Stolen Commer " Please repost wherever possible "

As Commerchris said you can make a basic tracker out of an old mobile and an in car charger hacked so that you can splice it somewhere discreet into the loom. You register with the site, but they won't inform you when it's moved; you have to interrogate the device via the site - so you have to know that your vehicle has been stolen first.

I think it works on triangulation of the GSM signal between 3 masts and will give a fairly accurate fix in urbanised areas where there are a lot of masts, but in rural areas you could looking at radius of a mile or two. Still not bad for five quids worth of parts and a cheap subscribtion.

eBay do some pretty well priced GPS trackers that can alert you on your mobile going for around £100 last time I looked. Better value for the money than an alarm system I reckon.
 
I wouldn't buy a tracker off ebay [:0] that could be villains selling them,they know how they work & have your address...I don't think adam is correct about the knowing your vans stolen first?

Sybhil & no1
 
A friend passed this on to me. It sounds like a pretty good idea.

Vehicle security is not always at the forefront of our minds. Many of us
accept the fact that our old cars can easily be broken into and driven away.
Hopefully you take some precautions to protect your car, but even though it
’s not worth thousands of pounds, how would you feel if it was stolen?
As time goes by our cars get rarer and potentially more attractive to
thieves.
Someone may want it for spare parts; weigh it in for scrap metal or even
Banger racing!
Without getting too paranoid I wanted to reduce the risk but at the same
time not spend a fortune.

Many luxury vehicles are fitted with Tracker devices – these allow vehicle
movements to be tracked by satellite and their position relayed to the
police. The devices are expensive to fit and incur monthly service charges.
However, there is a viable alternative to this system which uses the
mobile phone network.
A service exists which was designed to protect our most precious assets –
children. A child’s mobile phone can be registered on a web site and its
location tracked to within a few hundred metres.
You may raise your eyebrows at the use of such a service – but what if the
phone wasn't in your child’s pocket, but in your car?
Within a few clicks of the mouse you can instantly see where your car is.

In practical terms you need a basic mobile phone with a decent battery and
a cheap Pay As You Go (PAYG) SIM card. You’ve probably got an old phone
stuck in a drawer. It could be worn, cracked, bent or buckled – as long as it
works.
The phone needs to be hidden in the car and you’ll be surprised just how
many hiding places there are!
Ideally, it should be connected to the battery to keep it charged, but I
found that many mobiles have a standby life of two weeks or more. You just
need to periodically remove it for recharging.
Another tip is to switch the phone to silent and turn off Bluetooth mode
to prolong battery life.
Finally, set the phone to divert all calls to another number. This is
because many PAYG services will disconnect a phone if it’s not used for 60 days
or more. If you divert the line then periodically call the number it will
keep it active.

I researched a few websites before selecting _www.childlocate.co.uk_
(http://www.childlocate.co.uk/)
It’s very easy to create an account and register your phone number. You
then pre-pay for credits which are used every time you locate the phone. A
typical search cost less than 50p
The phone is shown as being within a radius of the nearest cellular tower.
You can zoom in to street level on the map. My tests have shown it be
accurate to at best 300 metres and at worse 600 metres.

So, from a one-off cost of £10 plus an old mobile phone you can have the
peace of mind that you’ll find your car if it goes missing!


Sybhil & no1
 
They would have to remove 2 vehicles off my drive to get to the van so i'm hoping that's enough of a hassle to thieves?

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The Bush Pig has contracted Pig Flu!
 
Did you get a reply scott I didn't,starting to smell a rat ? you would think he would reply I know I would.

Sybhil & no1
 
No Chris i never got one neither? Insurance job you thinking??? If it was my van i'd be climbing the walls and be following every lead possible. And yes defo replying to peoples emails who are showing genuine concern.

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The Bush Pig has contracted Pig Flu!
 
He has offered a reward on ebay:I


th_morris.gif

Trahh la laaa - Harvey's around here somewhere
 
Right, i have had a reply from the chap so i will repost it here. I take back what i said ( Although it was a natural assumption when you don't get a reply ) so here goes:

Hi Scott - THANKS!!! Some great people at CVFan!!! I know it's
just a van, but it's like losing someone, so much time enjoying
fixing it, etc, LOL... I've been dealing with the Police, etc, but the
case was closed by them on day one really, "not enough
evidence", "cctv does not record"? etc... I've not even checked my
email until now, my head is completely blown away. I'm off to
bed now, but will look for digital images and post tomorrow
morning. I'm a member of CVFan, but forgot my password (reset
goes to my work email & I'm off work). THANKS AGAIN SCOTT!!!
- YOU GUYS HAVE CHEERED ME UP!!! Bruce



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The Bush Pig has contracted Pig Flu!
 
I too have had a similar reply, lets keep vigilant and see if we can find his van.


th_morris.gif

Trahh la laaa - Harvey's around here somewhere
 
Yup I sorted the password /email thing now :) should be hearing from him this evening

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HI ALL,

Thanks so much for your support here!!!

I could not believe the thread (and messages) when I checked last night!!! John has given me access to Commer Van Fan, THANKS ALL!!! YOU HAVE HELPED ALREADY!!!:)

I'm looking for non-digital photos and will find a way to post these today, as the only digital photos we have are in snow...so mostly covered.

The campervan is the old minibus shape, and has a flip roof (70's looking), but you'll be able to see in full later today ASAP, sorry for the delay.

I see that members have been discussing security measures, which is great, because I don’t see things getting any better. There is a belief that certain groups are steeling campers to live in, on travelers sites, etc? We'll see, but crime in our area appears to have increased massively over the last few years. This is the feeling on the ground, speaking to our friends and neighbors, however I’m not sure of 'official figures', I guess they don’t reflect the changing state of local communities over the last few years?

This I know is off topic (please allow me to let off some steam / sorry), but I believe that Britain / British Government policy is now viewed by many citizens and would be citizens as weak and toothless, and if that’s what people think of the Government then what must people think of us the British citizens? Obviously we’re weak and toothless and an easy touch, or they would not be in power?

If the police view burglary and car crime as minor, then wont criminals also view these as easy pickings with little risk, so they then take the risk (they would have previously taken for burglary and car crime) for a higher level of crime? Maybe I’m the only one who feels that not even pursing burglaries and car crime is giving the wrong signal to criminals, who then move on to bigger and ‘better’ things? I asked the Police if I had to wait for someone to get hurt before things are investigated and the answer was "yes".

Regarding our van, it was parked close to the house, battery disengaged, and it looks to have been towed away during the day by a couple of guys in a small white transit with the metal 'ramps'. From what I hear this is the third van to be stolen in the local area in a couple of weeks, another modern van, and an 80's Transit Camper.

I mentioned earlier, I've been dealing with the Police, etc, but the case was closed by them on day one really, "not enough evidence", "cctv does not record"?

On this subject, we live in an area where there are only a few routes in and out and CCTV (as in most of Britain) everywhere!!! So you would think that the criminals who towed our van would be caught on CCTV, however if these cameras are not even recording (which I’m not fully convinced they aren’t, and don’t know how to verify this? Anyone?) then we’re living with the most CCTV in Europe/the world, yet there’s no benefit when a crime is commited? So please don’t be fooled (as we were) that you’re covered by the massive CCTV presence in your area, as I’m still looking for verification on the benefit of so much CCTV, when it’s not even recording???

I’m now taking this further in my local community and I’m looking for answers to these and many other questions regarding crime in general and how it’s viewed and (if ever) pursued by the Police, because I feel that the majority of citizens, those law abiding hard working people are being neglected and deserve more!!!

It would appear that your more likely to get 3 points on your license for a bald tyre then a criminal is to even be pursued (never mind caught) for stealing your vehicle in broad daylight? So a bald tire is now a ‘major’ crime and car theft is a ‘minor’ crime? Parking fines are an easy touch, car theft is hard to crack, so let’s boost the solved ‘crime’ figures with parking fines?

Crazy as all our insurance premiums are being pushed higher day by day, but for most criminals I suspect they wont even bother buying insurance, so again the law abiding hard working citizens are carrying the can yet again!!!

From my own experience and from speaking with many neighbours, there appears to be an increasing level of intimidation from ‘petty criminals’, a problem for young people such as myself, but a nightmare for the elderly, and something that is not being addressed effectively as most of elderly neighbours are becoming more and more reluctant to comment on the obvious local offenders, in case the intimidation increases.

I investigated the crime, then informed the Police of the approximate time of theft, the vehicle used, the characters spotted, and was told that without details of the vehicles number plate they have no evidence to follow, and as you can guess not one member of the Police has been to the scene of the crime or even spoken to my neighbours.

Anyway rant over... apologies, but security in this country appears to be on a downward spiral, I’ll now look for photos and post ASAP today.

THANKS AGAIN ALL!!! At least we have Commer Van Fan, in future maybe we can solve the crimes and then inform the Police once we’ve done our investigation and identified the criminals? Crazy situation, but if it works?

THANKS!!! Bruce
 
Our wonderful police are not interested in car crime unless it drops in there laps.

A few years ago I ran a car sales site in quite a rural area and I was blighted by theft of cars and parts. Every incident was reported to the local police who`s only response was to give me a crime reference number, they never came out to take fingerprints etc of cars that had been stripped and the only time they did attend was when my office was broken into for the 3rd week running. I had parts stolen from cars, cars stolen and break ins EVERY week and got no help at all, I was also told that there were NO police patrols in my area, very reassuring for the local residents!

One fine day after opening the site the police turned up in force and set up ANPR cameras on the roundabout to catch "criminals" who were driving untaxed cars etc, now I do not have a problem with that as I do not see why we should tax, mot and insure our cars while others show a blatent disregard for such details but what annoyed was that the police could spare 6 traffic cars, 4 motorcyclists and the vans to sit all day catching very easy targets. At one point the police started directing there catches on to my forecourt to be nicked, and no they did not ask my permission to do this!
After watching this for a while I walked down to where a traffic cop was talking to his "customer" and asked who he got permission from to use my forecourt, of course he had no reply to this so I also asked him how it was that the police could be out in such force with there cameras during the day but when I was being robbed at night there was not even a chance of a patrol car being in the area, I also asked why they never came out to investigate such a high crime area.
His answer was and I quote " Why would we come and investigate empty spaces on your forecourt"
At that point I got somewhat cross and told him to leave my premises as he and his fellow officers were trespassing!
They left and after a few months so did I as I could no longer take the stress of having my property stolen on a weekly basis.

Are`nt our police wonderful?????
 
Thanks for the post. Yes, absolute madness!!! Why have so many people lost faith in the British justice system?

This is why I'm taking this further, even forgetting about the van, and see what happens.

I'll ensure that anything I receive that's complete fact relating to the real state of Car Crime in this country and the actual level of power we have as law abiding British Citizens is be posted to Commer Van Fan, so other members have the true state of play and any useful advice, etc, to help prevent their Commer being stolen, or help if other vehicles are stolen in the future.

What do you think? John? if you would like to create a Stolen Van Topic (or similar) then we could all add factual info, feedback, advice, etc, what do you think?

I've spoken again with the Police and just had a call back from a very helpful WPO (obviously can't give many details at this stage, but apart from some proposed extra help) I've been informed that:

1) 'The likelihood of finding the van is almost nil'... This does not surprise me, but we keep on hoping, looking, thanks again for that!!!

2) 'CCTV cameras are not the property of the Police, but the Council / Government, and 'many' don't record'... I never knew that, but this would appear to be good news for the criminals I guess when related to Car Crime? Not good news for our minor traffic offences, parking on an empty street for 1 minute on a Sunday and getting a ticket, as this earns money for the council?

3) 'Car Crime is not a petty crime'... again, from speaking with other people locally the general feedback is that it's viewed by authorities as a petty crime due to the perceived lack of any real investigation?

Anyway THANKS AGAIN ALL!!!, we're looking for some useful photos for the forum. Crazy that we've enjoyed/loved the Commer for years, but didn’t really take any specific van only shots (we did take some though on the odd occasion, we're not completely mad, we'll find these today)
 
Sorry to hear of your problems both with the criminals and those who should be trying to catch them.

Re cctv what you were told is correct. Most have the capability to be recorded but only when the operators see something that needs recording (the taking of your van, if 'seen' on cctv may not have looked out of place?) so they need to be switched on. Once recorded the images need to be secured and exhibited as evidence and then stored. Imagine if every cctv camera was recorded 24/7, it would just not be possible to deal with the images after they were recorded.

Police response differs throughout the country, sorry Bruce I missed where you are? In some areas, esp rural ones they are spread very thin and have to manage their limited resources in line with the demand, if it's very busy elsewhere the quieter areas will suffer a reduced presence. With regard to individual attitudes of individual officers I can only say that the Police come from society, society has some dick-heads and consequently so will the Police.

The ANPR stuff will probably have been set up by VOSA with Police assistance to stop and 'deal' with any offenders. I'm not sure how it works these days but it may be that VOSA pay the constabulary for the use of the officers (much like football clubs having to pay for Police inside the ground). This is a way the constabulary can boost its budget which is usually under attack from the gov't.

The average copper would like nothing more than the opportunity to nick a thief, unfortunately they are all too often restricted by the latest gov't or local authority initiative which invariably means more paperwork (so progress can be monitored) and less time out on the street.

But as I said earlier, you'll still get the dick-heads.

Beachboy said "Are`nt our police wonderful?????" - Yes, quite correct, most of us are.

BAZROCKS.jpg
If I told you I was a pathological liar, would you believe me?
I'M GETTING A HIGHWAYMAN !!!
 
looking forward to the pic's,it may help with the safe return.I am dying to know what van this is as one post says it's a highwayman ?? (or did you have 2 [?])& another says about wrap around rear windows not many mini buses around should be easy to spot should it be in transit now or in the future.Don't give up :)

Sybhil & no1
 
I think our Police force need to have a few rights handed back to them to be honest. We need tougher laws as we can only rely on Police as our stronghold which is why we feel let down by them most of the time. If we inherited some of the policies of other countries we would be taking leaps forward into achieving better results. Police need to be out on the streets protecting and upholding, not sitting in the back room of the station filling out yet another ridiculous manuscript on the little twat that got caught riding his moped on the school field for the fifteenth time!!! It's a waste of valuable police time. Most probably the reason that in two and a half years i could count on four fingers the amount of times i've witnessed any police presence in my village! I could rant forever on this one but in a nutshell, you guys do a great job most of the time but you are failed by our system of do gooders and red tape. Hopefully our local Police force can catch the bastards who murdered my father in law's best friend three weeks ago here not far from Bourne!!!

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The Bush Pig has contracted Pig Flu!
 
quote:
Originally posted by Beachboy

As I said, "are`nt our police wonderful?"................NO!



As I said earlier, you still get the dick-heads.

BAZROCKS.jpg
If I told you I was a pathological liar, would you believe me?
I'M GETTING A HIGHWAYMAN !!!
 
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