Car broken into - along with lots of neighbours

Byker28i

Byker28i

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Had to leave early this morning, so at 6am, couldn't find the Sat Nav - not in the glove box.
Blamed the Missus.

Got a phone call later. Our car and several of the neighbours cars had all been broken into somehow and items stolen. All glove boxes etc gone through, all missing sat navs, so fa over 20 cars done.

All the cars were locked, and found locked. Somehow they've unlocked the doors, nicked stuff and relocked them. Apparently the police say they've a bit of kit that can unlock any remotely locked car door.

Not good :(
 
yeah been around for years, a remote fob just operates on a certain frequency and/or sequence of IR flashes.

end of the day, dont leave anything in the car that you cannot bare to lose. been telling the OH this for yonks, doesnt stop her leaving tonnes of crap in her car.
 
IIRC they can use garage door remotes, there was a spate of it round har with my brother in law being a victim.

They sit in wait, trigger them as you use your remote locking and it blocks the signal from your key fob. You walk off assuming the car is locked and scure and they are free to open the doors and help themselves.

Always check the handle/watch for the flashing lights when you lock your car to be safe.
 
Dunno about this, modern remote fobs have rolling codes to avoid people "recording" the lock/unlock sequence. I know there have been a lot of rumours of "universal openers" but I've never seen proper evidence they exist.
I have heard of people unlocking cars by taking half a tennis ball, putting it over the key lock and whacking it so the compression of the air unlocks a door though...
 
I just found a cloning remote listed on fleabay.... anything is possible it seems.
 
landwomble said:
Dunno about this, modern remote fobs have rolling codes to avoid people "recording" the lock/unlock sequence. I know there have been a lot of rumours of "universal openers" but I've never seen proper evidence they exist.
I have heard of people unlocking cars by taking half a tennis ball, putting it over the key lock and whacking it so the compression of the air unlocks a door though...
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the old tennis ball trick was supposed to be old Fords, that was a rumor from back when i was at school though so not sure how relevant that is these days.
 
landwomble said:
Dunno about this, modern remote fobs have rolling codes to avoid people "recording" the lock/unlock sequence. I know there have been a lot of rumours of "universal openers" but I've never seen proper evidence they exist.
I have heard of people unlocking cars by taking half a tennis ball, putting it over the key lock and whacking it so the compression of the air unlocks a door though...
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No door locks on the MX5, it's opened via remote button on the keyfob.

The car was on our driveway at the end of a quiet close, so no-one scanned it as it was locked. Time for camera covering the close I think.
 
Locked away in a garage is the best bet, but then I guess I'm unusual in that I use my garage to put the car in, and not as a warehouse as most folk seem to do these days.

Dave
 
And stop leaving anything valuable in the glove box. I know you should be able to, but the fact is you can't anymore.
 
neil_g said:
the old tennis ball trick was supposed to be old Fords, that was a rumor from back when i was at school though so not sure how relevant that is these days.
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Doesnt work on my 55 plate focus - as i discovered when i locked the keys in it - coat hanger wire didnt work either. Eventually i borrowed a work van and went home and got the spare key
 
neil_g said:
careful with recording public areas (i.e. you're not allowed i believe)
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It would seem not.

personal filming of people in public places is not subject to any legal restrictions, but the problem goes much wider than that. Despite the explosion in the use of CCTV cameras in the UK by both public and private bodies, there are still no statutory rules which apply specifically to the use of CCTV cameras – even those used by the police or other public bodies. The coalition government has promised to rectify this, but in the meantime we can only rely on the Data Protection Act 1998 and article 8 of the European convention on human rights (the right to respect for private and family life), both of which have played an important role in providing some regulation but which have inevitable limitations in this context.
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http://www.theguardian.com/commenti.../aug/31/householders-cctv-public-highway-film
 
bass_junkie83 said:
IIRC they can use garage door remotes, there was a spate of it round har with my brother in law being a victim.

They sit in wait, trigger them as you use your remote locking and it blocks the signal from your key fob. You walk off assuming the car is locked and scure and they are free to open the doors and help themselves.

Always check the handle/watch for the flashing lights when you lock your car to be safe.
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first bit may well be true, but I think what they are doing here is unlocking and then locking the car back up, so even if you have tested the handle, it won't help.

As a complete aside, many years ago when I was travelling, I had some old Mazda and an hour before I was due to get a Ferry I parked up at some scenic viewpoint and managed to lock myself out of the car. Much panic was followed by glorious joy as I managed to use something off my swiss army knife to unlock the door which was followed by a realisation of how unsafe if was to leave my possessions on the car for anytime!
 
big soft moose said:
Doesnt work on my 55 plate focus - as i discovered when i locked the keys in it - coat hanger wire didnt work either. Eventually i borrowed a work van and went home and got the spare key
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Ford have been shielding the door lock mechanism for over 20 years so a coat hanger wasn't really likely to work.
 
MUST have a fiddle in a menu somewhere - if we leave the vicinity of my car for 30 seconds without locking it, the alarm is set and even with the fob in a pocket, unless we press the unlock button the alarm goes off! Handy feature I suppose but a PITA for everyone if we forget!
 
DaveS2 said:
Locked away in a garage is the best bet, but then I guess I'm unusual in that I use my garage to put the car in, and not as a warehouse as most folk seem to do these days.

Dave
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The Tvr and the motorbike are in the garage along with lots of other big stuff, but then I have a bigger than normal double garage.

Coppers phoned tonight, they've hit a wide area over 3 miles. Suspicion is they've driven around with something and reacted when the lights flash to indicate its unlocked. I've given them exact model number and serial of the sat nav.

Phoned harming and they've logged it as nicked, so if anyone updates it...
Nice work by them.
 
neil_g said:
Fair enough. Thought I'd read it somewhere and it's why some systems have masks you can set up.
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Residential is different to commercial and static as opposed to pan/tilt/zoom has much more flexibility of use.
 
Byker28i said:
The Tvr and the motorbike are in the garage along with lots of other big stuff, but then I have a bigger than normal double garage.
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Ah, then you are in the 'unusual bracket' like me :)

99% of folk around here have their garages full of junk, and their cars stay on the drive.

We are in the process of tying to move house (ours is sold STC), but have yet to find suitable property. When I tell the estate agents what we are looking for, and state that it must have a good size double garage, as we have now, because we like to put the cars in the garage, they say "how unusual, most people use them to store junk".

Dave
 
Oh we have 'junk' as well, but that's all in the loft area, part of the advantage of a pitched roof :)
 
nilagin said:
Ford have been shielding the door lock mechanism for over 20 years so a coat hanger wasn't really likely to work.
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I haven't had to break into a car for quite some time ( I think the last one was a Renault 12 - the coat hanger worked fine on that)

that aside on the OP I suppose we should be grateful that they were neat and tidy about it - when my car got broken into back in 05 in Northampton they tried to put a screwdriver through the door lock, when that failed the smashed the drivers window with a brick and tore the radio out of the facia. Radio was neither here nor there as it was a cheap piece of crap anyway, but the damage to get it ran to several hundred quid (and while insurance paid it was a sill a ball ache)
 
DaveS2 said:
Ah, then you are in the 'unusual bracket' like me :)

99% of folk around here have their garages full of junk, and their cars stay on the drive.

We are in the process of tying to move house (ours is sold STC), but have yet to find suitable property. When I tell the estate agents what we are looking for, and state that it must have a good size double garage, as we have now, because we like to put the cars in the garage, they say "how unusual, most people use them to store junk".

Dave
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Proper double garages are hard to find. Modern houses usually have single garages you can't even fit one proper sized car in. A double garage was one reason I moved here. Only has one car in it but it means room for junk too :)
 
srichards said:
Proper double garages are hard to find. Modern houses usually have single garages you can't even fit one proper sized car in.
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I once saw a bloke park his Mk1 Fiesta in his garage. The garage was so small he had to climb out of the tailgate.
 
DaveS2 said:
Locked away in a garage is the best bet, but then I guess I'm unusual in that I use my garage to put the car in, and not as a warehouse as most folk seem to do these days.

Dave
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That's only because most garages wont actually allow you to drive anything bigger than a mini into and actually be able to get out of the car.
 
nilagin said:
I once saw a bloke park his Mk1 Fiesta in his garage. The garage was so small he had to climb out of the tailgate.
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Yeah first placed I lived with the missus wasn't a great area so the first time I brought the work D22 home I tried to put it in the garage - not happening not only was the truck about 6 inches longer than the garage but I couldn't open either door .
 
You used to be able to use a half tennis ball on fords no problem at all- that's cos their locking mechanism was p*sh!:D

Sadly, when I lived in the states- took a hol to Montreal in a more modern ford and managed to lock the keys in it. Fortunately the taxi drivers there will break into your car- can't remember the model now but it was one of the first to have some new lock- just what you need eh?! Anyway, usually it took them 10mins but there ended up being 3 of them and took them a good 40mins- bit of a challenge in the end I think and we had a wee crowd. Fair play to them they got in- think it cost me $20 but can't remember- was worth it anyway given the alternatives.
 
ecoleman said:
That's only because most garages wont actually allow you to drive anything bigger than a mini into and actually be able to get out of the car.
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That is true, especially with some of the 1930's or earlier properties. Built in the days when people had an Austin 7 or a Ford 8, if they could afford one of those even.

That said, my neighbour has a double garage like mine, yet their two cars are always on the drive, never in the garage. It always makes me smile, in the winter, when they are out there in the mornings, scraping the ice off the windows. :)

My garage is 360 sq ft, and I'm going to miss it if I don't find something comparable.

Dave
 
strumstrum said:
yep same happened down our road last year, only thing worthwhile from ours was the car seat which they did take..

it does freak you out tho no damage to car, you almost want to see a broken window or a prised door.
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Actually - no - I'm quite grateful that all I lost was £120 sat nav and no other costly damage...
 
Byker28i said:
Actually - no - I'm quite grateful that all I lost was £120 sat nav and no other costly damage...
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whoosh-comic-speech-bubble-cartoon-37866647.jpg
 
DaveS2 said:
That is true, especially with some of the 1930's or earlier properties. Built in the days when people had an Austin 7 or a Ford 8, if they could afford one of those even.

That said, my neighbour has a double garage like mine, yet their two cars are always on the drive, never in the garage. It always makes me smile, in the winter, when they are out there in the mornings, scraping the ice off the windows. :)

My garage is 360 sq ft, and I'm going to miss it if I don't find something comparable.

Dave
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your lucky the one opposite us ,has a double garage and theres always about 6 cars in there drive or on the road outside ,don't know how a single woman can have so many guests :rolleyes::rolleyes: ,mind you its the only house round here to have been robbed ,the wonders of advertising your two weeks in tenerife on Facebook :exit:
 
the half tennis ball trick was supposed to work on cars with pneumatic central locking mainly Volkswagen , audi's etc..

iv'e no idea if it actually worked and it was an 80's / 90's thing and as landwomble already said a lot of cars have rolling codes now making key cloning difficult at best

saying that i'm pretty sure the rolling code is to do with the immobiliser and not the central locking ( i might be wrong on that point )
 
So an update.
Two coppers came around today with our satnav in an evidence bag. They've caught the two lads who did it, raided both houses and they were stacked with stolen stuff. The home feature on the sat nav gave it away and we could identify at least 5 of the last address used on the device.

Seems the two scores are well known, vile people according to the coppers. They robbed a local hotel last Saturday, broke into the bridal suite and stole all the gifts, credit cards etc, well all the gifts were found in their houses...

So one witness statement and my sat nav is currently evidence, but the important thing is they got the thieves.
 
Byker28i said:
So an update.
Two coppers came around today with our satnav in an evidence bag. They've caught the two lads who did it, raided both houses and they were stacked with stolen stuff. The home feature on the sat nav gave it away and we could identify at least 5 of the last address used on the device.

Seems the two scores are well known, vile people according to the coppers. They robbed a local hotel last Saturday, broke into the bridal suite and stole all the gifts, credit cards etc, well all the gifts were found in their houses...

So one witness statement and my sat nav is currently evidence, but the important thing is they got the thieves.
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Well done to your local coppers, unlike what some people like to say, it shows that they do their job.
 
Good news they caught them. Hopefully they'll get a long sentence not the usual pat on the head for having a rough childhood.
 
So update on this - the people went to court at the beginning of April, no idea what the outcome was as we're struggling to communicate with the officer assigned to the case.
The Police still have our sat Nav, the crime number we were given isn't found on their computer but when you mention the officers name and the case they can then find it on their systems.
We can't get out the police when we can have our sat nav back, although my neighbour had all his items returned 4 weeks ago. Constantly chasing every 2-3 days to be told someone will call you back and they don't.

We haven't bought a replacement as we were told we'd get it back quickly, but it looks like we now need to buy one as my Wife needs it for her work.

Bit disappointing in the end. It's all gone dead and the coppers aren't interested in us anymore :(
 
Write to the Officer-in-Charge at the Police Station concerned making a formal complaint/request for the return of the SatNav/an explanation why it cannot be returned.
 
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