T25 VW stolen overnight from Upland Rd 11.10.12

[Paulo]

Our T25 campervan was stolen from outside our house on Upland Road overnight. The immobiliser was on and there was no sign of any glass on the road, so it was probably lifted directly on to the back of a flatbed lorry. Bast*rds!

Pic attached in case anyone can help.

Please be aware of and report suspicious behaviour in our neighbourhood. Non emergencies on 101. I should say that I was v impressed with the response by the Met police this morning.

[Rianoo]

You are not the first round here recently - VW campers seem all the rage for thieves recently. Not sure how to avoid flatbed removal other than to garage them or secure them to the ground some how. I will keep an eye out.

[ianr]

Do these lifts onto flatbeds involve an electric hoist? Not in your area, I'm afraid, but I was half woken from sleep recently rather early in the morning by an electric motor noise that I assumed to be a rather early rubbish collection, but which turned out not to have been. If I'd thought that it might have been a theft, I would at least have got up and had a quick look.

[TheArtfulDogger]

Sorry to hear that your van was stolen last night, did you have a tracker on it ?

There appears to be an epidemic of VW's being stolen at the moment and hopefully the thieves will get caught soon as I know there are a lot in the area.

ianr, I think you would be right in terms of the noise, and I suspect that due to the noise it makes they may well push the van away from it's location and winch it up away from the owners house.

I guess (and this may be after the horse has bolted in Paulo's case) the more security the better including trackers, alarm, immobiliser, steering lock (crooklock or the best you can afford) and anything else to stop your vehicle moving or being removed is a worthwhile investment.

I hope they recover it soon and I hope that other VW Camper owners also take stock of their security as this is the 2nd or 3rd one on the forum in the last month alone.

As a side thought it may well be worth raising this with the local police ward team and ask them to make vehicle theft one of their priorities.

[Twirly]

Not relevant to ED, but some friends who have one and live in Haslemere can't get insurance for theirs now if it's parked on the street, so have had to hire a garage, precisely because they get stolen so often. So ArtfulDodger is right - tighten up security as much as possible.

Edited to say really sorry to hear about the theft.

[gus]

Did you ever track it down in the end? Ours was stolen last night from Honor Oak Rd. Gutted

[singalto]

That's the second one stolen in the area in 2 days. That's a worry. It has just been announced on the news that the production of these vehicles is stopping so I wonder if that has anything to do with it.. I hope it turns up.

[KidKruger]

No this one was stolen last year.