Theft of catalytic converters

As many of us will know forum member Squip was unfortunate enough to be the victim of catalytic converter theft, this crime seems to be on the increase and for the first time (that I'm aware of) it seems to be getting closer to our home. I have mentioned on the forum previously about a local motorhome dealer Downtide at Alby (a short distance from us) who sells Auto-Sleepers, unfortunately they were recently targeted and had a number of Cats stolen from the motorhomes on their forecourt which is quite worrying.

The local police have a scheme going where they have teamed up with local garages to offer vehicle identification by etching the vehicles registration onto the cat in the hope that if it's stolen it can be tracked back to the owner. While this sounds a great idea, it seems wherever these Cats (and other stolen metals) are ending up no one is asking any questions anyway... if someone rolls up with half a dozen catalytic converters that have been cut off vehicles and appear to be in good condition (not past their usable life) this should ring alarm bells with any honest and reputable scrappie (if there is such a thing) As I've said before I think most of this stuff is controlled by gangs that get it container-ed and shipped abroad... while the idea is good I can't really see it deterring thieves myself So not sure if we should even bother taking advantage of it, what do others think?

Local press story

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Hi CC.

Can't see it making any difference. As you say these tealeaves move in a very shady world. Why should they worry when the punishment dosn't fit the crime. The justice system is a complete farce that is until its a minor driving offence.

Rant over. Now where'd I put those blood pressure tablets. Whisky. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The trouble is CC they take the platinum etc out of the cat and then that goes to a precious metal dealer not a scrappy.
I sold a couple of cats to a guy who just goes round garages and scrappies collecting them.
Cheers
Stevo

Hi CC and All,

The Police must feel they are “Flogging a dead horse” …..

Until we build many more “Proper” Prisons (instead of the Gin Palaces with all luxuries ) and start giving “Scum” long (solitary) sentences …… we will never get the message over ….. and start re-building a decent society.

Fear works ……

LOOK OUT another flying pig.

Now back to “Placid happy-go-lucky” deckie

Brian

Hi All
They hit Bridlington and surrounding areas before winter and hit alot of newer vans near me, I have the van parked parallel to the bungalow, with my wee car along the side of it, hoping that might deter these people.
I have PIR lights and street lighting to help.
When I was driving my concrete mixer, diesel theft was a problem here, just carried enough for that day.
As you say CC, the stolen cats must be leaving via the ports containerised, heading east?
Trouble is, if they want it, nothing will deter them, not even marking the item.
I lived in a small village in Fife in the eighties and the local coalman had a top end caravan, he parked it in his backyard, with the tow hitch facing the wall, with a lorry in front of it.
The caravan was stolen by taking the wall down brick by brick, caravan never seen again.
Sorry to bumble on there, got carried away.

Boaby

After reading all these 'tales of woe' regarding thefts, i'm beginning to wonder if we've done the right thing by having a motorhome!

One works a lifetime, finally retires & gets set to do a bit of 'travelling' only to be worried all the time your'e away wondering what you are comming back to.
The little private estate i'm on suffers vurtually zero crime, BUT, a few years back, the family a few doors down returned from 2 days away to a completely empty house! I myself was a victim, my Transit van was on the drive, 60ft from the road, I came out to go to work & the entire drive had 'melted', the lowlife had got under, cut the fuel-line & nicked some, the tank then emptied about 10 gall all down the sloping drive & destroyed the tarmac, so bad that it could not be made good again & we opted to replace with block-paving, all 12500 of them
Then what happened? The local gippos came round asking if I wanted to sell the big Ifor-Williams trailer, which was totally hidden round the back, behind two other very large trailers, SO HOW DID THEY KNOW ABOUT IT THEN????? I didn't want to, but I decided to sell it before it went 'walkabout'.
I have just replaced all 5 euro-locks with the best available, got alarms, camara, but STILL won't go away for too long.

Hi All,

Modelman sums it up ……

We (the innocent) could be Prisoners in our own homes, if the ’Law Makers’ (joke) don’t wake up, stop listening to the Human right PRATS and start frightening the SCUM with long (hard labour) spells ….. Or if I had my way …. Chopping some hands and heads off

As I said earlier ….. FEAR WORKS …..

The prisons would then start to empty …… for the right reasons (not just because the poor inmates are 'crowded')

We all know the ‘Idiots’ running this Country (with their Bodyguards and Security Systems) don’t give a toss about the People paying their wages & expenses !!

Wow deckie ….. Get down off your high-horse …..

Brian

Update, one of our suppliers turned up today in a different van, 'old one broke-down' ? says I.

No, said the guy, scumbags got into the compound last night & nicked the cats from TEN new vans!!!!


Then, last week at 2145 the power went off, not to worry I said, it'll be back on in a short while, looked out, the entire area was out, went to bed, it came back on at 0500, turns out that a local scally & his dad who live(d) just 2 miles away, CHOPPED DOWN A LIVE POLE carrying 66000 volts, both were fried (shame) the papers showed pics of flowers outside their house!

Sorry, but I don't give a stuff.

Hi there,

How's this for a system against theft:

1. You MUST protect your possessions.

2. You MUST NOT tempt people to steal by leaving valuable stuff available to thieves.

3. You MUST NOT report something of small value as being "stolen" because when a thief is caught:
a) For a first offence the left hand is removed. (The person wipes his backside with this hand and is therefore a pariah within his society.)
b) For a second offence the right foot is removed. (This tends to reduce the mobility of the thief.)
c) For a third offence the left foot is removed. (Mobility further reduced as there were no prosthetics when this law was introduced.)
d) For a fourth offence the right hand is removed. (The thief is now totally dependent on his family - who should have brought him up not to steal.)
e) For a fifth offence the thief is banished. (As these were small desert villages it was actually condemning someone to death.)

The laws were introduced in the Middle East and are still practised to this day. Oh how I wish we could adopt some of the aspects of other cultures.

Best regards,

Hi Dutto.

That works for me. Lets lobby parliament.

Cheers. Whisky.

I know its not much consolation but I see one company are advertising two sizes of cats for £81.60 and £104.94 for D.I.Y. fitting. (search under catalytic converters)

On the 'law' issue I agree with all ideas posted. In the South we have lots of flints, so perhaps we could include 'stoneing' to our list of punishments!
Mike D

whisky wrote:Hi Dutto.

That works for me. Lets lobby parliament.

Cheers. Whisky.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I wouldn't like to adopt ALL of the laws because they behead people who commit adultery or have sex outside marriage!

The thief may have four limbs but I only have the one head; and it would have rolled more times than I care to remember!!!

Best regards,

Dutto wrote:

whisky wrote:Hi Dutto.

That works for me. Lets lobby parliament.

Cheers. Whisky.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I wouldn't like to adopt ALL of the laws because they behead people who commit adultery or have sex outside marriage!

The thief may have four limbs but I only have the one head; and it would have rolled more times than I care to remember!!!

Best regards,

Am I to take it that 'her-indoors' dosn't read your postings then?

CC
When the police attended about the theft of my 'cat they mentioned this marker kit and said that I could buy it at a discount from a certain company [forget which] and could get the discount by saying that Beds police gave me the contact. I phoned the company but they claimed to know nothing about any discount so I gave it a miss. Anyway I thought that even if my stolen cat were to be recovered it would not be much use to me after the pipes had been cut. Also I did not ever expect it ever to be recovered.

squip

modelman wrote:
Am I to take it that 'her-indoors' dosn't read your postings then?

Er ...... there's the little appreciated fact that someone around here could have been responsible for one of times my head would have rolled!!!

The good news is that such behaviour is one of the very few things that is cured by old age!!

Best regards,