car break ins Dublin/Wicklow mountains

Alun · 03-10-2013 1:55pm

Just a heads up that MI now have a large car sticker you can place in your car window, see below ...

http://mountaineering.ie/aboutus/news/2013/default.aspx?iid=348

I've no idea if it'll work or not, but I've just ordered a couple anyway. They're 'free', well actually €0.01 as their online shop probably won't allow things to cost zero, but you pay P&P. Ended up costing €2.52 for two.

ThisRegard · 04-10-2013 9:59am

I'm completely cynical, while I admire the effort I think it will prove completely useless. Your average scumbag will take no notice anyway, they don't with car alarms, and it may even act like a beacon and think, mmm, what are they hiding ? I hope I'm completely proved wrong though.

Orion · 04-10-2013 11:54am

This was posted on the MI facebook page a couple of weeks ago. Someone replied that they'd tried it before with a sign saying no valuables etc. They got back to their car with the window broken and another note saying "Just checking".

nomdeboardie · 04-10-2013 1:50pm

Orion wrote: »

This was posted on the MI facebook page a couple of weeks ago. Someone replied that they'd tried it before with a sign saying no valuables etc. They got back to their car with the window broken and another note saying "Just checking".

That's what I would be afraid of - that it would give some scumbags an impetus to just vandalise to spite the owner. It could go either way, of course, as the note makes it obvious that the owner hasn't forgotton about the risks of theft, so more busineslike thieves may move on. Anyway, thanks for the update Alun.

Maudi · 04-10-2013 2:09pm

The low life that break into peoples cars for valuables have been doing it for years..the gurda have been "driving around"for years after them..its not a deterrent ..they have and always will be one step ahead..it dosent work...the only thing that will work and will work overnight thus releasing the gurda from aimless sunday spins over the bog is a bait car type operation..

CardinalJ · 04-10-2013 9:21pm

I mountain bike up in Ballinastoe in Wicklow most weekends. The top car park above Lough Tay is constantly full of tourists cars getting broken into.

A few months ago noticed the Gardai had three or four cars/4x4s around while I was getting ready to go around 8am on a Sunday. They just told me not to park up there. They said the scumebags rob cars on a saturday night and then use them to get up to break into other cars every Sunday. They were looking for a load of lads who'd abandoned a Transit and asked me to ring them if I saw them in the woods.

Unless they start doing sting/undercover operations, nothings gonna happen to deter them. Its such a shame, paints the country in a brutal light to tourists.

mattser · 05-10-2013 1:41am

CardinalJ wrote: »

I mountain bike up in Ballinastoe in Wicklow most weekends. The top car park above Lough Tay is constantly full of tourists cars getting broken into.

A few months ago noticed the Gardai had three or four cars/4x4s around while I was getting ready to go around 8am on a Sunday. They just told me not to park up there. They said the scumebags rob cars on a saturday night and then use them to get up to break into other cars every Sunday. They were looking for a load of lads who'd abandoned a Transit and asked me to ring them if I saw them in the woods.

Unless they start doing sting/undercover operations, nothings gonna happen to deter them. Its such a shame, paints the country in a brutal light to tourists.

I remember going to Ballinastoe a few years ago fancying myself as a mountain biker, Cardinal. I lasted about 5 minutes before I came a cropper on a big tree root. Never again. I admire you lads. At least the Gardai were making an effort the morning you met them. I understand your ' sting' strategy, but if they catch some boyo's there will be another few the next morning.
It's not exclusive to this country, either. The national parks in the U.K. where I've hillwalked over the years, have a big problem too. Bottom line seems to be leave NOTHING in your car, and hope for the best. And make sure you have adequate insurance to cover damage to your car.

Rantan · 06-10-2013 10:06pm

mattser wrote: »

I remember going to Ballinastoe a few years ago fancying myself as a mountain biker, Cardinal. I lasted about 5 minutes before I came a cropper on a big tree root. Never again. I admire you lads. At least the Gardai were making an effort the morning you met them. I understand your ' sting' strategy, but if they catch some boyo's there will be another few the next morning.
It's not exclusive to this country, either. The national parks in the U.K. where I've hillwalked over the years, have a big problem too. Bottom line seems to be leave NOTHING in your car, and hope for the best. And make sure you have adequate insurance to cover damage to your car.

yeah have to agree with you here - did one of the MS courses in wicklow recently and the instructor said she didnt even bother locking her car anymore when she went out...left absolutely nothing in it and left it open so they could just open it to check...so they didnt need to break windows...have to say I like the weird logic..if theres nothing worth stealing eventually they wont bother trying i would assume/hope??

BarryD · 21-10-2013 10:52am

Unpleasant incident at weekend up at Baravore in Glenmalure. My wife & daughter were with a group of other women staying at Glenmalure hostel and parked cars overnight at Baravore carpark. Wet & wild at times, river up & down. They came down in morning to find one of the women's cars was burnt out, rather traumatic for all. Other cars including our own car was damaged as it was parked nearby and heat melted headlight etc. Any information as to culprits gratefully received.. happened sometime on Saturday evening/ night.. thx

Alun · 21-10-2013 11:03am

So sorry to hear that Barry. I'd always imagined that on days when the weather is bad, that the kind of people who do this kind of thing wouldn't be out and about, and not as far afield as somewhere like Baravore but clearly that isn't the case. Were there any other cars parked there, or at any of the 'camping' spots along the road to Baravore?

rick_fantastic · 21-10-2013 11:09am

ticknock is a hotspot these days aswell, woman i work with had her car broken into up there (laptop, phones, clothes, bags all stolen) when she reported it was told it was the 9th or 10th car done up there in last two weeks

Alun · 21-10-2013 11:14am

rick_fantastic wrote: »

ticknock is a hotspot these days aswell, woman i work with had her car broken into up there (laptop, phones, clothes, bags all stolen) when she reported it was told it was the 9th or 10th car done up there in last two weeks

... and as long as people leave stuff like this in their cars in places like this, then the perpetrators will continue to target cars parked there as there's a chance they'll find something worth stealing.

Stop making it worth their while and eventually they'll get the message, but then maybe I'm crediting them with more intelligence than they're due.

BarryD · 21-10-2013 11:27am

Alun wrote: »

I'd always imagined that on days when the weather is bad, that the kind of people who do this kind of thing wouldn't be out and about, and not as far afield as somewhere like Baravore but clearly that isn't the case. Were there any other cars parked there, or at any of the 'camping' spots along the road to Baravore?

That's what I would have thought too, you have to make a bit of an effort to get down to Baravore. There were other unrelated cars there in the afternoon including a 4WD which got stuck crossing the ford and had to be pulled out. She's not sure re campers but I'd have thought it was unlikely.

Gardai from Rathdrum came up, said there have been break ins there in past but nothing like a car set on fire. And there's no doubt that it was torched as the vehicle was pushed a few yards from where it was parked, window smashed in original park spot etc. In fact if they hadn't pushed it, several of the other cars including ours would have gone up in flames as well..

rick_fantastic · 21-10-2013 11:34am

i always take our 2nd car (hatchback almera) and leave the backseats down / boot visible and empty glovebox open so they can see into car.. been lucky so far.. would never leave the decent car anywhere

ScottStorm · 22-10-2013 7:12am

Just a thought, did the burnt out car have any football or religious stickers paraphernalia, or tthat sign saying not to bother breaking in etc? Just wondering if there was a reason they might have burnt it out rather than just rifled through it and on to the next one.

BarryD · 22-10-2013 12:06pm

Dunno about stickers, wouldn't have been an MI sticker on it - here's result

Alun · 22-10-2013 12:17pm

Looks like an old model Nissan Micra ... would it have had an immobilizer fitted? If not, they may have tried to hotwire it to steal it and failed and either torched it out of spite, or maybe it caught fire itself due to the bungled hotwiring? Might also explain why it was moved a little, i.e. trying to move it on the starter motor alone.

Chris_5339762 · 12-10-2014 4:41pm

Bit of a bump but this thread does seem to have been going on for a few years.

Its still the same up there... a car at Massey Woods on the road with a window broken two weeks ago, one at the Kippure carpark with both a passenger window AND rear window done and one at the Sugarloaf smashed as well.

I don't think there really is a solution sadly... I'm not going to stop hiking because of this... but I do expect it to happen to my car someday. One thing that concerns me about this thread though is that people are saying to leave doors unlocked so they can have a root around. I thought about this and it seems like a sensible idea but read your insurance policy very carefully first... mine anyway (123.ie) will not cover me for ANYTHING if my doors aren't locked. So be careful.

I empty my car completely so there is nothing in it at all... I take the dashcam and cable up the hillside with me. Glovebox open, storage underneath seat open and visibly empty, boot cover removed (left at home) so people can see there is nothing in my car at all. Whether it would stop them, I doubt it... but in any case a smashed window can easily be repaired but at least in my case they won't get anything from the car.

masculinist · 17-10-2014 7:04pm

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

One thing that concerns me about this thread though is that people are saying to leave doors unlocked so they can have a root around. I thought about this and it seems like a sensible idea but read your insurance policy very carefully first... mine anyway (123.ie) will not cover me for ANYTHING if my doors aren't locked. So be careful..

I was about to say the exact same thing myself. Check with your insurance company first or else prepare for disappointment if you do put in a claim.

Limestone1 · 21-10-2014 9:11pm

masculinist wrote: »

I was about to say the exact same thing myself. Check with your insurance company first or else prepare for disappointment if you do put in a claim.

But you would only leave the car unlocked if there was nothing to steal and if there was nothing to steal what would you be claiming ?
If the car is gone or burnt out or damaged, surely you wouldn't go highlighting that you left it unlocked.

masculinist · 22-10-2014 2:35am

Limestone1 wrote: »

But you would only leave the car unlocked if there was nothing to steal and if there was nothing to steal what would you be claiming ?
If the car is gone or burnt out or damaged, surely you wouldn't go highlighting that you left it unlocked.

My reputation would be worth more to me than risking a conviction for insurance fraud. What happens if an investigation reveals there was no forced entry ?

Esel · 22-10-2014 3:16am

1. The first thing I noticed was the broken window.

2. They must have had a Slim Jim.

3. I didn't do it. Nobody saw me do it. You can't prove anything.

All of the above are in jest.

Until the Gardaí can afford to stake out all the remote parking spaces, and have enough members present to swoop in and effect arrests, this will still happen.

One way to avoid is to have a designated driver, who drops you off, leaves, and picks you up later either there or else at some other agreed point.

Another way might be to park in a populated area (village etc.) and hire a taxi/hackney to drop you off / pick you up.

Cheaper, and less stressful than returning to your car to find it burned out / broken in to.

22-10-2014 8:05am

I still find it hard to believe that, with a bit of thought, the Gardai couldn't apprehend at least some of these people.

I mean surely if they sat down and thought about it, they could. Pick a busy weekend, set up some sort of camera or just leave someone a few hundred yards away with binoculars, wait nearby with 2 or 3 cars etc. etc. It won't stop all of them forever, but it's better than shrugging shoulders and saying whatever will be will be.

Pat Mustard · 22-10-2014 11:01am

Esel wrote: »

One way to avoid is to have a designated driver, who drops you off, leaves, and picks you up later either there or else at some other agreed point.

Another way might be to park in a populated area (village etc.) and hire a taxi/hackney to drop you off / pick you up.

Cheaper, and less stressful than returning to your car to find it burned out / broken in to.

Two other suggestions could be:

1. Maybe allow somebody like NCPS to build designated car parks with cameras. It's possible to set up accounts with them for parking by credit card, meaning that no cash would be needed to pay a parking charge. Otherwise maybe the OPW or somebody could build camera-monitored car parks. Obviously this idea is not foolproof, and it may be pie in the sky as to whether it would ever get done, but it'd be better than nothing.

2. Something I've sometimes thought of is parking in a secure or well populated area, taking a folding bike out of the boot and cycling off to where the hike begins. Then there's the problem of securing the bike, I suppose.

People should be made aware that broken glass on the ground in a car park is a good indicator that said car park is some thief's territory.

CardinalJ · 22-10-2014 8:34pm

The Mustard wrote: »

Two other suggestions could be:

1. Maybe allow somebody like NCPS to build designated car parks with cameras. It's possible to set up accounts with them for parking by credit card, meaning that no cash would be needed to pay a parking charge.

Good to see ideas but the idea of having to deal with clampers as well as potential scum breaking into my car would be too much for me. "Will we go a little further, oh no we might get clamped."

The Gardai have so much on their plate that a few break ins up in Wicklow won't bother them too much, but what's annoying is that it's probably the same 10 lads accounting for most of it, so if you could catch/prosecute them the break ins would probably stop

I think being realistic the best approach would be for a few of the hillwalking/hiking/climbing/mountainbiking/kayaking/etc clubs to get together and get permission to put up very obvious signs saying that thieves operate in the area and the number of the local Garda Station.

While the areas are remote, there are only so many ways to and from them so if someone calls the Gardai at the right station as soon as they find their car has been smashed into, the Gardai have a far better chance of actually catching someone. Like I said the guys breaking in are probably well known to them anyway.

I hate that this thread is onto its ninth page!:mad:

masculinist · 22-10-2014 11:55pm

I dont think cameras will do any good in the middle of nowhere. The scum will wear a balaclava or cover their faces while enjoying a response time of 2 hours

Esel · 23-10-2014 4:20am

These break-ins are not opportunistic, they are organised. Scouts, spotters, multiple cut-outs.

Simple precautions, if you want to leave your car in a remote area:

1. Do not change clothes there. Thieves will assume there are valuables in the clothes you leave in the car.

2. Bring all valuables with you - sat-nav, audio head-unit front panel, etc.

3. Leave glove-compartment open, with nothing in there except the user manual.

4. Leave nothing on display in the car. Even a jacket on the seat will encourage a thief, either because they want the jacket or think it is covering something.

5. Put everything you are not bringing with you out of sight in the boot well before you arrive at your parking place.

6. Remove sat-nav / phone mounts and clean the mark of the mounts on the screen before arriving at the parking spot.

7. Do not park in obviously vulnerable places. These might include: car parks which are not plainly visible from the road; places with broken car-window glass on the ground (as said above).

8. Park in unexpected places, as long as that is not dangerous. Pick somewhere that is visible from a fair distance in each direction (on the road). Thieves hate being seen in action.

9. Bring an adult with you who is happy to either (a) sit in the car and read a book / newspaper or (b) stay close to the car while observing nature with a pair of binoculars and a camera.

10. All of the above.

Even better, as I said previously: Have a designated driver, who drops you off, leaves, and picks you up later either there or else at some other agreed point.

Another way might be to park in a populated area (village etc.) and hire a taxi/hackney to drop you off / pick you up.

If I was doing it these days, I would be doing all of the above, unless it was easier to go with either (a) designated driver, or (b) bus, or (c) hackney/taxi.

Last piece of advice: Do not engage with these thieves. They are not alone, and they don't care. Phone it in after they leave.

into_the_wild · 27-04-2022 4:26pm

Been going hiking/camping in public transport for the past 10 years or so here in Ireland and recently bought a car thinking we'll have lot more flexibility and get to see more places now. Getting to know the ugly side of driving to such places now...a tad bit late 🙄😂

josip · 03-06-2022 12:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118984591#Comment_118984591

Have you been the victim of a break in this year?

into_the_wild · 05-06-2022 12:37am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119153338#Comment_119153338

Not yet but probably because I'm avoiding parking the car at such remote isolated places.

fjon · 10-06-2022 5:47pm

Things are somewhat better now. Since Covid, a lot of the usual car parking spots are a lot busier and it's less likely cars will be alone unattended and therefore broken into. I'm sure it still happens though

car break ins Dublin/Wicklow mountains

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