Extremely frustrating - happened to anyone else??

gogsjogs

Hi all,
Well I'm a long time lurker and have not posted before now but the events of today have spurred me on to post today.
First of all amazing weekend of sport - Ireland and Dublin wins were amazing!!
Ran the half marathon yesterday, amazing organisation and fantastic race.
Tried to stay with the 1.30 pacers but it wasnt to be but was happy with 1.35 in the end. Looking forward to Dublin marathon now.
For punishment I went back to the park today for an easy ten miler, parked on Chesterfield Avenue at 11am beside small roundabout near Castleknock gate (where I park every weekend and have done for the past 3 years). There were lots of people around and lots of activity with food market also on closeby in Farmleigh.
Put my gear bag in boot of car, nothing on show in car and locked car and off I went.
Arrived back to find my car had been broken into and gear bag gone from boot, small hole beside passenger door lock is how they did it and lock is broken. Mainly just running stuff in the bag but also my Samsung Galaxy S, a small amount of cash and house keys. Extremely frustrating and such a nuisance. I know that these things happen but I'm more upset about the running gear that was in the bag - 2 Dublin Marathon finisher tops and yesterdays Half Marathon tee-shirt which was nice and more and also the fact that somebody may have been watching me putting my bag in the boot and heading off on my run - very naive I know but just cant fathom these people. Had to get house locks changed also as my address was on my driving licence which more than likely was seen.

I run in the park every weekend and I just wanted to alert other runners to this and to be very careful leaving anything in cars and also to see if anyone has had the same unfortunate experience?

violator13

Nasty, ive had my car broken into twice in Malahide car park on my runs. Like you lost a samsung galaxy S plus 2 other phones ,new nike lunars unworn in box, wallet ,purse money satnav etc.

They sit in cars waiting and watching.Usually barrel the locks and away they go.

average_runner

I think in future maybe park at the Papal Cross as always people around there coming and going.

drquirky

I run in Phoenix Park everyday and will keep an eye out for these scumbags- would love to have to put in a serious speed workout to Garda HQ in order to tip them off on these...

Kander

Yup have had gear bags robbed rom my van before. Its easy for them just to look in the windows and see whats there.
If I'm driving anywhere for a run or cycle I get kitted up before i leave and have nothing left in the van. They have just robbed my friends jeans he left behind before too.

jester1980

Happened to me about 3 weeks ago at the Papal Cross car park in the park, same as yourself, stuff was in the boot, they just took my wallet and phone from my bag though. Very annoyed.

Rebel1234

Hi, friends have had their cars broken into as well in Phoenix Park. After I spoke to the park rangers and they said that a guy will come along on a bike and scan a bunch of cars, if its quiet he rings his buddies, 4 to 5 of them arrive in a car and each does 1 to 2 cars each, barrel the locks and take the usual, phone, keys, wallets, sat navs etc. 30 seconds and they are gone.

He said they mainly target parts of the park where there are a lot of cars in the one place, polo grounds, zoo and papla cross carpark, main avenue.

What I now do is park on the main avenue but away from any other cars. That way if they are going to do anything they feel more exposed as there is no cover from other cars and they only have one car to rob and not multiple.

I now bring my phone and keys with me and leave the wallet at home. No opening of the boot to store anything, arrive ready to run.

ElectraX

That's so annoying:mad::mad: I feel very sorry for you, especially over losing things like the running t-shirts cause they are nice keepsakes to have.Phones and keys can be replaced but you put serious effort into getting those t-shirts and the little scumbags will probably just chuck 'em anyway.

Thanks for the warning though.I run up in the park quite a bit and for some reason always feel my car is safe along the main avenue,especially with everything locked in the boot.Will be more cautious from now on!!!

petermijackson

ElectraX wrote: »

I run up in the park quite a bit and for some reason always feel my car is safe along the main avenue,especially with everything locked in the boot.

I would have been of the same opinion, really annoyed by this as I felt that I could just leave car there and go off with out a care in the world for a few hours

chinguetti

Got my car broken into in the War Memorial Gardens in March.

Between the time i left the car and the time someone found my wallet on Conynham Road, it was 15 minutes. Very annoying and spent the whole day trying to sort it out as in car, house keys and wallet. Luckily my winnings from the horses were spent the night before.

Gardai said they were watching my car and not much they can do as they can't watch all cars in the Park. Everything was out of sight but they went straight through the driver's door to the boot.

gogsjogs

Thanks guys,
Interesting about them targeting a few cars together, it makes sense but I would have thought my car was safer with more cars around, obviously not.
Definately going to change my parking spot in the park and arrive ready to run with nothing in boot. Nothing like learning a lesson the hard way!
Popped back to have a look around the park for the bag (I know needle in a hay stack) this evening on way home from work. Saw a woman get out of car on Chesterfield Avenue, open boot and put handbag in - I was straight over to her to warn her!
The more people we can alert and warn about this happening the better.
Safe running!!

G-Money

F*****g scumbags.

Sorry to hear about that OP. I hate scumbags, hopefully they'll get it back ten times worse. I'd have thought Chesterfield avenue in the middle of the day would have been fairly safe. I've only parked in the Phoenix Park twice, the first time was at the Papal cross car park for the OT 5K and the 2nd time was for the Dublin Race series 5 mile. Thankfully didn't have any trouble either time but I'll definitely be giving it a 2nd thought parking there next time.

The last few times I've driven somewhere for a run, I've left nothing in my car at all. I leave the wallet at home and bring a slightly older phone with a rarely used number and I keep my keys on me all the time.

It's so annoying that you have to lock everything down as some useless scumbags decide to break into your car.

shane1981

This tread just reminded me of a night last week when I parked on acres road close to papal car park. Spotted a dodgy lookin guy cruising on a bike, one eye on me, one eye on the parked cars. Wont leave anything in car now except me towel and chocolate milk.

G-Money

I think we should all buy a ravenous rottweiler and leave them in the boot of our cars when we go for a run. The scumbags will get a nasty surprise then

Rebel1234

It's obvious that knackers are basically making a living out of robbing cars in the Phoenix Park. The park wardens and gardai to be fair do patrol the park regularly as any runner who frequents the place will know.
The solution here does not lie with either though but with the OPW.

What the OPW could do is have two large attended car parks ( extend the ones already beside the Zoo and Papal cross ) that are covered by CCTV and overlooked by two security guards in raised viewing huts.

Punters would pay € 2 to park in these car parks for the day and this would generate more revenue than needed to cover the wages and equipment.

As soon as the security guys would see any problems they could have a direct line to the guards and hey presto, problem solved.

This benefits everyone, except the knackers and makes perfect sense without any long term cost to the state, chances of it happening, ZERO !

p.s. Would also be amazing if there was an 8 lane 400m track built in the Park for the public, pay per use, wont hold breath though !

gogsjogs

Love the rottweiler idea G-Money!!
If only something like you suggested Rebel1234 could or would happen - but yeah highly unlikely. It is only with measures such as those that these knackers will be caught/stopped.
I love the fact that the Phoenix Park has so many different areas that people can park close to and go for a walk/run. It's just horrible to think that these knackers are watching people going about their business waiting to pounce.

docjewel

Sorry to hear of your misfortunes op,like you more of a lurker than a poster here but the following is taken from an email that I received from a sales rep that used to call to where I worked,keep.your eyes peeled !!!
“They''. ... have a new way to rob you
now!!! Read on
Wednesday, I approached my truck/
bakkie from the passenger side to place
my computer bag (aka my man purse)
on the front passenger seat. As I
reached to open the door I noticed
there was a hole right under my door
handle. My first thought was, "someone
has shot my truck!" I began to think
about it and inspect it a little closer.
Then the 'light ' slowly began to dawn on
me. I phoned my friend who owns a car
body shop and asked if he had any
vehicles with damage to the doors that
looked like a bullet hole. "Yes, I see it all
the time. Thieves have a punch and
place it right under the door handle,
knock a hole through, reach in and
unlock it, just as if they have a key. No
alarms, broken glass or anything".
I then placed a call to my insurance
agent and explained it to him. I was
puzzled that they left my GPS and all
other belongings. Here is where it gets
scary!
"Oh no", he said. "They want the break-
in to be so subtle that you don't even
realize They look at your GPS to see
where 'home' is. They know what you
drive, so they go to your home and if
your vehicle isn't there, they
assume you aren't either and break in
your home."
He said they even give you the courtesy
of re-locking your doors for you. They
will leave a purse or wallet and only take
one or two credit cards. By the time you
realize
there
has
been a
theft,
they
may
have
already
had a
couple days, or more, to use them. So,
periodically walk around your car; daily -
if you are in a shopping centre or other
parking area. Report thefts
immediately.. ..your bank w/missing
cheque numbers, your credit
card agencies, police, and insurance
companies, etc. And set your GPS home
address for a street nearby. NOT YOUR
ACTUAL HOME

gogsjogs

Very interesting reading your post docjewel as it confirmed a lot of my suspicions. I had my car key with me while running but I took my bunch of house keys off as put them in my gear bag as theyre quite heavy and jingle about when running. These include my own house key and key to my parents house.
The rest of the story went like this yesterday. When I opened boot and saw bag gone I figured they picked the locks as I didnt notice any damage on car but later in the day when I looked closely there was a little bullet hole by the lock exactly like you described and thats how they got in.

I noticed that my drivers licence which is kept in the glove box was in a different place and immediately I thought of my parents house (the address on the licence). There was nobody in the house as they were all in Croke Park, so I went there to stay in the house in case they were gonna break in. About twenty mins into the All Ireland Final (appropriate time as most people watching the game and distracted), a suspicious lookin lad walked by the house, lifted his phone to his ear to make a call as he was walking by, walked down another 4 or so houses then turned around and walked back past house!!
It gets better.....approx another 20 mins later a dodgy van drives slowly by the house with a gang of lads in the back all looking in to house as they drive past. they drove past twice slowly and I bloody wasnt quick enough to get the reg of the van. This freaked me out big time (my boyfriend thinking I was completely overreacting) so he went to shops and bought new locks and changed them.
I was awake every hour last night thinking they may have somehow followed me from the park to my house and were gonna break in but thankfully got locks changed there today (200 euro to do so!).
Honestly though - I thought it was a little bit more than a coincidence!

docjewel

better safe than sorry gogsjogs getting your locks changed,there is a pic with that email I got,I'm on mobile now & can't copy it, but if I can get at a pc tomorrow I'll try & post it up for others to see,hopefully it won't put you off your running though!!!

gogsjogs

It'll take more than those knackers to put me off my running! I'll just make sure I'm one step ahead of them from now on. DCM here we come! I'll be thinking of them as I sprint over the finish line (fingers crossed!)

central park

That was an awful thing to happen. If you are looking for a medium t shirt from the race on Sat, just PM me and I will send you mine, its too big for me anyway and you can have it no problem!

docjewel

For anyone thats interested this is what the "Bullet Hole" looks like
clip_image020.jpg

geld

I have had my car broken into a number of times at Hill run locations such as Ticknock, Sugarloaf etc. What I do now is leave everything at home and leave the boot cover back so that they can see nothing in the boot. It can be a pain at times but touch wood so far so good.

ThisRegard

What a pain in the ass. I thought the park for the most part was a safe place to park. Midweek I would park at the papal cross at lunch times as you would have plenty of pedestrian and tourist traffic plus the ice cream van, weekends along Chesterfield Avenue. Evenings I wouldn't go near the papal cross car park though as you'd get a dodgy element gathering. I have seen broken glass from car windows around the little car park at the bottom of the Kyber too.

G-Money

Or just find out where the scumbags live and go clean our their houses when they're trying to break into cars in the Phoenix Park

Cheeky_gal

violator13 wrote: »

Nasty, ive had my car broken into twice in Malahide car park on my runs. Like you lost a samsung galaxy S plus 2 other phones ,new nike lunars unworn in box, wallet ,purse money satnav etc.

They sit in cars waiting and watching.Usually barrel the locks and away they go.

Are you sure it was Malahide??

Seems very unlikely

ThisRegard

Why ? Because it's Malahide ?

hawkwing

A couple of months ago i know some people that were tag training near the cricket pitches and had cars parked there in the small car park.A few of the cars were broken into and gear bags etc taken--the cars were even in view of them while they were training.Holes were drilled in the doors also.