car break ins Dublin/Wicklow mountains

masculinist

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

into_the_wild

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

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