Safe Speed Forums

What are the common sense measures you can take to secure your pride and wheels?

It is amazing to me how many cars are stolen or broken into by people simply not using their brains!

Apart from the obvious etching and car alarms/trackers - amazing how many leave sunroofs open, fail to lock car when they pay for their fuel at the little kiosk...


So for benefit of our visitors who will all profit from our individual thoughts - what tips canyou give them?

I'm testing you!

Always lock the car and close all openings.
Remove all items from being on display to discourage opportunists.
Remove radio front (or not bother with one and leave a gaping hole in the dash)
Park in places that are well lit and in not got loads of broken glass and plastic strewn around.
Invest in one of those steering wheel covers that are virtually impossible to remove within a reasonable time.
Don't have stickers in the car telling thieves what brand of alarm is installed.
Avoid the use of turbo timers as they just provide an easy way to get round the immobiliser.
Make sure alarm is well maintained as doesn't go off for no reason as it will start to be ignored.
Don't leave car keys on display or near to doors, in open handbags, unattended jackets etc.

The big question is if you find someone breaking into your pride and joy how badly are you allowed to hurt them to prevent them from getting away? Can you get away with accidentally on purpose slamming their fingers in the door a few times to disable their thieving skills and offer immediate justice?

Take a bow!



I may be inclined to tick the discretionary box if I can

Seriously - you are not allowed to do this .....as they do you for assault and the pc mob claim they "cannot help it"

But provided you use "reasonable restraint" .... (and jury is still out on reasonable - even we are bound by "reasonable" ) - think it means you are not supposed to cause skin to go very red or puce coloured ....

But I can get away with the old spray if in uniform ..... Just chuck pepper at them - harmless and stops them and diffiicult to prove once it has worn off ...

If you contact the police you'll be lucky to get them to attend - BUT--If you apprehend the crook - it (THE YOUNG PERSON ACCUSSED(very pc now) try and get you done for assault.
IF they get charged/found guilty what will they get? - certainly not £60 and 3 points


BUT - Tony Martin (Farmer with shotgun ) started something - Today (26/oct) seen in various pages depending on paper, it is reported that a Judge slated the CPS for charging a farmer for using a gun to deter thiefs AND THREW THE CASE OUT.. HAS THE TIDE TURNED-would be nice to think so!!

Take a look here:

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/displ ... K=11185623

And here:

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/displ ... K=11187475

Obviously we can't discuss it on here, but I thought it may be of interest to you ?

Feel free to discuss anything you like in the "General Chat" forum.

And don't stifle a good conversation because the topic is drifting. It's in the nature of topics that they drift, and drift is acceptable. It's not much trouble for me to split a topic in half and assign the second half to a new topic if necessary.

We really don't need to be terribly formal about this - just enjoy the facilities and the conversations.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

I'd hesitate to say Tony Martin started something. There's a couple of differences here. This guy held his guns legally and having had some nicked already he thought it was the same lot back again tooled up with his own shotguns (well, he was half right), and unfortunately for Tony Martin his gun wasn't legal IIRC. I can't help thinking that's another reason why they were so heavy handed. Secondly this farmer intended the shot to be a warning but it happened to hit one of the burglars in the leg, and I'm pretty sure someone else did virtually the same thing before Tony Martin. It was accepted then that the shooting was accidental, just like this time.
Still, it doesn't answer the big question does it? We're allowed to use reasonable force in those circumstances but what the hell is reasonable force? Five times over the head with a baseball bat seems excessive, but how about once? Still heavy handed? Okay, how about the housewife's sterotypical frying pan attack? Hmmm, cast iron pans might still be a bit OTT. Oh to hell with it, seems like you're on safer grounds prosecution wise if you just hit them with your wallet. You'd think that anything that stops 'em getting up and hitting you back would be okay, short of actual torture and providing they're likely to be alive when the police arrive. Mind you, I live in the TVP area. From recent events you could be forgiven for thinking that if guns are involved everyone in the house might starve to death before they went in.

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Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

Thanks, for that Paul.

I'm fairly new here and not quite sure what is (is not) acceptable.

This latest case is of particular interest to me as it happened just a few miles from my home.
However, my main interests are Road Safety related topics with my pet hate being the 'Abuse' of sCameras by so called 'safety experts' ...Grrr I'll try to stay in line, but may 'stray' from time to time

Thanks again, keep up the good work.

Hanbo.

If you get your car stolen don't expect the Police to be in any way intersted..

Had two cars stolen, another broken in to. Both locked and with additional steering column locks fitted. The cops could hardly be arsed to take the details. A friend of mine suggested I look in a nearby "rough" housing estate and sure enough there it was. Parked on the side of the road. I called the police to advise them that I had found it and did they want to check for fingerprints etc...they said that they wouldn't bother..

Makes you wonder why they have scientific support... Not much chance of catching criminals if you ton't bother looking.

By contrast a neighbour had her car broken in to and a bag stolen. The checked for prints and found a palm print on the glass. The thief was on record and arested. But then she was a WPC..

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Speed camera policy Kills

- our response time is dependant on the level of activity and crime at the time -official police response -


seems that it is not certain areas that suffer -don't forget - we the motorist are there to provide income for the police - tut tut, shouldn't get sarcastic , but i've had problems geting police attendance and it's strange after an e mail to a MP at Westminster how response times increase.


but with all this extra income the police get - they've bought umteen new vans, speed cameras that can detect a speeder at up to about a mile(SO THEY SAY), why can't they spend some time protecting the "GOLDEN GOOSE"---oh don't forget they've got to spend money replacing the moneymakers that they've put in the wrong place etc and we all know how the police can spend money (sorry paul - it had to be said)

WE NEED A LEGAL REPLY FROM TINY BLUR NOW.

(GIZMO - I LIVE IN A "RUFF" ESTATE, MY DAUGHTER LIVES IN A "RUFF:RUFF ESTATE IN A RUF/RUF/RUF TOWN BECAUSE THE COPS -WAT COPS - WE AINT GOT ANY)"

I HAVE YOUNG DAUGHTER (20 -30) DRIVING AROUND WITH A YOUNG KID.(MY GRANDAUGHTER)
SHE IS SMALL (5 FOOT AND SMALL BONED)
SHE DRIVES A NICE CAR - WHAT CAN SHE LEGALLY DO TO PROTECT HER CAR AND CHILD IF A /GANG OF YOBS (SORRY PAUL GANG OF YOUNG GENTLEMEN INTENT ON THEIVING SAID VEHICLE) DECIDE TO ATTACK HER AND USE HER CAR AS A TARGET TO ATTRACT YOUNG FEMALES -
IF SHE HAS HER DAUGHTER WITH HER --DOES SHE DO WHAT?

IMAGINE THE TRAUMA IF SAID GRANDAUGHTER IS IN CAR WHEN STOLEN -


MY REACTION - PROBABLY LIKE MOST POSTERS - FIND THEM AND ???
DO WE REACT OR DO TINY AND MATES PROVIDE PUNISHMENT - 20 SLAPS ON THE WRIST!!

The single biggest increase in my Council Tax was the 17% paid to the Police....

Seems we are getting fleeced if we drive or not.

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Speed camera policy Kills

SORRY HANBO - READ THAT AND DID'T REPLY - SO IT LOoKS LIKE at long last we might be allowed to keep a rolled up newspaper in the car - sorry if i'm being sarcastic but where i live we've had this for years - young bored gentlemen(description given by one of our police sergeants as being THE ONLY pc WAY OF SAYING IT ) cause havoc - residents try to stop it and next thing we have a resident being charged with assault - (TRYING TO STOP ONE OF THESE YOUNG GENTS LOBBING A BRICK THROUGH A WINDOW)

Oooh if I had a penny for each time my customers tell me they pay me "effin wages ...."

.... I could retire .... buy that yacht and just chill out somewhere warm and sunny ....


botach ... ..... the scam pratnerships get the dosh and place the cameras.....in places where their safety (er - business.. profit margin ....) dictate....

Money collected by our mob goes to Treasury as we have no prats....but at least if you did get fix penaltied up here - you would have deserved it!

Um .... cannot be everywhere ..... sometimes it happens - everyone gets mugged, burgled, fight breaks out in a pub, someone starts waving a gun around.... all at same time. We have to judge on priority and staff levels....and then there is all that paperwork and form filling .... why they need that many versions of the same document is beyond us...



Nope - you are the victim of the pratnership - same as traffic police in prat areas.

You should be glad your MP is able to help you ...and make a difference.... our Tone's constituency is in our patch ......

What fun.....

IN GEAR - wondered why the tone was familiar - if you live in tiny's(TINY BLUR) patch - the cameras are there to photo primates on two wheeled pedalled machines departing at high speed on the a19 heading south/north (anywhere but the land of the gibbot - so mrs b tells me)

Drive an old banger. nobody will steel it and even if they did it will only cost a one-er to replace.

Its not rocket science!


If you have some top notch BM, its just a magnet for the keying, by everyone who doesnt have a top knotch BM. It may do 130mph, but since the speed limit is 70 whats the point.

There has got to be some quids in respraying these days, Im going to retrain.

You are definately less likely to be draged out for a kicking, if you are driving something modest. If some grany pulls in front of a builder in her metro, hes gonna laugh. Same thing with some city slicker driving his porsche whats gonna happen?

All in all driving a wreck is the way to go, police dont even bother to send tickets as they can see you are not a payer.

Apparently, given the improvements in car security in recent years, the cars most likely to be taken by twoccers are 10-year-old Escorts and Astras.

Your new Beemer may be targeted by professional thieves, but not by "joy-riders".

Any more pearls of wisdom you care to enlighten us with?

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

maybe in your neck o the woods, theives still hotwire cars.

But here in london they just take your keys.

Since they havent come up with fingerprint starters yet , this will work on any car.

If they did come up with fingerprint keys then I for one wouldnt want one!

Don't put your keys on the hall table, then.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed