CARS VANDALISED AT ST JAMES WALKWAY

or they may vandalise it for the hell of it, someone i know had his car stolen and burnt out... just mindless behaviour

True that, Wayno. I agree with your previous post regarding drug use fuelling some of this egregious behavior, most notably P. There's always been vandalism, but the extent and viciousness of the damage caused has certainly been on the uptick. Not a lot of solutions on this one. Madpom's post on having a road end car is a good one, providing you have the dosh to splash out. Just lock it, leave it empty, and hope for the best is about all we can do.

I hate roadside vandalism as much as the next tramper. But I must say there has been a lot of very strong generalising of the current times at the moment. The kinds of people who do this are actually usually small town youth who have not long had licenses, who are not yet adept at thinking before acting, are trying to prove themselves to peers and raging with increased hormone levels. Not usually the work of some p addicted gang associate. While we are generalising.

"not yet adept at thinking before acting?" most people by the time they hit their teens dont resort to breaking into cars. i didnt and none of my friends did.... maybe poor parenting skills is also involved but, I'd certainly have copped my parents wrath for doing that sort of thing. i didnt say they were all on drugs but drugs are a lot more widespread than decades ago and i said they were more likely to be on drugs. which is the case with a lot of criminals

I agree with you on the above post Wayno. But surely when you were at school you remember the meatheads? There is always meatheads. Sometimes they have bad parents and sometimes they don't. But this country has always had testosterone fuelled meatheads who want to pillage and plunder they're way through their youths. Mainly under the influence of alcohol if anything.

yup, theres always that element around, stimulants don't help either...

Maybe if each of us bought a battery powered motion activated camera and every time we parked we hid the camera in a suitable place aimed at our car. Then when we get back to the car we retrieve the camera and if the car has been tampered with present the evidence to Mr Plod. Who knows you might even get some interesting wildlife photos.

I carry a spare wheel (with all the air at the top) I put on before departing where ever the car is parked. Hide the good wheel and tools to put it back on with a good distance away. Two discrete cameras (have to look real close to notice them) in car set to trigger on movement, car disablement devices set so car cannot be started, and radio device to send alert if vehicle tampered with. Some places may be dodgy for transmission, but a better device will be available soon. Owning an alarm monitoring company helps. I then leave the car unlocked with glove box and anything else that can be opened open to show it is empty. Thieves are to lazy to bother changing a wheel, they would rather move on to another target. If they cannot start the vehicle with a quick rewire, again they will move on. Do I run the risk of damage, sure do, and short of a fire to destroy everything because they are shitty with not finding anything of value or a vehicle easily removed I also have a good chance of obtaining photographic evidence and the monitoring company have the the co-ordinates to report any alarm activation's to police as they happen. I have found that if you lock the car you stand a greater risk of broken windows. Unlocked I may find it a little damp inside on return. Not foolproof by any means, but has at least helped to lock a couple away.

@frankb - wow! That's pretty serious effort. wrt leaving the doors unlocked - even that's not surefire. Left my van at Akatarawa Saddle once with all but one door unlocked and they smashed the window in the one locked door. Never had a vehicle stolen, but had 4 or 5 vehicle breakins in the NI and gear taken.

If you look over the bank at Akatarawa Saddle you will find them all.