Campsite Theft - BE AWARE !!!

[ewan]

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 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.

[Martini...LB]

I wonder if a couple of these 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...

[JonFATBOYwarner]

Along with the Gazeebo and the sun

[nickliv]

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

http://tinyurl.com/2jc2gn

[JonFATBOYwarner]

£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
Jon

[nickliv]

You could have a 'best dance' competition.

Ah, the lighter side of electrocution.

[DelBoy]

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

[JonFATBOYwarner]

You could have a 'best dance' competition.

Ah, the lighter side of electrocution.

 

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

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

[Piglet]

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.  

[htbast]

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   or   http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=SR06729

[termietermite]

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?

[Piglet]

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?

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.

[Bas]

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?

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 

[LangTall]

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?

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, becaue, 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 employ untill Friday.

Anyone here with good relations to their local Hells Angels chapter 

A few of The Brethren will suffice on that Bas.

[Steve TTTD]

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.