would say it's sensible to sleep on a french motorway aire with your keys in the ignition.

Maybe not, but I have been travelling to France in a motorhome for decades and can't remember a trip that didn't involve at least two motorway aire sleeps, And occasionally, I have found my keys in the ignition. If your doors are secure and your alarm set, it doesn't really make much difference where your keys are. So what makes this thread, that is proving itself to be very informative to many; to be nonsense on every level?

 

[Jim]

Ah yes @Jim, but in the early days, especially when the kids were young, were you not accompanied by a "bite your balls off" Rocky the German Shepherd, who would certainly have deterred any one from having a go?

Yes we often had a dog, lots of times we were in an RV with real double glazing and windows at 6' 6" high. But importantly, we always have doors well secured and an alarm set. . We slept a night on a motorway aire just a few months ago, just me, Siân and the Vanbitz blue lights

 

[Jim]

Yes we often had a dog, lots of times we were in an RV with real double glazing and windows at 6' 6" high. But importantly, we always have doors well secured and an alarm set. . We slept a night on a motorway aire just a few months ago, just me, Siân and the Vanbitz blue lights

Just thinking; our next trip later this month will be the first overseas with Jazz. She might look the part, but if burglars arrive with a ball or a frisbee, she'll be useless.

 

[gus-lopez]

Left Barcelona in the evening, had to stop and chose a service area near the French border.

It is so bad now even the guardia are calling that part bandit alley & warning off stopping, anyone asking for directions , tyre problems when still on the autovia ,etc

Think it was the new Ford Transit Customs about 10 years ago that if you put a half of a tennis ball over the lock and gave it a thump it popped the locks openI

it was a lot longer than that as it was most of there vehicles including escorts sierras etc.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[JockandRita]

But importantly, we always have doors well secured and an alarm set. .

Ditto here Jim, and even on a site or Rally Field nowadays, which wasn't deemed necessary some years ago.
We are in the habit of doing it every night now...........and deadlocked too with blue LEDs on the go.

If wild camping, we leave the front seats in the travelling position, but close off curtains to the hab area. If any problems in the night, I'm straight through the curtains in my best M&S Specials ............. and straight into the driver's seat for an immediate offski.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[chaser]

Nonsense isn't the opposite to sensible though

I can't recall all the numerous times we have had dire warnings about sleeping on french motorway Aires. And also leaving your keys in the ignition ( ask your insurance) .
Now just because I have said it in this thread , all of a sudden it's ok , so carry on.

 

[Barclaybasher]

I can't recall all the numerous times we have had dire warnings about sleeping on french motorway Aires. And also leaving your keys in the ignition ( ask your insurance) .
Now just because I have said it in this thread , all of a sudden it's ok , so carry on.

If you leave your keys in the ignition and are asleep in the van is anyone going to drive off ?

If the keys can be cloned does it really matter where they are in the van?

I agree that it's better not to leave them where they could just be taken leaving a problem if you don't have spares...

 

[Landy Andy]

The problem with alarms is by the time the alarm goes off they've damaged your door I don't think a flashing LED will deter them, they'll try anyway seeing as they are so easy to open, worse case scenario for them is they have to run off

Agree. Especially blue LEDs that mean nothing. Red LEDs are far more a standard fit on security items. The blue ones just look like you should be doing laps around MacyD’s carpark.

 

[The Coops]

Think it was the new Ford Transit Customs about 10 years ago that if you put a half of a tennis ball over the lock and gave it a thump it popped the locks openI am forever forgetting to lock my vehicles at home and luckily so far have not had any problems.

Everyone does stupid things and 9/10 get away with it but always that 1 time you don’t

Vauxhalls, Citroens, anything with a central locking system, if you generated enough pressure it popped the locks. Was being used to nick Astras about three days after they went on general sale!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

What I don’t like is these people that open their Hab doors at 5-00am in the mornings and forget to turn off their Vanbitz alarm

 

[KASPAR]

I acquired the car in the article below after it was stolen from a driveway by the central locking being opened using a tennis ball with a hole in it placed over the key hole and bashed. 18 days old. Loaded onto a recovery truck in the middle of the night.

It was a hoot to drive.

 

[SheikhLala]

My daughter was waken one evening by a noise and after investigating, they have cameras all around their house and saw the thief with a type of net !!! going around......... the police recons that the "net' is a pickup device that goes back to a laptop... if they get a signal from your key they automatically open your car door..... they then let off the handbrake and push your car onto a waiting trailer !!!! the answer is to keep your car keys whilst in the house in a 'Faraday Pouch' they are then unable to pick up the key signal.........SO, I do believe this a factual and not a 'nonsense' thread.

My wife has a 2017 Evoque and just before we came away she had a letter from Land-rover to inform her of a security issue with her car and supplied a Faraday pouch whilst their bods workout how to prevent further thefts. You have to apply online for the security update which could take 18 months to ve implemented!!!!

 

[Onemanandhisdog]

Can I just say that I've been sleeping regularly on motorway services in the UK and Europe for years, without a single issue.

Ah yes Jim, but in the early days, especially when the kids were young, were you not accompanied by a "bite your balls off" Rocky the German Shepherd, who would certainly have deterred any one from having a go?

I have to admit that Autoroute/Autobahn/Motorway Service Areas have never featured in our overnighting arrangements.

Cheers,

Jock.

I had been doing when I had to, coming back from Portugal/Spain in March I was out of data, hadn't pre planned, so stopped in a motorway aire in my 24 year old VW coachbuilt, thinking noone would want to touch my old jalopy, but I heard a couple of noises in the night and in the morning my drivers door lock had been destroyed with a screwdriver, they didn't get to meet my Rhodesian Ridgeback unfortunately. There had been so many lorries coming and going I thought it would keep the scroates away, but alas no. I will be better prepared in future and avoid the motorway stops.

It does baffle me though, of all the places a van might be parked there is a 99.9% chance the owners WILL be in it on a motorway, where else would you be?

 

[gus-lopez]

It does baffle me though, of all the places a van might be parked there is a 99.9% chance the owners WILL be in it on a motorway, where else would you be?

Exactly & what i find even more unbelieveable is that when it happens on a 'toll road',that has gendarmes at every toll booth, that said gendarmes still cannot catch what should be trapped thieves as ,like me ,the thieves know that most rest area back gates are not padlocked.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Jim]

It does baffle me though, of all the places a van might be parked there is a 99.9% chance the owners WILL be in it on a motorway, where else would you be?

I'd guess, for every motorhome burglary on a motorhome aire, there will be 1000 burglaries elsewhere. Motorhomes are attractive to thieves. Park up in any public place and you risk getting burgled.

On an aire. Yes, they know you are in it, but experience tells them that a, from holidaymakers the takings can be good, b that if you've stopped, you are dog-tired asleep and won't wake up, and c, if you do wake up the chances are, you're a doddery old pensioner.

But on an aire, they also know that they will likely be on camera, that there is only one way/direction to escape, so they certainly don't want to get caught in the act. Which is why someone with an obvious active alarm is rarely, if ever, a target.

 

[RM_Marine]

Just put a rachet strap between the door handles and due it up

 

[Gingernuts]

To the op
Google “camperprotect “ a German company that supplies chains and hooks that are attached to the doors and seat belt mount you need 3 one each for the drivers and passenger door and an offset one for the sliding door! They also make 2 brackets for the rear doors that fits inside the doors.
Proplates are only necessary on doors with key locks like drivers and rear doors so you need two.
Regards Alex

 

[KASPAR]

A couple of claymores, one on each front seat facing outwards only needs news to spread will stop the rot. I believed |I was in mortal danger m'lud

 

[akadingbat]

On my old Motorhome I used to just put a ratchet strap through both inside door handles so no one could open the cab doors from the outside.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Maryg]

I stayed the night in a motorway rest area on the E17 in France, heading towards Calais. At 6:30am I woke up to the sound of my cab doors unlocking, and the interior light came on in the cab. Then the passenger door started to open. I yelled "HEY" and it closed again, so fortunately nothing was lost. The motorhome is based on a 2017 Fiat Ducato chassis. The keys were in the ignition and I was sleeping in the back. There is no way that they could have had advance access to the actual key as I parked and went to bed without ever opening a door. My question is how did they manage to unlock the cab doors? Did they somehow pick the lock on the driver's side before coming around the the passenger side? Did they have a way of remotely reading the chip in the key that was in the ignition? Or is there another way of remotely defeating the locking system?

 

[Laughing Gravy]

Why not just give the guy a chance, he comes on here for simple advice from all us “experts” to read all the negative comments on it. Hope he comes back and posts an update

 

[Laughing Gravy]

I got several things to stop this, still probably not impossible to break in

• pro plates to secure the doors outside
• metal window clamps from Womo
• internal chains between door and van when sleeping
• window alarms from Tiwee
• Thatcham alarm factory fitted
• outside dead locks from Ed-Lock

 

[Barclaybasher]

I got several things to stop this, still probably not impossible to break in

• pro plates to secure the doors outside
• metal window clamps from Womo
• internal chains between door and van when sleeping
• window alarms from Tiwee
• Thatcham alarm factory fitted
• outside dead locks from Ed-Lock

I hardly ever use sites or Aires and have none of the above.

I have been broken into once and now usually strap the cab doors.

My hab door was broken into on my driveway. I filled the barrel and fitted a deadlock to that.

I travel alone and my children worry more than me

 

[Nigel Thomas]

Been using these for years - work a treat

Amazon.co.uk

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}