# WARNING! Nice little town in France ( I don't think so )



## GrayB (Sep 6, 2011)

Just thought I would let you all know what happened to my daughter and her husband recently.They have just returned from there first trip in there van to France. A couple of days in they came across what they thought was a nice little town, for a wander around and to visit the local market to buy some provisions. They parked in a residential side street plenty of other cars parked and folks about this is in broad daylight. Off they went to the market - on there return they found a large rock had been throne though the side window and the van ransacked lost passports all van documents cash and the rest. Now for the name of the town Aix en Provence ( It's down south ) so you have been warned.Not a good introduction to touring France, we were thinking of going later on in the year but Im having seconds thoughts now.

Cheers for now Gray.


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## Glandwr (Jun 12, 2006)

Don’t get me wrong Gray I have a lot of sympathy for your daughter and family. But boycotting small French towns on the strength of this is a bit like seeing “Straw Dogs” or “Deliverance” and not venturing out of cities isn’t it?

Dick


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## lesanne (May 1, 2008)

Hi sorry to hear this ,but parking in a residential side street in a small town or village would sound the alarm for me ,,we always, if unsure park in front of the Maries office ,or local Gendarms and we live here , don,t let this incedent put you off ,,its brill for touring ,just be sensible where you stop...regards Les


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

I also am surprised at what has happened in a small town with a good reputation. I cannot explain why or who was responsible but it strikes me as unusual for such an event to happen.......

We have taken canal boats through Birmingham and have had rocks thrown at us from the banks, we have seen reports of rocks being dropped onto cars, buses and lorries and even trains - but that has always been in the UK.

But such a thing would not stop me visiting the UK again..........

Do not limit your enjoyment on the strength of one event, however personal, but use it to guide how you would behave, where you would leave your motorhome and so on. 

I am very mindful that because of terrorist attacks airport (and ferry port) searches now take a considerable amount of time and restrict liberty for all of us - sadly to some extent that means the terrorists have won - they have disrupted life for Western society.

Be guided by it but not ruled by it.

Dave


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## shirleydeputy (Jul 31, 2009)

Hi

So sorry to hear your news. its devastating when something like this happens, and even if we know in our head its not really rational to tar all similar places with the same brush it still happens. It took me a long time to get over being robbed while in Barcelona, even though we were compensated fully by the insurance company. I now feel nervous when I meet someone who tells me they are off to Barcelona and bore them rigid with warnings!!! My incident happened as we were leaving and we had had a wonderful few days there. We also received fantastic assistance from some locals, but my experience will always colour my future plans.
Having said all that we have been back to Spain and France including small towns and cities and would recommend it. We are ultra cautious though. We have a Strikeback alarm. I use an ipad now in order that we can carry it with us when leaving the van as we felt vulnerable leaving the laptop behind. We always carry our documents, and have copies saved to usb sticks which we each carry. I also have many documents loaded into my kindle. We are very careful to select our parking wisely and will pay to use a campsite if we are at all unsure. None of these precautions will guarantee anything though.
In the end I have to accept that bad things happen. We will try to make sure it isn't easy for potential villains to cause us trouble but we will definitely not allow them to put us off our holidays!
Please give France another go...
Shirley


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## KeithChesterfield (Mar 12, 2010)

We stayed in a Hotel in a small French town about 10 years ago and the following morning four British plated cars parked on a road at the back of the Hotel had been damaged in a vain attempt to break into them.

The Hotel owner was distraught and the Police arrived pronto.

There were so many apologies from both the Owner and the Police to the Guests but the chance of finding out who did it were remote.

It hasn't put us off from going to France on a regular basis over many years, it was a one off as far as we were concerned, and I'd be quite happy to return to that town if we're ever in the area rather than shun it.

No where on Earth is safe but I'm afraid you have to be philosophical about things that happen and just try and get on with your life.

PS - we're off to France on Saturday - looking for the Sun or at least warm weather.

:wav: :wav: :wav:


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## ardgour (Mar 22, 2008)

We parked on the side of a residential street at the bottom of the hill in Aix-en-provence (near a college or something?) as it was the only place suitable for our 7m MH that day. No problems but we were cautious about staying there very long.
It is a fair sized town and all sorts of people there - you are often better in the small towns where there is more of a sense of community.
Don't let it put you off

Chris


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## jeffro (Jan 13, 2009)

*parking in france*

wow ! first i am sorry for what happened .I live on the outskirts of a big town in England but i would never park there at any time scum are everywhere nowdays


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

Really sorry, we have just returned from Aix en Provence with absolutely no problems

Aldra


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## Glandwr (Jun 12, 2006)

Had a car side light smashed in Paris in the 80s, nothing taken . It was the morning after Wales had whooped them at Rugby.  

Again not trying to make light of it but **** can happen anywhere. Hope your daughter gets over it.  

Dick


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## Bill_H (Feb 18, 2011)

happened to friends of mine in a small town in the south of England in similar circumstances.
Should this stop everyone from going south of Watford?


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

Sorry to hear what happened. Like others though I'd urge you not to avoid France because of this, it could happen anywhere. Last year our van was broken into in Sainsbury's car park in Halifax. Fortunately we weren't on holiday, just taking the van out for a run, so we didn't have any valuables in it. Hope you and your daughter have some good experiences in France in the future.


Chris


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## stevian (Aug 12, 2009)

Bill_H said:


> happened to friends of mine in a small town in the south of England in similar circumstances.
> Should this stop everyone from going south of Watford?


What?? you mean there is something south of Watford?? well i never! :lol:


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## Manxcat (Jun 20, 2011)

Oh Dear !! I think that residential streets are potentially dangerous as residents want to park there and tourists should use car parks. France is particularly good for "Campnig cars". 
We parked years ago in Calais with a car loaded with wine & camping equipment, before campervan time, with no problems in a busy shopping street!!!.........and we'd forgotten to lock it!!!
We're off to France very soon and trust all goes well.


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## Boff (May 10, 2005)

Hi Gray,

I really feel sorry for what has happened to your daughter. Though these things just do happen from time to time, not only in France. And should be taken as a reminder never to leave passports etc. in the van.



Penquin said:


> I also am surprised at what has happened in a small town with a good reputation. I cannot explain why or who was responsible but it strikes me as unusual for such an event to happen.......


No, I am not at all surprised. After all, Aix-en-Provence is a well-known tourist attraction. And where there are tourist attractions, there are tourists. And where there are tourists, there are thieves. Most probably the thieves have nothing in common with the residents of the street or town. Usually they are gangs travelling around and taking a pick on all easy targets they find.

BTW, the car burglar gang which was busy around Strasbourg some years ago was even notorious for breaking into police cars parked in front of the police station, at broad daylight!

Best Regards,
Gerhard


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## wug (May 19, 2011)

Maybe someone could add safe travel tips for parking Safe Travel Tips


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## bigles (May 26, 2008)

Don't let this one incident put you off travelling in France.

We spent 4 months last year travelling around France - through the Alsace, Jura, Burgundy, Provence (including Aix) along the Med through the Camargue and down to the Spanish border returning via Toulouse and up the west coast. We never had any problems.

As previous posters have already stated, parking in popular car parks or Aires where there are other people about is usually a good idea. Quiet streets and isolated spots is a no-no for us.

As sad as it was this is probably an unlucky incident where they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.


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## Scattycat (Mar 29, 2011)

Sorry to hear about your daughter's problems, of course this would never happen in the UK would it?  . . . . . . . not much it wouldn't!

To be honest no matter what country I was in I would never park our van in a residential street and leave the van unattended unless I was visiting someone living there and then I'd park as close to their property as possible.


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## rayrecrok (Nov 21, 2008)

Bill_H said:


> Should this stop everyone from going south of Watford?


Absolutely :lol: :lol: :lol:

ray.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Once again, I am very sorry for your experience.
We have visited Aix-en-Provence many times over the years and although it looks quite an affluent town they do have some high immigrant areas.

OK I know someone will leap to the immigrant defence. But my Bros in Law had a holiday home in Pertuits just outside Aix-en-Provence. It was stripped every year. As soon as they locked it up the Arab neighbours came in through the roof and even the toothpaste went.

Ray.


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## cheshiregordon (Sep 24, 2011)

Sorry to hear the of your daughters sad experience. To my mind its the achilles heal of motorhoming - I mean the fact that you carry all that nice techy stuff around with you and then leave it unprotected in the van while shopping / site seeing etc at least with caravanning the van is at sited while unattended.
We will be away during September travelling thro germany and I was looking forward to using stellplatz for the first time but reading these sad and scary stories is making me think I might be better advised to use ACSI sites for that added bit of security!


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

cheshiregordon said:


> - I mean the fact that you carry all that nice techy stuff around with you .......
> ..... reading these sad and scary stories is making me think I might be better advised to use ACSI sites for that added bit of security!


Surely the answer to this is don't carry all the nice techy stuff with you. Only take stuff that you'd not be devastated to lose. It's not much of a holiday if you're constantly worried about getting broken into or can't stay at the places you'd like to stay at because you're afraid of being robbed. You'd not be able to shop unless one of you stays with the van, or sight-see en route - part of the pleasure of going for us anyway.

G


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## boringfrog (Sep 22, 2006)

*Security*



cheshiregordon said:


> I might be better advised to use ACSI sites for that added bit of security!


False sense of security?


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Really sorry to hear about this unfortunate incident. It's every motorhomers nightmare.

I have to add though that we have now got some pretty lengthy trips under our belts mainly abroad and the only place I have ever felt concerned for safety and getting broken into is the uk. 

I'll probably eat this words now as we arrived in France yesterday on a five month trip (not just France) 

We nearly always use aires or wild camp and often seek out places on our own. We often park in towns and residential areas and go off on the scooter. Ok so one day maybe it will happen to us but I just don't worry about it. 

The biggest disaster would be my laptop but that's the only thing they would get that would
Fetch more than £50 on eBay!

I think you also get a sixth sense that a parking spot just isn't quite right and move on.

I tend to work on the principle that 99% of the worlds people are honest so we should be ok.

Parked on an aire right now so will no doubt now get gassed, robbed and sold into the French slave trade


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

Sorry to read of your daughters incident.
Raping pilaging and plundering have no boundaries.

My 3 hour old Scudo was broken into via smahed door window wuilth a house brick, the kind that you see in every residential road. :? 
Locked glove box was forced open. Sat nav was removed with handbook etc.
I was working in a house less than 20 feet away.
All caught on neighbours CCTV.
I recognised the three yobs who lived only a couple of streets away. Local druggies. The guy who broke my window was laughing as he did it.

Police came but did not take finger prints or a sample of the blood that was on the door and windscreen. They just gave me a crime number.

When I confronted the lads dad I was told to go away and not pester him for his sons deeds. Tyres are expensive on a mercedes.  

Dave p


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Towns*

We live in a supposedly nice area here in the UK

A couple of years ago, 35 cars were smashed in a row in 3 streets along the Fred Perry way. Nobody saw a thing.

We now have Local Government CCTV.

It happens in a lot of places, sadly.

TM


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

It hapens anywhere, even on hols in France.
Dave p


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