Robbed on an Aire in France

Those little questions, answer 'wrongly' and you get 25 quid added to your policy, but you might set yourself up to have a whole claim dismissed if the alarm is not set, the locks not locked, the tracker sim has expired etc. My answers to home and motor insurance..

Insurer do you have xyz type locks fitted? Not sure .
Are there any trees within 5m of your home, yes a few little ones
Does your vehicle have a tracker...no
Does your vehicle have an alarm....no
Additional locks...no

These answers add very little or often nothing to my premium, but drasticly reduces the insurers get out of jail cards.
 
Minxy Girl said:
Right, just had a read of my Safeguard policy which states:

7. Security and Tracking devices
If we have accepted your insurance or reduce your premium
on the basis that your motorhome is fitted with either a security
or tracking device, then the device must be fully operational at
all times when your motorhome is parked and left unoccupied.
Security may be a mandatory feature of your Safeguard
Motorhome Insurance Policy, depending on the value of your
vehicle and or any additional underwriting terms due to adverse
claims experience. These details will be made clear to you when
you take out your Safeguard Motorhome Insurance Policy and
make any changes at renewal.
Failure to comply with this condition may mean we will refuse to
deal with any claim arising from your motorhome being lost or
stolen.
​
So, with Safeguard if you are asleep in the MH then it is not unoccupied so okay, BUT if you go out, say to a site's clubhouse etc, or our for a walk etc during the day, and leave the MH without setting the alarm you would NOT be covered. As I said, check the policy wording and regardless of how 'annoying' the light is (it can always be covered), IMV always set the alarm, otherwise what's the point in having it?
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How would they know if you set your alarm or locked your doors or left keys in ignition(Spare set in wifes handbag) If van is stolen there is no way to check,,BUSBY,,:D2:D2
 
Pilote John said:
I'm not masquerading as PJ, but I don't know how to change it to mine! Anyway, with regard to the break-in mentioned above, this has been going on for years, not only with MH and caravans, but trucks as well, Especially rife around Marseilles, so I have been told, usually Romanian gangs that spray gas through open air vent or anywhere to 'knock-out' the occupants before breaking into the van. Fortunately, there has been no deaths recorded to my knowledge of such attacks, just a load of sore, hang-over headaches. As all have mentioned before, don't spend the night on a service station use official aires or even a proper camp-site. (ACIS card is excellent for these!). If I park alone or anywhere, I have a metal bar that slots into brackets on the pedestrian door, top and bottom, a rachet strap through the front door arms, so that even if the locks are forced, the doors will not open without a lot of noise-and destruction! OTT? Maybe, but with no alarm fitted, it is a good way of securing a night's sleep and easy to do. Visible as a deterrent also. ' 94 Hymer 564 on a Ducato.
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Lawrencep said:
Your experience must have been most upsetting and no doubt will take a while to get over. Rotten luck. I'm not posting this from any position of smugness, please believe me and I know one can never be 100% safe but we never sleep without setting our alarm (a Van Bitz Growler with fcuk off police-blue lights flashing) and a gas alarm switched on. We understand the gas alarm is sensitive to the dodgy gases the crooks use but TBH, I don't know how fast acting the gas is and perhaps the alarm would not help. When staying at caravan parks, we don't use the alarm (as the blue lights can be a little anti-social) and rely on our dogs to do their bit but the gas alarm is deployed at night regardless, for obvious safety reasons. Having said that, there is no substitute for being extra cautious about where one stops, or accepting the additional risk if you don't.
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Please read all the comments on the thread. Gas attacks are a myth for all the reasons set out on this thread.
 
peterc10 said:
Please read all the comments on the thread. Gas attacks are a myth for all the reasons set out on this thread.
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You’re such a spoil sport (n)

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drivingontheroadto said:
In August 2017 in the A75 motorway Aire de la Lozere in an area set aside for motorhomes, something similar happened to us. I have stayed in the very same spot about 20 times over the years and it has the feeling of a campsite. Perhaps its that familiarity that meant I let my guard down, I don't know.

We arrived at about 9pm on a nice summers evening, parked next to another English motorhome and were joined by two of those Polish registered soft-side vans with the over-cab that are everywhere in Europe. The two commercial vans left after an hour or so and we set to bed. When we awoke in the morning the wardrobe open, as I got up to close it. I noticed our phones missing, they had been sitting next to our heads and the bed, moving towards the front of the van things were dawning on me as noticed the cab curtain undone and my credit cards and wallet strewn around the cab. It was a horrible feeling shouted out loud, we've been robbed. Worse was the worry as my panicked wife was calling out to out to our then 8 year old, who was in the above the cab and not answering. Fortunately, he did then answer, and at that point, nothing else mattered because he was OK.

A quick look around the van, all that had gone was the cash from the wallet (about 200 euro and the phones). Travel documents, passports, credit cards all rifled through but not taken.

How did they get in?
When we awoke and discovered the robbery we also found the cab door was undone, no damage, but drivers door was ajar and unlocked. Did I lock the doors that night? Both my wife and I remember having a conversation, her asking me if I locked the doors and me pressing the button on the key and answering yes. But I can remember thinking that I didn't hear the central locking click as I pressed the button, but assumed that was because the doors were already locked. The French Police think we were key jammed and they then came back to rib us after.

Were we gassed?
I don't think so. Motorhomes are full of ventilation and are big space to fill with enough gas to knock out two adults and a child. Also, if these supposed gassings were actual gassings I that we I think we would hear about a lot of dead people where the amateur anesthetists got things wrong. We have both talked about it and the French police did ask us if we felt like OK and if we felt we had been gassed.

If we weren't gassed, what did happen?
We were robbed by some people who knew where to look and knew what they were doing and were willing to take the risk. They opened a wardrobe door that is noisy and held in place with a magnet but without waking us. They knew how to open it quietly, perhaps by sliding a piece of cardboard between the magnet and the door. They knew where the phones would be plugged in, that being the convinient charge point next to the TV and bed. They knew how to move about the van quietly without waking us and no doubt knew how to hide in the shadows if we woke and I suspect if we had awoken they would have been willing to point a knife at us.

What have we learnt from the experience.
  1. Even if a motorway aire looks like it is set-up for motorhome overnight use, don't stay there. Move off the motorway and stay elsewhere.
  2. Fit a habitation alarm
  3. Fit a security lock on hab door
  4. Fit window alarms
  5. Put the seatbelts through the door handles when parking in aires.
  6. Don't rely on just pressing the button on the key, double check doors are locked with a physical check
  7. Sleep on top of anything of value, cash, wallets, cards, passports. If you are sleeping on top of it they have to move you to get it.
  8. Keep a physical list of every credit and debit card you are carrying and the phone numbers of issuing banks
  9. Reporting a crime to the French Police takes a half day
  10. French Police make one hell of a mess fingerprinting your van
Final learning is that we love using our van and an experience like this wont stop us. We have been burgled in our own house while sleeping so being robbed in the motorhome is just the same but this time they could steal the vehicle because we were in it. Most people in the world are good, like those that helped us when were were robbed, the English couple next door who lent me their phone. I must have looked quite a site as I stood in the foyer of a large motorways service station shouting "can anyone help me, I don't speak French and I have been robbed" and I am eternally grateful to the kindness of one ma who tried to help me out.

Its horrible being robbed but it can happen anywhere. Learn form the experience and up your security but mostly don't let the experience put you off using your van.

Good luck
Mark
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With interior dead bolts,,ie HEOSAFE etc fitted on all doors it is impossible for anyone to enter the van without breaking a window which surely would wake you,,BUSBY.
 
Maybe I'm naiive, but I've never worried about being broken in to while asleep. I might take more precautions now though.
I did fall asleep in a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert many years ago, so I know I can sleep through pretty much anything if I'm tired...
 
busby said:
How would they know if you set your alarm or locked your doors or left keys in ignition(Spare set in wifes handbag) If van is stolen there is no way to check,,BUSBY,,:D2:D2
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We're talking about being robbed, not having the whole thing nicked.
 
When will all you experts listen,you can definitely be gassed in a motorhome.(see post 147):D
 
John65 said:
When will all you experts listen,you can definitely be gassed in a motorhome.(see post 147):D
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You got 8 'funny' votes for that first time around. Now you're just being greedy.

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Jim said:
Those little questions, answer 'wrongly' and you get 25 quid added to your policy, but you might set yourself up to have a whole claim dismissed if the alarm is not set, the locks not locked, the tracker sim has expired etc. My answers to home and motor insurance..

Insurer do you have xyz type locks fitted? Not sure .
Are there any trees within 5m of your home, yes a few little ones
Does your vehicle have a tracker...no
Does your vehicle have an alarm....no
Additional locks...no

These answers add very little or often nothing to my premium, but drasticly reduces the insurers get out of jail cards.
Click to expand...
Also the favourite insurance question

Has it been modified

Answer ....not to my knowledge.
 
Nikkijt said:
I felt really tired and heavy headed and some people have suggested that we was gassed!! Is this possible? My hubby says he felt okay but I was very tired! Makes you wonder.
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We are picking up our new motorhome really soon. I have been worried about this sort of thing - the dealer told us a story about a couple that thought they had been gassed as they were out cold in a busy area and usually light sleepers.

I have it booked in with Vanbitz for a top notch alarm before I go off on my travels!
 
RichieRY said:
We are picking up our new motorhome really soon. I have been worried about this sort of thing - the dealer told us a story about a couple that thought they had been gassed as they were out cold in a busy area and usually light sleepers.
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And did he try to sell you a gas alarm???? How far did they drive the day before and how much did they drink before they went to bed? I sleep much better (and deeper) in the van than at home. Martin is a light sleeper but when we are in the van I can climb over him, go to the loo and return to bed and he doesn't wake.

Vanbitz alarms are the best you can get (don't forget to tell them in advance you are a Funster for your discount)

The type of gassing story related always happened to a friend of a friend's third cousin six times removed. The reports in the papers are sensationalist and in my jaded opinion are given to the press to bolster insurance claims. Looking at the reports they are unbelievable, I don't know anyone who has suitcases inside a motorhome (where would you keep them for a start) and there is always a lot of cash and expensive electronics and jewelry taken. I'm not sure how many of us take that sort of thing on holiday with them - I used all mine up to buy the van :)

That is before you read reports from professionals that gassing is not possible.

Take sensible precautions but don't over think things, remain vigilant but not anxious. Enjoy your van.
 
My first trip was in1972 and since then I have drove trucks MH and pulled caravans all over Europe and I have heard of this gassing but but never met anyone in the last 47 years who as be gassed and in that time I have known hundreds of drivers and we parked in all sorts of places
 
Rds559 said:
My first trip was in1972 and since then I have drove trucks MH and pulled caravans all over Europe and I have heard of this gassing but but never met anyone in the last 47 years who as be gassed and in that time I have known hundreds of drivers and we parked in all sorts of places
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That’s because it doesn’t happen.

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I'm going to get myself gassed just to prove it can happen. Who'll be laughing then huh? :LOL:
 
We were gassed on a recent trip! Told Mrs simbadog not to give the dog a leftover spicey bean burger! :Eeek:
 
iandsm said:
Perhaps you had been gassed when you drove over the Dartford bridge. That might explain why you didn’t know you were on it. :):)
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You still mumbling on about that?

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monzer said:
I'm going to get myself gassed just to prove it can happen. Who'll be laughing then huh? :LOL:
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I can arrange.

Please ensure you have two iPads, two Rolex watches and at least £2000 lying just inside the door.
 
So no one as been gas but I must not give the dog leftovers
 
Terrible ordeal but an excellent quick fix is the tiiwee outdoor PIR motion sensor alarm from Amazon @ £22.90. Just place the sensor on the step by the door at night.

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Ronny said:
Terrible ordeal but an excellent quick fix is the tiiwee outdoor PIR motion sensor alarm from Amazon @ £22.90. Just place the sensor on the step by the door at night.
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With a 25M range would that not be affected by innocent passers-by?
 

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