Intruder in van whilst sleeping

[Donnieliz]

We were in Carcassonne last week on a camping car aire and about 3.40 in the morning we were robbed, the thief must of been fully in our motor home to reach the table where our two phones and one laptop were, the laptop was hidden behind the back of the bench seat (the m/h is rear fixed bed) he also opened my wife’s bag and removed €500. We slept through the whole thing
(Neither of us drink so I can’t blame that) I could not believe how easy it was to pick the lock (driver’s door) just a slight dent on the key hole. My question is and it’s a bit of horse and stable door thing how good are the Fiamma door locks or should I make some sort of dead lock inside and beef up the habitation door lock or locks. I don’t want to use a ratchet strap between doors I was thinking more of a simple hook and eye and some proprietary locks for the habitation door. Sorry for the long winded post.

 

[KASPAR]

Was eddie at one time a wannabe copper with the blue led lights in the vehicle lights, front back and side? Begs the question of if able to turn on whilst on the move to get through traffic

Are they available without the alarm/immobiliser/tracker? To give the benefit without changing what might be fitted to a MH?

Anyone able to post a video of them in use?

 

[PaulW2]

Totally concur with Jim, the chains from camper protect are dead easy to install and would also then make a noise if the thief opened your door an inch,

All for about £30.

They do prick locks too, and ECU locks…

Condolences to the OP - horrible experience.

Re the products to secure your doors. Very interesting - I didn't know about them. I've had a look and added up the costs of the items I would need for my PVC. It comes to about € 170. Quite possibly cheap at the price etc, but still...

And if you have all the bits installed then they simply come through the plastic windows, don't they?

The serious question there is who is the raving lunatic who breaks in with the visible alarm on (Van Bitz Growler in my case), then continues to burgle or attack you when the banshee wail of the alarm is going on?

That is surely not a man who is going to be deterred. Certainly not by a mere plastic window or possibly even by a Hydra-Shok round.

Now before I go to get a quote for payload-limiting bullet proof windows I just need to consider whether this Terminator burglar really exists. Has anyone had any experience of him?

 

[Whippet93]

Maybe a piece of string attached to a bell or something that will make a noise when the door is pulled open a few inches.

I have Vanolarm system which has sensors you mount inside the doors by handles. When set, if the handle is pulled it gives a warning tone. If pulled again within 10 seconds the alarm siren activates.

 

[Ernesto]

Condolences to the OP - horrible experience.

Re the products to secure your doors. Very interesting - I didn't know about them. I've had a look and added up the costs of the items I would need for my PVC. It comes to about € 170. Quite possibly cheap at the price etc, but still...

And if you have all the bits installed then they simply come through the plastic windows, don't they?

The serious question there is who is the raving lunatic who breaks in with the visible alarm on (Van Bitz Growler in my case), then continues to burgle or attack you when the banshee wail of the alarm is going on?

That is surely not a man who is going to be deterred. Certainly not by a mere plastic window or possibly even by a Hydra-Shok round.

Now before I go to get a quote for payload-limiting bullet proof windows I just need to consider whether this Terminator burglar really exists. Has anyone had any experience of him?

I have deadlocks as well, for when the van is parked somewhere remote and someone might feel tempted to tolerate the alarm long enough to empty the garage or a quick sweep of the cab... sure they can use the windows, but thats nowhere near as quick to get in and out....and probably a lot cheaper to fix

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[Autoroute]

Sorry to hear about this OP. I fitted vanguardian to my latest van. It is stuck onto the doors and sounds briefly if anyone touches the door, then sustained alarm if touched again. Just trying the door sets it off. It was on dragons den. It sounded in the middle of the night recently when we were asleep in the Beaune aire. It's not perfect however I like the alarm sounding before damage is done and doors are open.

 

[Ernesto]

Was eddie at one time a wannabe copper with the blue led lights in the vehicle lights, front back and side? Begs the question of if able to turn on whilst on the move to get through traffic

Are they available without the alarm/immobiliser/tracker? To give the benefit without changing what might be fitted to a MH?

Anyone able to post a video of them in use?

One LED in front grille, one on top of instrument binnacle in the cab (not video’

d), one in each rear light. These are on the bright setting atm

 

[hja]

The Growler (and maybe the further iterations - Raptor?) has blue lights, the others have red. I'm sure both colours do the job. I have a preference for the blue.

In my PVC there is one LED in the middle of the front bumper, one on top of the dashboard (i.e. inside), and 2 in the rear bumper - one on each corner. It is very obvious that the van has an alarm system.

Thank you

 

[BillyKontiki]

There is no way to pass the seat belt thru the armrest on the latest Ducatos.

Think I said door pull.

 

[jollyrodger]

Where is the blue light referred to, please?

Front bumper on mine and pretty pathetic deterrant ,imo
Modern cars have a flashing light as std in some but still get visited in the night ,and lots on smack that don't give a toss anyway .
But if they can't get in in the first place ...

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[TheMobileWanderer]

Currently googling:
pepper spray alarms just because I'm worth it.
money dye systems like those used by bank transfer vans
audible pir cctv alarm system, so a potential intruder will be warned of the consequences as well as blue leds going off.
electrification of habitation doors

 

[Brains]

Not trying to correct you but don’t want confusion, it’s only the Strikeback that has the blue led not the growler or the other way round. I know I don’t have it on mine and if hja has the same as mine they might get confused looking for a switch or something, willing to be corrected.

I think both Growler, Raptor & Strikeback have all the external LED's

 

[lorger]

I think both Growler, Raptor & Strikeback have all the external LED's


View attachment 1035451

Sorry yes they do but I was talking about the blue one that’s adjustable, possibly mixed lines.

 

[Puddleduck]

I am so sorry the OP had this dreadful experience.

We were burgled in a house we were renting. The burglar took out a whole window and climbed in. I came home and disturbed him throwing shoes and anything else I could grab as he ran away.

 

[Onemanandhisdog]

Am I odd? I take my keys phone tablet handbag to bed with me and put them in a locker above my head and also under my pillow. Overgarage bed doubt anyone could climb up there without waking me, but hole i never have to find out.

That's why they gas you silly

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[rusted]

That's why they gas you silly

Unfortunately I had a similar occurrence in Spain a couple of years ago, a guy got the hab door open, fortunately I woke up and he ran off.
I have a 2007 boxer and fitted proplates to stop that attack happening again and I also use a metal claw device as an extra lock on the hab door(it's impossible to open the hab door with that in place), I also fitted a trigas detection sensor detects soperifent gasses. Whether it works I don't know but it goes off with any deodorant spray.

 

[jollyrodger]

Unfortunately I had a similar occurrence in Spain a couple of years ago, a guy got the hab door open, fortunately I woke up and he ran off.
I have a 2007 boxer and fitted proplates to stop that attack happening again and I also use a metal claw device as an extra lock on the hab door(it's impossible to open the hab door with that in place), I also fitted a trigas detection sensor detects soperifent gasses. Whether it works I don't know but it goes off with any deodorant spray.

Beware after a curry night

 

[3crispies]

have these on habitation windows, alarm flashing neon on show, 35kg pet and one of these in a box due to fit in outside light over habitation door before we go away next month.

 

[Burge]

View attachment 1035490View attachment 1035491
have these on habitation windows, alarm flashing neon on show, 35kg pet and one of these in a box due to fit in outside light over habitation door before we go away next month.

You got a link please

 

[Fragle]

It is very obvious that the van has an alarm system.

At night even I come back to the van and think. Jesus them led’s are bright.
Bloody love them though.

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[Brains]

At night even I come back to the van and think. Jesus them led’s are bright.
Bloody love them though.

We normally have them set to the 'dim' setting, otherwise you are liable to piss off the neighbours, especially at night, as that bright blue flash every 10 seconds will pierce even blackout curtains..

The only time I use the LED's on 'bright' is when it's parked in a street or public car park

 

[Cliffyboy16]

Richard, woudnt think of locking the deadlocks while in the van....need escape routes if necessary.

I have lockable HEO locks on the internal cab doors which I use of a night and just I have just had installed pro plates and Hooklock installed to cab doors which I use during the day. I had pro plates installed as they had tried to open the lock previously with screwdriver or such item but failed as the HEO lock only opens 2mm and then sets alarm off. I watched the last attack outside my home in London from behind the blinds. These where professional as they had come for my vehicle 5 blokes in a Golf cursing as to why it wouldn’t open - then they speed off with their car headlights off. I have a big roof window over my bed for a quick escape too

 

[Ducatian]

I fitted Thatcham deadlocks on the front two doors, thieves don't even bother trying View attachment 1035272

The thing about internal locks is the thieves don't know they are there until they've defeated the lock and damaged the door.

These look nice. Can you lock them from the inside at night?

 

[Cliffyboy16]

View attachment 1035490View attachment 1035491
have these on habitation windows, alarm flashing neon on show, 35kg pet and one of these in a box due to fit in outside light over habitation door before we go away next month.

Where did you get them from thanks as I had never seen them before

 

[jollyrodger]

Possibly:

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[Richard n Ann]

These look nice. Can you lock them from the inside at night?

No. Only lockable or unlockable with the key from outside. Not a problem on our van as we sleep next to the habitation door

 

[MisterB]

We have these on the front doors, in fact we rarely take them off and always exit from the hab door

They are simple to remove in an emergency should we need to - they just hook over the seatbelt securing bolt

We also have a Vanbitz growler and immobiliser, clutch claw and security posts at home where we sometimes fit the wheel clamps ... But the Growler is the one that lets us sleep at night with no concerns whatsoever, unfortunately though for anyone near us, we never dim our flashing LEDs .....

 

[Two Rivers]

We were burgled a couple of years ago just south of Lyon, same thing, came in took money and cards and we never heard a thing, Since then, we tie both cab doors together and a small tiedown around the hab door.
For days after the incident it played on our minds

 

[PaulW2]

I have deadlocks as well, for when the van is parked somewhere remote and someone might feel tempted to tolerate the alarm long enough to empty the garage or a quick sweep of the cab... sure they can use the windows, but thats nowhere near as quick to get in and out....and probably a lot cheaper to fix

That's fair comment. The one time my van was broken into it was in secure storage, back in 2011.

It had a Van Bitz alarm and the rest of the system (tracking, immobiliser) of that period. I was notified of the alarm going off in the dead of night and phoned the police.

As it was snowing at the time the police said they were sure it was just the snow. It wasn't - when I got there the next morning it had been broken into.

Would deadlocks have been a deterrent? Maybe - there were hundreds of vans in storage, and maybe they wouldn't have gone for a deadlocked one. But maybe they would still have - the items they took (a mattress, for instance!) - suggested they may have been looking for particular things specific to my type of van. And deadlocks may just have resulted in more damage. Just an extra few seconds with a crowbar for them and thousands more in damage for me...

 

[pelican]

I find this thread food for thought. Does this break in problem just happen on aires and other cheap pitch ups.
I have been motor homing in Europe for about 30 years and the only time that we were ever disturbed was in a secluded car park overnight on way to ferry port(UK)
I think it would be very rare for this on a campite.

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[simsy56]

If you slept through the whole thing, how did you know it was 0340h the robbery occurred?

Craig