MarkWRX

Just been told that there is an article in the local Birmingham paper tonight about a guy who was attacked in the car park of his gym by two guys in balaclavas with spanners.
They were after his scoob, and he resisted and threw his keys into some bushes, they couldnt find them so they ran off and I think they guy is OK.

I am worried by this as this is MY local gym where I go 2/3 times a week. It could have been me, and I might be next.

This is in Solihull which is allegedly a 'nice' area where you feel safe. If it can happen here it can happen anywhere.

Ive not long had my scoob, and already Im having second thoughts. I dont want to worry about this sh*t every time I go to the gym or somewhere else.

I know its only a small minority and the press hype it up, but there seem to have been lots of scooby theft recently.

Everybody be vigilent out there.

matt d

We need some anti-thief publicity to scare them off. Can someone please hack/chainsaw/rip off a car thief's head and send it back to his boss on a plate please (come on pslewis you keep threatening this!) A few of these and scoob thefts should drop

Seriously though, apart from following normal precautions (park in a well lit area near people, lock doors at all times, etc) there isn't much you can do. If you have a 2nd car, use that for daily driving and save the scoob for weekends.

There is a device called Clifford blackjax which will shut down your car within a few seconds after someone has nicked it. Costs about £600 I think, and you can then just hand over the keys straight away, and know the car will be locked shut and stopped in 200-300 yards.

CharliePsycho

The problem is that if you resist successfully, then the law turns against you...

I do know a guy (who I trained with) who took three guys to pieces that attempted to persuade him to part with goods; he is still rotting in a Spanish jail for GBH...

It's like school yard, don't play the bullies at their own game; play a different game.

I don't go to the gym in a car, I don't drive in London in a flash car; but I live in a very nice area thankyou, with lots of cracking roads...

Oh and for any toe-rags reading this I also have 5 acres of woodlands and a licensed shotgun; your move... (think of it as evolution in action)

What can I say, maybe it is the price for our western way of life; for every person with a nice car, there is a person who doesn’t (but wants one enough to steal it) the trick is not to give the easy temptation…

I could write reams about them and us, the disadvantaged and the wealthy, the poor and the middle-classed prey; or even what any of us would do given an easy target and the need to feed a habit that we cannot control (the simplest being eating.) The bottom line is that we and the government is unlikely to solve any of this in any real way (without of course creating a ‘Star Trek type utopia ) and no amount of alarms will help.

I think this is really the price you pay if you have something desirable in a built up area. Move somewhere less populated if it upsets you that much, otherwise, in this day and age, I am afraid it is one of those expenses that we will soon find to be tax dedutable…

…©

Hoppy

The Clifford BlackJax is around £200, but it won't save you the trauma of being carjacked in the first place. Only common sense and vigilance can do that - and that's certainly no guarantee, either.

I agree with CharlieP but all this stuff about living in a 'nice' area doesn't equate. If you want to nick a posh car, you wouldn't go looking around the local council estate, would you?

Richard.

ChrisB

I thought Black Jax was around £200?

I'm really into the habbit of locking the doors as the first thing I do once in the car.

ChrisB.

Lenny.

Can you get the Blackjack unit supplied on its own? My local car alarm places say you can only have it as part of a full (£600+) alarm system.

wheelwright

How about the autowatch anti-hijack system, i've had one on both my scoobs and they do the job cost about £120 fitted, living in Birmingham i think its better just to hand over the keys and not get hurt knowing the car will not get more than a mile away.

Andy Winskill

I believe there's a Tracker device which can shutdown your car and override the keys for the immobiliser.

I suppose the downside is that you've got to get to a phone, but the upside is that at least you can control when the vehicle is stopped.... Sounds pricey though...

JackClark

Run to the Gym from now on, it'll save you using the running machine

wall

Charlie,

there are things called "self defence" and "reasonable force" which, when applicable, make resistance not an offence.

For example, if a man attacks you with bare hands, and you do damage by defending yourself with bare hands, that's fine. If however, once he's KOd, you start stomping on his head, that is not reasonable force. Similarly, if he attacks you bare hands and to defend yourself you pull out a 9mm and shoot him, that would also be beyond reasonable force.

I by no means advocate dangerous behaviour...give them the keys, it's much better to loose a car than your life....but if you must defend yourself remember that as long as you are being threatened and that the means of defence are balanced to the means of attack, then you can happily do reasonable damage with no legal consequences. Just know when to stop.

Wall

Jacko

So is letting one barrel go reasonable force, but letting the second go UNreasonable force????
**** me this is too confusing, let them have either none or BOTH barrels?????

Better put a couple of spare fibre wads under the bed me thinks...

Jacko.

wrx

Yes I read about this one in last night's evening mail. They gave up looking for he's keys and stole his laptop and wallet instead. I use that car park as well as security is pretty good, or so I thought. Hopefully they can track back on the cameras and identify them b4 they put on balaclavas.

MattN

I think you'll find just carrying a 9mm is illeagal.

Also, if you happened to be near a wapon of some kind (metal bar or some such) and someone comes at you with just there bare hands then, reasonable force means you **may** be able to use to bar to protect yourself. It's not a simple case of if your weaponry is greater than his then it's not reasonable force.

Blackjaxx, is available on some of the other clifford alarms but once you price both up you may as well get the concept 600 as it works out better VFM.

Thing with the Black jaxx is if they nick the keys as your going to your car it won't go off!

ChrisB

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Thing with the Black jaxx is if they nick the keys as your going to your car it won't go off!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Are you sure Matt? Conflicts with my understanding of how it works.

ChrisB.

Lenny.

How does the autowatch device work? Has anyone else got one?

nom

Hey, something I know the answer to!
The Clifford Black Jaxx doobie will go off if the keys are pinched before getting into the car.
It's all to do with nipples
Can I say that?

MattN

well all I know is when I borrowed my mates car (with blackjaxx) all I did was press the unlock button and went off.

That's what put me off. When asked, he said it was all to do with the opening and closing of doors with the ignition on i.e. once the car is started if the door is opened then the Blackjaxx is activated.

nom

This is the silly part.
According to the specs, if Black Jaxx is switched on, the alarm isn't cat 1 approved. So it's typically left off when the thing's installed.
eh? Hello Mr Sense, where have you gone?
What should happen (if Black Jaxx is on) is you get in, start the car, drive off, then a little while later there are blipping sounds sounds & flashy lights. If you don't start playing with your nipples correctly, the car will stop & start making a real racket. Then you run away.
That's the plan, anyway.

rr_ww

O.K.
I have BlackJax on my car. If someone broke into my house, stole my keys went to the car unlocked it (Delocked) then drove off without entering the code it will 1) Wait 30 or so seconds then make 5 beeps. 2) Then if you don't type code in it will then wait 20 seconds, then alarm sounds, indicators and brake lights will flash. then as Speed drops to about 5mph it will cut ignition.
Some installers turn this off,when installing and forget to reactivate when they first fit it. (Maybe that was what happened to MattNs mates?)
However if you read the manual carefully you'll see there is a way to turn it off whilst on the move. Im not going to tell ALL here but it involves pressing the buttons on the remote (one with symbols). If I know this, then theives know this. God Damn even the installers know this if you ask them. "O Yeah its there as a safety incase we need to work on the car!!!!"

But this function can be turned off. So do it NOW!
Cheers!

Apple

It's all very well this Blackjaxx thing but picture the following scenario:-

Toe-rag hijacks you and force you out of car while engine running, gets in & drives off. Car shuts down in a "short distance," toe-rag realises what is happening and comes back to "meet" you as you are walking to pick up your car. Doesn't exactly ask you nicely for the code and end up beating the cr@p out of you for the code. Walks back to car, disarms it and drives off laughing. No car and possibly in hospital / worse. Wonderful

You then hope that the tracker you have on finds it before it's totalled etc (if your phone hasn't been nicked in the car as well)

Apple

tarmacterrorist

rr_ww
The reason the BlackJax is not enabled can be for a couple of reasons.
1. Owner of car might need alarm for insurance purposes - BlackJax remarkably voids the certificate needed for insurance company
2. Owner decides that its too much hassle to have BlackJax enabled

Apple
You cant have everything. I personally will risk having BlackJax enabled. More pros than cons in my opinion.

Andy.

bug-eyed wonder

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Apple:
<B>It's all very well this Blackjaxx thing but picture the following scenario:-

Toe-rag hijacks you and force you out of car while engine running, gets in & drives off. Car shuts down in a "short distance," toe-rag realises what is happening and comes back to "meet" you as you are walking to pick up your car. Doesn't exactly ask you nicely for the code and end up beating the cr@p out of you for the code. Walks back to car, disarms it and drives off laughing. No car and possibly in hospital / worse. Wonderful

You then hope that the tracker you have on finds it before it's totalled etc (if your phone hasn't been nicked in the car as well)

Apple[/quote]

Scenario with common sense applied! You have the sense to carry mobile phone on your person, ****** gets car, you call police/tracking company report theft, if Blackjaxx is installed car gets stopped away from you, you had the intelligence not to persue a clearly unstable piece of sh**e, let authorities and tracking company do their job. Much more chance of car returned, you relatively unharmed or am i living in fantasy world. Best advice, be aware!

Basil

It's ashame you fellows live in a country where protecting yourself is almost as bad as committing the crime. I live in a state where they issue a permit to carry a concealed weapon after doing a background check - and guess what? We have a lot less crime than state's that don't. Personally, I carry a folding knife and a 9mm pistol when I leave the house. It's my opinion that thieves are a little less likely to molest people when there's a chance that their target is armed to the teeth (or, as my friends say, festooned with weapons)..

Basil

rr_ww

TarmacTerrorist.
You're right because Thatcham Rules (for Cat 1 at least) specifically say that the ignition cannot be cut once the car is running. I think it's more to do with losing PAS / Servo efficiency etc at high speed and this may result in an accident. Also when you first get blackjax it is a pain in the **** but you get used to it. For the first few weeks i was wondering why i was coasting to a halt. Radio turned up LOUD so couldn't hear chirps

Cheers all!

tarmacterrorist

rr_ww
Yeah, you got it right there. It took me a while but its bloody embarrasing when you dont do it properly & the alarm is going off (having programmed such a unique combo of the siren tones) with a few nice birdies watching. I will not turn it off now even though it makes me red faced from time to time.
Andy.