we're we gassed????

[zipnolan]

I've met and spoken to many a fellow camper on our travels (mostly in Germany) and heard all the horror stories of being gassed but I once listened to a radio programme reference this subject and it's all a bit of an urban mythe even the French and Spanish police state they have never had such a crime reported, top aenithatists (crap spelling)stated that it would be impossible to gas a large area such as a campervan without using large ammounts of gas and more likely killing the owners. Sorry but I don't believe one word of it, it's more likely the vino had a part to play !
I consider myself a good sleeper but no way could someone smash a window, climb in and search through cupboards etc.. without me knowing.
Also may I add in 30 years of traveling (mostly in Germany) Iv'e never had an incident of any kind (touch wood).

 

[Deleted member 9237]

If any of you think gassing is a myth you should have been with me last night, after a lovely Curry we went fishing me and binee Now binee is my dog that i found in the bin and he is better than any alarm when he,s in the motor so when i am fishing i have no worry's about being robed. After about two hours fishing and getting nothing i went back to sleep in the motor as always as soon as the the key go,s in the do he go,s into one. About four am i was woken up by this really bad small and i thought i was being gassed. What I did not know till i got home that binee being binee will eat anything and before we left to go fishing the little sod had gone out side and knocked the dustbin over and finished of the curry.:scared::scared:

 

[barryd]

Oh I promise you that they can get in without making much noise !
They went straight through the locks on ours somehow with very little damage or noise and it was only the alarm that woke us !!!!!

I hesitated before posting this nto wishing to tempt fate but I too do not see how anyone would get in our van without us knowing. We tend to sleep apart. Mrs D in the Front Dinette and me in the back lounge. She is a very light sleeper. the hab doors are mid van and have three deadlocks as well as the key lock so I fail to see how they would get in there without putting an axe through it. The Front doors are probably easy to open but then there is a curtain around them and in the narrow cap between the two front seats on a night is stored the dinette table and other stuff, there would be no way in without moving everything right next to Mrs D's head.

Now they could come in the back windows next to my head or feet and to be honest they are often left open when its warm but then they would have to raise the fly blind and the other blind which make a right racket, climb in on top of me and then find they are wasting their time as there is nothing worth nicking. Wouldnt it be easier and more fruitful to just go and break into a big half empty house?

 

[silverweed]

As I stated before, I don't actually believe we were gassed but I wanted to hight light that no not every person in Europe is a dreadful evil villain but as in Britain there are those that like to prey on the unsuspecting. All I'm saying is take precautions as we all should where ever we are. Safe not sorry! I have only ever spent one night on a camp site and that will not change even after our break-in. For those who feel they could NOT POSSIBLY be taken advantage of and would wake up - you do not know. I repeat, I had not been drinking, the dogs were on the bed with us and could not have been drugged, we were parked nose to tail in a line of about 20 MH, they popped the cab lock with what looked like a screw driver. Again I say I do no think there is evil behind every tree out there but what is scarey is the amount of male strutting there is that they know best

 

[silverweed]

The biggest shock was not being broken into but being broken into whilst being in the van. The only thing that woke me was the wardrobe door swinging right in front of my face and annoying me. I got up and saw the cab door open and still I was too stupid to realise what happened. I thought we had just been careless, when I looked out side and saw another door swinging open the penny dropped

 

[vindiboy]

I don't subscribe to the gassing myth, but am glad that it is still around as it keeps newbies on their toes and makes them more aware of possible robberies and for this reason I think it should be perpetuated. ALCOHOL is the main reason people get robbed, it makes one careless, lovely stuff though LOL.

 

[barryd]

As I stated before, I don't actually believe we were gassed but I wanted to hight light that no not every person in Europe is a dreadful evil villain but as in Britain there are those that like to prey on the unsuspecting. All I'm saying is take precautions as we all should where ever we are. Safe not sorry! I have only ever spent one night on a camp site and that will not change even after our break-in. For those who feel they could NOT POSSIBLY be taken advantage of and would wake up - you do not know. I repeat, I had not been drinking, the dogs were on the bed with us and could not have been drugged, we were parked nose to tail in a line of about 20 MH, they popped the cab lock with what looked like a screw driver. Again I say I do no think there is evil behind every tree out there but what is scarey is the amount of male strutting there is that they know best

I think it was the word GAS that set everybody off including myself. Believe me, I might have made a few jokes about peoples perceptions of wilding and Aires abroad (I hope thats not Male Strutting) but I would be the first to be legging it to the hills throwing the woman and children behind me if it happened to us. Its pretty awful when stuff like this happens and we did have a nasty incident in Germany with a nutter trying overtly to get into our van and several others and it was scary so you have my sympathy. I will still however be relaxed about security abroad more so than I am in the UK. We dont have an alarm and often sleep with the windows open. The key fact is following the Wildys instinct I reckon. If it doesnt feel right you instinctively know and move on. Not always as the Stellplatz nutter that attacked us was in a quiet area of the Black Forest but 99.9% of Europe is not out to rob you or attack your van I reckon so I sleep easy.

 

[snowbirds]

It's a gas

Hi fairytooth

I would have thought if gas was used to knock out the people, the same amount would have killed the dogs,
also the dogs have very good hearing and would have set off with anybody out side the van.

Snowbirds.

I was just thinking the exact thing. The chances of them administering the correct amount without killing you and conversely the chances of you coming round without any headaches or other nasty side effects would be highly unlikely. And presumably they would wear gas masks ???

Hmm whilst you could never say never, I tend to agree with the Urban Myth theory. Dare I say it, promulgated by camp site owners to put you off wilding?

:ninja::sleep-027::sleep-027::ninja:

Is this you? :ninja::scared::scared::ninja:

Or this? :scared::mad1::mad1::scared:

 

[Harbourmaster]

coming back to uk we could hardly move for illegal immigrants hiding in our cupboards
,

I used to work at the Channel Tunnel, and immigrants hiding in caravans and MHs was a regular problem. They even hid in coach luggage lockers (even the UK Border Agency's own staff coach!).

Unlocked caravans were especially at risk, and they could get in through the skylights.

I suspect a lot of the MH owners weren't innocent victims, but had been paid off.

So that problem certainly isn't a myth. The gangs were swift, silent, and highly organised.

 

[Byronic]

Thieving scrotes needn't care whether it's possible or not to fill the large volume of a van with enough knockout gas to be effective.

Most of us from time to time leave a door unlocked or the alarm off, the thief only has to be lucky once.
Once one of them gets interior access and before they start noisy ransacking, it just needs a small quantity administered directly to the sleeping victims. Works for me.

This could be what is happening in the cases where campers just can't believe why they didn't wake up.

 

[silverweed]

I didn't know there was a time limit to posting. Didn't feel I had anything else worth posting. And though I joined last year iv not really used the site. Post this thread as I found the mobile version and am using my phone to post. A lot easier. surprisingly took me a while to bother to sort out my forgotten password as well. I used the word gas as I know it's controversial and would engender response. The point of the thread is to make people aware of the need for security. Our burglars were quick and silent and though it was scary at the time I'm realistic enough to know that the odds say it will prob never happen again so iv had my brush with crime hopefully