Car Thefts?

andrew_ireland

Hi! It's been a while but I was just wondering if there has been a major surge in Car Thefts recently?

On Friday last my beloved Nissan Sunny was nicked outside my house from the driveway, nearly caught the guy as he reversed the car out! Unluckily for him it's an auto gearbox and loses all forward drive after first gear as the box is awaiting replacement so the Gardai found it almost around the corner the next day!

There was a delay in the car being examined due to a backlog- it struck me that the Gardai are taking this very seriously (fair play to them!) and that they've a lot of cars to examine. Anyone else in Souht Dublin/North Wicklow had their car nicked over the past few weeks?

beerbaron

No, thankfully. Whereabouts was it taken from?

andrew_ireland

Hi, it was taken in Bray. I felt a bit of an eejit the next day when the Gardai rang to say they found it coz I walked about 10miles that morning looking for it knowing full well they couldn't have gotten far!

The wiper blade had been used to hot-wire it and the yellow steering locks aren't worth a damn as they forced that off easily by the look of it. Only damage done was a slightly bent door and the steering column casing had been removed.

I think they may be targeting older cars, possibly easier to get into.

joemc99

Its a real problem now. There are TONNES of cars been taken in our area. That nice estate beside the M50 near Marley, they employed night time security for the estate, even though they have security gates. Loads been taken in Ballintyre too. Apparently, they bring a boiled kettle to your room and threaten you with it. Guards are recommending you leave you keys by the kettle.

someone tried my house last year, caught them taking the window out, they legged it! I got sensors in the kitchen/dining and hallway, alarm will go off for sure now.....scum. Apparently a gang from Blanch are doing it.

andrew_ireland

A boiled kettle??:eek: I thought you were winding me up for a moment! Time to fit an immobilizer not only to my car so but to the kettle too!

Stephen

They target old cars because the majority of them don't have immobilisers.

ciaran76

joemc99 wrote:

Guards are recommending you leave you keys by the kettle.

QUOTE]

Would it not be easier to hide the kettle ?

smash

I've heard the boiled kettle thing for years, urban legend I think.

Gran Hermano

QUOTE]

Would it not be easier to hide the kettle ? [/QUOTE]

They'd probably just microwave a cup of water for 5 mins then

Must say I've heard of the kettle story before. Make sure
the panes in your double glazing arent easliy slipped out.

Alun

andrew_ireland wrote:

Anyone else in South Dublin/North Wicklow had their car nicked over the past few weeks?

Not personally, but funnily (well, not actually, but you know what I mean) a friend of ours has had 3 attempts to steal her Nissan Sunny, also an automatic as it happens, from outside her house in the last few months. She lives in Bray too, in the Old Conna area. They tried to prise the door open from the top, and made a right mess of it. The Gardai seemed to take it quite seriously though and came round to take prints.

Jigsaw

I actually posted about a week ago discussing the same thing. My car was parked in "secure" car parking in the basement car park of my apartment in Belfast. I saw the CCTV footage of the little sh1tes coming in, crow bar in one hand and bottle of cider in the other. The top of my door was prised open and then they tried to hot wire it I think. The plastic casing below the steering wheel was broken off but either they couldn't get it started or else they were disturbed.

Either way, came back from the gym at about 9.30pm only for my mate's girlfriend to say, "you might.....erm......want to go down to the basement and......erm......maybe you should take your car keys with you". At that point my heart sank.

But I have to agree with other posters above, I was quite pleased with the police response. I called them and after about 10 mins they arrived, examined the crime scene, took a statement from myself and another witness. The next day, forensic people came to look at the car and another couple of officers came to pick up the CCTV footage for analysis. I have not heard anything since, but in truth at no point did I really expect to. They have limited resources and these wee buggers are probably hard to track down.

I reckon this sort of carry on is on the rise, especially with older cars. Mine was a 97 Ford Escort. There were Audi A8s, Celicas, BMW X5s not even looked at by the thieves.

TheNog

All car break ins and attempted taking of the cars were technically examined for fingerprints. If you find you are the unfortunate victim, DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING in the car or around the door they tried to burst open. Also if you look at your dashboard and it has a grainy or marked surface the guards cannot lift prints off them.

As for response time well it can take some time for them to arrive and the prints may not be identified. THis is usually cos those are first time offenders or haven't been printed yet but it will come back to haunt them at a later stage.