WARNING

me and my friend spent a good day doing the fan dance leaving our van at the storey arms car park, on returning to van noticed side window was smashed and all kit missing for our wild camp on cadair so hundreds of pounds worth of gear gone.

ruined our day and long drive back to north wales. so please be careful when parking at storey arms there are thieves about.

Wow, sorry to hear that, what a shitty thing to happen.

Sadly it's no surprise though, if you leave anything on view the smackheeds will have it.

There's certain places around Derbyshire i wont park at all, even if there's nothing left on view,  as you just know on your return you'll be one window less as they rummage vulture like through your vehicle.

Include a little history in your walks. Pecsaetan - Ancient Derbyshire, Staffordshire and South Yorkshire - http://pecsaetan.weebly.com/

Bum. I really feel for you.

I've left my car there many times and no matter the day or time of year, I'm always aware that this area of Wales has a poor reputation. So sad, especially when you think of how much work it took you to earn the money, to buy the products you love to use.

My old college has a hostel near Crickhowell and one day as they departed, they loaded up the minibus with all their gear, drove it up the hill and returned to the building to lock up. They returned to it 30 minutes later to find everything gone! You can imagine the gear which 14 teenagers and guides lost?

Scum, the lot of them....

Gamel - my sympathies. Losing kit to thieves makes me go all right-wing. My lad and four mates went off on a camping/biking week last summer, and had all their bikes nicked on the second day. They made the best of the week but it spoiled what should have been a memorable first independent holiday for 16yr olds. I was spouting the advantages of middle east laws with amputation as a deterent just like a taxi driver!

So Twiglegs - I'm hoping to take the cheese and kisses to Derbyshire for a weeks easy walking this year. Where are these hot spots of crime I should avoid?

Include a little history in your walks. Pecsaetan - Ancient Derbyshire, Staffordshire and South Yorkshire - http://pecsaetan.weebly.com/

Imperial Dave wrote (see)

I've had my car broken into at Gospel Pass car park in the Black Mountains during the day back last summer. Luckily I disturbed the thieves as I was coming back and so all I "lost" was damage to the door, my front teeth and my self-respect.

ive parked at the storey arms car park many a time , but always get there early and park as close to the takeaway van as possible.

plus the benefits of a small van means no windows to give my gear away.

terry cleverley wrote (see)

ive parked at the storey arms car park many a time , but always get there early and park as close to the takeaway van as possible.

plus the benefits of a small van means no windows to give my gear away.

Include a little history in your walks. Pecsaetan - Ancient Derbyshire, Staffordshire and South Yorkshire - http://pecsaetan.weebly.com/

Blimeh, Twiglegs, is it that bad? Thanks for the offer - nearer the date and when I've sorted a few routes I'll check out my plans with you.

Well with all this depressing talk can I just say that from my memory I can say I have seen more broken into cars at popular walking locations when I was a young kid than I have as an adult with my own car. I can honestly say that I have been living in the NW of England for about 35 years and I'd say I have seen more broken into cars in the first 5-10 years of that spell than I have in the whole of the rest of my time up here. I have walked in areas from Merseyside and Cheshire to Penrith and north Cumbria, from the west to the east (and a lot in Ribble Valley and Pennines, Dales, Lakes). In all those areas I'd tend to see more broken windows in laybys and carparks in the hot, sunny summers of my youth than these days. I am an observant sort so I'd have noticed signs from the broken car window to the glass on the ground.

It is bad that it happens but with all the hours/days that cars are parked up in the UK while their occupants are walking it is probably not a very common activity outside of some very well known and bad hot spots I suppose. It is also why we have insurance too (although I guess you never get the full replacement value with insurance anyway). I have only been robbed once and that was first week at uni. Freshers week. I had insurance and ended up doing quite nicely indeed!! Well I am half Scouse so what you expect!!!

PS sorry for your losses everyone. FIngers crossed it's the last such thread on here. IIRC one person got his/her garage/shed raided of gear so it's not just in the walking areas you need to watch out.

Grumps wrote (see)

Blimeh, Twiglegs, is it that bad? Thanks for the offer - nearer the date and when I've sorted a few routes I'll check out my plans with you.

Generally it's no worse than elsewhere, but there are certain spots i wouldn't park going on previous experience of others, luckily i've never had anything taken, but then again i never leave anything worth nicking.

If you use commonsense you'll be fine.

Include a little history in your walks. Pecsaetan - Ancient Derbyshire, Staffordshire and South Yorkshire - http://pecsaetan.weebly.com/

I'm really dubious of these remote public car parks. The car parks at beauty spots here in Hampshire are notorious for theft from vehicles. The fact that you have to worry about what you might come back to makes you think twice about even visiting these places.

For an overnight camp in the Brecons, I was thinking of parking at a campsite. I know it's not ideal for a day walk, but it has to be more secure than a remote car park if you're away overnight?

I guess it depends on where you go.  When I went up Waun Fach I parked at the pub/inn at Castle Dinas. I generally eat and have a couple of scoops so I do not feel bad about it (I don't ask for permission).  Whilst doing the Neuadd horseshoe I parked at the end of the road, very deserted.  Had no trouble though.  If you can I'd recommend parking at a pub or similar.

Bob C - backpackinglight.co.uk wrote (see)

Has anyone ever heard of anyone being caught and prosecuted for this kind of theft? I haven't.

I have!

Many years ago, probably in the days when 'TGO' was called 'The Great Outdoors', I recall they ran a story about a group of pot-holers, possibly from Croydon, who were robbed in South Wales. They reported this to the police, but basically it was just an exercise in form-filling. Apparently, the car park they used had been targetted for years.

With that in mind, the guys parked there again, only this time they lay in wait to see what would happen. Sure enough... some kind of 'White Van Man' turned up and started busting into their vehicles. The pot-holers tried to grab him, but he got away. However, they'd also taken photos of the guy and his van, and they gave all the info to the police.

If I remember right... the police nabbed the guy later that day, and were astonished to find that he had enough stuff robbed from vehicles to fill a warehouse!

If anyone could root out the relevant copy of the magazine, scan the pages, and upload the story (with permission, of course), it would make a fascinating read. I'm sure that if more people did what the pot-holers did, car park robbery would be wiped out in a week! (Apart from the robbery of parking charges!)