Thieving *****! What should I do?
Thieving *****! What should I do?
Author
Discussion

nicklonguk

Original Poster:

204 posts

215 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
quotequote all
Just coming down the stairs of my flat this morning, and I saw from my window a guy in his thirties, all in denim, fiddling with the front of my ST220. Ran flat out down the stairs and across the street to collar him - I didn't know what I'd do if I'd actually caught him, as my girlfriend opened the window and shouted "OI!" - so he jumped on his (presumably stolen) bike and scooted off down the road. We live at the top of a hill so once he got going downhill there was no way I'd catch him - for both our sakes, it was probably the best thing as my blood was absolutely boiling. furiousshoot

So, got back to the car - all the screws for the front foglights were undone and there'd been some tugging to try to get them to come out, think a minute or two later and he'd have been off with them.

In the last 2 months I've had all my roof rack covers, my jacking point covers, pinched from the car in separate incidents, and now this! What the hell is going on? I thought the ST220 was meant to be relatively rare, surely these bits of trim don't fit onto every other mondeo?

Any tips on what I can do? I'm still renting but live in a nice area - apparently with one of the lowest crime rates in the country - so moving out isn't really an idea, and parking on the street is unfortunately the only option. Apart from trying to wire up every screw to the car battery so the ****er gets a shock (joke), any tips on securing bits of desirable (!?) trim to your car?

It's getting beyond a joke, it's like someone's building an ST220 to order somewhere and has decided to use my car as a christmas tree vehicle.

gonzales

591 posts

241 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
quotequote all
nicklonguk said:
Apart from trying to wire up every screw to the car battery so the ****er gets a shock
If it was me I would consider this an option.

Rawwr

22,722 posts

264 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
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Do what I do, just don't have nice things. There's no point these days, someone will either steal it or damage it to teach you a lesson about being posh or something.

GPT

2,744 posts

210 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
quotequote all
Tamper proof screws?

anonymous-user

84 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
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I'm afraid it looks like they are stealing your mondeo piece by piece. Probably a Jonny Cash fan... "one piece at a time"

Robb F

4,614 posts

201 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
quotequote all
proximity alarm?

Morningside

24,147 posts

259 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
quotequote all
Or
Some alarm systems allow a loop wire that goes through your accessories.


bazking69

8,620 posts

220 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
quotequote all
Move or change your car. Seriously. He'll be back.

On a similar note, a customer of hers had both the sideskirts stolen off her MGZR recently. Probably to go with the foglamps and mirror covers they stole last month. And as if that wasn't bad enough they decided to vandalise the car while there the second time. And she lives in a quiet cul-del-sac in a nice area...

bazking69

8,620 posts

220 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
quotequote all
Don't forget to keep an eye out for local cars, as well as browsing ebay for ST220 parts in your area.

Never underestimate the utter stupidity of the thief....

off_again

13,917 posts

264 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
quotequote all
Like someone said - he'll be back.

Unfortunately I contributed to the local chav community by 'donating' CTR badges. One got nicked, I replaced it. It got nicked again, I replaced again. Happened a quite a few times and all in different locations. OK, its was a tenner's worth of badge, but it was the stupidity that annoyed me - just go to the local Honda dealer and buy a brand new badge complete with sticky stuff and no scratches....

Gave up in the end. Stopped replacing the badges and sold the car. Shame. Current GTI has no badges at all to steal.

Deva Link

26,934 posts

275 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
It's nothing new - stealing the rear lamp lenses was common when I had my MkIII Cortina 35 years ago, as they used to fade. Then it was wheel trims, then trim rings.

Dog Star

17,628 posts

198 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
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A mate of mine keeps his GFs A4 outside on the street and it's just been joined by his new company C Class.

GFs car a few weeks ago had wheel centres, rad grille and towing eye cover stolen. Then last week he had his drivers side mirror nicked.

It's getting silly.

Carfiend

3,186 posts

239 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
quotequote all
Stake out and wait for the fecker to come back, then shoot them, cover the body in lime, wrap it in a carpet and bury it in a wood about 150 miles away.

No one will miss the scumbag, well no one worth worrying about.

MacW

1,351 posts

206 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
quotequote all
Carfiend said:
Stake out and wait for the fecker to come back, then shoot them, cover the body in lime, wrap it in a carpet and bury it in a wood about 150 miles away.

No one will miss the scumbag, well no one worth worrying about.
This gets my vote, but then I have been accused of being ever so slightly right wing in the past.

Gareth79

9,108 posts

276 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
quotequote all
bazking69 said:
Don't forget to keep an eye out for local cars, as well as browsing ebay for ST220 parts in your area.

Never underestimate the utter stupidity of the thief....
A number of years ago somebody posted on a forum that they visited the UK in their nearly-new Focus RS (LHD) and it was stolen, and found nearby as a shell with all the nice bits removed. Another forum user later found a load of Focus RS bits on ebay in the same location (Windsor), all clearly LHD (bumper lamps, wear on seats etc). Never found out the outcome unfortunately!

Graham E

13,018 posts

216 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
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Buy an air rifle. Shoot him in the neck. Then play the start of the casualty tune.
HTH

Harry Flashman

21,912 posts

272 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
quotequote all
Carfiend said:
Stake out and wait for the fecker to come back, then shoot them, cover the body in lime, wrap it in a carpet and bury it in a wood about 150 miles away.

No one will miss the scumbag, well no one worth worrying about.
This, but use piano wire. It's quieter, and more satisfying.

anonymous-user

84 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
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might look a bit suspicious buying so many limes in tescos.

Munkeyfeet

469 posts

210 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
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Robb F said:
proximity alarm?
This - I had one on my williams clio when they first came out 10 or so years ago - stopped it being stolen on 5 occasions as you cant stop the "chirp" - animals dont set it off so if you hear it - someone is next to it!! If you are on the road then you might have a few false alarms, but better that than having parts stolen from it!

Keep a baseball bat/golf club/hockey stick by the front door to wave manically as you shout like a demented idiot and they wont bother again.

Superhoop

4,918 posts

223 months

Wednesday 19th May 2010
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Going back a few years, this sort of thing was common on the Series 1 RS Turbo. There was a towing eye cover on the lower front spoiler, which became obsolete from Ford. It was quite common for them to either get damaged, or just fall off - As you couldn't get a replacement, theft of them became commonplace.

It may be that the parts are no longer available, hence the theft, as obviously this makes them more valuable....

Although it's more likely that a local chav is making an ST220 replica out of his 1.8lx