Tag: transit van
CCTV Catches Van Thieves, Still “Isn’t Enough”
Van theft is a problem that affects trades people around the UK, but even when you catch them in the act via CCTV it still “isn’t enough” for Police.
Take Chris Webb for example, an electrician who was innocently sat at home watching TV with his family…completely unaware that just metres away on his driveway van thieves were striking, and in minutes his van would be gone.
Unfortunately, Chris was unaware of what happened, until he went out the next morning to get in his van, only to find an empty space.
It was a £10,000 Ford Transit Sport that had vanished into the night, but to make matters even worse, £5000 worth of Bosch power tools also went in the theft, which means Chris is now £15,000 out of pocket.
You might be wondering how these criminals can break in to vans so quickly and quietly? As I’ve talked about before, it’s these “magic keys” that are becoming popular among thieves, that unlock a lot of Ford vans and can be purchased online for around £20. Ford say they are doing something about it, but many people remain unconvinced.
What about the Police, are they doing something about Chris Webb’s stolen van? Well, despite the fact he has the thieves caught on CCTV with a lot of clear footage it appears they are not really that bothered.
According to Chris, he phoned the Police immediately once he realised the van had been stolen but it took then 2 days to even ring back.
When he eventually did get to speak with an officer Chris mentioned about the CCTV footage which he was told to send over to the station. However, since that time nothing has been done and a spokesperson for the Police has said they cannot view the material and want it to be sent again.
I’m sure the Police do their best in situations like this, but it is frustrating when they don’t seem to be doing enough especially when the victim has clear CCTV footage.
The £10,000 Ford Transit Sport van should be covered by his insurance. Unfortunately, his power tools were not on the insurance, which means he has started to buy replacement tools at a cost of £1500 so far.
This is why I always advise van drivers, make sure your tools are not kept in the van overnight, or you could also insure your tools at extra cost, especially if you keep £5000 or more of power tools in the van.
One of the reasons why van insurance is getting more expensive is because van theft is a real problem. Everybody needs to be doing their part to stop it…van manufactures, van drivers, the insurance companies, and the Police. Together we can beat the criminals.
Van Driver Takes on a Lamborghini…And Wins!
Typically you will find van drivers going about their everyday business and obeying the speed limits…not racing a Lamborghini. Well, it happened.
The moment a wannabe Lewis Hamilton (in a van) decided to go up against the £150,000 Lamborghini sports car was actually caught on video by a passer-by with his mobile phone in Altrincham, Manchester.
It appears the transit van went up against the luxury sports car through 3 sets of traffic lights, before finally coming out as victorious. I’m sure this is a video the Lamborghini owner doesn’t want to be seen.
However, it has quickly become a hit on the internet, with thousands of views and hundreds of comments so far about the incident.
What seems to have happened is that at first, the sports car took the lead with an initial burst of power and acceleration you would expect from such a machine.
The traffic lights put a limit on how far the car could go though, which no doubt frustrated the driver because he couldn’t get out of second gear and also got stuck in a bit of traffic.
The van driver had no such problems. He kept his cool and used all of his van drivers knowledge about road driving and dealing with traffic lights to come out as the winner.
So that is 1 – 0 to the van driver, although I don’t think that would be the case if they took to a race track or had a clear stretch of road. I reckon the Lamborghini might just get ahead if they had those kind of conditions.
Let’s just hope that this particular van driver had the appropriate van insurance and that he didn’t break any speed limits or laws of the road.
I’m sure a Police officer wouldn’t be too impressed if he saw a van and Lamborghini racing down the street, even if it was only from traffic light to traffic light without any real dangerous manoeuvrers
For any one thinking about getting into transit van racing just be aware that van insurance companies don’t like this kind of activity either, and if something happens while you are racing then don’t be surprised if you can’t make a claim.
Not only that, but if you decide to install telematics in a bid to get cheaper van insurance, then your driving style will be monitored, and if you come across as a bit of wannabe racing driver in the data, then you could just find yourself with even more expensive insurance.
