Beware. Bogus Police Officers.

[James Malone]

Hi,

On a return trip from Margate to Birmingham yesterday, myself and my partner decided we'd had enough travelling for one day so decided to park up for the night in an Parking lay-by on the A404 between Maidenhead and High Wycombe. It was 2100 hrs and we were approximately half way home. There were other vehicles parked in the rest area so we considered this area to be safe.
Around 1-30 am a tap on the side of the van woke us. We gingerly raised the blind on the o/s sliding door to be confrounted by a dark coloured vehicle parked along us with 4 burly males inside. I opened the sliding window by the minimum amount and enquired what they wanted. The male sitting in the front passenger seat said that they were Police and asked what we were doing there. We said we were resting for the night and would be continuing our journey at first light. He said he wanted to check the van. He proceeded to make a ficticious radio communication to control, quoting several phonetic letters which made the message sound very authentic. Torches which were held by these bogus officers were directed in our faces to dazzle and confuse.
I asked to see Identification.
At this point they became nasty. The driver shouted to his passenger in the front to "get in there" and subseqently tried to open the drivers door by the handle. I rapidly closed and secured the open window Luckily we'd locked all doors before we retired earlier.

Fortunately, it appears that were opportunists and didn't hang around when they realised their scam hadn't worked.
Our T6 is less than 2 months old and cost over £55000.
I am dismayed to discover that such an expensive camper can be produced without any form of panic alarm which could be opperated from the inside potentially notifying other potential victims or summoning help whilst creating noise/flashing headlights and disturbance that the car thief hates.

As you can imagine, the episode was extremely shocking but the worst part was not being able to sound an alarm or ceate any noise. I attempted to sound the vehicle horn but this only works with the engine running.

Any thoughts or ideas would be very welcome.

Jim

Apologies for the spelling.

 

[GrannyJen]

The only way that I can think of would be to release the internal lock and then re-lock with the remote control. Assuming that you have not disabled the internal alarm then that would trigger the alarm system but who would want to unlock, even for a second, with those thugs trying to get in.

 

[snowy55]

Have you reported this to the Police? Did you get a reg number?

 

[AlisonF]

Thanks for the heads up. A thoroughly nasty experience. I hope you have reported it to the police?
Rather than rely on my wits to enable alarms etc, I have an 'attack' alarm hanging on the hook near my bed or door 'just in case'.
Also, two dogs who tend to scare off any unwanted guests pretty quickly.
I sincerely hope this hasn't dampened your enjoyment of your new van too much.

 

[Rob H]

I've never heard of this type of disturbing, hijack attempt ? in the UK. Possibly these men cruising the laybyes looking for unsecured lorry loads for opportunist theft and spotted your new vehicle ? Let us all know what you decide alarm wise. Like yourself I lock from inside on drivers door switch, when sleeping in our vehicle. Any dodgy spots would recommend roof down for quick getaway if required, but still hampered to drive away with internal privacy screens, I have hard wired dash cams recording front and back that run 24/7 when I'm wild camping, but angle of 'take' in your circumstance and low light may not have garnered even a visible number plate. Try to consider this as really rare, and to me, unheard of occurrence in the UK, and not let it colour yourself or your partners enjoyment of your new camper.

Rgrds,

Rob H.

 

[GrannyJen]

A thoroughly nasty experience.

Some time ago I posted something about being a "single woman wild-camping" and keeping safe.

My fallback has always been to be prepared to get into that driving seat and have the engine started up, lights on, horn blaring ASAP.

Therefore when wild camping do not reverse the Drivers seat, have the keys easy to hand, use only internal blinds and try and leave reversing / turning room when parking.

I actually feel very safe in the vehicle. It's locking systems are probably more secure and windows harder to break than they are in my own home and I don't lose sleep when on my own there. For someone to really attack the vehicle in order to gain access is going to make a lot of noise and take sufficient time for police emergency to be called.

All good stuff sat here of course .... in a deserted campsite on my own Altogether another thing in the middle of the night on an isolated road with four thugs bent on doing harm. Terrifying. Glad you are all safe.

 

[T6 CFO]

Hi,

On a return trip from Margate to Birmingham yesterday, myself and my partner decided we'd had enough travelling for one day so decided to park up for the night in an Parking lay-by on the A404 between Maidenhead and High Wycombe. It was 2100 hrs and we were approximately half way home. There were other vehicles parked in the rest area so we considered this area to be safe.
Around 1-30 am a tap on the side of the van woke us. We gingerly raised the blind on the o/s sliding door to be confrounted by a dark coloured vehicle parked along us with 4 burly males inside. I opened the sliding window by the minimum amount and enquired what they wanted. The male sitting in the front passenger seat said that they were Police and asked what we were doing there. We said we were resting for the night and would be continuing our journey at first light. He said he wanted to check the van. He proceeded to make a ficticious radio communication to control, quoting several phonetic letters which made the message sound very authentic. Torches which were held by these bogus officers were directed in our faces to dazzle and confuse.
I asked to see Identification.
At this point they became nasty. The driver shouted to his passenger in the front to "get in there" and subseqently tried to open the drivers door by the handle. I rapidly closed and secured the open window Luckily we'd locked all doors before we retired earlier.

Fortunately, it appears that were opportunists and didn't hang around when they realised their scam hadn't worked.
Our T6 is less than 2 months old and cost over £55000.
I am dismayed to discover that such an expensive camper can be produced without any form of panic alarm which could be opperated from the inside potentially notifying other potential victims or summoning help whilst creating noise/flashing headlights and disturbance that the car thief hates.

As you can imagine, the episode was extremely shocking but the worst part was not being able to sound an alarm or ceate any noise. I attempted to sound the vehicle horn but this only works with the engine running.

Any thoughts or ideas would be very welcome.

Jim

Apologies for the spelling.

A Nightmare Jim. Make sure you report the incident. Go to a police station and report it in person. It doesn't matter where but obviously better where the incident occurred. I don't need to tell you that this could have ended badly. It is an attempt robbery and you should make sure they record and investigate it as such. CCTV evidence is possibly available. Level of incident is at a completely different to vehicle crime and should not be investigated as such.

A person is guilty of robbery if he steals, and immediately before or at the time of doing so, and in order to do so, he uses force on any person or puts or seeks to put any person in fear of being then and there subjected to force.

 

[Andyclockwise]

Strange first post !!

 

[Stoneybroke]

Thanks for the warning. Did you report it?

You did the right thing, stay inside and ask for ID. Ringing the police to check their credentials is also acceptable 101 will go to local force control room.

Even if they were real cops, they have no power to 'look in' your van without reasonable grounds to suspect you are in possession of stolen property or prohibited articles (that applies at any time - stop you for speeding, no power to look in the boot)

Officers in plain clothes rarely check vehicles, and would also show their warrant card straight away.

The big give away in this case is having four in the same car - that would be about 10% of the county's night shift (seriously).

Agree sounding the horn would be useful when the gnition is off - this can be changed via VCDS or similar, but then inadvertantly honking it in the middle of night on campsites could be problematic!

Some VW and Audis in other countries seem to have panic alarm buttons on the key fob, but not in the UK apparently...

There are various personal portable alarms on the market for just a few quid, perhaps find a loud one them keep it handy, and activate the hazard lights. Other options may be more permanent, but wiring and fixing something into a new Cali is not something you may want to do.

 

[T6 CFO]

Strange first post !!

Good point. Missed that and no replies!

 

[zoki]

Good point. Missed that and no replies!

I also notice he only signed upto the forum just before posting, something for the mods to checkout maybe?

 

[Californiaman]

If it is the layby I think it is, it is quite famous locally for 'specialist interests' and you're lucky it wasn't worse. Don't leave a light on when you are parked up in that layby!

 

[Skylark2.0]

Really scary.
I didn't realise the horn didn't work with the engine off either.
Thanks for letting us know.
Hope it hasn't put you off.

 

[WelshGas]

Margate to Birmingham is 198 miles.
I would have been very wary of stopping in a layby on an A road in such a populous area. What were these other vehicles? Were they still there when this happened?
Yes, the California is excellent for off campsite camping but you have to be responsible and sensible to others and yourself.
By all means report it but don't be surprised if not a great deal of interest is shown by Mr Plod.

 

[bigmac77]

Having read the post a couple of times, I don't believe it is true.

 

[GrannyJen]

Really scary.
I didn't realise the horn didn't work with the engine off either.
Thanks for letting us know.
Hope it hasn't put you off.

I have one of these hanging from a hook on the drivers door grab handle. Useful if someone grabs the door when getting in or out or any other situation when keys may be out of ignition, or being grabbed for,

 

[larrylamb]

Does sound strange, about two hours drive to the lay-by , stops at 9.00pm for the night when could have been home for 11, why stop in a new camper in such a strange spot. Would have been safer to kip for an hour at the motorway services, cup of coffee then off home??
Very scary if true but strange post. Is someone sounding out Cali security when parked up?

 

[GrannyJen]

Whatever the grounds for some of the sceptical posts above, this thread does highlight security issues, especially for those who wild camp regularly and also for those who travel alone.

 

[James Malone]

Many, many thanks for all your replies. Yes, the incident has been reported and to my annoyance/foolishness, I didn't take the registration number plate.

In hindsight, a roadside rest area is probably not safest area to park up for the night. However, having never experienced anything similar in my 40 years of driving, I amit to being a little naive on this occassion.

I only wish to make owners aware of my experience. I'm sure this incident is extremely rare.

I have contacted Customer Sevices reference to a panic alarm conected to the vehicle security system and they've assured me the that a system already exists. They have advised me to take the vehicle with the remote key fob to a dealership where it can be progammed to operate the vehicle alarm from inside the vehicle. I contacted my local dealership, explained what I was informed by C/sevices and was met by a mechanic with a 1000 yard stare. He'd never heard of it. Back to the drawing board.

Jim.

 

[WelshGas]

I agree about security for those travelling alone or wild camping , but first and foremost is " Common Sense ". Unfortunately for some this Sense is not that Common.
I, personally, would be very choosy where I stopped in such a populous area and that would be my first priority followed by security considerations. Double blip on the remote will enable the alarm but disable the interior alarm, or using the switch by the drivers door.

 

[GrannyJen]

Many, many thanks for all your replies. Yes, the incident has been reported and to my annoyance/foolishness, I didn't take the registration number plate.

In hindsight, a roadside rest area is probably not safest area to park up for the night. However, having never experienced anything similar in my 40 years of driving, I amit to being a little naive on this occassion.

I only wish to make owners aware of my experience. I'm sure this incident is extremely rare.

I have contacted Customer Sevices reference to a panic alarm conected to the vehicle security system and they've assured me the that a system already exists. They have advised me to take the vehicle with the remote key fob to a dealership where it can be progammed to operate the vehicle alarm from inside the vehicle. I contacted my local dealership, explained what I was informed by C/sevices and was met by a mechanic with a 1000 yard stare. He'd never heard of it. Back to the drawing board.

Jim.

The 1000 yard stare is not uncommon with some VW dealers. It can probably be experienced when asking does the vehicle come with 4 wheels.

My own vehicle is going in to one of the better dealers on Monday for a few bits to be attended to. I will ask the question then. If it can be done then it would be a useful piece of information for others to know about.

 

[Hotel California]

...if you want to make noise ....does your 55000 pounds T6 not have a horn?

Oh and welcome on your first post!

 

[larrylamb]

Whatever the grounds for some of the sceptical posts above, this thread does highlight security issues, especially for those who wild camp regularly and also for those who travel alone.

Wild camping is on the increase, I follow a Facebook group where people share spots to stay. There are some lovely places to spend the night but I am also surprised at the downright grim and dodgy places some people camp. I would think long and hard before parking up a shiny Cali anywhere slightly iffy.
Jim, hope this doesn't put you off your new Cali.

 

[larrylamb]

...if you want to make noise ....does your 55000 pounds T6 not have a horn?

Agree, If the van is locked, i keep the keys in the ignition, turn it on and press horn, that should get attention.

 

[GrannyJen]

Wild camping is on the increase, I follow a Facebook group where people share spots to stay. There are some lovely places to spend the night but I am also surprised at the downright grim and dodgy places some people camp. I would think long and hard before parking up a shiny Cali anywhere slightly iffy.
Jim, hope this doesn't put you off your new Cali.

Totally agree.

Sometimes though it is easy to fall into it.

When my Sister in law bought her current house I wandered up to help with the moving in. Their drive was full of boxes and stuff, the road their house is on is horrendously busy, next door a country park with a big car park.

It was only when taking a close look around the place, and noticing some left over tell-tale bits of rubbish strewn around, I decided that an obviously popular adult meeting spot would not make a good overnight camp for me.

I consider myself pretty careful but sometimes it just happens.