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Stuart-



Member Since: 16 Dec 2017
Location: England
Posts: 241

United Kingdom 2017 Range Rover Autobiography SDV8 Santorini Black
Attempted Theft of RR Sport at Manchester Airport Car Park

**I put this on the RRS site, but I thought it had value here too as a cautionary tale **

We recently cleared off abroad for the week, and arrived at Manchester Airport to go in the long stay and it was full. This meant I had to instead use the short stay - £45 a day - thanks! Big Cry - right adjacent to Terminal One departures. I put the car right at the very top in the open air near the lifts, one would imagine there are many cameras and it's reasonably secure. It isn't!

When we came back, I approached the car and unlocked it as normal, and immediately noticed it had been ransacked. The pull off panel under the steering column was on the floor, glove boxes open, centre console and tray out, and all the floor mats disturbed. The last one there had me scratching my head till I twigged why. What could be under the floor mats?

Also, the housing around the rear view mirror had been loosened and disturbed.

Nothing much seemed to have been stolen, even CDs etc were left (maybe my wife's taste in music they didn't like - the car is hers now), the only thing I can find missing is a spare new brake light switch that I had in the glove box. The car started fine and drove home OK.

I wasn't sure at first if it was an attempted theft or casual speculative thievery of bits and bobs. However, I found the article >here< that says this:

Quote:
Paper tickets will be scrapped and replaced with ‘chip coins’ – containing data captured from cameras at the barriers.

The system will automatically log the car’s registration plate and time of arrival.

The aim is to end a so-called ‘shuffling’ scam in which cars are left in the airport’s short-stay car parks but the substantial fees are dodged –leaving crooks paying as little as £2.20 for a fortnight’s parking.


It seems to get a car out of there you now need the original token! I suppose many people leave it in the car in case they lose it while away. I dont - I take them with me so I can pay on the way back to the car. That is the only thing I can think of that would cause thieves to look under the floor mats. If they can find the token, they can go and pay the bill in cash and drive the car out and the theft wont be detected till the holiday maker returns. They can break it for spares or ring it at their leisure this way safe in the knowledge it wont be immediately missed, reported or tracker activated.

It does leave several questions though:
    How did they open the car without damaging it?
    What is in the rear view mirror? Something alarm related perhaps?
    How were they going to steal it without an ignition key?
    What were they going for under the panel below the steering wheel? Do people stash stuff there?
    If they nicked a new brake light switch it means they knew what it was and had use for it. So it seems we have some clued up RRS thieves on the manor.

I think if the token had have been in the car I'd have lost it. So the moral of the story is: Don't leave your token in the car in airport car parks!

Any thoughts, musings or theories? 2017 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography in black
2018 D300 SE Velar in champagne
Spiffing wheel centre caps available

Post #480788 12th Jun 2018 5:43pm
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Andy S



Member Since: 16 Jun 2013
Location: Sevenoaks
Posts: 944

United Kingdom 2015 Range Rover Vogue SE SDV8 Aintree Green

A cautionary tale which reinforces why I always take a cab to the airport. I’ve haven’t used an airport carpark in years after hearing stories from friends about cars being dinged, vandalised or stolen. If I had a scuzzy Kia or similar maybe I wouldn’t worry, but a £60k + car? No way would that be left in an airport car park for even an hour.

Post #480792 12th Jun 2018 6:31pm
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