Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi

Not my traveller but my MG which has been kept outside in our extended garden for a few years now out of sight and 60 ft from the road.

I had an attempt made to break the chain and padlock on my metal side access gate about a month ago... they bent the gate and sledgehammered the lock but diddnt manage to break it. They contented themselves with climbing over and stealing my spare traveller roof stored behind a shed, some other metal bits and the wheels and tyres off our Peugeot which I had been doing some repairs on. They left the car sitting on its belly on the grass

Anyway they returned the other night and fortunately my wife thought she heard a noise at 2.30 in the morning. When I went out and turned the outside lights on and shone the torch around I couldnt see anything... they must have been hiding.

When I went into the garden the following morning though I found that theyd broken into the field next to us and my MG was sitting halfway through the hedge ... theres a four foot drop the other side! Theyd used a tow truck to rip out the substantial hedge, roots and all and dragged the car some 20 feet from where it was parked - presumably with a power winch.

As they were disturbed they must have waited until I went back into the house and then scarpered.

Ive now improved security, put all metal bits under lock and key and moved the cars next to the house.

Just goes to show though how desperate these scum are for a bit of metal for scrap.

Be warned then that some of these people are now after complete and useable cars for scrap and will go to just about any lengths.

Taupe

Blimey!

Taupe, how very unnerving for you. Does seem an extreme way of pinching valuable metals and if that is their motive it is worry for all of us. Hope they have now learned to leave you alone.

crickey! thats extreme. what would worry me is if theyre THAT determined then they will come back. though i cant help but feel theres more to it than scra weight, with all that effort it'd be easier to pinch a modern with roughly the same weight thats parked on the road.

we can guess all we want but my guess would be that they'd strip it for as much as they can.

Sorry to hear about this Taupe.. sounds distressing. I'd become nocturnal for a few days and lie in wait with a big bat. Have some pikey's moved into a field nearby?


Interestingly I passed a field last year that I drive passed every morning... it's a working field that a farmer uses and some pikey's had moved in. Anyway on the way back from work, the field looked exactly the same, lots of caravans, except in the one corner the farmer had placed a 20ft high and about 50ft long pile of steaming manure. The next morning I drove passed... the manure had gone and so had the travellers. I wished I had stayed to watch pantomine.

bloody hell - that's terrible
- from a selfish point of view, your profile says 'bucks' - where in bucks?

Dean wrote: The next morning I drove passed... the manure had gone and so had the travellers. I wished I had stayed to watch pantomine.

Did they take the MY FAVOURITE CAR IS A DATSUN CHERRY with them! Its unheard of them clearing up after themselves!

But Taupe. Its shocking and shows how security conscience we all need to be in this day and age, especially with such beautiful but easy to pinch Motors..

Sometimes the effort crims will go to, often for very little gain, makes you think they'd do better with a real job.

I'm glad to hear you managed to keep the car and didn't get a bat round the head when you disturbed them. I've had vatrious things stolen including a reconned RV8 autobox (£600 worth) as I left it on view for a few days (I didn't see it as that stealable... ) and attempted thefts of a couple of cars and a motorbike, not to mention my garage doors being assaulted 3 times now (the up and over door locks are vandal proof, so the net result is I waste the time and effort buying/fitting another one, and have now invested in £120 of multipoint security locks)

I heard some where now that you are allowed to use reasonable force on people breaking into your house!

an anti theft tactic which i know to have worked is a blank shotgun cartridge rigged to a trip wire - scares the hell out of the intruder, wakes up you and the neighbors. also you'll have the house surrounded by armed police in seconds! - would also work with a farmers' gas-gun bird scarer!

I heard some where now that you are allowed to use reasonable force on people breaking into your house!

Reasonable force has never been 'disallowed'. You are also allowed to pursue the offender to make a citizens arrest.

The problem arises is that when something scary happens your adrenaline* goes through the roof and your short term definition of 'reasonable' can go off the scale. (High adrenaline = low cognitive reasoning ability). What you may end up doing is "extracting revenge" in the heat of the moment, and that can land you in the dock.

Whilst I've often thought about wiring up the garage door handle to the mains, that kind of thing would just lower the 'victim' to the same level as the offender. I find it frustrating that I'm spending yet more money on locks, but at least it keeps the lock supplier in business. Rather like car insurance, one pays for other people's mistakes.. until a bad day comes and it's my mistake.

Heres one of those alarms, we used one on a builders yard that was a bit remote, must have worked as it was only triggered once and then not again for months.

http://www.spyshop.co.uk/alarm-mine

I can't access that from work - the content is listed as 'criminal activity' ;-)

I don't know! You guys who go to work to play-----never mind, I'll keep things running.

I don't know! You guys who go to work to play-----never mind, I'll keep things running.

mostly lunchbreaks and after work - no point leaving at 5:30 due to traffic ;-)
and maybe some other times too as I keep getting meetings in my luch time!

Only pulling your leg --- I've done the same with the van resto, one advantage of having a bench instead of a desk! Can't be many benches left nowadays!

sat 11th june , went to my garage in southnorwood to find to my horror both locks broke off my garage
the feeling of loss as i lifted the garage door and thank god the moggy was there after being there for 11 years without any problems , they took some spares and the two crome badges off the bonnet which was really upsetting as they where like new and in great condition , lucky for me i left the doors open as they would of broke in to open the bonnet i think
thought i must save my moggy so i stuck a new battery on the old girl and after a few goes it fired into life
lucky for me i put unleaded in before storing the moggy as 4 star was still in the garages ?
the only problem was the brakes stuck on so with a few goes it unlocked and i drove it after 11 years
cleared some of the other bits and tried to repair the garage , and stuck my moggy on my drive
it was fun driving back to my house in the rain with no wipers no brakes and throttle getting stuck down on the floor
but it made it home where it will stay till i get it down to my mates garage
i have loads of moggy bits which ill log and offer to members of the club ,
rather than them get stoled and run into the iron
my email is oddballtv@yahoo.com
please email if you need parts asap
johnnie

last week - garage door lock screwdrivered but not broken - which made a nice change, as they broke it back in March and this ione is only 3 months old and previous one was about a year old.

When I get round to fitting the £120 worth of security bolts I'll be glad to remove the handle for good (or maybe just leave the handle in place unlocked to confuse the crims)