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[quote user="Tim_Quincaillerie"]Just been worrying myself about crime in the aquitaine areas. Is this becoming a major problem or is this just a rare problem that exists everywhere.[/quote]

Surely a rare problem wouldn't exist everywhere?

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Curious to know why you didn't worry about crime before. It isn't as if there was none.

I have to smile, we were that poor when we had our house built that I worried that someone would break in and as they would find nothing of value and just vandalise what was there. I always knew that it possible that someone could break in.

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Crime is and has been a huge problem in France, (even in rural areas, and of a very nasty nature)  despite the lies promulgated in the press and on Internet sites by Estate agents who invented the idea of the 'French Dream' when prices in the UK rose to such an extent that they started to feel the pinch.

I and several other posters who have lived here for some years have continually pointed this out with links to cases as evidence.

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Some areas are worse than others and I guess, in this day and age that nowhere is totally crime-free.

Sensible precautions and vigilance when it comes to security is common sense.

That and an armoury of guns and a couple of 'claymores', of course.

.

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How many have actually had a "suspicious " character on their French property ?

I would suspect very few . Only once in 6 years have I come across one . A guy who came up the drive and when challenged produced grubby photos of clean roof tiles and asked me if I wanted my immaculately spotless new roof tiles washed ... I might have been wrong in thinking he was up to no good ...just short sighted . I think people worry more about what MIGHT happen than actually does ... But we all have insurance ... You could always think of a burglar as a shopping opportunity if you do happen to have one call round
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My point was not aimed at travelling folk, but rather, jocularly I thought, at second homes which are so often the target as they are empty for long periods and easy targets, as well as being the property of the rich.

However, rural crime is definitely on the increase right across the board and the gendarmes seem either helpless or reluctant to get down to doing the dirty work of catching crooks. Note, if my neighbour did not involve them in enforcing his dirty little property schemes, they might have more time to do the essential.

Many people in France are broke despite the benefits system, Xmas is coming, and politicians have now defined the envied rich as anyone who has more than me, so it is OK to nick off them.

It is all very well to clamp down on black working but in doing so, someone ceases to earn and therefore might be tempted to obtain in other ways.

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[quote user="Frederick"]A guy who came up the drive and when challenged produced grubby photos of clean roof tiles and asked me if I wanted my immaculately spotless new roof tiles washed [/quote]

We had a guy like that as well in a small white van with no markings. He actually went as far to quote me for the roof...which was daylight robbery in itself. We did have one bloke who let himself into our grange and my neighbour chased him of. Apparently he was known around the area for "collecting" metal that he thought people didn't need anymore.

We have recently been warned by our neighbours to be careful about leaving things lying around; trailers, cement mixers etc. There have been warnings of white vans being driven around the country lanes looking for potential victims. This is from our French neighbours in more than one village. So, yes... it seems to be on the increase.

Wether or not it is the travellers is a hard one to answer. It could be opportune thieves from the local town who jump on the traveller band wagon, knowing that it's the travellers who will be blamed.

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Funny how things work out ... After posting on "Crime " today this afternoon I find myself talking to a guy i know who only yesterday had both the number plates taken off his car in a Tesco car park . He has made a Police report but now expects to have to deal with the letters and follow up he will receive as a result of the thief filling up his car at garages and driving off .

I am now wondering if I should unscrew mine and screw them back on having coated the back with Gripfill or Araldite

More of this to come as times get harder i fear !
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