..are dealing with some local gangster that it would be a mistake to deal with...but then I guess it depends where you park it..
Yeah, perhaps there's some mileage in that bit of psychology. My local chippy (chip shop not carpenter, that is) must be selling alot of cod & chips, since he parks his M3 outside his shop/residence on the main drag through town. I always have look around it while I'm waiting for the cod - not any sign on envy marks at all - and this is parked 24/7 along a route any drunken and/or spiteful type is bound to walk along.
Perhaps, taking it a step further, any owner of such bling machinery should have his/her 'gangsta kit' ready to deploy. Maybe, a P.Diddy (or insert vogue rapper of choice) portrait on a chain hanging from the rear-view mirror, a spangly-glittery gear knob cover, a removable car 'tattoo' of intimidating resonance & a pair of knickers on the front passenger seat (or maybe thong..?)
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and this is parked 24/7 along a route any drunken and/or spiteful type is bound to walk along.
People who go in for malicious damage are essentially sneaky and cowardly people. They won't (even when drunk) risk being seen doing something. So a car parked in a busy street is safer than one in a peaceful leafy side street, where any toerag can creep about meanly damaging things if he or she is so inclined.
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dealing with some local gangsterthat it would be a mistake to deal with...
NO gangster of fear would drive a BMW 1 series.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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A colleague was warned by the police, just after a burglar stole his keys, NOT to take them to bed with him.
Their comment was "You don't want them to come and ask for the keys do you sir!"
As far as I am concerned they are left downstairs, out of sight of the letter box - if someone wants the car that badly I am not going to risk personal injury or worse. The cars are insured after all!
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Doesn't anyone have locks on their houses these days?
Surely when you hear someone breaking in downstairs you leap on them with a ball-peen hammer, Samurai sword or anything else to hand.
I can't imagine anyone getting to my bedside without being heard. And if they did they might get a very nasty surprise.
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And if they did they might get a very nasty surprise.
Yes. Lud in jim jams - < shudder >
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Yes. Lud in jim jams - < shudder >
A lot worse than that TVM I assure you...
Yes AS, of course I do remember the Tony Martin case. Like others I felt a certain sympathy for him. But there were features about the case that led to his conviction. I won't go into them here because they will stir up controversy, but those who followed the case will know what I mean.
My guess is that a furious stark naked householder carrying some kind of weapon will cause most housebreakers to run for it. If they don't, then provided they aren't just murdered the courts and police will probably favour the householder.
However it is true that justice sometimes seems to be standing on its head.
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Thanks Lud! The sight of ME with nothing on would reduce anybody to shrieks of helpless laughter! "Who ate all the pies?" and "What is THAT?" I will say no more re TM. I think the problem is that if someone is on your house with what appears to be a gun but he hasn't used it, if you bash him with a golf club YOU have assaulted him. It would almost certainly go to court with you on trial, Standing by for learned comment from PU and DVD
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Lud, while I totally agree with your ideas re resisting or dealing with burglars, remember Tony Martin! In USA you can do almost anything to anybody who breaks into your house (Excellent) - in UK you can be done for assault for doing anything much more than touching some low-life in your house. It isn't right but it is the law of this grisly county we live in - Human Rights innit?
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Last year sometime, a neighbour was broken into in the early morning to get the keys to the car. The method of gaining entry to the house was a sledgehammer to the front door - so occupants definately alerted then. Burglars were weelding a machete amongst other weapons... don't think anything would stop them.
Couple of years ago, around the time my Golf was stolen (keys taken), more expensive cars were being stolen in the area with two method:
- Step out of house and gun pointed at your head and asked for keys
- You stop at a junction and a gun pointed at your head and told to get out
Now I live in a nice area, expensive houses, lots of flash cars... and that's what brings the criminals. And also why I do not have a flash car.
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dealing with some local gangster >> that it would be a mistake to deal with... NO gangster of fear would drive a BMW 1 series. ------------------------------ TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Gangster's 'Moll'' might though?
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So what do "trainee gangsters" drive..they do not want to show up the boss so they?
Maybe a Golf or Audi A3 ? Or is it rated by bling factor?
Sensibly I guess the OP will probably get a tracker system for any more expensive cars.
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had my BMW 330 coupe Sport stolen from my home Friday 6th am. The most annoying this was I spent £300 on new rear tyres and MOT the day before as I had just sold it.
is it unusual to buy new tyres and get new mot just the day before you sell?
if it was sold, then it was no longer yours. so no worries!
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oh yes, and maybe it would have been useful to give the car's registration number for us to look out for it.
but then it won't surprise me if steveivs42 never makes another appearance on this site.
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I doubt if its original number plate RV2NVX is anywhere in sight of that car. Most probably been cloned. yes, i am making another appearance
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yes, i am making another appearance
good that you proved me wrong. but it would not have surprised me if you had not.
1.anyway, so tell us how/where the thieves managed tog et hold of the keys?
2. did they break in to your house/premises while you were in/out?
3. if you had sold the car, is it not for the new owner's to worry about it?
4. and as a trader, do you take any precaustions against such potential thefts?
5. and is there not any "viewer" that in hindsight you think might have been doing a reccy?
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I'm a Motor Trader and as a result of selling the car, I was duly doing my part and making sure that the new owner had a new MOT which resulted in 2 new tyres, so £300 chucked away!!
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Do as I did and move into a gated community patrolled by walking muscle squeezed (just about) into smart uniforms topped off with metal toe capped boots.
Then you can, if you wish, leave your car unlocked, your garage open, your ipod and satnat on display and your keys hanging on a coathook in the hall, exactly where you know where to find them.
It's the way forward.
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Someone broke into my house a few weeks ago. I was out but the alarm was triggered, and the police arrived within about 90 seconds, about 60 seconds after I got home. I got there before them and assumed it was a glitch, until I opened the front door and realised the internal doors were open, and there was a scuffling noise from upstairs.
I would like to say that I grabbed a heavy implement and charged up to finish the little pink fluffy dice off, but discretion took control and I legged it to the safety of the road to wait for the police who were just pulling up.
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We're all agog, DH. What happened then? Did it turn out to be a relation using a spare key to look for something?
I must say I find the sledgehammer/machete story (above) a bit surprising. I know that's what they do in remote African villages with no plod, but I wd imagine that sort of desperado stuff soon gets you caught here.
A friend who used to live in a remote African village had a single-shot 12-bore pistol that had been cobbled up by the local mechanic for just such occasions. I asked if he had ever fired it, and he said no, but it had been test-fired by its maker. It was so constructed that even if it burst it wouldn't take your whole hand off, but I don't think I would have wanted to fire it except under very extreme circumstances.
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I assume when cars like these (even my Golf GTi1.8T) get stolen they either get broken or go overseas. My Golf for instance must have been pretty unique as it had air-con and sunroof, CD-autochanger, cruise control (! not so common on GTis in 1999) and the seats were black/blue instead of the standard red/black. They could not ring it easily but maybe sell onto someone dodgey?
My Mondeo on the other hand was almost certainly cloned and an attempt made to get the other car fixed via Leaseplan! Police tried to setup a sting operation by trying to get in touch with them but nothing came of it. But if I got caught speeding down south it would have been tempting to cheat as the officer told me to send in any parking or speeding tickets for the cloned vehicle :-)
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Not motoring related but on the same subject....
When at Uni living in Chorlton cum Hardy we used the attic room to lock all the TVs, computers, etc. away over Christmas. We get back and get the room unlocked by the landlord (might have been his son) and get our things out. Go to the pub and come back and robbed... hmm odd that we get robbed the day we all get back.
They didn't get everything and despite the police saying to use silicon putty when replacing glass in the patio door, landlord chooses to ignore advice. A week later when we're in they come back for the rest of the stuff! I felt a draft sat on the floor and foolishly/naively went to the top of the landing and heard someone coming upstairs but they then all legged it!
If the house was being watched then lights on, going on-and-off, etc. so they were either brave, stupid (probably) or both!
Now a warning to anyone in the USA thinking "shoot the blighters" when they come in.... you have to wait until they are inside the property far enough before shooting. If they fall out of a window you're in trouble. If they lose balance and fall inside you're okay, at least in Pennsylvania :-) Person that told me that was scarey at times especially when we got him drunk (he went "hunting"). At Uni in Penn State USA he had a shotgun and an AK-47 under his bed in the dorms. Bless.
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I have a pathalogical fear of burglars and expect they will be armed.. and have a cricket bat (old, worn down) for such intrusions.
So far I've never had to use it....
madf
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>My mate's series 1 newish BMW
Perhaps it was the self appointed fighters against bad taste in motors. ;)
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self appointed fighters against bad taste in motors. ;)
This is dangerous stuff PG. If that sort of thing started there wouldn't be a vehicle in the world safe from molestation.
You may think it's a question of proportion, detailing, proper aesthetics, and that pretty and ugly cars are objectively obvious.
Not so. I cite numerous threads here in support of the claim that everything is hated by someone.
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>>>>Not so. I cite numerous threads here in support of the claim that everything is hated by someone. ...
Hmmm not so sure.
I reckon no-one hates Subarus........~:-0
unless you're baiting me!
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"I reckon no-one hates Subarus..."
Those vulgar blue things with (blurgh) gold wheels and that (shudder) subtle boot spoiler? Sorry Espada.
If there's a car that nobody hates I reckon you'ld have to go classic. A Sweeny Granada maybe.
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"I reckon no-one hates Subarus..." Those vulgar blue things with (blurgh) gold wheels and that (shudder) subtle boot spoiler? Sorry Espada.
I have to agree!
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