motorway service stations

[JonnyG]

Jonny G, you seem far more interested in nit picking my posts and trying to argue that caravans are not at risk of being stolen from motorway service areas than acknowledging facts. I've no need to dramatise anything 'for effect' by the way, those unlucky enough to have their caravans stolen from motorway service areas face more than enough drama.
I've no idea or figures to show whether or not caravans are more likely to be stolen from driveways than service areas and neither do you for that matter.
This topic isn't about thefts of caravans from driveways, if you had bothered to read what had been written you would have noticed that Lorrainjoyce's topic was about caravans without visible security devices being left unattended on motorway service areas.
If you really and truly believe that your caravan is unlikely to be stolen, fine, bully for you!
If that's the case then stop micro analysing every word that I write (a long time habit of yours) and leave those of us who are concerned about caravan theft from motorway service stations to continue our discussion in peace. What might be applicable to your caravan insurance policy might not be applicable to mine, you don't have access to my policy document.

Must have hit a nerve, inevitable given the Facts or lack of them.. I have asked and answered everything on this topic in a reasonable manner,.Looking at the response above can you really say the same. You even speak on my behalf! Bad move, you are indeed still more likely to have your caravan stolen from your driveway!
So now you are being critical of me for wanting to get things into perspective,and the only way to do that is to have all the facts on hand,Once you have the proper facts then leave it up-to the readers to make their own minds up,on any likelihoods involved..or doesn't putting things into perspective matter anymore!!!!!!!!!!

are

 

[Parksy]

My caravan isn't kept on my driveway so thieves would have a job to steal it from there wouldn't they but this topic is not about thefts from driveways so I don't see what lack of fact you are talking about. The O.P said that she saw six unattended caravans without locks etc at Blyth services. Fact, unless you are calling her a liar. There have been numerous reports both in Practical Caravan magazine and on various internet forums about caravans being stolen from motorway service areas, Fact two unless you are calling me a liar.
A leading insurance company have submitted an article on this website and also posted an answer within this topic where they specifically mentioned an increase in caravan thefts from motorway service areas. Caravan Guard said:
We recognise theft of caravans has decreased overall, however, there are certain types of theft that are on the increase. Theft of caravans from service stations is nothing new but we’ve just noticed a 200% increase in instances in 2010 compared to 2009. Therefore, regardless of insurance cover being in force or not, if you are stopping in a service station for more than a few minutes and wish to prevent the traumatic experience of losing your caravan, then you may want to leave someone in the car on guard or fit your wheel clamp and/or set your alarm as a deterrent.
Fact Three unless you are calling Caravan Guard liars.
I'm being critical of you because as usual you try to fill topics with irrelevant point scoring which have little to do with what had actually been written, try reading a topic properly before commenting and arguing the toss about something not under discussion and you might get it right for a change.

 

[JonnyG]

clearly you are not really reading my post,as i mentioned the 200% rise in a previous post and asked for figurers and yet again you.seem to be speaking for me and this time rather too strongly "AS IF I AM CALLING SOMEONE A LIAR" How can you put things into perspective without numbers" 200% means nothing without a starting number,again i said that earlier and gave examples.
You are again attacking my attitude and moving from the content of my posts! Perspective perspective perspective. if someone comes back quoting 1000 caravans a year are stolen from service stations i will be shocked and horrified.but 200% could also mean only 2 caravans were stolen, would that be truly worth much of this so called concern?
And since when is asking for the full picture considered nick picking,I get it,thats something that maybe news international would be saying is happening to them,but we would call it getting the full picturer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Note again you attack me personally!

 

[Dustydog]

Jonny
Parksy must have the patience of a saint.
He has accurately explained in very simple easily understandable English what this post is all about and more so the rather rare appearance and detailed statement from a specialist caravan Insurer, Caravan Guard.
Rather than waste time on here in search of you numbers quest why not write to Caravan Guard or the ABI and ask them?? Hopefully they will reply and their explanation will satisfy your numeric hunger.

 

[seth1]

"Detailed statement"- Caravan guard.To me it looked like an advitisement.

 

[JonnyG]

Jonny
Parksy must have the patience of a saint.
He has accurately explained in very simple easily understandable English what this post is all about and more so the rather rare appearance and detailed statement from a specialist caravan Insurer, Caravan Guard.
Rather than waste time on here in search of you numbers quest why not write to Caravan Guard or the ABI and ask them?? Hopefully they will reply and their explanation will satisfy your numeric hunger.

Yes thats the second time you have told me to write for the info. But what exactly did he, the nice man "accurately" say?
I read Nigels write up yesterday in my PC mag. good stuff made better more informed and of great practical use because of pages 36 and 37....there are no % figurers but pure practical numbers that actual mean something and have a value of substance.
200% of nothing is nothing, no practice value what so ever. so tell me what was accurate?
I agree Parsky has been good to me,thankfully he is not a saint.

PS you are right i am now so intrigued by this matter i will be writing to find out if there has indeed been a 200% rise in stolen caravans from service stations and exactly how this matches up with proper numerical numbers.

 

[Surfer]

Who would believe an insurance company anyway? It read as if it was a marketing ploy. However if we put it all in to perspective, perhaps in one year 4 caravans were stolen from motorway services and the next year 8 were stolen therefore we have a 100% increase in the crime. By the same token if we then take into consideration the number of caravans that stopped at motorway services which must amount to many thousands if not more than 100, 000 then having 8 caravans stolen is negligble. I think the insurance company are employing scare tactics to get business.
Either way when we stop at motorway services, one of us stays with the caravan as it is too much of a hassle to fit the hitchlock or wheel clamp for 10 minutes stop.

 

[Parksy]

I don't mean to attack or insult you personally Jonny G but some of your replies can be very exasperating.
Lorrainejoyce who opened this topic expressed surprise that some caravan owners were prepared to leave their caravans without locks and unattended on motorway service areas.
I am not too surprised at this because people take all necessary anti theft precautions when their caravan is unattended at home on their driveway or in a storage area but, perhaps because they consider part of the journey to be a part of the holiday, they forget all about the possibility of caravan theft from motorway service areas.
I am not attempting to deny that relatively more caravans are stolen from places other than service areas but it's an undeniable fact that caravans have been stolen from motorway services.
Some caravanners, especially newbies, might not realise that this type of theft takes place, someone replied that surely it would be easy to catch caravan thieves because you would be travelling faster in your car but unfortunately it doesn't work like that for reasons that I stated earlier.
I added a link to a website article from Caravan Guard Insurance which is a reminder to caravanners to maintain their vigilance on service areas.
I don't have specific figures for caravan theft from motorway service areas but I know that it definitely takes place from reading posts on caravan forums written by heartbroken victims of these thefts.
I'm not trying to scare people or spread scare stories as you seem to think, I'm stating what I know to be true which is that caravan thieves have been known to target caravans on motorway service areas. I'm simply reminding people to be vigilant and not to make things easy for these thieves and to be honest I don't understand why you should have a problem with this?
I don't sell caravan insurance so why would I want to 'spread scare stories' as you seem to believe?
Caravans are stolen from many places and a common forum saying is that 'if they want it, they'll get it' but why should things be made easier for the thieves who hang around service areas when just a little forethought would prevent a lot of upset and inconvenience?

 

[Parksy]

.......... By the same token if we then take into consideration the number of caravans that stopped at motorway services which must amount to many thousands if not more than 100, 000 then having 8 caravans stolen is negligble. I think the insurance company are employing scare tactics to get business.......

You might think that 8 stolen caravans is a negligible amount Surfer and in the great scheme of things maybe you're correct but I doubt if the victims of these thefts would regard them in the same light.
The insurance company didn't open this topic, they were invited to clarify points about their policy documents and every insurance company would naturally try to get business and reduce the possibility of having to pay out as a result of theft but nevertheless a reminder to everybody to be vigilant and to understand the possibilities doesn't do any harm in the busy holiday season any more than a reminder to check weight limits, tyre pressures etc would.

 

[Surfer]

.......... By the same token if we then take into consideration the number of caravans that stopped at motorway services which must amount to many thousands if not more than 100, 000 then having 8 caravans stolen is negligble. I think the insurance company are employing scare tactics to get business.......

You might think that 8 stolen caravans is a negligible amount Surfer and in the great scheme of things maybe you're correct but I doubt if the victims of these thefts would regard them in the same light.
The insurance company didn't open this topic, they were invited to clarify points about their policy documents and every insurance company would naturally try to get business and reduce the possibility of having to pay out as a result of theft but nevertheless a reminder to everybody to be vigilant and to understand the possibilities doesn't do any harm in the busy holiday season any more than a reminder to check weight limits, tyre pressures etc would.

The figure of 8 was a random figure picked out as an example as I do not have access to figures of caravans stolen at service stations. Why won't the insurance company release these figures? Have they something to hide?
This same insurance company wrote an article about theft of caravans from motorway service stations and this popped up on other caravan forums as you are probably aware which is why I came to the conclusion it was a marketing ploy. People who do not take care of their property should not be complaining so why should they be upset.
Even a newbie if they used common sense should realise that they need to secure their unit one way or the other or haven't they got common sense? Different story if you take all the precautions and the caravan gets nicked.

 

[Parksy]

Hi Surfer
In one respect of course Caravan Guard are happy to participate in caravan forums because they may pick up some business as a result, but forum users can sometimes benefit from the information supplied by companies who post on caravan forums so it's a two way street.
I wish that caravan manufacturers would answer questions directly on this forum, now that would be an enlightening experience for them and us! Swift and to some extent Bailey are willing to interface directly with caravan buyers and from comments written on Swifts forum this doesn't do their market share any harm, in fact customers could be more confident to buy from them because they are prepared to try to address problems directly on their own forum (Caravan Guard also have a forum/ website for anybody who is interested)
I don't know why Caravan Guard don't release their figures, it might be to do with their company confidentiality or maybe the figures are relatively low which makes a percentage seem more impressive, I'm sure that figures for total annual caravan theft overall are available on the internet. Caravan Guard didn't open this topic, they answered a question posed by forum members and if that is considered to be a marketing ploy then so be it. If they hadn't answered it could have been said that they had something to hide so they can't win either way it would seem.
It's surprising how many people don't consider the possibility of caravan theft or even insurance!
There was a topic on this forum fairly recently where a newly bought caravan which was not insured had been stolen and I've read similar topics on other forums from time to time.
Perhaps not quite so surprising is the fact that some caravanners take every anti theft precaution when their caravan is stored but never imagine that their pride and joy would disappear from a busy motorway service area in broad daylight so they stop for a toilet break and a cuppa only to find their caravan and everything in it gone without a trace when they return to the parking area.
I would imagine that thefts from motorway service areas are in tens rather than hundreds so the actual numbers would be relatively low but if this topic and other similar threads make caravanners aware that their caravan could be stolen even when travelling to their holiday destination then no harm has been done because we have plenty of monitor ink to spare on such threads.
Anything that makes life more difficult for the thieving scum who steal caravans has to be a good thing surely?

 

[ProfJohnL]

Parksy - Very well put.

 

[ValA.]

Number of caravans stolen in the UK annually:
750 according to the National Caravan Council
4000 according to AA Caravan Insurance, mostly from driveways and storage sites
5000 according to some Caravan Statistics Forums!
One quarter of all new caravans, according to posts on some other caravanning forums!
We leave ours unattended in service stations! But it's never been stolen.

 

[smiley]

Maybe it's me and everything must be covered by insurances (as with all pc things) just incase someone needs to do this but, why would anyone want to leave their caravan on a services, do services allow you to do this?

I can't think of a reason that would make me leave the van but, should we have to leave ours hitch lock and wheel clamp would be fitted and whoever notified of it being left until we could return and hitch up.

 

[Parksy]

Maybe it's me and everything must be covered by insurances (as with all pc things) just incase someone needs to do this but, why would anyone want to leave their caravan on a services, do services allow you to do this?

I can't think of a reason that would make me leave the van but, should we have to leave ours hitch lock and wheel clamp would be fitted and whoever notified of it being left until we could return and hitch up.

I think that you've got the wrong end of the stick Smiley, caravans are not being left unhitched on motorway service areas

People pull in to service areas for a break or a toilet stop and the car and caravan are parked while the occupants have a cup of tea, a snack or whatever inside the services.
They leave their outfit unattended and when they return the car is there but the caravan has been stolen. Nobody has seen anything untoward, there might be cctv pictures but the caravan could be anywhere by the time that the police arrive.
This topic is advising caravanners that if they stop for a toilet break to go one at a time always leaving somebody with the outfit or if they go for a meal or a cuppa to use wheel clamps, activate the alarm etc.