Service station robbery - not an urban myth

oh well,better mention the armed hold up when you stop at traffic lights trick.you stop,door opens,guy with a gun gets in, you all go somewhere quiet and ownership of various goods get transferred. very popular in places like Marseilles and Avignon,and Seville. heard a lot of these stories.could be true- more credible than gassing to me !
 
shortcircuit said:
Any opinion on previous postings from your experience?
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I am only trying to get a sensible answer to something that is quite an issue with a lot of people, and yes us included we were robber and the police called it being gassed, I do have other ideas, but we were put to sleep some how and robed, now all the stupid things that are being said on there are not helping any one to find out how you can be robbed in the night and a robber can got on your bed to steal stuff out of the cupboard over your head. So lets forget pumping gas into a m/h, and lets forget all the stupid remarks, and try and think of a sensible answer. There are now a lot of people who have been robed in the night and can not explain it. They can not all have been drinking, driving all day, or any of the other things that have been suggested.

I did put a suggestion on a few posts back but very little response to it. I do respectfully ask if you do not have a sensible answer/question to contribute to this topic then do not bother to say any thing as it is a very worrying thing to the people concerned.
 
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People are robbed in their bedrooms in houses every night with no gasses or anyting else involved just people soundly asleep. No mystery. Just robbers with a bit of nerve . Dont forget if they are in and you start to awaken they can be on their toes before you realise whats happening and they know this. Put this subjec to bed as well . night night. :sleep-027:
 
Just out of curiosity (I can't do it in the van as it's not yet finished), but can you wait until your partner is asleep, get out of the van, then get back in and open/close doors etc to see if they wake up?

I just wonder if it's not as straight forward as the robbers being really good at what they do (that's really not meant to be a compliment to them by the way), ie:- getting in and out really really quietly.

I know everyone sleeps differently but maybe they have worked out from experience when the best average time of night is (i'm guessing when people are in their deepest sleep stage) to do it, and are just really quiet. Or have a spotter, a stopwatch and a knowledge of average sleep patterns.

Perhaps they may even have a spotter to see who is drinking alcohol such that they may be more flat-out than others.

You can pick up IR monocles/goggles very cheap these days (and nick them for free) - maybe that's another tool to help them move quietly/quickly.

I imagine that by and large there are only so many 'unique' places to hide valuables and that an experienced motorhome thief will know most of these.

I just think that maybe many of these cases are really just that simple, someone broke in, nicked the stuff then left, and did it so quietly that nobody was woken.
 
A lot of people snore and usually the partner can sleep through the snoring so in they go, and now i will get but i dont snore, just one indicator of its safe to go in. A light knock on the door no answer in they go. there are loads of waysf or them to tell . Remember this is how they make there living they are good at what they do . Just take a bit of care and:have fun:
 
I think there is a large element of bravado here, 'no one could get in my van without my knowing', the scumbags that do this know people arent on the whole as vigilant as they think they are. In our village we had a three day folk festival, this ran for three years, on the third year the campers were turned over, big bruiser HA type bikers were robbed in their tents as they slept, one even had his wallet removed from his jeans pocket as he slept! i think blaming these thefts on gassing is a way of making up for the fact you have been a victim of these scum, i have been a victim of theft, it left me feeling emasculated, i'd have loved to caught them in the act, but because i didnt i wanted to blame everyone but myself for what happened.

the clincher over the gassing story is that there have been NO reported deaths, in the next village to me there is a beautiful house, way out of my range, the owner is a world renowned peadiatric anaesthetist, he earns more per year than i will over my working life, his skill is knowing how to anaethetise the most delicate amongst us, and make sure they wake up afterwards! But of course the criminal lowlives out there are so much better qualified!!!!

On another thread on here, various posters have called others irresponsible for running with their fridges on gas, the potential for disaster when in a filling station with the pilot light burning is nothing compared to being parked with your gas fridge running, while enough easy start is sprayed into your van to knock you out!!!!!!
 
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Just a couple of things before this topic is put to bed again for a while, we on this forum are a very tiny percentage of the m/h homes traveling around Europe, so if a few of us have been robbed at night, and can not get a good explanation for how it happened, what is the total number of unexplained night robbery's.

I do wonder if the word gassing, is something that the police use for this type of crime as they can not explain it, and we have jumped to the conclusion that our vans are being filled with gas literally.

What could be happening, is that your van is being watched, they wait a while to be sure you are asleep, they then force the lock may be by using a passing lorry or car to help with any noise they may make. Now the thing is how do they keep us asleep, do they come in and put something over our face and nose, to keep us asleep long enough for them to search, there is no drought that some how you are kept asleep for them to be able to climb on the bed to get to cupboard and go under the mattress to see if you have hidden stuff there. Is this possible ? if it is maybe this is were the completely wrong term gassing comes in and gets people so excited. We and other have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and had it happen to us you may be the next victim who knows. I think we should forget the word gassing and refer to the crime as unexplained night robbery. And remember they are professionals it is there job.
 
Ref to Easy Start just a bit of fun. Answer to how do they keep you asleep they dont you are just asleep.
 
Fazerloz said:
Ref to Easy Start just a bit of fun. Answer to how do they keep you asleep they dont you are just asleep.
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Oh so true!

Had police helicopter hovering 40-50 feet above our house for ages once chasing some crims in the night.

The entire street was out looking - except me, dead to the world! :lol-061:

Even our Neil, who's deaf, was woken up by it ;)
 
How many thousands of pounds does it take to catch car thieves with a helicopter only for the police/courts to let them off with a warning?
 
while enough easy start is sprayed into your van to knock you out!!!!!!
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Yes, I know you were kidding, but I did find out from experience that it doesn't work. In the US we picked up a couple of pack rats in our travels and they set up home on top of the engine below our bed. Didn't mind them moving in but in their rush to get the family started their nocturnal exploits kept us awake so I needed them out. Could often see them but never catch them so I figured the "Start Ya Barstard" (we Australians call it as we see it and one brand is called that) would slow them down enough to catch them. Well, a full can later and two totally saturated and choking rats still couldn't be caught, but they did finally get the idea and staggered down onto the ground and into the forest - not the slightest bit sleepy, but half drowned.
 
Robmac said:
How many thousands of pounds does it take to catch car thieves with a helicopter only for the police/courts to let them off with a warning?
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Yeah - I always think there should be some element of the punishment linked to the costs accrued by the police in the apprehension of said baddies.

I've stopped myself watching those police camera action type shows in the last few weeks as I was always ranting by the program. I always love the fact that theyll grab a guy for driving whilst banned for the umpteenth time and give him some points on his license when he gets it. Your thinking - driving with no license or insurance is clearly not a concern to him, so how effective are points really going to be.

I think they need to invent a two-legged tag (rather than the classic one legged tag), I bet that stops em getting up to much
 
r4dent said:
Channa,

This is not an "alleged story". It is true and was intended to remind others not to make the same mistakes.
Sorry you don't like my writing style. I must admit that I don't like being called a liar by someone who knows nothing about either the event or me!

Yep, silly amount of cash but like I say we spend a lot of time in Cuba (living with Cubans, not in tourist hotels) and ATMs just don't exist and Credit cards are either not accepted or attract a 10-20% surcharge so we have a cash mindset.

"Gassing" is the suggestion of the local Police, they say this is the usual MO for this type of robbery.

By all means ignore this warning. Please camp on motorway service areas as often as you like, I hope you are luckier than we were.
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Firstly, and I will be truthful, I jumped to a conclusion saw two posts including this one and jumped in thinking you were trolling, I failed to see that you have been part of the site for quite a while. On that basis I offer you a full apology.

I wasnt in effect calling you a liar, I believe the robbery part, ( having lived in France Holland and Belgium for approaching three years) I am well aware of the hotspots and some of the distraction techniques employed.

But I am very sceptical re the gassing, and has this thread has progressed interesting to see the observations of someone employed in an anaesthetic role.

This has further deepened my sceptisim, and I am left with the thought that the Police, see tourists as an irritant to much paperwork, and youll be gone soon.

regards

Channa
 
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So, are you saying there is no Santa Claus? :sad:

You'll be telling me next that there is no tooth fairy...... but I know he is a member on this forum.. :banana:
 
Beemer said:
So, are you saying there is no Santa Claus? :sad:

You'll be telling me next that there is no tooth fairy...... but I know he is a member on this forum.. :banana:[/QUOTE

No idea about tooth faries, but I reckon Smaug could nail it for me at Christmas.

Better still I have Muslim friends who will turn up and share our day too, if we are lucky they will share there culture too, All I will say is embracing the diverse community we have and being receptive will pay dividends.

Whats wrong with that ?

After the race riots 2001, if we can ditch the stupidity enjoy each others cultures without inferring there is a problem ...whats wrong with that?

Channa
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Must say it is amazing how a post topic can change so much from robbery to race.
 
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Robbery is robbery and a thief is a thief.

It's a crime, full stop, and should have no bearing on the colour or creed of the perpetrator.
 
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