Aggresive Theft of R32 - Chassis No VW1J3D023053

[Hopsta]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, was posted on TS.net

Just found this message on the Evo Forum, and thought I would pass the message on.

Please take the time to read this.

I want to warn people out there about an incident this morning. I took delivery of a Silver R32 Golf (brand new) on Thursday evening. At 4am Friday morning, my neighbours were awoken by noises and saw a couple of lads looking over the car and testing my door.

They moved off shortly afterwards and tried to kick down the door of a house further down the road where a TT convertible resides.

Last night, I parked the car on the drive, and set the various security features. I moved my neighbours car (I have spare key) across both driveways blocking his wife's car and mine. His is a Golf 1.6 company car

At approx 3am this morning, my wife and I awoke to a horrendous noise. Four lads had taken a run at the front door with such force that the door split in two. The locks sort of held, but ended up at the back of the house.

We blocked ourselves in the en-suite and basically hid.

Our house was searched quickly and they came to the door shouting for the keys. I told them where they were. They then stole my neighbours car and mine and left a TDI golf outside which I later found had been stolen earlier that evening.

Approx 10 other neighbours called 999 and the police promptly 'pootled' around the corner several minutes later. No siren. No lights. Seemingly unconcerned my wife and I were in danger.

Approx 20 other people down the road were out (such was the noise made). Not long afterwards, we saw the police helicopter out, but couldn't see or hear anything useful.

The police stayed for a short while afterwards as the house was unsecure. I heard my car in the distance being driven very quickly and they got on the radio. They informed us that they would stay until the house was secure.

There were comments about being delayed due to eating a kebab which have infuriated me to be honest.

They left shortly afterwards and hour before the house was made secure.

Now, 12 hours later, the house is fully secure and I've been informed my neighbours car has been found undamaged, but no sign of mine.

As there is a limited supply of Silver R32 3 Door Golfs with half leather trim in the UK, I thought it may be useful to post the chassis number in case anyone is considering one. It is VW1J3D023053

All I can say is that besides being very shaken we are both happy to be safe and unhurt. There was no way we would have tried to stop them. We found a screwdriver next to the car which we can only conclude was a weapon.

Please take note of what I have said here. It is vital you do NOT risk your lives for what you want to protect if it can be replaced. I feel very unsure of what to do as you will understand this is not just a car, but a progression in a lifestyle of good evo cars which I genuinely enjoy.

Do I now stay away from decent cars to protect my family or what ? How do you judge the balance needed here. Only time and a lot of talking will tell.

p.s. My insurance will NOT supply a courtesy car as mine has been Stolen. Adrian Flux say it will take approx 6 weeks to process the claim. I can however borrow a car and put it on the insurance. Luckily enough, my friends are good to me.

[s2driver]

Scary stuff. [img]images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] [img]images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[Jon]

This and my experience of finding people in my house have made me question whether owning a nice car is worth it, just as I have got my car running how I want it I found my passenger side window smashed this morning and my glove box emptied.

makes ya stop and think!

[MarkM]

I too had a similar experience with my RS4, wasn't quite as agressive as this but none the less to know they are entering your house for your keys makes you wonder if it is all worth it to have a nice car on the driveway.

The police told me the best thing to do is take the keys to bed with you.

Never heard a peep out of trackstar since it was stolen. Fortunately insurance company paid out after 3 months

[Taipan]

The police told me the best thing to do is take the keys to bed with you

Isn't that like asking for the ultimate trouble ? Thugs would have to confront you in the bedroom... Disturbing memories for you and your partner on the way, no ?

I'd have thought that leaving the keys in the doorway would be safest to make them leave asap and get the insurance to do what it's paid for.

Eric

[runrowsam]

So I'm told by a friend of mine registered on one of these police information networks, this kind of crime is the way things are tending to go. It's assumed that keys will be left in one of a few obvious places, such as kitchen work surfaces or certain obvious drawers, somewhere by the door, all those places we all leave our keys. My lifelong friend's father is part of what is basically the Q cars division of the Police, so he's driving an unmarked black 4.5 litre TVR Cerbera, sneaking around after stolen Mercs etc. going for import. In the middle of the night about 2 years ago, he had a similar experience. The silent house alarm went off, alerting the police via central monitoring. The thieves were carrying short broken off wooden planks as weapons, but as Terry could see a cracked open bedroom door, they weren't exactly professionals. They were kids really, one of them was 15. The hallway was quite well lit by an outside streetlight, so as they came upstairs into the dark landing area, he smacked one of the lil bastards in the stomach with a baseball bat he had hidden in his bedroom, and was all ready to nail the other two (bit of red mist no doubt), one of whom found his keys downstairs at that moment and legged it. Stupid git couldn't figure out how to get in, as the car has no key or door handle. All three were arrested on the spot, but only sentenced to community service, as they were so young. How can this be possible? Who knows what they would have done if it weren't for a fair bit of bravery? I'd have killed the feckers! Well, in truth I'd have hid under the bed, but it's nice to dream of saving the day!

What we need is those flame throwers they have fitted to cars in South Africa! Better than Burger King.

Rock on
Sam [img]images/graemlins/thumbs.gif[/img]