Motorhome stolen in France. Forums

autostratus · Moderator

I thought you might be interested in a post on the UKCampsite.co.uk Forum:

To anyone travelling to the South of France. We were returning from wintering in Portugal this April and stopped for supplies at Carrefour supermarket Orange.Whilst inside, some thieving b at at $£d stole our motorhome with all our possesions including our 2 yorkshire terriers. We think it could be in the Marseille area or even North Africa by now. Should anyone see a Mclouis 363 low profile motorhome with damage to the rear bumper, back and both sides of, security lock on side door and possibly the words Mach One in blue above the front windscreen, please inform local police of your suspicions and ask them to contact me on enclosed mobile number. I will be able to direct them to other features that will prove ownership. We are not sure if our dogs are still in France, so any information from any Country will be greatly accepted. The dogs names are Sami who is silver and grey and Myschka who is black and tan. You can contact us on 0032474562959 or 0032476309198. We have since heard that this part of France is notorious for theft so if this message helps fellow campers to stay safe then at least it's one over on the thieves. I can e-mail photo's to anyone who would like them. My email address: trevor.perks at telenet.be

Trevor Perks alis trevski
(Note: Although this post was copied from elsewhere, Trevor has given us permission to do so.)

In further posts Trevor says that no security devices were fitted apart from the side door security lock.

The poor bloke is probably more upset at the loss of his dogs than the van. I feel for him.

peachy

How awful, your worst nightmare... When we were over there we never went in to supermarkets together which could be a pain but we were aware that the thieves were watching and just waiting for us motorhomers. Some guy had the right idea as he had a great big Alsation sitting on the front seat and he stayed there until the owner came back because I watched him.

You can on be too careful but even so it doesn't bare thinking about

jimjam

Poor bu&&ers. Locks alone are not enough to keep the robbers out, infact its almost impossible to keep a thief out if they are given a few minutes.

Good alarms, immobilisers and a tracker system should be standard on MH's that cost so much and are almost always full of rich pickings. When shopping its easy to remove the few valuables you might carry in a car, but impossible in MH.

Our local tescos (18 miles away) is a regular MH shopping spot as holiday makers come into Wales. On a Friday night there can be as many as 4 or 5 MH in the car park at any time, almost always one of them will have children in whilst parents shop. Now losing your dogs if the MH is stolen is bad but losing children this way! It doesnt bear thinking about.

chrisgog

And there was I thinking of going to Orange this summer. Seems stories like this are becoming too often.

Not a very nice event to happen to anyone. I feel for them

Chris

krull

How can you steal one without the 'chipped' key or towing it away?

autostratus · Moderator

That area in particular has had a bad reputation for many years.
We started caravanning in France in 1978 and it seems that we were told about the dangers of the area south of Lyons only a few years later.

About 15 or 20 years ago we were towing a caravan heading north near Valance and pulled into a recessed layby. We got out of the car, put the legs down and got into the caravan for a cup of tea.
A car with 2 young men entered the layby and pulled up a few yards behind us and sat looking. We went to the door and got out, one of us holding the wheel brace/leg handle and the other a frying pan.

One of the men asked us if we had a light for his cigarette (in sign language)
We said no and they drove off.

There's no doubt in my mind they were up to mischief.
French men stopping to ask British caravanners for a light?

theboadacea

This is terrible. Losing your home is bad enough but 2 members of your family too - the poor bloke must be beyond consoling. Crying or Very sad

I truly feel for him, if we lost our Bodie, no stone would be unturned until we found her.

Denboy

We stopped at a supermarket at St Louis, Alsace , just outside Basel .
It was 2pm and the car park was empty. We were lulled into a false sense of security as our van was clearly visible from the shop.
The thieves worked on the blind side , opening the sliding door of the Murvi with no visible damage.
As we drove out some urchins waived to us, laughing,
( at us, it transpired ).
40 miles up the road at our site we found my wife's handbag and our video camera were missing.
The handbag came back six months later via the British Embassy in Paris minus the money , but we never saw the camera again which contained footage filmed from the van as we crossed Switzerland.
This is nothing compared to your pets and I feel for the couple featured in this post.
We never go into a supermarket together now when in the van.
Denboy

CatherineandSteve · SW Rally Co-ordinator

Hi,

Last year on are return journey through France we stopped at a supermarket in Nantes, we parked next to a brit motorhome.
On are return to our motorhome the lady appeared from the van next door to say they had been burgled, apart from a few items being stolen they had there colly dog on board & because of this the alarm was not activated. so now whenever we go shopping i stay with the van & Catherine gets the groceries.
I really feel for the couple who lost there pets & motorhome. Sad

Also if we stop somewhere & it doesn't feel right we move on.

cheers Steve.