Break in

mustang68

On friday night I was sitting in my house watching Street Wars and an alarm went off outside my house and my key fob pager went off, so I knew it was my alarm in the Mustang, and I've never had a false alarm, so I ran straight out the door to find two...undesirables, walking away from the car & I stupidly gave chase.

I really should have stopped shortly after that, but I saw some neighbours standing outside their house and I thought they might help, they didn't, and about five seconds later I realised I was alone with these guys (in my socks!), and they convinced me to go back with their six inch knife :mad: They just waved it at me.

Car had the rear quarter window bent (and broken internally) and they popped the lock. They had also tried another car close by and failed. Police arrived, detectives, statements etc. but no sign of getting them yet.

I made some quick repairs and modifications over the weekend, including removing the door lock plungers, so its not tempting just to break the window and pull them.

So the moral of the story is not to chase the guys at your car, they may have a big nasty knife.

spidersonmars

Sorry to hear your troubles. It just shows how vunerable our cars and lives are. At the end of the day a car is a car and and a life is a life. I know this sounds obvious but never take on an unknown strangers without proper backup be it human or material! I suggest you take up Krav Maga, get yourself some material assistence. The Guards can only do so much, and its generally too late.

Max_Damage

Sorry to hear about your troubles mate, I know the feeling, my Micra was broken into before and saw them in the act, I ran out the door with a golf stick, but the were gone. If I had caught them... :mad:

You should a big heavy duty chain and but it around the steering wheel. Cheap and effective. Also, I put a homemade immobiliser on my car, basically a kill switch that's hidden under the dashboard that cuts power from the ignition barrel to the starter motor. Again, cheap and effective.

To be honest, I wouldn't exactly count on the gardai to search very hard for the scumbags that tried to break into the car. :rolleyes:

Dades

In your socks, no less? :eek:

The kill switch under the dash is a good idea. I have a battery disconnector switch on my battery, but you have to lift the bonnet to turn it off and tbh I never do under I'm going away.

On another note, I have a sword I keep out of sight downstairs which is close to hand for occasions such as yours. :pac:

L-M

What a bunch of scumbags, sorry to hear op.

spidersonmars

It unfortunate that you can't use pepper spray in ireland. But you can carry a can of dog repellent (PS) if you have a dog.

I have an old rover P6, sounds like a dog to me.

Dades I presume the "sword" isn't really an option you would cionsider. It would be unwise to brandish such a weapon in public. The Guards will lock you up, not the scumbags.Also always bear in mind that the weapon you use could be used against you. Weapons are only as good as the people who uses it and how there used.

Max_Damage

I've a hammer under the bed as 'backup'!

Dades

spidersonmars wrote: »

Dades I presume the "sword" isn't really an option you would cionsider. It would be unwise to brandish such a weapon in public. The Guards will lock you up, not the scumbags.Also always bear in mind that the weapon you use could be used against you. Weapons are only as good as the people who uses it and how there used.

The trick is to wield it naked.

I'd imagine that would be enough to convince most people of your intent. :pac:

On a more serious note, I do think not antagonising would-be thieves is a better course of action. I'd be less afraid for myself, and more afraid they'd come back with an iron bar and do in my car - whereas they might have left well enough alone if you just ushered them away with "I've called the garda" threats.

mustang68

spidersonmars wrote: »

Dades I presume the "sword" isn't really an option you would cionsider. It would be unwise to brandish such a weapon in public. The Guards will lock you up, not the scumbags.Also always bear in mind that the weapon you use could be used against you. Weapons are only as good as the people who uses it and how there used.

good point, the detectives that came were telling me that most of those weapons get used against the victim and that the last guy that they went to who chased with a golf club after two guys breaking into his car, only to find that around the corner their five friends were waiting, and went to town on him.

I suppose my point in all this was to be careful, unlike anyone else with a car we've put blood, sweat, tears, time and money into our cars, they are rare, old and generally expensive. When the alarm goes off we see red and want to hurt someone, just try to refrain from what i did, thinking I could take on two guys with knives in my socks (thats me in my socks, not them storing knives in my socks).

mustang68

Dades wrote: »

I'd be less afraid for myself, and more afraid they'd come back with an iron bar and do in my car - whereas they might have left well enough alone if you just ushered them away with "I've called the garda" threats.

That's now my concern, I've turned into a light sleeper, don't rub these guys up the wrong way. All they did was break my back window and i nearly got knifed over it, and worried that they'll come back now.

L-M

Stick a sign up on your wall "CCTV in operation".

Not that they'll be able to read or anything, but it might deter them.

1275gt

jesus, glad you didnt get hurt man, no car is worth a hospital visit.

:mad: dirty rotten scum tho. i hate to think what they'd have done to your motor had they gotten it away...

id 100% agree with max_damage about the chain. ugly as sin, but i honestly think its the best deterrent against these type of scum. ive got a chain on the mini what would moor the QE2 and its worked so far.

Dades

This thread just reminded me - the badge disappeared off the front of my merc over the weekend. :mad:

It was only a plastic replica as I took the metal one off to spruce it up, and decided to leave the plastic one on in case of toe rags. Good plan in hindsight!

gyppo

Dades wrote: »

The trick is to wield it naked.

I'd imagine that would be enough to convince most people of your intent. :pac:

All the more reason to be extra careful with your sword-swinging!:D


OP, on a more sombre note, sorry to hear about your hassle - its sickening that something you worked hard for is tarnished by gits that never worked a day of their pitiful lives.

chiefwiggum

time to get a vigilante group together ha ha...wouldnt you love to kick the living s**t out of these hoodies... any thing that they cant have they'll wreck...scumbags...sorry for your troubles though

bugsntinas

we're never gonna stop 'em no matter what we do.they don't own it they want ityou should have 2 removable metal posts at both ends of the car it might deter them.hope you get the car sorted.

macplaxton

Sorry to hear about the damage. At least it didn't go anywhere.

spidersonmars

Lest we forget to your little yellow DAF 66


1972 - 2008 RIP

Gary ITR

Lads, I know this is a forum where we all love our cars (probably more than we should) but please never ever run after these scumbags. It could cost you your life. Your OH may already be an automobile widow, don't make her(him) a real widow. If they run off just call the guards.

carchaeologist

Sorry to hear about that,glad you didnt come to harm.
Im not sure the cops are very interested in this sort or thing though,unless some one is hurt,or the car actually stolen.

Lauder

mustang68 wrote: »

On friday night I was sitting in my house watching Street Wars and an alarm went off outside my house and my key fob pager went off, so I knew it was my alarm in the Mustang, and I've never had a false alarm, so I ran straight out the door to find two...undesirables, walking away from the car & I stupidly gave chase.

I really should have stopped shortly after that, but I saw some neighbours standing outside their house and I thought they might help, they didn't, and about five seconds later I realised I was alone with these guys (in my socks!), and they convinced me to go back with their six inch knife :mad: They just waved it at me.

Car had the rear quarter window bent (and broken internally) and they popped the lock. They had also tried another car close by and failed. Police arrived, detectives, statements etc. but no sign of getting them yet.

I made some quick repairs and modifications over the weekend, including removing the door lock plungers, so its not tempting just to break the window and pull them.

So the moral of the story is not to chase the guys at your car, they may have a big nasty knife.

Unless you have a bigger knife, or maybe a chainsaw. Oh what I would do with a chainsaw if i caught a guy breaking into my car.....

Lauder

chiefwiggum wrote: »

time to get a vigilante group together ha ha...wouldnt you love to kick the living s**t out of these hoodies... any thing that they cant have they'll wreck...scumbags...sorry for your troubles though

Il join ya

VanhireBoys

That makes me sick... Scumbags should get their hands cut off with a very blunt chisel....! :mad:

Them barstewards know fine well its easy to break into an older car.. A modern car needs the keys. I keep my car keys in the pocket of my jeans in the bedroom... If a scumbag wants them hes going to have to come and face down the wife.... Not a wise move for him at 2am I may add

oflynno

electric battery fencer with wire onto the car
the car is insulated with the tyres
when they touch the car,they earth it and get some wallop

i did it once in kilkenny city,funny when you here guy shout/shi himself.

CamperMan

Dades wrote: »

In your socks, no less? :eek:

The kill switch under the dash is a good idea. I have a battery disconnector switch on my battery, but you have to lift the bonnet to turn it off and tbh I never do under I'm going away.

On another note, I have a sword I keep out of sight downstairs which is close to hand for occasions such as yours. :pac:

but would you be prepared to use it??, because those kind of sh*ts have some brain cells missing and would probably run at you with there 6" blade so you would have to take a swing with your big sword and probably cut one of there heads off...

Personally.... I have a well sharpened axe to hand and an easy starting chainsaw

Dades

CamperMan wrote: »

so you would have to take a swing with your big sword and probably cut one of there heads off...

Naah. The thing is as blunt as anything. It would probably just mash a few bones. :pac:

CamperMan

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Or maybe an alarm system that is in use in south africa

This is the way to go...

milod

K-Jet wrote: »

Lads, I know this is a forum where we all love our cars (probably more than we should) but please never ever run after these scumbags. It could cost you your life. Your OH may already be an automobile widow, don't make her(him) a real widow. If they run off just call the guards.

+1

Guys, I know we all like to speculate on "what we would have done if we'd caught the little f**ker at the car". But in all seriousness, my mate is a Garda and he always passes on this advice:

1. Just remember THEY know where YOU live. Unless you are prepared to kill someone and hide the body, without witnesses(!) you can forget about giving chase. Tackling scumbags just gets you repeat calls.

2. Secure your car with highly visible methods like big fat chains, security posts, flashing bright-red LED to indicate the presence of an alarm etc. If your car is worth a lot of money, e.g. an Aston, Ferrari, etc, then leave the keys visibly on your stairs at night. If they break into your home for the keys (and they will if the car is worth €50K) you don't want them visiting your bedroom with a knife, kettle of boiling water, etc.

mustang68

The reason I posted this in the first place was to tell you all that running after the guys was actually a really bad idea, I could have been hurt, I'm now quite worried that they'll destroy the car or do something to the house or one of us living there (they know where I am), it wasn't worth it at all.

Milod summed up all my thoughts:

milod wrote: »

1. Just remember THEY know where YOU live. Unless you are prepared to kill someone and hide the body, without witnesses(!) you can forget about giving chase. Tackling scumbags just gets you repeat calls.

2. Secure your car with highly visible methods like big fat chains, security posts, flashing bright-red LED to indicate the presence of an alarm etc. If your car is worth a lot of money, e.g. an Aston, Ferrari, etc, then leave the keys visibly on your stairs at night. If they break into your home for the keys (and they will if the car is worth €50K) you don't want them visiting your bedroom with a knife, kettle of boiling water, etc.

MercMad

milod wrote: »

+1

Guys, I know we all like to speculate on "what we would have done if we'd caught the little f**ker at the car". But in all seriousness, my mate is a Garda and he always passes on this advice:

1. Just remember THEY know where YOU live. Unless you are prepared to kill someone and hide the body, without witnesses(!) you can forget about giving chase. Tackling scumbags just gets you repeat calls.

2. Secure your car with highly visible methods like big fat chains, security posts, flashing bright-red LED to indicate the presence of an alarm etc. If your car is worth a lot of money, e.g. an Aston, Ferrari, etc, then leave the keys visibly on your stairs at night. If they break into your home for the keys (and they will if the car is worth €50K) you don't want them visiting your bedroom with a knife, kettle of boiling water, etc.

..................mmmmm tea and toast !! :P

CamperMan

you can't win with scumbags, if you chase them they might come back to retaliate , if you don't and just ignore them, they might come back because they thought your a soft cu*t .. if you can detain the cu*ts until the guards arrive... well good luck, in past experience, the guards have let them go and were looking at why we detained these fu*kers against there will... best thing to do is hide valuables from these scumbags...

S.I.R

mustang68 wrote: »

On friday night I was sitting in my house watching Street Wars and an alarm went off outside my house and my key fob pager went off, so I knew it was my alarm in the Mustang, and I've never had a false alarm, so I ran straight out the door to find two...undesirables, walking away from the car & I stupidly gave chase.

I really should have stopped shortly after that, but I saw some neighbours standing outside their house and I thought they might help, they didn't, and about five seconds later I realised I was alone with these guys (in my socks!), and they convinced me to go back with their six inch knife :mad: They just waved it at me.

Car had the rear quarter window bent (and broken internally) and they popped the lock. They had also tried another car close by and failed. Police arrived, detectives, statements etc. but no sign of getting them yet.

I made some quick repairs and modifications over the weekend, including removing the door lock plungers, so its not tempting just to break the window and pull them.

So the moral of the story is not to chase the guys at your car, they may have a big nasty knife.

it sucks man but hey, atleast with wasn't a pack of travellers when theirs nothing you can do but watch your motor get nicked and wait for the police...

but look on the bright side of things, they had a knife and still ran, im not saying your chuck norris or anything but pretty close...


what a pack of cowards

mustang68

S.I.R wrote: »

but look on the bright side of things, they had a knife and still ran, im not saying your chuck norris or anything but pretty close...

:cool: I feel so macho now, thanks!

galwaytt

+1 on the security light - and add CCTV.

www.rfconcepts.co.uk or maplin, will see a good camera/record outfit for a few hundred euro.

Dades

galwaytt wrote: »

+1 on the security light - and add CCTV.

www.rfconcepts.co.uk or maplin, will see a good camera/record outfit for a few hundred euro.

Saw this earlier in the week on the Aldi site. This Sunday!



I have a CC TV camera on my house pointing down at the car/gate. It's not hooked up at the moment, but between that and the big CCTV sticker on the gate I like to think I might have avoided some trouble.

Eric318

Sadly one of my young colleagues paid with his life for wanting to rescue a damsel in distress (justice was made with a hard sentence but a life was lost). I would leave my car to whoever wants it that bad that he is prepared to hurt a human.

On my Citroën, I can easily remove the steering wheel. I developed the antitheft system by actually removing the clevis pin that holds the steering wheel on the column and putting the steering wheel back on, loose. It takes under 1 minute and fits in my wallet. It avoids the would-be-thief to turn up with a possible spare steering wheel. Plus there are several models of clevis pins, so good luck to the scumbags.

I remember walking by a Jeep some years ago and being told by a deep menacing voice from a recording that I was too close etc. Was quite entertaining.

In my youth I had the privilege to be "acquainted" to a rather wealthy charming young lady who, among many lovely attributes, had access to 300 SL Gullwing. One sad day the car was airlifted from its resting place with a helicopter by people who really really wanted it. The car was never seen again. It happened in California. Where else...? This told me that if somebody really wants my car, they will eventually get it.

Yet, I don't believe that classics (of reasonable value) are very much targets for thiefs. The main risk is probably from joy riders.

S.I.R

Eric318 wrote: »

Sadly one of my young colleagues paid with his life for wanting to rescue a damsel in distress (justice was made with a hard sentence but a life was lost). I would leave my car to whoever wants it that bad that he is prepared to hurt a human.

On my Citroën, I can easily remove the steering wheel. I developed the antitheft system by actually removing the clevis pin that holds the steering wheel on the column and putting the steering wheel back on, loose. It takes under 1 minute and fits in my wallet. It avoids the would-be-thief to turn up with a possible spare steering wheel. Plus there are several models of clevis pins, so good luck to the scumbags.

I remember walking by a Jeep some years ago and being told by a deep menacing voice from a recording that I was too close etc. Was quite entertaining.

In my youth I had the privilege to be "acquainted" to a rather wealthy charming young lady who, among many lovely attributes, had access to 300 SL Gullwing. One sad day the car was airlifted from its resting place with a helicopter by people who really really wanted it. The car was never seen again. It happened in California. Where else...? This told me that if somebody really wants my car, they will eventually get it.

Yet, I don't believe that classics (of reasonable value) are very much targets for thiefs. The main risk is probably from joy riders.

id fight any body To the death if they touched anything belonging to me.... for its not its actual value or how rare it is, its princaple alone which i have to entrust on someone with force...

aswell as a bill, cause im not free boys, if i whoop your behind, you pay me for the kind service. :rolleyes: