Another one is of course fake valet services, where people stand at the entrance to a car park in a fluorescent jacket and say that they are part of the free service, then drive off to your house by using the satnav's 'home' location.

I think the scariest one is that there have been a couple of women in my area who have stopped at petrol stations and while they are paying, men have jumped into the boot or the back seat, jumping out on a country road and mugging the woman then chucking her out of the car and driving off. Petrol station staff are being really cautious about it now, keeping an eye out on the cars all the time...

I think everyone here knows my soution to this problem.

Originally Posted by Tantal

I think everyone here knows my soution to this problem.

But blood stains can be hell to get out of leather though Tantal

Good advice. Cheers.

Well, that's surprisingly creative.

FWIW my own daughter was a victim of a carjacking earlier this year just a few weeks after she'd got a brand new car, which is really why I posted the original message. She'd pulled up at a road junction when there was a slight tap at the back of her car; she looked in the mirror and saw an Afro-Caribbean girl, who appeared to be on her own, getting out of the car behind. Now she's a sensible girl and knows full well that these things happen, but thinking the driver behind was both female and on her own, she got out of her own car to see what had happened. Within seconds another Afro-Caribbean lad ran up from behind her, pushed her out of the way and jumped in her car, whilst a third lad, also black, had got up from where he was crouching out of sight in the car behind, got behind the wheel and got ready to drive off after picking up the original girl.

The whole thing happened within less than 20 seconds, but fortunately my daughter was unhurt, and her car was fitted with an anti-carjacking device which turned on about half a mile down the road, bringing the engine revs down to just a tick-over and triggered both the car alarm siren and the headlights. In the meanwhile she'd phoned 999 from her mobile and coincidentally a police patrol car was very close by and they caught the three people concerned almost immediately, with no damage done to her car. These people had obviously been driving around the area, waiting for a suitable 'victim', and in this case my daughter was it; a young girl driving a new sports car, and had 'refined' their technique to make it seem far less threatening, i.e., just another young female driver involved.

But what really pissed me off more than anything was that all three criminals got no more than community service for their actions, free to carry on doing exactly the same thing again the very next day! I wonder how many other cars they managed to get away with, or how many other drivers suffered far more trauma than my daughter did; she'd forgotten the whole thing within days.

I think the most concerning was the incident where criminals used sirens at night to pull over a group of women... That is very concerning.

It is nearly 20 years now since I left Britain, and I really can NOT believe the difference in the place I am reading on web sites.

That is not to say I do not believe what is written, rather I can not believe how BAD it has got there.

The place sounds like South Africa or something. It was once such a great place.

Originally Posted by Tacitus

It is nearly 20 years now since I left Britain, and I really can NOT believe the difference in the place I am reading on web sites.

That is not to say I do not believe what is written, rather I can not believe how BAD it has got there.

The place sounds like South Africa or something. It was once such a great place.

To be fair, these things don't exactly happen all the time. Most people haven't been victims of horrendous scarring crime and most people haven't been gang raped by Somalians. We do have two things that appear to exacerbate PERCEIVED crime - a nanny government and a hyperactive press with a wild imagination. One issues wild and wonderful statements about how Polish people are having sex with our income tax and stealing our wives and the other tries to give out warnings and enforce laws that limit us entirely and criminalise half the country.

This thread is an exception - Midas' original post is a very useful heads up.

Originally Posted by DougieG

To be fair, these things don't exactly happen all the time. Most people haven't been victims of horrendous scarring crime and most people haven't been gang raped by Somalians.

I apprieciate that. I was a copper there, both civil (Liverpool) and Military, I am now a civil copper here and am Military (navy) police in the reserve (Same as your Royal Navy Reserve But we have full police powers here). But is it a case of more being reported, or more happening?

From what my old collegues tell me, they are now run off their feet with such, which we were not in the 80s. So...

Originally Posted by Tacitus

I apprieciate that. I was a copper there, both civil (Liverpool) and Military, I am now a civil copper here and am Military (navy) police in the reserve (Same as your Royal Navy Reserve But we have full police powers here). But is it a case of more being reported, or more happening?

From what my old collegues tell me, they are now run off their feet with such, which we were not in the 80s. So...

Too much paper work restricts / demotivates police and the government spending money on Community support officers instead of real police doesnt help either.

Originally Posted by Midas

But blood stains can be hell to get out of leather though Tantal

Actually, it comes off of leather quite easily......it's the carpet that's a bugger to clean.

Originally Posted by Midas

Just sent to me by my magistrate friend, forwarded on from one of the police intranets:-

WARNING FROM POLICE

BEWARE OF PAPER ON THE BACK WINDOW OF YOUR VEHICLE - NEW WAY TO DO CAR JACKINGS (NOT A JOKE)

You walk across the car park, unlock your car and get inside. You start the engine put it into reverse.

When you look into the rear view mirror to back out of your space, you notice a piece of paper stuck to the middle of the rear window.

You stop and jump out of your car to remove that paper (or whatever it is) that is obstructing your view.

When you reach the back of your car, the car jackers appear out of nowhere, jump into your car and take off.

If you’re female, it’s likely that your handbag is in the car so the car jacker also has your home address, your money and the keys to your home.

SO……………..

If you see a piece of paper stuck to your back window, lock your doors and just drive away. Remove the paper later.

Many thanks. But if the courts dealt with these parasites who think they have a right to help themselves to our cars, and other property, more severely, it wouldn"t be necessary to issue warnings like this. Thanks again, through.