How secure is secure, really?
Like most caravanners, we always keep our caravan in a secure storage compound when it’s not in use. We store it with the legs down, we have a wheel axle lock and hitch lock, and the tracking device and alarm are on. We couldn’t be safer – could we? My son and three of his caravanning friends also keep their caravans in a secure compound and follow all of the above practices, although in his case, two axle locks are fitted on his twin-wheeler. His van is a 2017 Swift Celebration special-edition model. Imagine how upset he and his family were on Sunday morning, when they received a telephone call to say that his and one of his friend’s caravans had been stolen overnight. Cutting equipment had been used to enter the compound. I couldn’t believe that the amount of security devices on the caravan could be so easily disarmed. However, I have since discovered that a ‘blocker’ can be purchased, which deactivates the tracking system and the alarm. From the debris left on his pitch, it appears the electric socket that attaches to the car has been cut off. In addition, the copper has been stripped from his aerial lead. I am not a technical person, but I have been told that this is done so that the electric can be run directly from the battery, to bypass the tracking device. We are at a loss to know how the axle locks were taken off. It appears secure is no longer secure. What can be done to stop these despicable people? The van is insured, of course, but it is the loss of the personal things inside it that are very upsetting. For instance, a diary they kept from their very first camping trip in a tent 15 years ago, listing all the sites visited, activities and so on. Also gone is a small bunch of artificial flowers, only worth a few pence, bought by my grandson when he was six, as a peace offering after a fall-out with his mum. They have been taken on every trip for the past 12 years and are known as the ‘peace flowers’.