Gas attacks in France?

[andys]

After another two reported attacks during which caravans/motorhomes have been broken into after rendering the occupants unconcious with gas, what's peoples' opinion on this?

I spend a fair bit of time in Europe/Scandinavia, often wild camping and have never come across it first hand, but is it actually real?
I've seen several reports from anaesthetists debunking it and saying it's just not possible and the victims must have made up the story for reasons unknown, and at the same time the reports keep growing.
S0, real or not? If it is real are we at risk in vans? Would fitting a anasthetic gas alarm and setting the alarm on external doors be enough? I've never heard from anyone who has had this happen to them, just people who know someone who heard... etc

Completely open mind on this, but I'd rather know one way or another!

 

[Oldrat]

Doesn't sound good, but there must be thousands of campervans in use.
Anyway, we lock ourselves in overnight...

 

[andys]

Doesn't sound good, but there must be thousands of campervans in use.
Anyway, we lock ourselves in overnight...

I'm sure the people involved will have locked themselves in, the premise seems to be that gas is injected into the van through a vent, the occupants are knocked out, and the perpetrators can then get on with breaking in to the vehicle in some way. As I say, I've seen plenty of "experts" say it is happening and an equal amount saying it's not possible, just don't know who is credible.

 

[mopardave]

It happened to my daughters best mate's dad and his brother in France......they thought it was carbon monoxide. Fortunately, one of them was woken by something while these scumbags were doing their best to poison them.....fortunately, they just felt shit for several hours afterwards......it could've been so much worse! They weren't in an official overnight stop though, so I suppose they were sitting ducks?

 

[Tourershine]

My business is in the Caravan and Motorhome industry, and has been for the last 10 years.
I own a Motorhome and always use it in Europe. These stories are floated around forums now and again, and as far as we know, most are not true and just put out to warn people of certain dangers etc. It's often a conversation we have at dealers, and I don't know of a dealer that's actually met anyone who has had this done to them.
I've never heard a customer mention anything like this either, and i've dealt with 1000's.
Who knows? I'm sure the Europeans get told all sorts of stories about certain areas of the Uk to avoid.

We have toured in our Motorhome all over France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Switzerland, and not once have I seen any problems, or had my Motorhome tampered with. I love touring in Europe, and these stories wouldn't put me off.

 

[Ed Webb]

I was under the impression its for those people that stop in laybys on quite roads. With a cooker in the van I'd have a carbon monoxide/dioxide and smoke alarm. This would go off and alert you to the issue before anything should arise.

 

[andys]

My business is in the Caravan and Motorhome industry, and has been for the last 10 years.
I own a Motorhome and always use it in Europe. These stories are floated around forums now and again, and as far as we know, most are not true and just put out to warn people of certain dangers etc. It's often a conversation we have at dealers, and I don't know of a dealer that's actually met anyone who has had this done to them.
I've never heard a customer mention anything like this either, and i've dealt with 1000's.
Who knows? I'm sure the Europeans get told all sorts of stories about certain areas of the Uk to avoid.

We have toured in our Motorhome all over France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Switzerland, and not once have I seen any problems, or had my Motorhome tampered with. I love touring in Europe, and these stories wouldn't put me off.

You're precisely the sort of person I hoped would post on this, thanks. The specific two cases recently are these (oddly both from Belfast)

Northern Ireland caravan couple drugged and robbed at French campsite - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

Gassed and robbed: Another Northern Ireland family tells of France motorhome burglary - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

I was under the impression its for those people that stop in laybys on quite roads. With a cooker in the van I'd have a carbon monoxide/dioxide and smoke alarm. This would go off and alert you to the issue before anything should arise.

Apparently a different type of detector is needed for these types of gasses as they will not trigger CO/flammable gas/smoke sensors

 

[Ed Webb]

Interesting @andys. I always thought the one detector did it all. And also after saying it's about staying in laybys they do happen at campsites.
I still think they have to be rather bold to try and steal a van with someone inside it but I guess in this day an age crime does pay.

 

[andys]

Interesting @andys. I always thought the one detector did it all. And also after saying it's about staying in laybys they do happen at campsites.
I still think they have to be rather bold to try and steal a van with someone inside it but I guess in this day an age crime does pay.

If you read the links above, they're either absolutely terrifying, or massive balls-of-brass insurance fraud.

 

[Tourershine]

If we all worked our lives around 'news stories' we wouldn't ever leave our front doors.

I can only tell you as I know and experience myself, and I feel very safe in all of Europe, and the only time i've been robbed of broad daylight is when I purchased a tube of Pringles from a fuel station in Switzerland (No, really... )

 

[Ed Webb]

Insurance fraud for the young couple surely?.... Anyone else go camping with 15k of jewellery?
They are jumping on the back of the story from the old couple which might be true. No mention of break in though so locking your doors when you sleep may prevent this.

 

[Oldrat]

Ha ha

When discussing cool van stuff around the firepit, all prices should be 50% off the actual when the other half is around, especially if I have it or want it


I've just seen your signature strapline Ed. Nice one.

 

[Ed Webb]

Ha ha

When discussing cool van stuff around the firepit, all prices should be 50% off the actual when the other half is around, especially if I have it or want it


I've just seen your signature strapline Ed. Nice one.

She still thinks the price in the van window when on forcourt was the price I paid. I havnt told her VAT gets added.

 

[Tourershine]

Knew I had a pic in my gallery somewhere.
That's when the swiss franc was around 80p per 1 franc. That's enough to put off anyone venturing off your UK sofa...

 

[Ed Webb]

That mark up is nearly as bad as vw accessories.

 

[Tourershine]

That's nothing! You should see the prices of the things made in Switzerland, compared to the same items sold in this country.
Toblerone, Rolex are just a few, not to mention this stunning BMC road bike I liked the look of that equated to £6400 and the same bike over here was £3000. Still love the country though, and been 3 times now, including a couple of months ago.

 

[mopardave]

It happened to my daughters best mate's dad and his brother in France......they thought it was carbon monoxide. Fortunately, one of them was woken by something while these scumbags were doing their best to poison them.....fortunately, they just felt not good for several hours afterwards......it could've been so much worse! They weren't in an official overnight stop though, so I suppose they were sitting ducks?

That's strange........I actually said they felt sh*t for a few hours......apologies if I caused offence. My post has been edited????? Anyway, there will be allsorts of scare stories out there......but this isn't a tale from a friend of a friend of a friend.......it happened. I suspect they left themselves vulnerable because of where they parked???? Nothing wrong with exercising caution.

 

[Dogs Dung]

DOnt overnight on motorway aires and you’ll be fine

 

[andys]

That's strange........I actually said they felt sh*t for a few hours......apologies if I caused offence. My post has been edited????? Anyway, there will be allsorts of scare stories out there......but this isn't a tale from a friend of a friend of a friend.......it happened. I suspect they left themselves vulnerable because of where they parked???? Nothing wrong with exercising caution.

Don’t worry, it’s an automatic swear filter, you didn’t offend anybody

 

[Caulkhead]

I’ve bummed around Europe in Boats &Motorhomes for the last 30 years and have never ever come across any of this, and I have parked & moored in places you cannot imagine from backwoods to industrial estates to offthe coast and small inkets to huge fishing harbours and car parks but have never ever seen a problem.

Now I’m not saying it doesn’t happens but it is very highly unusual, so I’m not sure.
We normally always wild camp first of all when we start off until we know where we will be stopping for a fair amount of time.
Who knows what is lucky ?