valB Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 On our return to France after a three week break in England, we arrived at the airport car park for the journey home. To my absolute horror I noticed the pasenger side window completely wide open, yes, I had forgotten to wind it up on arriving at the airport three weeks previously. Oh my gosh I thought, OH will murder me now when realises everything has gone but on opening the door EVERYTHING was exactly how we left it. All CD's, Sat Nav system and lots of other items all still there. I could not believe it and maybe I am being unfair but I had to wonder if that would have been the same scenario if it had happened in an airport car park in England. Maybe, but I am inclined to think maybe not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmelle Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 please , can you give the name of the airport ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valB Posted January 29, 2009 Author Share Posted January 29, 2009 Would you believe it was Bergerac airport. Would the outcome have been different if it was any other airport car park in France I wonder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmelle Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Perhaps it would be different . I take flights from Bordeaux , and I don't know how Bergerac airport is. I suppose you are just lucky . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velcorin Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 It'd last about 30 seconds round here. A gang smashed 60 car windows at Meaux railway station, while holding securite at gun point, just before Christmas. They took everything removable. Middle of the day, all commutor's cars, it was raining. I had a very wet b*m by the time I got home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5-element Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 While I am happy for you ValB, I am really not sure that any conclusion can be drawn from that single event, such as "only in France?" Our next door neighbour, who works around the corner, had parked his van just in front of the gate (his and ours) as he does while he is having lunch. At 2pm when he returned to his van - yes you have guessed it, it had been broken in - mobile, GPS, everything that was in the front, had been taken. That was in broad daylight, I was just a few feet away all the time, might even have been in the garden very close by - his door and window had been locked, and had been broken into. Thi street is on a very quiet estate, in a small town with just average crime rate.Should one deduct from this that "Only in France" one can't even leave one's van outside the front gate while one is having lunch at home? In many ways, it is just the luck of the draw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valB Posted January 29, 2009 Author Share Posted January 29, 2009 Someone said it could have been the fact that as the window was completely down it was not really that obvious that it was actually open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubbles Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 we did the same - well i did - left the passenger window wide open. this was in Nimes underground carpark.We left the car on a Sunday afternoon when the carpark was virtually deserted and returned to it on Monday afternoon when it was absolutely jampacked. Took ages to find the car and then we discovered the window open! My thoughts were exactly the same as the original poster - we've been robbed! But no - everything just as we left it.In my defence, I had had to open the window to collect the carpark ticket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valB Posted January 29, 2009 Author Share Posted January 29, 2009 That is how I left our window open, collecting the parking ticket and OH parking very quickly. So really it was his fault. [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 I once left the boot of my car open with the keys hanging out of the lock in a carpark in the middle of a busy village from 5pm - 3.30am. Got back from my concert and everything was still in the car - boot still wide open, keys still hanging there. However the same car got broken into and everything stolen from it while it was locked and parked in a quiet secluded side street just 10 minutes from the above village[blink] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WendyG Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I think the answer is that local people are generally more honest in France (except for big cities) but unfortunately things seem to be changing with the influx of people.In one of my local towns you can walk along the street and nearly all the cars have been left parked unlocked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maricopa Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I left my car parked at Gatwick Airport longstay for 4 days unlocked, nothing touched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Simple good fortune I'd say [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renaud Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 The OP's post speaks well of the people who use Bergerac airport.My problem is that dogs in our car can tread on the window switches and open windows. Usually I hear this and rectify things in transit. However last week the pack and I came back to the car in the Wimbledon Common car park to find a rear window completely down. The alarm was on (activated when locking the car) but had not gone off as there was no wind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceni Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 [quote user="TWINKLE"]I once left the boot of my car open with the keys hanging out of the lock in a carpark in the middle of a busy village from 5pm - 3.30am. Got back from my concert and everything was still in the car - boot still wide open, keys still hanging there. However the same car got broken into and everything stolen from it while it was locked and parked in a quiet secluded side street just 10 minutes from the above village[blink][/quote]Simple, Twinks. 1st time car unlocked thus nothing worth stealing. A locked car must contain (or be) something valuable - so steal as a matter of principle.John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maricopa Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 [quote user="ErnieY"]Simple good fortune I'd say [;-)][/quote]Bl**dy lucky I say[:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubbles Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 totally agree with you, valB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 Is this thread jinxed?Last night I heard noises outside my house - car driving back and forth, car doors closing, neighbours little dog barking. It was around 1.30 am. I finally decided things weren't right and swung open the shutters in one of the upstairs bedrooms and I caught theives in the pouring rain trying to steal one of our cars! They scarpered off into the night but I managed to get a look at the model of the car and a 'visual' of one of the idiots. We found our car in the middle of the road about 15 feet from where it was parked before at the side of the house - door wide open and the silly billys (for want of a better word) had left their sledge hammer on the passenger seat. They had used it to smash the ignition but the steering wheel had blocked and so they were stuck. Not sure how they intended to move it. We called the Gendarmes and they turned up to take finger prints and the untouched hammer to the station. They have loads of fingerprints and apparently seem very happy with the detailed discription I managed to give them. Hopefully they will get them. There have apparently been a lot of car theft and it seems they are after parts to sell on (especially Peugot 205 models), all in very small out of the way villages. I don't want to be a scaremonger and I know that a lot of you have already experienced this sort of crime and worse in France - but after living in this hamlet for 10 years this has never occurred here before. We live in a small hamlet with about 15 houses and are between 9kms and 15 kms from nearest large villages. Really 'out in the sticks'. Looks like times are a-changing all over France unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 [quote user="TWINKLE"]There have apparently been a lot of car theft and it seems they are after parts to sell on (especially Peugot 205 models)[/quote]A good reason to keep your RHD car then perhaps ?A lucky break for you twinks but it does highlight the vunerability of being in that 'dream, out of the way' location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valB Posted February 3, 2009 Author Share Posted February 3, 2009 Oh my gosh, Twinkle, how awful for you. We live in a hamlet and we are very complacent and rarely lock our cars as it is so quiet but I have just mentioned your experience to my OH and asked him to go and lock the cars. Sad though !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 [quote user="ErnieY"][quote user="TWINKLE"]There have apparently been a lot of car theft and it seems they are after parts to sell on (especially Peugot 205 models)[/quote]A good reason to keep your RHD car then perhaps ?A lucky break for you twinks but it does highlight the vunerability of being in that 'dream, out of the way' location.[/quote]For those who have RHD cars I suppose but I've never had a right hand drive car (apart from looking after one for JK for a couple of years) as I passed my driving test in France. I happen to live in the sticks 'cos' that's where my husband lived when I met him 20 years ago nothing to do with a dream. Rural theft is happening more and more here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 [quote user="TWINKLE"]Rural theft is happening more and more here.[/quote]I cannot remember if this has been mentioned here in the last couple of days:Alerte aux cambriolages dans le sud de la France Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dog Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 If they are breaking them for parts it isn't going to make a lot of difference if it's left or right drive.Statistics say the Twingo is the most stolen car in France. I guess 'cos they are cheap and youngster have them plus security is bad.We kept getting our cars nicked in the UK - plod just said you shouldn't have nice cars!I solved the problem and got a car I could leave anywhere unlocked and with the keys in the ignition - it was never nicked. Amother bonus was you were a complete nobody in it - no one noticed you - it had a cloak of invisibilty. I must admit I wouldn't buy another but £350 only 25000 miles like new but thirtsy - a brown Lada 1200. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 Well I do have a very nice VW Passat Saloon but that one is right in my drive and has a great alarm system. The one they tried to nick is a 15 year old Pugeot 205 without back seats, no CD player or radio either and we park it at the side of the house.I read the article Clair posted and I think that it's probably organised gangs who are checking out the small villages. There have been a series of car thefts around here over the last 2 or 3 weeks. The locals are noticing people parked in cars in the village squares reading newspapers for long periods of time. They are obviously watching the comings and goings of people during the day and gaging which households seem vulnerable.I lock the gates and doors every night now - sad but c'est la vie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 I shall leave the dogs in the car then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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