impounding cars

essex police ? i thought better of them

last week my friend had his car stolen from a carpark with cctv. (the day before that - his father had his car stolen)
he reported it to the police straight away . they asked what address to recover it to if its found. so he gave his home address.

yesterday he recieves a a call from the boys in blue.
they tell him his car has been found, and is currently impounded.
its gonna cost him 120 quid to get it out and 12 pound a day storage.
despite him telling the police not to impound it.
the impounding place is a few doors away from him so i dont really see the difference of where it was taken .
also the yard it is impounded in is one of the expensive ones in the area - htere is another just down the road from that one that is miles cheaper.

now the police say that he has no choice and he has to pay.. .

is it me - or does this seem a bit wrong ?
the victim of the crime is expected to pay for some little buggers actions ?

Pay the bill and then send them one.


.

[embee]

Ask whether it was put there "for forensic purposes". If it was, you don't need to pay (according to our local consumer radio show anyway).

Otherwise, yes, I believe they can do what they want and charge you for it. Remember they're scrounging criminal b@$tard$ (the car thieves that is! )

Re. stolen cars, I strongly recommend to everyone, especially if your car is 10yrs old or so, to get and use a decent steering wheel lock. I use one 100% of the time (actually a home made version, because I can).

There are a lot of cheap ones which are purely cosmetic as far as the crims are concerned, 10sec max to get them off.

I looked into it a bit and found some reviews/test results.
One model which is affordable and pretty effective is the Autolok 2000 (or its derivatives).
http://www.autolok.co.uk/pages/a2000.htm
Pretty certain its the same as the item marketed under Halfords own name (New Security Shield) at £60.
The Disklok range at £70 is also well reviewed.
http://www.halfords.com/opd_category.asp?root=1&id=51

They are one-off purchases, keep it for the next car, and it'll almost certainly make the crims go to the next car without one. If you've had a car stolen (I have) I'd guess you'd happily turn the clock back for the sake of £60 and keep the car (save all the hassle and blood pressure). It shouldn't be necessary, but sadly it is.

Also don't keep your keys in the hall or kitchen, that's where the burglars go first.

I have no commercial association with anyone regarding this.

re the steering locks , Autolok 2000T was the one he had - (the one you said first)
paying the 100 quid for the car back would be an option for an expensive car - but this was an astra worth 100 quid.

[embee]

Originally Posted by bikageboy

re the steering locks , Autolok 2000T was the one he had - (the one you said first)
paying the 100 quid for the car back would be an option for an expensive car - but this was an astra worth 100 quid.

Did they get the wheel lock off? That kind of blows my theory away then!

How did they get it off, wreck it, pick it, steal keys?

not sure how they got it off,
the police havent mentioned anything about the state the car is in.

can rule out though stealing the keys.
the cctv footage was supposed to be collected by the police . . . but they havent mentioned anything..
when i find out more ill let you know .

[embee]

Originally Posted by bikageboy

when i find out more ill let you know .

Cheers, I'd like to know!

(edit - just found another review which says Autolok 2000 off in 4mins, Disklok 18mins, but who knows what you can believe anyway??)

(edit2 - just found yet another review where they're all a bag of cack, best is less than 2 mins - maybe a rottweiler is a better bet? )

Originally Posted by bikageboy

last week my friend had his car stolen from a carpark with cctv. (the day before that - his father had his car stolen)

Reminds me never to venture in to the badlands of Essex.

Originally Posted by Clunk

Reminds me never to venture in to the badlands of Essex.

never venture into the badlands of Essex

I'm pretty sure the Essex police have some sort of deal with these places. After my accident a bystander offered to store my bike in her garden and she had a proper bike trailer to move it with and lived just yards from the crash.

But

The police said no and got a firm to take it away and store it. They charged to move it and then charged per day and of course the bill became massive as I was in hospital and at the time had other priorities (like surviving) and I didn't even know where the bike was. They are very crafty as they kept it 6 weeks before sending an invioce and I was still in hospital then anyway. It also cost me £80 quid to get a copy of the accident report from the police.

And then of course I cant claim the money back as they wern't insured and it was a hit & run. It did make me wonder if I was a criminal rather than a victim.

Serves me right I suppose for being insured and getting in the way of joyriders doing a U-turn into the fast lane of the A13 in a stolen car.