Club Arnage

Hi all.

As mentioned on another thread, back safe and sound now from another great week, having taken three of my lads out Le Mans (two of them for the first time), me in my MGA and them in the eldest's rep mobile.  Right up to the point that someone robbed them of their cash and passports, at around 4am on Sunday morning on Bleu Nord.  The result was total dejection, packing up the campsite early, and heading off to report the theft and get the necessary report for immigration control to get them back into UK.  Bleu Nord had seemed a really good site - well drained, happy and friendly, and well patrolled at all times of the day and night (although perhaps not on race night...)

Campsite thefts do happen, but because the lads had taken what we all thought were very sensible precautions to prevent it, I want to warn others of the circumstances so that we can all be aware for the future.  Setting the scene, we were in Bleu Nord as a group of 19 adults and 4 teenagers were housed in 6 small tents, 4 medium sized tents, one camper van, 10 cars and a couple of gazebos, with a fire lane running down the middle.  A pretty typical layout.

My eldest lad's car provided a secure home for their passports, and their pooled cash to pay for useful stuff like beer, food, fuel and tolls.  In addition, he kept his rucksack in it containing his own wallet, cash, radio etc.  Everything worked like clockwork until on the Saturday night, everyone had been out and about to various points around the circuit (as you do) and had returned and turned in for the night by about 3am.  All sober, given the excesses of Thurday and Friday nights and the desire to enjoy the race and not to be hungover for the journey back home.  At 3.30am, I was lying down dozing in my tent listening to Radio Le Mans (as you do) when someone opened my tent flap - thinking it was one of my lads having a lark after getting back from the circuit, I uttered "who the f**k is that", sat up, and poked my head out of the tent to see someone in dark clothes running away between tents about 20 yards away.  Got out, looked around, everything quiet, nobody else around, and all the tents were shut.  Kept looking around for a while and then went back in and fell asleep.  Woke up at 8 to find one distraught eldest lad - he had woken at about 5am  because he was cold - the tent flap was open, his suitcase was gone, as were his car keys.  He had been searching around for 3 hours and eventually found his empty wash bag and case, and some of his clothes strewn around about 100 yards away, but no car keys.  He thought that all of the stuff inside the car was safe, until we started to look more closely at his car - the car was locked, but the drivers door, rear door and boot lid were all ajar, but shut on the first latch (obviously pushed gently shut to avoid waking anyone) and of course it then dawned that they had rifled through the car, taken what they wanted, shut it, locked it and had taken the keys with them. 

A massive thank you to the rest of the group plus the surrounding campers, especially the french guys nearby, who helped to look for the keys, which were found a while later at the side of one of their tents about 50 yards away - at least we would be mobile, without the hassle of a recovery or waiting till Monday for the local dealership to open.

What did they get?  3 passports from a folder under the seat, a cash box with 220 euros in it from the glove box, and rucksack with a mobile phone, a wallet with bank cards and 150 euros, various clothing items and a radio in it from the boot.  None of this stuff was visible from outside the car.  The culprit had obviously returned later after the surprise encounter with me, avoided my tent, and gone for the lad's tent - he had not woken up, and his case and car keys had been on the floor of the tent alongside him.  The result, aside from the loss and the anger, was phone calls to cancel cards and his phone, an early pack up, and heading into town to the Commissariat de Police (Rue Coeffort, just off the Rue Nationale) in the centre near the Place des Jacobins in case anyone else needs it in the future!) to report the theft and sort out getting the three lads back into UK.  By the time we had finished it was 1.30 and not worth heading back into the circuit, so we set of home.  At the police station at the same time as us. were a group of Danes and another UK group that had been "done" as well.

The negative stuff?  The dejection to the point of not really wanting to go in and watch the rest of the race, the anger, invasion of space, the theft, and the unecessary buggeration of cancelling phones and cards, finding the right place to report it all to in Le Mans and dealing with immigration control.

The positive stuff? Nobody died and we were mobile (but nearly not the latter) so it could have been a lot worse - cash, passports and cards can be replaced, and we know the right way to go about getting back into UK without a passport.

That's about it really - I just want everyone to learn something from it - you don't expect thieves to have a go at a tent whilst someone is in it, awake or asleep.  So, when you are in your tent, your cash, phones, passports, tickets, valuables and keys need to be up the other end of the tent from the door and stored in such a way that they are not visible and can't be taken without someone being woken.  So with no thanks whatsoever to whoever screwed up the enjoyment of Le Mans by three teenagers, we'll be back again next year, bu this time replete with alarms, watchtowers, machine gun nests, an electrified fence and a minefield - then those bast*rds will learn a different sort of lesson from their activities.... all the best for now,

MG Mark

Sadly, the rifling of the front of tents is a common practice at festivals and some car shows I go to which tend to have a "younger" crowd. The standard thieves response if challenged is "shorry mate, bit pissed - thought it was my mates tent".

The safest plan is to have everything valuable in the car and sleep with the keys under your pillow/in your sleeping bag :-/

I can cheerfully report however, that one individual recently discovered doing the rounds at Santa Pod last year was soundly giving an arse kicking before authorities arrived  ;D

Sorry to have to hear this Mark. I usually make an effort of keeping my real valuables with me at all times, even when sleeping. Just stash it at the foot end of your sleeping bag. Small bag with money, phone and camera and keys does the trick for me. Glad you made it back safely to the UK.

We were also on Blue Nord and had thefts on two occations.  Firstly on Thursday afternoon while unloading, a bag was stolen from the back of a car and then on Friday night a mobile from our gazebo while we were in it.
Like Mark says, it puts a dampener on your weekend.  Another guy near us had his bag stolen, then the car broken into.  They stole his cash, some ciggies and his mints(people will nick anything these days you know).

Jon

Sorry to hear you guys had trouble did not hear of any problems on HA, have been reading in camper mags that sleeping gas is beening used these days.....have now fitted a gas alarm in camper  :(

I hate to hear about these reports, it really makes me mad that criminals have discovered Le Mans as their working grounds. We had some trouble last year, but none that I know of this year. We did at Brands though at the A1GP, a tent was cut open and some goods were stolen as well. Better take better precautions than this year, I guess I've been lucky.

I have returned today and on the ferry was told of thefts.

To you guys who suffered a loss, you have my sympathies.

You may whinge at this but, I keep keys/passports/wallets etc within my shorts or trousers at all times and I sleep in them. Too pi**ed to take them off in the tent. They are changed the next day and if able to be 'recycled' will be worn again.

Again, my sysmpathies.

Jerry

Really sorry to hear about the thefts, but the good thing is that you could get to the police, get the report done and get home. Agree with the comments about sleeping with valuables on your person though unfortunately ... It seems that the less savory people in life have decided that these type of events are easy pickings.

I too have heard the horror stories of the gas attacks on campers/motorhomes, especially rife in Spain (apparently) but sure as the sun rises tomorrow it'll catch on elsewhere too, we have also had a gas alarm fitted to our camper just in case :-[

We were on Karting Nord and when we were sleeping in our tent thursday somebody has taken the "porte-monnaie" of one of the guys of our group in the tent under the pillow!

The 300 € were not the biggest problem but they took the cards, driving licence etc. Hopefully somebody gave the empty "porte-monnaie" to the frendly guys from the security of the ACO.  Thank you very much to the person who gave it to the security!

On Friday somebody has stollen wine an different things in the other tent and put it in the "poubelle" near the tent .. . Thank you very much, next time drink it also and don't abuse things!

On Sunday I was 5 meters from the our gazebo, some french teenis came and took my clothes, which were on the chair and wanted to go away, but i registert this and run behind them.
The guy said " Oh the things were outside the tent and it seemend that nobody was the owner of this clothes".

 :-[It's getting unsecure in Le Mans

I've a confirmed report of an attempted theft at the Expo campsite, fortunately the thief was caught by some campers - after they had some "fun" with him they chased him away he probably would have preferred to have been caught by the police instead ;D

Hey Werner I hope the fun envolved the culprit being tied behind a car and taken round the Houx roundabout for a few laps???

f**k me where do I start. I was on MB with the Liverpool boys and we had 4 incidents first was clothes and passports on the friday night. Next was saturday night where 2 were caught mooching around my gear in 2 seperate incidents. one got some real estate giving to him when Brian kicked him in the balls and gave him a couple of acres and he ran of. The next incident they had hold of the lad and Mike tried to dislocate his jaw with a big right hook. He then done off only to discover that he had ransacked a neighbouring parties tent and had his wallet with cards, money etc. On Sunday morning we returned from Arnage to be told by our next door neighbour that he had just chased someone trying to open the awning on Mike C's camper and was already being chased by anther camper for nicking stuff. Oh and when I packed away someone had nicked my electric cool box and a 1/3 of a box of wine. So for next  year, top of the shopping list is a baseball bat. Any one gets caught will have to empty pockets. They will then be cable tied to a chair with their clothes cut off and Campsite thief written in permemnent marker pen all over them. And when he's sat on public view, please take time to empty your piss bucket over him. f**k*ng handjobs know how to spoil a good week

Oh and whilst I'm getting wound up, the incident where the lad was opening the awning was reported straight away to the one security bloke on duty as the culprit was still around. The security bloke did'nt give a toss and said the police would'nt be interested as it was on private land. The annoying thing is, and I hope your reading this ACO,  up to and including Friday night the security was in heavy handed largely grouped form regarding pitches and parking your car over the white line. As soon as race day came there was only one on MB and all he did was guard the Peugeot compound tents at the top of MB.

Ah fookin loove yeou Stu  :-*

Bad luck to all. I'll certainly be more careful with keys and money in future - I usually just drop my shorts which contain all my possessions and climb into bed - easy prey (my shorts, that is, not me!)

And I'm sure before too long the topic of MB security :police: will have it's very own thread...

In eight years of Le Mans MB we have never encountered any problems.  This year they have massively increased 'securite' for the first few days (up to Thursday) and then the scumbags seem to have had a free range.  One of our party lost a set of binos whilst out of their tent on Saturday night, the same night two separte tents were robbed whilst occupied.  Another tent received an attempted entry whilst matey was 'otherwise engaged with a friend of the opposite gender' and sadly before he could get his strides on and acquire a decent 'object' the thieving turd had made off.  If the ACO want to apply security (which we approve of) then it should not just be to administer pitches.  Maybe a universal CA network will need to be established in future if the ACO cannot/are not prepared to act.

It really is shocking, this. Last couple of years in Blue, we've had members of the party who've had trousers nicked from their tents containing money, wallet, keys, mobile etc. This year, we were locking everything (even toiletries & clothes) away in the boot of the car, and sleeping with tickets and keys under the inflatable mattress. I've used a little padlock on the inside of the tent zips in the past - I wonder if even a bit of coat hanger wire bent through the fly screen zips would be enough deterrant to the casual theif (ie can't unzip the zips quickly, so move on).

Is HA any better these days for security? I wonder if the theives are scumbag chav visitors or more likely to be scumbag Le Mans city undesirables who take a trip out to the circuit on Saturday night for some easy pickings? Still, a €61 investment in buying a ticket would be easily repaid by nicking €100s of cash and valuables, so being inside the permiter (as in MB) doesn't seem to offer any more security. Except fo the pikies on Sunday, of course - came back to the site on Sunday afternoon only to find some smelly frog about to help himself to all our chairs from the gazebo!

I wonder if a couple of these (http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=217708&criteria=solar%20security%20light&doy=19m6) on the gazebos next year might provide enough to make the tea leafs go elsewhere - it's a sad state that self preservation means you can't easily prevent them, you just want them to go elsewhere.

Good idea on the light but it would prob get nicked...

>Martini...

Along with the Gazeebo and the sun ;D

I think I may get hold of one of these beauties.

http://tinyurl.com/2jc2gn

£20.00 its got to be worth it.  We were saying that we need sniper towers and a full razor wire fence system all the way around our site. If we could electricute it I think that may just sort them out :laugh:
Jon

You could have a 'best dance' competition.

Ah, the lighter side of electrocution.

Commiserations, Mark - I understand how you feel having had a similar experience on Bleu Sud a few years back.  Had my bum-bag taken from beside my head as I was 'sleeping' in a large trailer tent.  Fortunately, they only took the cash - left credit card, car key and mobile phone in the bag which was found and given by chance to a CA'er (Kpy) who recognised the name and sought me out.

Didn't experience any problems this year, but one of my party lost his phone en-route to the stands from MB, another left his radio/earphones at the poo bar on Saturday evening, and another 'lost' his digital camera.

Fortunately, all the euros collected at the auction were safely locked away in a safe in my mate's caravan - now safely banked!!

Del

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

You got to be kidding about the best dance though - we would win that hands down - without elecricution! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: ;)

knowing our lot there would be some kind of incident with razor wire and electric.  We would forget and get cut to shreds and singed all weekend :)

It really is a bummer and it seems to me that Mark's lads did all they could to protect themselves.  This wasn't a group of lads who'd passed out and left their wallets on the table.  

We tend to lock papers and big things in the car but I do sleep with my small rucksack in the tent which had my purse, phone, car keys, media pass etc. in it.  I'd always felt fairly safe doing this but now I'm not sure what we'll do another year.  

My concern about putting car keys under a pillow or in a sleeping bag is the risk of managing to activate the remote and opening up the car by accident!  Under the pillow or around your head is also a good target for what happened to Lang Tall at Brands with someone slicing through the tent from the outside and feeling around until they found something (that wasn't warm and breathing!).  

They just seem to be increasingly ballsey about going into peoples tents, caravans etc.  The guys opposite us (Porsche Curve Pirates) were done while they were sitting on their scaffolding next to their caravan and their stuff was taken from the back of their van in the ten minutes that there wasn't someone sitting in the awning.  

I think we'll have to have a re-think for next year about what and how we do things.  

Sorry to everyone who lost gear over the weekend.  I guess I was just lucky as I did not even take the precautions that some who lost stuff took.

Just a couple of low cost ideas for next year. http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=CP0404202 (http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=CP0404202)   or   http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=SR06729 (http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=SR06729)

If the pre-booking stuff works, with marked pitches there's a strong chance that those who booked via me will all be together in '08.  Surely we can fix something up between us?  There must always be at least two people awake and on site at the same time?

I found my car had been left unlocked through most of Saturday - happily nobody tried to get into it - maybe the proximity to DFH helped?

From what I've seen this year I'm  not sure that would be enough.  The caravans near us that were done had people in them and/or very close to them.  With the noise of the cars unless you happen to be looking in the right direction or sitting in the doorway it's quite difficult to stop it.   

You'd need decent barriers so you had only one way in and someone monitoring it - then there is the issue of tents being slashed and people going into them from behind.

Our tent was "visited" by thieves at MB too, a lot of clothes and toiletries scattered about, luckily there was no money or valuables left behind in our bags.
Our visitors probably were locals, because, when they were disturbed by returning neighbours, they ran off with 2 bottles of Pastis 51.

Like the idea of Termie though to arrange some kind of surveillance/security for groups that camp together.
Also a couple of 2m guys in a shirt clearly marked (Club Arnage) SECURITY would scare off thieves and might even send a clear message to the ACO about how many of us think about the securite they only employ untill Friday.

Anyone here with good relations to their local Hells Angels chapter  ;)

A few of The Brethren will suffice on that Bas.

We had a couple of bikes stolen last year on Tertre Rouge, (Fortunately we caught the little scrotes and administered 'swift justice').
It turned out that they had crossed the road outside the campsite and broken down the concrete wall to get in... >:(

This year there were so many chains on our site and stuff that it looked like an S&M convention.

I was part of the same group as MGMark and echo the sentiments of what was overall an excellent week trashed at the final turn by the scrotes.  I initially thought it was a Bleu Nord phenomena as the site is so open and quite frankly unbelieveably quiet in the wee small hours.  But I then got to thinking that Karting Nord, our home of the last few years is just as open if somewhat livelier. However it seems from the series of posts here that even sites that might seem a little more secure as they are less open and inside the circuit (MB) suffer the same rate of  theft as elsewhere.  In the past 15 years at Le Mans I have not been aware of a level of theft such as that reported this year, is it higher or is it just that it came closer this year?  All sensible precautions suggested here are valid and as I don't seriously expect positive action from the authorities, ACO or Police (in fairness it is difficult to see what they could realistically do as an effective security presence throughout would be prohibitively expensive) sensible precautions (with the added benefit of hindsight) and a degree of self policing seem the most appropriate way forward   

I've been attending the same music festival for the last 35 years.  Like LM, it has been the most secure and safe feeling place for years and years.  Then suddenly in '06, the thefts started.  It seems to be an epidemic now at camping events with the insecure nature of kipping in tents.  Goodness, I'm getting grumpy!

However, I was around when somebody found a whole pile of stolen stuff outside one of the tents and happily a few people got their stuff returned so there's the occasional happy ending still.

On a practical note, it is always a good idea to report any and all thefts to the police, in spite of what the "security" people on the site say.  It's important to make the local gendarmerie aware of the level of thefts going on, and it helps if you make an insurance claim!

Thanks for the support folks - might be worth us putting a beefed up section on prudent campsite security measures in the Guide, with a few notes on what to do if things do go wrong.  In the latter respect, we found that it was no use in talking to the controle personnel on site - it isn't their job and while they're sympathetic, that is all they can be.  There were no security personnel there at the time.  The gendarmes we found outside the site, many of them drafted in from outside the area, didn't know what to do or where to go, other than to say that it was a matter for the Police Nationale. 

That last bit is the key - you need to report anything to the police rather than the gendarmes, and on race weekend, the place to go is the Commissariat de Police in Le Mans itself, on the Rue Coeffort in Le Mans.  You make a declaration of a loss or theft there, they give you a nicely stamped up official form, which is your key to returning to UK (i.e. if you have lost your passport - ignore any advice from the Passport Office that you need to go to the British Embassy in Paris to get a temporary passport!) and for making any subsequent insurance claim.  A link to a map with their location is:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=rue+coeffort&sll=54.162434,-3.647461&sspn=14.412232,27.509766&ie=UTF8&om=1&ll=48.000031,0.200758&spn=0.016052,0.026865&z=15 (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=rue+coeffort&sll=54.162434,-3.647461&sspn=14.412232,27.509766&ie=UTF8&om=1&ll=48.000031,0.200758&spn=0.016052,0.026865&z=15)

The experience has not put us off the campsites - we've been on them for the last 14 years, and love the atrmosphere they create.   It is the first time it has happened to anyone in our group or even near to our group.  What we did do right was to secure valuables hidden away from sight inside an alarmed car.  However, the fatal flaw with that when the scrote gets the keys..... Aside from dreams of exploding errant scrotes with a minefield, or connecting them to the French National Grid, first thoughts on what we might be doing differently next year centre around:

1)  Better perimeter protection - we used tape which was pegged to the ground this year, just to mark out the area for our group who were arriving at different times.  Picket posts and plastic fencing (like at DfH's site) would make it more awkward/difficult to gain casual access/egress to/from the group's area without arousing suspicion or tripping over it, particularly in the dark. 

2)  Loud portable alarms that can be fixed so that they are triggered by the opening of tent flaps or doors, or the movement of items such as bags or keys.  There are plenty of these around on the market for around a fiver each, which can be fixed in place so that the movement of a zip, bag, door or key bunch would trigger them.  Similarly, there are wireless PIR sensors that can be linked to a sounder, although they may be more subject to triggering by drunk members of the group pitching back into the site late at night.

Plenty of food for thought for additional security there.  Don't know yet how well they work, but there seem to be plenty of suitable things to use:
 
http://www.personalalarms.com/store/erol.html#1X0 (http://www.personalalarms.com/store/erol.html#1X0)
http://www.c-p-p.co.uk/ (http://www.c-p-p.co.uk/)

MG Mark

I may as well add my 2p's worth.

First off, sorry to all that lost gear. It would seem that generally people did try to be careful.

I was woken on Thursday Night, by someone unzipping my inner tent (extremely quietly I should add), but he buggered off before I could grab him, at least I lost nothing. This really forced us to rethink things for the rest of the weekend, so we were quite surprised to find that another of our tents was turned over Saturday night, whilst two people were asleep in it, and they had their damp, dirty smell clothing nicked  :o Fortunately that was all that went, but it is the sense of personal invasion which hurts.

We woke to find that several people near us had been robbed, including a camper van which had been forcibly broken into. We found a mobile phone near our tent, and after a call to some of the numbers on it, managed to contact the owner and return it to him. He had also been turned over as had several tents in their area. Two guys had been caught and beaten before they escaped, and in this case it would seem they were English.

Perhaps we have been blaming the Pikies for too long, and this is a problem we are taking with us? After all, in the UK there is practically no punishment at all these days for theft, and in some "deprived"  :-\  :'( cases it even leads to rewards. I think it is time that we really start to stand up for what should be seen as right and proper, and emmigrate somewhere where this sort of behaviour is simply not tolerated.

Perhaps the Arabs really do have the right idea when it comes to punishing theives.

It does seem that we must be more vigilant from now on, everyone takes great care with what we know to be valuable (money, keys etc) but it seems that they will take just about anything and in daylight.

I had my fleece lifted on Friday afternoon (in MB), true it was just lying on a seat in an open fronted gazebo but it wasn't anything special , just good enough to keep warm in however as it was the only warm top I had with me I had to double up on t shirts when it was cooler.

The car strong boxes mentioned in an early post look good for the small expensive stuff but I think a tent alarm linked to a CS gas spray will be trialed for next year (its legal in France I think!).

I think that this is useful and even vital information in next years CA Guide

Thanks Mark, those websites are helpful.  I think locking stuff in the car has to be the way forward but what needs to be worked on is somewhere safe to keep keys whilst we are sleeping.  I am really worried about blipping the car open if I put the keys in my sleeping bag or under a pillow. 

Assuming that these guys just grab and run, we wondered whether simply linking our bags together with a cycle lock might be a good start - then if they grab one bag they get a number of them together (works less well for those in a tent on their own I guess) which makes it less easy to manage a quick getaway. 

My other cunning plan is that my side of the tent is always in such a mess that it takes me ten minutes to find my keys each morning anyway!    I normally take my watch and jewellery off at night but I think I'll sleep in it now so it's not lying around. 

God Mark, that's a really bad ending to a great week. For the record, we had a Goped stolen from the tent on saturday night. No idea who took it, indeed we only realised it was missing when we unpacked the Commer yesterday! So a call to the insurance company is on the cards later. It's annoying, sure, but compared to losing a passport it's not even comparable.

I can't help thinking some home grown security might be in order next year. We could print and stick up some posters in various language warning the perpetrators very clearly what will happen to them if they are caught; it won't involve the police either! And perhaps some "tough love"  ;) dealt out might deter the little b*stards once word gets around.

On the danger of sounding naive:

Could a letter from CA to the ACO, signed by many of us, with a list of thefts that we know first hand of, and a comment about the negative publicity they have regarding this topic in many forums probably change something, may be more security personel??? At least no one of them could claim that they never heard about this...

Sorry to repeat myself but this was my post on the 'Golden Era' thread. Werner....great minds think alike!

I have never been one for complaining formally; usually a few days after any bother, whether on holiday or otherwise, I run out of steam and move on.
My LM experience this year was disappointing and disheartening. To save a lot of verbiage the problems were:

Theft on campsites
the pretence of security
the appalling food available at the circuit
the lack of sufficient sanitary provision for campers
drunken yobs
corporate influence
the obstructed views of the cars
the loss of promenading opportunities, (ie Arnage corner on Friday)
the use of the 'safety car' to sanitise all of the challenge that the elements posed
The ACO rely on the income from Brits, Dutch, Danes etc., to finance the events at La Sarthe. Without the punters they are nothing. Unless we go,(to the 24hrs, Classic etc.), the ACO itself will collapse, and corporate sponsorship will only want to support the race as long as there is a 'public' to advertise their products to and feel more important than.

My experience with a thief at 5am on Sunday morning mentioned by others on another thread was demonstrative of so much that is going wrong. We can't go around simply beating crims up, these days you are as likely to get stabbed for your trouble, there were four working together in my particular instance. However; when you point out the crim to security staff, you expect them to do something about it, (they watched as he 'tried' a few other tents with his three mates), rather than standing around smoking Gitane and watching the race. The 'security' on the campsites was a sham and ironically some of the crims used, "only security" as their excuse when caught in the act.
The Police of any description were not interested in my complaint at all! 'Private land' they said!

The crime has turned into an epidemic, we can only take sensible personal precautions, the ACO haveto act professionally, or any respect they still retain will be diluted and then lost, as I fear will the race.

The cost of employing Police inside the circuit would be an expense, however; they have the professional skills and the authority to act summarily. When the cost is spread between all of those who attend it would be minimal expense per head, and what a fantastic relief it would be for us all to know that matters were in safe hands. It would be a cost that I would be happy to suffer.

Can I implore those who speak of providing our own security, to think again? We will be accussed of being vigilanties, someone will get hurt and the damn crims might even sue or bring their mates back.

On the subject of changes to come, I have heard the following from a very reliable source.
ACO are intending to insist that all camping is in tents provided by them,at considerable expense, as with their experiments this year at various locations with Quecha rabbit hutches. No personal cooking facilities will be allowed inside the circuit perimeter; unless inside a caravan/motorhome etc. which will have their own site, probably BSJ. They will restrict grandstand seating to all but corpoates in Durand and ACO tribunes.

What a bloody disaster! We are representative of so many of the ordinary folks who attend simply to enjoy themselves, why don't we complain by letter/petition to the ACO? I have no doubt that were we to contact all of those with whom we have a link that they would support such a move and the numbers would be substantial. As a group we are powerful, our economic input to La Sarthe should not be underestimated and without us there is no race.

On the up side the DfH party was as good as ever and the auction a great success.

We need to act soon or lose our excuse to escape the apron strings (of home and work) for a day or two.

How about it?

Doug, otherwise known as Mr Grumpy!

I'm afraid we were another statistic with regards to this.  Fortunately one of our guys returned to the tent early (2am wimp!) to find some little bar stewards rummaging through our tent on MB and chased them off.  Found out later they only got away with a pair of binoculars and a head torch, but they did drop about 16 Marlboro reds, my hat and a mobile that was apparently nicked from a tent earlier on (found and safely returned to the owner thanks to Mr Invisible? camped opposite).  We were lucky in that we were away from the tent and so had valuables either with us or locked in the car.

Chatting to a prison warden camped besides us, he suggested that if anyone gets hold of the scrotes make every effort to get him/her and accomplices names, addresses etc (we have ways of making you talk).  I bet half of them are daft enough to carry their own walets with ID on them.  And as, I'm ashamed to say, it appears as many of them are from Blighty as are French, report them to the authorities both in France (hand them over avec bruises if you get the chance) and here when you get back.

I would also suggest that a digital photo of those caught is taken and posted on this website/in the guide/on socking great banners to be put up around the sites the following year.

Rant over, still enjoyed it, and more determined than every to go back next year.

Ooh, take a bit of care though....
On the way back to our camp on Sunday morning about four-ish, I thought I'd drop in on the Liverpool boys, hoping for a late night cleansing ale. I have to admit to being very tiddly, and while I was standing in the dark next to their gazebo wondering what to do next, Mike C crept up behind me like Colonel Mustard on steroids complete with the lead piping and all ready to seperate me from what was left of my brains. Luckily he recognised me, and when I heard "Oh, it's you H!", and turned round to see him I nearly feinted from fright. We had a good laugh once he brought me round...
Can we hire him for next year?
H

That really does disappoint me - I really wouldn't have imagined that it could be anyone other than the local scrotes and gypsies.

It certainly makes you wonder about the mentality of some people - happy to organise and pay to travel down, to presumably camp next to people happy to share a few beers with them, and then happy to steal from them.

Perhaps I'm a little naive, but how do they sleep at night? (Well obviously, they don't - they break into tents).

Nice rant stu  ;D i have to say i agree with the cable tie method but i think we should add in brians bollock kicking routine aswell just for good measure  ::) the scumbag minority and the crap weather put a bot of a downer on my le mans this year but it was still a blast. bring on 08

Lock you valuables away in your car.  Put the keys in a small tobacco tin or plastic box, big enough to protect and not to press the central locking buttons, then stash the box well down into your sleeping bag with you - QED.

anyone looking for a car safe could try maplins

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=98818&doy=21m6#overview (http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=98818&doy=21m6#overview)

currently on offer at £40

just need to keep the key safe, perhaps attached to a personal piercing!

Hi Mark - Sorry to read about your experience. We were also camped on Bleu Nord. On the Friday night a scrote nicked the Lotus badge off my brother's Elise, leaving a nice big gouge in the paint (repair est. £600) - and walking round the campsite next day it seems there were plenty of others who had the same problem. It got worse on race night when they went off with a quad bike that belonged to my mate's son. We've had minor thefts at LM over the past 10 years but nothing like this. It's pretty clear that there's some organised thieving going on, especially in sites like Bleu Nord where people have a long way to go to get trackside and it gets very quiet. I'm glad to read below that a few of the scrotes did at least get a good kicking.

I had lunch with a bar owner today who had people camping behind the bar and both Friday and Saturday night the pikeys came at 4am. Their trick is to start a bit of a staged fight with lots of noise a short way away to divert attention and then the others nip in behind your backs and ransack the tents. Next year she is employing a man and very vicious alsatian. I hope he inadvertantly lets it off the lead!

was that the bar outside exbo i saw about 10 french blokes fighing out side there on thursday night that would of been about 4 in the morning should chop off there hands that would stop them thiving

YES!!! ;D Bring in old medieval punishment methods...and first chop off hand and then ask questions  ;D ;D ;D...like is that your hand?

In some parts of the world, is it not - What ever part of the body offends - Chop it Off,

Good job we only talking apart nicking,  ;D

Well seing as they nicked my flagpole and bird:

The pole will be inserted a long way up the ar*e! 10 meter pole  ;D
My Bird! Well you know what I will chop off for that!

Sorry H
I was sober at the time, the lead pipe was infact a 6 cell mag light, a relic of my days as a pub manager.

Seems our group had a lucky time at KN then.

Or maybe because we were camped near to the 'cleaning family' there was always someone around, so that acted as a deterrent.

Or it could just be that they looked at out minimal gear and decided not to bother.

I had advised all our party to carry everything important with them at all times, but that still would not have stopped anyone trying the tents whilst we slept.

From the posts on CA it seems the incident of theft was worse this year.

Someone previously mentioned a letter to the ACO, is that the best course of action?

Those on the inside (that have regular contact with the ACO and sometimes their ear) what do you think is the best way to highlight this rather miserable side to LM?

Having a car with no boot, windows and no door handles (so no locks either), I wear a very unfashonable "bum bag" all weekend, with passport, money, credit cards, car keys etc. in it. When I'm asleep, it's in the sleeping bag with me. Everything else of any value is up the oposite side of the tent to the door, although I suppose they could cut through that end if they wanted. Seems to work for me.

Reminds me of a guy I know, a few years ago, his mate across the road got his car window smashed and the youths run off with goods - this was late a night.

He and the guy went after them, as they ran into a industrial area, he took a cricket bat with him. When they cornered him by a building he brought the youth down with the cricket bat and caught him. When they hand him over to the police, they were happy because this guy had been doing a lot of damage in the area.

But they adviced him next time not to use a cricket bat, but to get a big mag lite - just as effective and legal to carry. - I think

I have a similar problem......the car has a boot but cannot be locked, and I have to leave the roof at home due to space for tent and other gear, so I end up carrying everything in my camera bag.

But now they are stealing from tents whilst we slumber, which means my camera bag is at risk, so it looks like I will have to find an alternative arrangment for next year.

A police friend normally advises people to keep an unused roll of wallpaper 'close to hand' at home in case of a break in - surprising heavy and solid when used as a baton.

Always disappointing to hear of things like this, we talk about degeneration of society and think it is a British thing, looks like it is happening en-France as well.
I didn't camp, I just parked in Parking Blanc on Saturday night. I managed to 'loose' my MRI wrist-band, my mobile and pedometer (I like to know how many miles I walk - 16 this year!) as I sprinted by to my car in a shower. Didn't realise what I didn't have as I made my way back to the circuit later. I retraced my steps and found all my lost items! (including all the bits of my phone as it had comeapart when it hit the ground).
I slept in my car, with the doors locked and all my valuables in my sleeping bag.

On a point of detail, we are now in the EU so don't in theory need a Passport to travel between countries! I have proved this on a booze-cruise when one of our party forgot his passport. We got to Calais without being challenged, on entry back into the UK, we explained to the nice lady customs officer what we had done. Her only comment was 'bloody French - they'll let anyone in!'

Sorry not true for the UK, we didn't enter into the treaty that allows free travel across borders so our borders are still intact (think it was the Schengen treaty?).   Plus in mainland europe you need an official form of ID which in most cases is an ID card as we don't have these it would still need to be a passport anyway.   My half German niece and nephew use their German ID cards to travel around mainland Europe but have to use their British Passports to come into the UK. 

From the Border and Immigration web site:-

 What travel documents do you accept at passport control?

Your document must be valid and issued by a recognised Government or Authority. The most common examples of travel documents we accept are:

    *
      national passports; or
    *
      1951 Convention travel documents for refugees.

We also accept national identity cards for citizens of the European Economic Area.

Of course, we don't have National Identity cards so UK citizens still in theory have to produce a passport, but I was told (by Eurotunnel) that any valid photo ID is sufficient. Not sure I would want to risk it again, we got away with it last time (our first question to the forgetful memeber is Passport Pete??).

I don't think that's the full truth. Border controls in the EU have been widely stopped, at least between the countries which signed the Schengen agreement. But if they control you at the border (there are still occasional checks) , they can still insist on some ID and can refuse entry if you do not have an ID-card

Werner's right... EU does not require a passport but does require a valid ID. As to valid ID it is not driving licence or your buscard  ;D
It actually is Identity Card that UK doesn't have, so what poor UK people must do is keep carrying their passport around :/
I also have to say that I guess UK is the only country where I've been where people actually think credit card can prove your ID, everywhere else you would need an ID to prove that credit card is yours  ;D

Reading through al these teft stories, I realize that we got extremely lucky this year. Liverpool boys were opposite the road (as usual) from us and they got hit 4 times. I don't think the fencing made any difference, there was a firelane running through our camp and the tents were all obscured from view and readily accesable from the back. So any thief would have had ample opertunity to ransack our tents. Why they did not, I don't know. Maybe because safety is in numbers. Always someone awake in our group. For next year, I will bring my aluminum baseball bat to lemans, just in case we catch one. We can beat him till within an inch of his life and then tie him up on one of the big lampposts.

Maybe they know you and your avatar...  ;D

They have seen Roy in dress on thursday and run away.

Too scared to come back



.

After catching a Pikie last year and handing over to security only to hear the he wouldnt be turned over to the Police as they werent interested, we had a plan of stripping them off, "cuffing" them with gaffer tape and writing THEIF across their forehead (other inacessable parts of their body, such as the middle of their back) in Permanant marker pen and then tying them to a post at the entrance fencing. Injuries sustained in this operation would have been purley accidental, as would have any further physical abuse dished out by other campers going past  ;) 

Just make sure if you write anything on them you spell it correctly!!

THIEF would be better!!

 ;D ;D

Grammar  :police:

Many years ago I worked as a door to door cash collector for an insurance company. For protection I carried a rounders bat with me.

One night I was stoppped and questioned by the Police as to what I was doing. Having accepted my explanation, they saw my rounders bat inside my jacket and asked if I had a tennis ball with me, which of course I didn't. So they advised me to carry one.

Their words were "A rounders bat on it's own is an offensive weapon and could bring your intentions into question, a rounders bat with a ball is a piece of sporting equipment which we would be happy for you to carry at all times!!"  ;)

good advice :D

I have a friend who is a policeman, when he is away on nights etc. his wife has a mop handle under her bed, but the last 18 inches is painted matt lack, so in the event of her having to swing it in anger, the intruder wouldn't see the black bit in the dark, and would move out of the way of the bit he could see.

I am a climber, so have many sharp pointy things under the bed, although I find a 'Tony Martin lives here' sign on the gate to work extremely well.