Should I be worried about “jawas?”
Discussion
Hello, all,
This will be my first Le Mans. Friend and I are travelling down in our cars and staying at the PH / 1st tickets site in BSJ. We’ll be staying the Sunday night then taking a leisurely drive back on Monday. I’ll be driving down in my Caterham, which doesn’t exactly provide secure storage! I’ve been doing doing some research and have read about the “jawas” who descend on the campsites from Sunday afternoon and apparently hoover up anything that’s not nailed down. Do I need to be concerned about this in the PH site? It states there is security; will this remain in place until Monday or do they pack up Sunday afternoon/evening. I’m wondering whether I need to invest in those lockable nets to keep my stuff locked to the car!
Thanks for any advice!
This will be my first Le Mans. Friend and I are travelling down in our cars and staying at the PH / 1st tickets site in BSJ. We’ll be staying the Sunday night then taking a leisurely drive back on Monday. I’ll be driving down in my Caterham, which doesn’t exactly provide secure storage! I’ve been doing doing some research and have read about the “jawas” who descend on the campsites from Sunday afternoon and apparently hoover up anything that’s not nailed down. Do I need to be concerned about this in the PH site? It states there is security; will this remain in place until Monday or do they pack up Sunday afternoon/evening. I’m wondering whether I need to invest in those lockable nets to keep my stuff locked to the car!
Thanks for any advice!
I've used 1st Tickets since 2013 and they operate a well run site IMO. Sunday night is a great night with a good number of people still at camp enjoying one last night of laughs before most return to home on the Monday - security is just as tight that evening and some people are up early on the Monday as well to catch early ferries home.
I’ve never had an issue in a secure campsite. I’ve used various and most recently PH/1st tickets. They always have security who are very active. PH are now in Beausejour on the old Speed Chills site which I have stayed at and that was a secure site as well. It’s the public spaces that are more likely to have issues and you will need to secure things but not the secure sites.
In my 18 visits we had a few things stolen, but that was during the week. I have no experiance with the organized campsites.
A crate of food, coffee and beer from out partytent, we were sleeping next to it.
A weber 57 BBQ that was still verry hot, it is good for them my crew did not find them.
One of my mates wallet got stolen in the Village and he was skimmed. They used his card to withdrawl money from his account.
Be carefull of your stuff, we try to tie everything down or lock it up in the car.
Why can people not keep their hands of other peoples things, but It still is the greatest event of the year...
A crate of food, coffee and beer from out partytent, we were sleeping next to it.
A weber 57 BBQ that was still verry hot, it is good for them my crew did not find them.
One of my mates wallet got stolen in the Village and he was skimmed. They used his card to withdrawl money from his account.
Be carefull of your stuff, we try to tie everything down or lock it up in the car.
Why can people not keep their hands of other peoples things, but It still is the greatest event of the year...
The 1st Tickets Site is fenced off with wristband only access.
If you have valuables, monetary or sentimental that you are still concerned about, I would suggest asking a "neighbour" to put them in their car boot.
There'll be plenty willing to do that for you.
I was at the Classic last time and had no problems.
However a mate camping in the open part of the site came to chat through the 1st Tickets fencing and simply lifted the fence section single handedly and showed how easy it would be for just a couple of people to enter if they were determined.
Everything has a level of risk - I suggest the neighbour boot option as the best way to protect your valuables.
Hope this helps you work out the best way forward.
It's an event with 300,000 random people attending so yes there will be some crime but only on a par with similar events like Glastonbury. Provided you don't switch your brain off completely you're unlikely to have any issues, hell it's unlikely even if you do switch off.
Specifically WRT the Sunday recyclers, you're on a private site so will have security through Monday so won't have any issues. Even if you're on a public site it's unlikely and my personal experience is they only desend on clearly abandoned stuff. Hell, one year there was a pile of kit only near, not even next to our pitches and the wandered over and asked if it was OK to take it before they touched it!
In fact the only losses we've had was I think a box of beers we'd used as an anchor point for the gazebo, then headed in to town for the driver's parade and we wrote that one down as "Well what did you think was going to happen, leaving a box of beer out in the open on an empty camping pitch?".
Specifically WRT the Sunday recyclers, you're on a private site so will have security through Monday so won't have any issues. Even if you're on a public site it's unlikely and my personal experience is they only desend on clearly abandoned stuff. Hell, one year there was a pile of kit only near, not even next to our pitches and the wandered over and asked if it was OK to take it before they touched it!
In fact the only losses we've had was I think a box of beers we'd used as an anchor point for the gazebo, then headed in to town for the driver's parade and we wrote that one down as "Well what did you think was going to happen, leaving a box of beer out in the open on an empty camping pitch?".
Epinettes had security till Monday last year, no real issues there apart from someone Sunday night trying to collect beer cups from across the way. They got chased off by a Brit who took exception to them.
I got skimmed on the Thursday or Friday to the tune of almost $4, 000 in 6 transactions, got that back from Visa. I have now opened N24 as a travel account with text messages now, so will lock away the regular CC and bank ones just in case.
I got skimmed on the Thursday or Friday to the tune of almost $4, 000 in 6 transactions, got that back from Visa. I have now opened N24 as a travel account with text messages now, so will lock away the regular CC and bank ones just in case.
t (literally - he had a rather upset stomach thanks to the meat/alcohol based weekend diet) covered shirt when we went a few years ago, but bizarrely left the packed up tent next to it!I had 2 bikes stolen from Houx about 6 years ago. My fault , they were locked to a fairly sturdy tree outside our camper van but the locks weren’t up to much and they were cut during the night. Luckily insurance paid up but it’s a lesson learned. I’ve been camping every year since 2008 and those are the only things I’ve lost.
I’ve heard about plenty of other thefts including a spate of mobile phones and wallets which were traced to a tent owned by a bunch of local scallywags.
It must have been a fancy tent because the story I heard was that during the recovery of the stolen items, the owner of the tent suffered a fall down the stairs which left him a little bruised.
I’ve heard about plenty of other thefts including a spate of mobile phones and wallets which were traced to a tent owned by a bunch of local scallywags.
It must have been a fancy tent because the story I heard was that during the recovery of the stolen items, the owner of the tent suffered a fall down the stairs which left him a little bruised.
Bluegoose59 said:
Epinettes had security till Monday last year...
You sure about that?It's a common misconception but the public campsites don't have 'security', there keep you secure they only have 'ticket inspectors', there to stop people driving in and camping without having first paid for a camping ticket.
OK, this would stop a random scally driving into the campsite, loading their car with loot, and driving off again. Well not unless they were willing to invest ~€80 in a camping ticket, at which point they could drive in and out with as many loads of loot as they wanted - or just walk in and out with arm fulls.
Over 20 years I've:
- Never had any issues with the Sunday recyclers.
- Had only minor issues with people walking through the campsites during the week/weekend.
- Seen some very apologetic French window lickers readily empty their wallets to reimburse someone for damaging their tent with their fireworks. OK they weren't that apologetic or keen when their firework landed on what they thought was an empty tent. Things changed when 4 tree sized Danes emerged from what turned out to NOT be an empty tent. This happened next to the Speed Chills site I was on that year and our multilingual security guy stepped in to translate, basically saying to the French "They guys are VERY upset with you. If you give them all the cash you have on you to them I can talk them into forgetting about it. If you don't, well I'm going on a break so I don't witness what happens next..."
//j17 said:
You sure about that?
It's a common misconception but the public campsites don't have 'security', there keep you secure they only have 'ticket inspectors', there to stop people driving in and camping without having first paid for a camping ticket.
OK, this would stop a random scally driving into the campsite, loading their car with loot, and driving off again. Well not unless they were willing to invest ~ 80 in a camping ticket, at which point they could drive in and out with as many loads of loot as they wanted - or just walk in and out with arm fulls.
Over 20 years I've:
- Never had any issues with the Sunday recyclers.
- Had only minor issues with people walking through the campsites during the week/weekend.
- Seen some very apologetic French window lickers readily empty their wallets to reimburse someone for damaging their tent with their fireworks. OK they weren't that apologetic or keen when their firework landed on what they thought was an empty tent. Things changed when 4 tree sized Danes emerged from what turned out to NOT be an empty tent. This happened next to the Speed Chills site I was on that year and our multilingual security guy stepped in to translate, basically saying to the French "They guys are VERY upset with you. If you give them all the cash you have on you to them I can talk them into forgetting about it. If you don't, well I'm going on a break so I don't witness what happens next..."
They were in a cabin at the gate; there were some issues with excessive noise across from us, Both Brits and French having parties Thursday night, security had a word with them that Eurodisco was not acceptable till 4am and they would keep checking over the weekend which they did. The noise did not really bother us, but a fair few reported them round us. The French guys thought we were very resilient given we are in our mid 60's.It's a common misconception but the public campsites don't have 'security', there keep you secure they only have 'ticket inspectors', there to stop people driving in and camping without having first paid for a camping ticket.
OK, this would stop a random scally driving into the campsite, loading their car with loot, and driving off again. Well not unless they were willing to invest ~ 80 in a camping ticket, at which point they could drive in and out with as many loads of loot as they wanted - or just walk in and out with arm fulls.
Over 20 years I've:
- Never had any issues with the Sunday recyclers.
- Had only minor issues with people walking through the campsites during the week/weekend.
- Seen some very apologetic French window lickers readily empty their wallets to reimburse someone for damaging their tent with their fireworks. OK they weren't that apologetic or keen when their firework landed on what they thought was an empty tent. Things changed when 4 tree sized Danes emerged from what turned out to NOT be an empty tent. This happened next to the Speed Chills site I was on that year and our multilingual security guy stepped in to translate, basically saying to the French "They guys are VERY upset with you. If you give them all the cash you have on you to them I can talk them into forgetting about it. If you don't, well I'm going on a break so I don't witness what happens next..."
We also had a couple of people trip outside our tent which needed an ambulance two nights running.
We are in the same site this year, so will keep an eye out for them and make sure we have some distance from them if we see them this year and not on the main roadside.
//j17 said:
You sure about that?
It's a common misconception but the public campsites don't have 'security', there keep you secure they only have 'ticket inspectors', there to stop people driving in and camping without having first paid for a camping ticket.
I'm not sure how it is on other sites these days, but Mulsanne Corner has Security Guards, alongside the 'ticket inspectors'. It's a common misconception but the public campsites don't have 'security', there keep you secure they only have 'ticket inspectors', there to stop people driving in and camping without having first paid for a camping ticket.
Forums | Le Mans | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff