I’ll Never Forget the Call to Say The Caravans Been Stolen!

I'll Never Forget the Telephone Call to Say the Caravan Had Been Stolen!

 

It was late February 2001; I'd just left my previous job and was in the process of starting my own business, initially working from home.

It was about one thirty in the afternoon when the phone rang.

"Tell me you've taken your caravan out, please." Said the caller.

As if in slow motion my brain had to first work out who it was on the telephone, then what had been said and then finally what did she mean.

I listen to the voice and connected the word caravan, got it I thought, It's Jayne from the caravan storage.

"Tell me you've taken your caravan out". No, what makes her think that? Then the moment the penny dropped, s**t the caravans been nicked.

We had a Elddis Cyclone we'd bought brand new in 1999.

It was stored at a friends house about 1 1/2 miles from where we lived, along with two other vans.

We had a wheel clamp and padlocks on the steadies to stop them being wound up.

Jayne explained that she'd seen a suspicious blue Transit van on the lane outside their house about mid morning but when it had disappeared she had put this down to someone being loss.

At about 12.40ish she had nipped out to the local shops and when she returned at just before 13.30 she noticed our caravan was missing and she could she the damaged wheel clamp laid on the grass next to where the van had been stored.

Although she wanted to know if we'd taken the van out, she actually knew it had been stolen and this was just her way of communicating the bad news.

The conversation went on along the lines of: ME "No" BOTH "oh god it's been nicked" ME "have you rang the police".

Jayne explained to me about seeing the Transit in the morning and that she was pretty sure the caravan was still there when she went to the shop at 12.40 and that when she'd got back, literally a few minutes ago, it was gone.

I hurried her off the telephone, my thoughts been to ring the police immediately.

I was convinced in that split second that this was February, it was cold, damp and bleak, how many caravans are going to be on the roads, it's just been nicked, the police are bound to spot it.

I honestly thought they could radio all cars and/or put a helicopter in the air.

The telephone call to the police seemed to take forever.  Ring, ring, ring, for what seemed ages before an answer. My caravans been stolen, just now from… They didn't want to know this just then, they wanted my name, my address, date of birth, telephone number etc. They then wanted the address, telephone number and name of the people where my van was stored. I knew off the top of my head the peoples names, they where Jayne and Stuart, I knew Jayne's maiden name but not her married name, I knew where the van was stored but not the actual address or their telephone number.

All this had to be looked up while all the time I was thinking, probably quite stupidly, "come on, their getting away!"

Eventually after what seemed a life time, the lady that took my initial call said "please wait while I put you through to a traffic officer".

Know we're talking I thought, chuck up a few road blocks, deploy the stinger and lets lock up these baddies in time for tea!

No that's not how it happens in real life. After ring, ring for what seemed ages again a police officer answered the telephone. I explained what had happened and no matter how enthusiastic I could sound about how recent it had happened and how few caravans on the road there would be I just couldn't seem to muster up the same amount of enthusiasm from the other end of the line.

I can appreciate this to a certain extent, this is an every day, bread and butter type thing to them, nothing to make the adrenalin pump, unlike me, where hopefully this was a once in a life time situation.

I also appreciate they are trained professional and they are trained to remain calm and follow set procedures.

The traffic officer informed me they would inform all the traffic cars in the area and they would be in touch if they had any information. I was given the all important crime number.

For a couple of hours I remained hopeful, but then as darkness started to fall at around 6pm the realisation that we had lost the van started to sink in.

If I was in any doubt about this realisation then I was firmly and quite rudely brought down to earth when I telephoned the police again and asked to speak to a Traffic Officer. After been transferred several times and having to explaining what had happened to each person I was evenly put through to a traffic officer again.

Not the same traffic officer as before but the same department and I was left in no uncertain terms that they would contact me if they had any news and everything that could be done would be getting done.

That was it, I'd been told. We were totally gutted at losing our caravan and I could do nothing.

To Add Insult to Injury

I can't remember if I rang the insurance company that day or the next morning.

We where insured via the Caravan Club and if you think you're now going to hear a glowing report of how brilliant they were you're going to be sadly disappointed.

The irony of irony, as bad luck would have it our caravan was stolen on the last day of our insurance policy.

Not to worry the last day or not, we were insured and we had renewed any way for the next year, not a problem.

We had received lots of literature informing us that the club insurance now gave new for old cover on caravans up to 3 years old. Great I thought we'll just replace the caravan.

However the policy that was just ending, that we were on the last day of, was not new for old up to three years  but new for old up to one year old. The three year thing didn't start until our next policy started so no new for old for us because the van was stolen basically ten and a half hours too early.

When we reported the van stolen the initial person I spoke to at the club was very polite and sympathetic but unfortunately all their job entailed was to direct us or connect us to the insurance company who, although they introduced themselves as the caravan club, they no more worked for the caravan club than I did.

It was this person that pointed out to me that I wasn't covered by new for old and used the terms rules are rules, dates are dates. This I can and did except, however, in a later conversation when I was told "you had your van stolen on the wrong day" or words to the effect I started to feel a bit paranoid. Was the uttering of these words just a bad choice of words or a suggestion that I was trying some sort of insurance scam?

We had to fill in a claim form for the theft and for the contents and await an offer from the insurance company.

I have made very few insurance claims in my life and this was by far the largest ever.

An offer did eventually come through which was so poor that I can still remember to this day the feeling of blood draining from my body and my heart sinking to my boots when I opened the letter and saw the amount .

People, with obviously more insurance experience than me were bending over backwards to offer their knowledge and several told me I didn't have to accept this and that this would be their first offer, query it and they would make a more reasonable offer.

I rang the insurance company and was told in no uncertain terms that this was their only and final offer and the only option available to me should I not accept this would be through the insurance ombudsman.

Obviously there is no good time for a caravan, or anything to that matter, to be stolen but for me at a time when I was extremely busy setting up my own business was far from the right time.

We accepted the insurance offer and lost approximately four thousand pounds as a result of our van been stolen ten and a half hour too early.

More Insult to Injury

Has the insurance claim was been settled approximately six weeks after the caravan was stolen, if I remember correctly,  I received a telephone call from a detective  at Humberside Police CID.

I was asked to confirm my name and was asked if I'd had a caravan stolen recently.

I confirmed my name and asked if the van had been found, convinced it must have been and that this was the reason for the call. I starting to wonder would I get it back, what conditioning would it be in, would all the contents be there?

This wasn't the reason for their call however, no they hadn't found it they where just following up enquiries after been contacted by the insurance company.

So this was the road blocks and helicopters in the air I wanted six weeks ago, a telephone call some forty plus days later.

This also made me more suspicious that the insurance company thought I'd been trying to pull some sort of insurance scam.

I was asked what anti theft protection devices had I used. I explained we'd had a wheel clamp and padlocks on all the steadies and that the damaged wheel clamp and one of the padlocks had been kept safe in case the police wanted to search for finger prints.

I was asked why I stored the van where I did and I explained that I knew the people informally and knew they stored a few caravans on spare land at their home.

The final straw however was when I was asked "why was my van stolen and not one of the other two stored at the same place".

I started to explain," mine was the newest, mine was the biggest at 5 berth" I said before I stopped. What was happening, I was trying to justify why my van had been stolen, I am a suspect I thought.  "How the hell do I know" I could feel the anger starting to boil up inside, "if you'd got off your backside six weeks ago and caught them you could have asked them yourselves". The conversation ended soon after that and I never heard anymore from anyone.

On a brighter note however, four years after the van was stolen I got divorced and this was one less thing I could be fleeced for in the divorce settlement, the business has gone well, I live with my new partner and we're on our second motorhome. I totally understand my insurance policy with my current insurers, Myrtle is stored at a recognised storage facility and installed with the latest tracking device.

The End