Car taken as mum took brother for operation
A MUM had her car stolen from a hospital car park – only to then discover the on-site CCTV wasn’t working.
Donna Day, from Aberdare, had taken her brother to the Royal Glamorgan in Llantrisant for an operation on Monday, July 29 when she realised her 2015 black Range Rover Evoque was no longer in the space where she had left it.
“I walked around the car park thinking I must have got it wrong, that I’d parked it somewhere else,” said the 29-year-old.
“Then I realised that it had, in fact, been stolen. I was devastated.”
Things then got worse as, upon reporting the crime to hospital security, she says it was revealed there was a problem with the CCTV in that section of the car park.
“I went back into reception to contact the police and the porter came out into the car park with me to make sure there hadn’t been some mix-up,” she said.
“The police then got hospital security to check the cameras, only to find they weren’t operating properly.
“I worked hard to buy that car and am very dependent on it. I’d only owned it three months.
“I’ve got a 10-year-old daughter who’s been left really upset by all this and it makes me very angry to think these thieves might never be caught.”
Donna adds that she thinks someone “hacked” into her keyless car fob – a sophisticated, silent and increasingly worrying trend being used on certain makes of vehicle.
Thieves, often linked to organised crime, first buy a relay amplifier and transmitter, which are easily available online for just a couple of hundred pounds.
One criminal then stands by the car with the transmitter, while a second waves the amplifier near the house or building the car is parked outside.
If the car’s fob is close enough, the amplifier will detect its signal – through doors, walls and windows – amplify it, and send it to the accomplice’s transmitter.
The transmitter then effectively becomes the key, “tricking” the car into thinking the real key is nearby.
The thieves are able to open the car, push the start button and drive away.
Following similar instances around the country, police have warned drivers that the best way to protect their vehicles is by using an oldfashioned crook lock.
South Wales Police confirmed that the Range Rover, registration number LM65FHP, was reported stolen at 7.45pm on Monday, adding that anyone with any information should call 101 quoting the reference 278207.
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board was asked to comment.