Theft from Aire

[Amarillo]

Overnight my trousers (with house keys, van keys, bike keys (which are locked onto our bike rack) wallet and used handkerchief) were stollen from the front seat of our locked van (which must have been unlocked).

I have searched the aire for my stolen trousers, in all the poubelles, ladies, gents and disabled toilets, over fences and hedges, under bushes. They are gone…

Clare has a spare car key, and we have a second spare hidden on the van, and Clare has her cards, but getting the bikes of the bike rack will be difficult.

I called Lloyds and cancelled my debit and credit card. I went online with Santander and cancelled my card on our joint account, they automatically reactivated my ApplePay card. I tried to figure out how to cancel my TSB business debit card, and walked towards the back of our van, and there, neatly rolled up on the bike rack, were my trousers, complete with all keys, Meg’s poo bags and my wallet. My handkerchief is missing, £15 from my wallet, a tiny amount of Chinese money (maybe 15 fen ~1.5 pence). Some loose change has gone, and my slightly used handkerchief.

Now that is what I call the right kind of thief. £15, loose change, a handkerchief and some Fen is a fair price for a lesson learned.

But maybe we were gassed.

 

[The Tall Luthier]

That's a terrible lesson to learn Amarillo, I'm glad to hear that everyone is safe. That must of been a damn nice pair of trousers for the thief to keep them!

Very doubtful about the Gassing, I think it was debunked on this forum a while back. Had they have gassed and made a racket breaking in, I suspect they may have taken more than just your troos and a hankie!

 

[66tim99]

Overnight my trousers (with house keys, van keys, bike keys (which are locked onto our bike rack) wallet and used handkerchief) were stollen from the front seat of our locked van (which must have been unlocked).

I have searched the aire for my stolen trousers, in all the poubelles, ladies, gents and disabled toilets, over fences and hedges, under bushes. They are gone…

Clare has a spare car key, and we have a second spare hidden on the van, and Clare has her cards, but getting the bikes of the bike rack will be difficult.

I called Lloyds and cancelled my debit and credit card. I went online with Santander and cancelled my card on our joint account, they automatically reactivated my ApplePay card. I tried to figure out how to cancel my TSB business debit card, and walked towards the back of our van, and there, neatly rolled up on the bike rack, were my trousers, complete with all keys, Meg’s poo bags and my wallet. My handkerchief is missing, £15 from my wallet, a tiny amount of Chinese money (maybe 15 fen ~1.5 pence). Some loose change has gone, and my slightly used handkerchief.

Now that is what I call the right kind of thief. £15, loose change, a handkerchief and some Fen is a fair price for a lesson learned.

But maybe we were gassed.

Great end to what could have been a much more painful story.
A very cheeky thief (to enter a camper at night) with a conscience. Surely a rare breed…?

 

[larrylamb]

Not nice experience but that's a lot of hassle saved in the end. I guess keys and wallets etc need relocating to a proper safe space. The wallet seems to have been the main target for easy pickings. We are generally very trusting leaving stuff in the van whilst popping off for a shower etc.

 

[Jester]

A lesson to us all, sorry for you, but easily done. hope you get sorted.

 

[Corradobrit]

Are the Flick investigating the missing handkerchief? Next time wear a gas mask to bed.
Glad it all worked out albeit going through the hassle of cancelling the cards. As you say lesson learned.
Generally speaking I find the French fairly reliable. Had to leave my Cali in the outside long stay parking at Orly Airport in Paris for 4 days last weekend and I have to say I lost some sleep. Arrived back at 11pm from Portugal and nothing had been disturbed. Even the spare wheel was left untouched.

 

[Amarillo]

That's a terrible lesson to learn Amarillo, I'm glad to hear that everyone is safe. That must of been a damn nice pair of trousers for the thief to keep them!

Very doubtful about the Gassing, I think it was debunked on this forum a while back. Had they have gassed and made a racket breaking in, I suspect they may have taken more than just your troos and a hankie!

The trousers were returned. My snotty handkerchief was returned.

Clare has an alternate theory.

The Aire was filled with 30-40 HGVs and their snoring drivers. There was even a motorway service van and driver guarding the car bay from errant HGV drivers parking there.

Clare thinks that someone found my riffled trousers in a toilet cubicle (where else would a thief go to delve into a stranger’s pockets) realised they must belong to an Englishman, and searched out our van by the registration, neatly rolling my trousers up and putting them on the bike rack instead of disturbing us from our slumber.

While I don’t think Clare has the complete story, I think she might be right that someone other than the handkerchief thief returned my trousers.

Or maybe there is such a thing as a thief with a moral conscience.

 

[GrannyJen]

Damn!!

Last time I was gassed I woke up to find a pair of trousers and used snotrag on my passenger seat

Hope all is well Tom xx

 

[Amarillo]

Damn!!

Last time I was gassed I woke up to find a pair of trousers and used snotrag on my passenger seat

Hope all is well Tom xx

£15 is a price worth paying for a “wake up call”.

Meg was snoozing on the front passenger seat with my trousers on the driver’s seat. I even photographed the lazy bitch (I think I’m allowed to say that of a sleeping female dog).

All is well, and I’ve even withdrawn €300 cash from a machine with my TSB business card which was next on my list to cancel. So we have holiday cash.

And the weather forecast couldn’t be better…

 

[Iron Van]

Glad that everything turned out okay. Just a thought, it seems like a lot of risk for someone to take, especially if they could see a sleeping dog. Is there no way that the trousers could have fallen out of the van as you prepped for the night, and some nice person picked them up and put them on your bike rack?

 

[2into1]

Have you checked the portal potti contents are safe and sound?

 

[Californication69]

Are you sure you didn’t spend the £15 and forgot to make a note on your phone ?

 

[Vagophile]

Have you checked the portal potti contents are safe and sound?

He doesn't fill it with wine on the outward journey.

 

[Vagophile]

A perplexing story, but as you say, a lesson learned without too much harm being done.
It's remarkable that your trousers could be removed without disturbing the dog. Also comment that I'm surprised that you didn't make a circuit of the van and discover your trousers before taking steps to cancel all of your cards.
It's good that you are able to continue, but it's a bummer that it's not possible to assume that any park-up location is safe.
Have a good onward journey.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Glad that everything turned out okay. Just a thought, it seems like a lot of risk for someone to take, especially if they could see a sleeping dog. Is there no way that the trousers could have fallen out of the van as you prepped for the night, and some nice person picked them up and put them on your bike rack?

That sounds about right.
Bloody good bunch those French fellas.
As for the £15 and a used hanky in a motorway stop…???
Hmm…

 

[Amarillo]

A perplexing story, but as you say, a lesson learned without too much harm being done.
It's remarkable that your trousers could be removed without disturbing the dog. Also comment that I'm surprised that you didn't make a circuit of the van and discover your trousers before taking steps to cancel all of your cards.
It's good that you are able to continue, but it's a bummer that it's not possible to assume that any park-up location is safe.
Have a good onward journey.

I did a circuit of the van, but didn’t notice them nicely rolled up and on the rack below the bikes. It wasn’t until I walked back to the van to try to work out how we’d get the bikes off that I noticed them there.

After searching the toilets, poubelles and surround my next priority was to cancel the cards.

Clare was last into the van, was irritated by my trousers on the chair, had trouble closing the drivers door, and says she checked the dashboard to see it was closed. But had the door been open for a while the dashboard display would have gone off anyway. So the theory that they had fallen on the ground outside the door, and some chancer picked them up, rifled the pockets, then rolled them up and placed them on the rack is entirely plausible. But as far as I’m concerned- the blame lies entirely with me and not Clare in any way, shape or form.

 

[Californication69]

. But as far as I’m concerned- the blame lies entirely with me and not Clare in any way, shape or form.

Always the best answer…

 

[Wannabecamperman]

I did a circuit of the van, but didn’t notice them nicely rolled up and on the rack below the bikes. It wasn’t until I walked back to the van to try to work out how we’d get the bikes off that I noticed them there.

After searching the toilets, poubelles and surround my next priority was to cancel the cards.

Clare was last into the van, was irritated by my trousers on the chair, had trouble closing the drivers door, and says she checked the dashboard to see it was closed. But had the door been open for a while the dashboard display would have gone off anyway. So the theory that they had fallen on the ground outside the door, and some chancer picked them up, rifled the pockets, then rolled them up and placed them on the rack is entirely plausible. But as far as I’m concerned- the blame lies entirely with me and not Clare in any way, shape or form.

Happy wife, happy life. Never a truer word said in my book.

 

[Lambeth Cali]

I can’t help feeling there’s a 4th version of this story coming.

“Latest thoughts, I went to sleep wearing the trousers….”

 

[California Rob]

And thats why im so glad my wife wears the trouser in my house/van

 

[pluc99]

I'm confused by the lesson learned part... what exactly did we learn?

 

[soulstyledevon]

I'm confused by the lesson learned part... what exactly did we learn?

Amarillo can’t remember where he left his trousers …

 

[Amarillo]

I'm confused by the lesson learned part... what exactly did we learn?

Doh… not to leave a soiled hanky in your trouser pocket if there is any likelihood of your trousers being stolen.

 

[kurienp]

Na, it was Meg. She could not stand the smell of the snotty handkerchief possibly. Decided to put it as far away as possible from her sleeping quarters.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[Californication69]

Doh… not to leave a soiled hanky in your trouser pocket if there is any likelihood of your trousers being stolen.

I think you should, leave lots of manky, crusty, and strange things in bags, left in your trouser pockets, so when they’re pinched, the tea leaf thinks twice about putting his hands in anyone’s trouser pockets again