OUR GARAGE - Dirty Rotten Sc...

Dirty Rotten Sc.... Scrots!

Let’s take a moment or two to talk about complacency...

I’ve lived in the same house for around 30 years, and in that time I’ve never had a car broken in to, Muddy Madam has, but not me. With this in mind, and although I never keep anything of huge value in Deux Smurf, there are certain bits ‘n’ bobs that usually stay in the boot because they’re either a nuisance to remove or just handy to keep there - a tyre compressor, a few tools, wellies and recovery equipment.

Without going into too much detail, at around 1.30am on a Monday morning there was a knock at the door, it was a policeman. He told me that there had been reports of two ‘people’ in the area trying car doors, and whilst patrolling he noticed that Deux Smurf had been broken in to. It wasn’t difficult to spot as the knuckle draggers had scarpered leaving her driver's door wide open and a few belongings strewn across the road.

I don’t mind admitting that not only was I fuming, but I had that sickly feeling in the pit of my stomach. I have zero tolerance for thieves.

They entered Deux Smurf without causing any damage, thankfully, but had totally ransacked her. Under torchlight I could see that they’d emptied every cubby box and door pocket.

They’d removed the fuse panel cover in an attempt, I assume, to hot wire her, which didn’t work because, as mentioned in the previous Our Garage article on page 36, it happened to be the time her battery was completely flat. A stroke of serendipity!

After the policeman took a statement I was instructed not to handle anything as the CSI would be in touch in the morning to check for fingerprints, so I couldn’t really check to see what had been taken.

I stayed up for the rest of the night, in the living room, curtains open keeping an eye on them returning. I was livid and ready to pounce if I saw anyone looking remotely suspicious..

In the morning, after the forensic team had given me the all clear, it was time to have a proper inspection, and put things back where they belong.

They’d taken my twenty year old tyre compressor that I’d bought from Difflock.com, but left its box. Gone was the facia to the stereo, as was my favourite pair of sunglasses.

Oh, and my Britpart XS Power Pack. Nooooo!

What they’d left was an expensive pair of wellies, the Over The Top Quiltie Hammock, a decent shovel, a large heavy duty box that contains recovery ropes, straps and shackles, as well as a pair of ActionTrax, waffle boards, a high-vis jacket and a metal towing bar with a spring damper (obviously not readers of this mag!). Up front, on the floor was my dash-cam, small hand saws, various USB cables and other bits 'n' bobs.

In some ways I actually feel quite fortunate as I used to keep a lot more kit in her, like a couple of small camping stoves, multitools, a set of Halfords spanners, a pair of soft shackles, ropes and some decent torches and headlamps, but had recently moved them out. As you may gathered, I’ve now reassessed what I keep in Deux Smurf.

Because I’m with two breakdown companies; Britannia Rescue and the AA, the towing bar doesn’t need to be in there, neither does all the recovery equipment, ActionTrax and wellies. These are now stored elsewhere safe and sound, and will only be thrown in Deux Smurf when needed, and that goes for my wellies too. I basically keep the bare minimum in her now.

The officer said they were opportunistic thieves, but that got me thinking, without being paranoid, we know that these gutter rats are everywhere on forums and Facebook pages. So be warned when you post your lovely modded 4x4 on Facebook - it may only take a bit of detective work to figure out where you live.

So my friends, don’t become complacent like me, have a really good think about what you need to keep in your vehicles.

Yes, insurance will pay out, but it’s the inconvenience of it all, plus, with an insurance excess, you’ll still end up paying out of your own pocket.

One thing is for certain, by the time you read this, Deux Smurf will have a raft of new security measures installed.