Last Friday, whilst I was out walking the dog in light rain at 5pm (15 mins), someone kicked my front door in and took the keys to the Rangie. Whilst there, the thieving took our 42" tv, laptop, iphone, PS3 and ipod nano.
I walked in literally as they'd left. Called Tracker straight away and the vehicle was found 2 miles away on a pub car park, locked and with no occupants. No sign of my other stuff though
There's nothing wrong with the car, no damage etc. I've just had the insurance company out to see what was stolen and they've approved replacements for everything.
CCTV on the pub shows the RR drive on, followed by another car. The driver gets out and into the other car and they leave. It looks like my stuff was put into the other car outside my house.
We've worked out that the offenders came in another car, a stolen Honda Civic Type R. This was captured on my neighbours CCTV.
As you can imagine, it's hit us hard. I deal with this stuff day in, day out but its different when it happens to you. My wife is in bits and I doubt she'll ever get over this. WHat makes it worse is she got back before me (by a minute) and she discovered the break-in. More worryingly, they'd taken a knife from the kitchen and a rolling pin was removed from a kitchen drawer and left on the table.
I reckon they would have come in whether I was in or not. Most burglaries I attend are via a rear kitchen window. I've only been to a couple where the front door was booted in. 2010 MY Vogue SE TDV8 3.6 Stornoway Grey- fully loaded

Sorry to hear about your break in Noddy, Hope you somehow get a lead on the bunch of B s and more importantly i hope your wife recover's from this ordeal.

I remember when i was little and our home at the time got broken into my mother took a instant dislike to the house and could not content herself with being alone inside it.

Eventually we had to move, these things can play on the mind a lot, maybe your wife will be more strong willed and be able to cope ok.

But thank Christ she never caught them in the act .......

Noddy,

I feel your pain, just over 2 years ago we were out viewing a house locally, we pulled into the driveway to see our front door knocked in. It took a few seconds to figure out what had happened, its such an extra-ordinary sight to see that you are not expecting, then we ran inside to find an almost identical list of items stolen, 43" Pioneer plasma, camera, laptop, wife's purse etc etc.

I found one of the wife's car keys on my driveway. We'd had electric garage doors fitted so they couldn't get the car out but I'm convinced they would have taken it otherwise.

In our case they'd used a double thickness piece of joist to ram the door open. All this haened at 5pm on a sunday summer's eve, in a small close full of busybody neighbours and kids playing and NO ONE saw or heard it. I was flabergasted. The got theys involved in the end on another charge and they fessed up to about 40 other crimes in order to wipe the slate, including ours. It was opportunistic but we were 'cased'.

We were both very shocked at the time and were so grateful that my parents were close by and the whole family came over immediately and helped us feel safe somehow.

In the end, the burglary did us some favours, sounds weird to say it but after the insurance paid out we got all new stuff, bigger TV, better camera etc. Plus the stuff that was nicked had dropped in price so we still have some of the vouchers left (Insurance company paid out in Currys vouchers)

I'm sure your wife's shock and fright will change into anger and then steely determination, it seems to be the cycle of things.

Think of this though, we were just about to put our house on the market, the brochure was all done etc, we had to postpone till insurance paid for a new door and got the damage fixed etc, delayed us by a few months but then when we did go on the market we sold to a cash buyer. We often wonder if somehow it was all meant to be....

Chin up and remember, don't let the B@stards get you down.  Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB

The thing that annoys me is - all the stuff that was nicked was no more than 12 months old, apart from the TV, which was 14 months old. You can't get them now. I went to currys (where we bought the TV from) and he said it was discontinued late last year and showed me its replacement. It was nice, but not as nice as the one we had.
I'm led to beleive that the Insurance Co's suppliers are going to call me, so that they can discuss what is available to buy and what it's replacement is, should they not be able to get the originals. I'm not looking to better myself, I just want the same stuff as before. Even the iPod nano was the 2nd gen. I don't want the latest one, just another 2nd Gen as my wife bought it for Christmas a couple of years ago. Sad I know, but thats how I am.
Forgot to mention- the bastrds took my new bike leathers and Arai helmet as well You can't get them anymore either! 2010 MY Vogue SE TDV8 3.6 Stornoway Grey- fully loaded

thats scary stuff to hear , especially the knife part makes you wonder what lengths they would go to to get your stuff. just thank god that you were both out and that your both ok and if anyone can get them im sure you will with your endless contacts and resourses bring the scumbags down and put them away forever  onto no6 Range Rover

Everyone needs a hobby

A friend of mine has an Audi RS4, its 3 years old now.

he had a knock on the door from the West midlands Serious Crime Unit. Long story short, they busted a gang and found laptops in their hideout. On the laptops was tracking software and lots and lots of cars.

his car had had a tracking device put in the wheel arch under the plastic liner, they were tracking his journeys, speeds, where he stopped and for how long and had also cased his house as they had details about how it was parked etc.

Luckily for him it never got that far but makes you think eh? Car thieves are getting more advanced. Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB

RRUK wrote:

A friend of mine has an Audi RS4, its 3 years old now.

he had a knock on the door from the West midlands Serious Crime Unit. Long story short, they busted a gang and found laptops in their hideout. On the laptops was tracking software and lots and lots of cars.

his car had had a tracking device put in the wheel arch under the plastic liner, they were tracking his journeys, speeds, where he stopped and for how long and had also cased his house as they had details about how it was parked etc.

Luckily for him it never got that far but makes you think eh? Car thieves are getting more advanced.

I have one of these anda monitored ADT alarm after it happed to me last year, sad state of affairs.

Link: http://www.rockdoor.com/ '09 Freelander 2 TD4 HSE Auto for the Mrs

Using the works Fiesta 1.6 TDCI Sport Van - CHROME FREE THOUGH

Searching for a nice E63 AMG or S8 V10 to replace my "wonky" TDV8

We've had the insurance round and most of the stuff is being replaced today. Still got to get the front door sorted though.

What is the best solution for the car? I've still got one key and LR say they can re-programme the key (1/2hr labour = £50) . This means that whoever has the other key can unlock the car manually but it will a) set the alarm off and b) won't start. The other option is to change the locks completely but I'm guessing thats not cheap. 2010 MY Vogue SE TDV8 3.6 Stornoway Grey- fully loaded

noddy wrote:

We've had the insurance round and most of the stuff is being replaced today. Still got to get the front door sorted though.

What is the best solution for the car? I've still got one key and LR say they can re-programme the key (1/2hr labour = £50) . This means that whoever has the other key can unlock the car manually but it will a) set the alarm off and b) won't start. The other option is to change the locks completely but I'm guessing thats not cheap.

Will the insurance company not shell out for new locks? Worst case a new key and the immobilizer recoding means they aint taking the RR anywhere.

This type of thing happens very often over on R32oc.com as they are stealing R32's to order for robberies etc.

Sounds like you already know that its very unlikely that they'll come back tho. Good luck in getting the Ins sorted out too

Your tracker subscription has paid for itself too !! Its top of my list to get fitted after hearing this story here. TDV8 HST Sport **Current**

4.4 V8 Autobiography and 22" wheels **Gone**

noddy wrote:

We've had the insurance round and most of the stuff is being replaced today. Still got to get the front door sorted though.

What is the best solution for the car? I've still got one key and LR say they can re-programme the key (1/2hr labour = £50) . This means that whoever has the other key can unlock the car manually but it will a) set the alarm off and b) won't start. The other option is to change the locks completely but I'm guessing thats not cheap.

Surely the Ins Co, whether the house or the car should pay for the locks to be changed? Terrible that you should have to go through this though, I suppose if someone wants to get in though they will, they sound more organised than the standard opportunistic thief. 

I concluded after our burglary that if they want to get in they will use the most basic means i.e knock down the door.

Sadly if your house has UPVC doors with multipoint locks like mine did, it means diddly squat in terms of protection as the centre panel of those doors can be popped out very easily. I was shocked. You are better off with a hardwood door and solid locks, they can still ram it of course but it will take them longer and more effort, making more noise.

The trick is to make your house look harder to break into than someone else's nearby as they are lazy feckers at the end of the day. Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB

I had the front door surveyed on Saturday- turns out it's twisted from where it was booted in. It's a steel faced door, the type you find on new build houses. Anyway - they can't get a replacement for 8 weeks, so they've said I've got to have a composite door fitted instead.  2010 MY Vogue SE TDV8 3.6 Stornoway Grey- fully loaded

Very sorry to hear your news Noddy and hope your wife gets her peace of mind in the very near future. I hope the one good thing that can come from this is that you will be able to relate & empathise to people better due to your own experience in your proffessional capacity. I too have been a victim of this in the past and perhaps your wife may take some comfort in knowing that time can be a healer.

The tracking of cars movements is a very worrying development in this type of crime.

Thanks for all the kind words guys- Things are getting a little better now. We are still thinking about what happened, but it's not as raw as it was. My thoughts are more anger now. It seems worse first thing in the morning when I wake up. Still, at least I'm getting a decent nights sleep now.

We've had quite a few car key burglaries in our force over the last week. There was a FFRR taken last Wednesday not far from here. Same thing- door forced and other items taken. Luckily, that FFRR had a Tracker also and was found parked up a few miles away again.
Last night, an Audi A4 was taken while the owner was asleep in bed he was woken by the police, who told him what had happened. 2010 MY Vogue SE TDV8 3.6 Stornoway Grey- fully loaded