When Parked up & leaving van

Sharon the Cat

Sharon the Cat

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Do you close all blinds/put screens up on windscreen & idiots have to wonder if you are in there having a kip?

Or do you leave it all as though you are coming back any second?
 
I only use the Screens / Blinds at night or like now at the side of my house and the weather is about to get nasty.

My opinion is that if you use them during the day then it attracts attention and people will start wondering what you`ve got to hide or how long are you
planning on stopping there for.

I`m sure lots will disagree but this is how we do it and it works for us.
 
I don't care either way,i'm more interested WHERE to leave it.somewhere in plain sight of other people,never tucked away somewhere ,and if I leave it at night,then somewhere lit up or at least under a streetlight.i may leave curtains open but never anything of value on show.
 
Just park and go but the side and rear windows have privacy glass so you cant see in anyway.
 
During the day we tend to just lock and go, but having said that, we have fitted lockable deadlocks on all our doors, so that even if they break a window they still can't open the door to get in. We have to remember to unlock them before we drive off in case we have an accident and need to be removed from the 'bus by the emergency services. But overall the peace of mind, especially at night is wonderful.

Regards Rog
 
RoaminRog said:
During the day we tend to just lock and go, but having said that, we have fitted lockable deadlocks on all our doors, so that even if they break a window they still can't open the door to get in. We have to remember to unlock them before we drive off in case we have an accident and need to be removed from the 'bus by the emergency services. But overall the peace of mind, especially at night is wonderful.

Regards Rog
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We were wondering about a couple of Yales with a master key on the habitation door. We looked at the big bar that comes across the door but to me that just makes it very obvious whether there is anyone in the van or not.
 
I tend to close the blinds when leaving the van maybe they will leave it alone thinking your asleep , in saying that they could knock the door and if you answer just ask a stupid question , if there is no answer then you probably screwed :cry: , what should we do for the best I can't say ,we all have different opinions , its always been a worry for me even though there are not a lot of valuables in the van its the damage they can cause getting in .
 
we left ours with blinds up, dog bowel outside, radio playing, lock on habitation door, extra locks on cab doors, and van alarm on, and went for some bread at 4.30 in the afternoon in the south of France and parked up with about 30 other vans. 20 minutes later returned to find we had been robbed, so wrong place at the wrong time.

:drive: :drive:
 
We always close the curtains and draw the curtain acrss the wndscreen, set the alarm and lock all doors and Windows and roof vents even on the hottest days when we leave our van,our view is that if things cant be seen there is less chance of them being stolen,I cringe when I see vans left with Sat navs and other goodies left in full display.When we stop for desiel we also lock the van doors even though my wife is in the van, my view is that it is easier to keep a theif out than to evict one if they get in. All this may sound as if We are paranoid about security,far from it we see it as common sense, and we travel extensively in Europe. And Morocco,we have not thus far had any problems.
 
Hi Dave and Mary, That sounds like it was another camper(s). I don't suppose anybody saw anything either. As you say, wrong place wrong time. That was just very Bad Luck. You have my sympathy!


Regards Rog
 
dave and mary said:
we left ours with blinds up, dog bowel outside, radio playing, lock on habitation door, extra locks on cab doors, and van alarm on, and went for some bread at 4.30 in the afternoon in the south of France and parked up with about 30 other vans. 20 minutes later returned to find we had been robbed, so wrong place at the wrong time.

:drive: :drive:
Click to expand...

And these 30 other vans ignored your alarm going off I presume?
Mind you ours is always going off if Phill's got the keys.:rolleyes2:
 
It was gypsies that had been watching and waited until 3or 4 vans in the line were empty, then forced the toilet window and put a kid through, the French police were as much use as an ash tray on a motor bike, the phone they stole I called and they answered it, the police could have done this and traced them, they are ether frightened of them or not interested in helping English people.

:drive: :drive:
 
We put the blinds up part way if it is in the day, nearly up if it is dark so we can leave a light showing, also leave radio on.
 
Hi, I'm new to the site, but why such paranoia?

It's like a car, we lock the doors when we go shopping in a town, or for a walk where we will be long out of sight, but for a short walk on a beach with the dog it's usually left unlocked. Same on a campsite, we are in & out (as are other family members) so, just like a tent, it is left unlocked & often with the keys in it.

Maybe we are just lucky, but not had a problem yet.

We do lock the doors when sleeping at night, but no-one has ever tried opening them anyway.
 
I leave curtains open and nothing on show inside. However it's not just the contents we need to worry about. One day when I came back to my van I found someone had pinched my head light!! At a cost of £150 each and a bugger to source, it became apparent why someone would be interested in a head lamp. I now have my reg number etched into the lamp glass. I recommend others do this on exterior parts if your van is old, unique or hard to get parts for.
 
Through day we leave it with fly screens down and curtains closed, can't tell it anybody is inside, if we aren't 100% happy we might leave radio on too, at night close blinds and leave light on. We never close curtains across windscreen, but have a curtain we pull across behind the front seats, much better, (easier, keeps the heat in the back better, and quicker to move off through night if needs arise, thankfully never have).
 
I have dogs so safe if they are in but I met somebody once who had something similar to this, he had the blinds up 3/4 of the way and pointed it out of the window so that it detected somebody near the door, I don't know how effective it was but he was never broken in to
 
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