Martingb

This is taken from www.thisislondon.co.uk - scarry stuff!

"A tube driver today described his terror at waking up to find a gang holding a pistol to his head and demanding the keys to his car.

The four balaclava-clad robbers smashed their way into the £600,000 house in Langton Avenue, Whetstone, where he lives as a lodger, and threatened to shoot him unless he handed over the keys to his Subaru Impreza.

The raid was the second in a series of four attacks in north and east London which police believe were carried out by the same gang in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The 38-year-old Tube driver, who does not wish to be named, gave a graphic description of the raid: "They smashed through the front door and ran into the house. I was lying in bed and before I knew it there was a man in a balaclava standing over me and shouting, 'The Impreza. Give me the keys.' I said, 'You can't have them,' and he shouted, 'Give me the keys. Now.'

"When I refused again he went to grab the keys from the table next to the bed, and I went for them at the same time - and that was when he put the gun to my head.

He said, 'Give me the keys right now or I'll shoot you.' I knew they weren't kidding because I heard one of the other guys, who was in the hallway, shouting, 'Just shoot him and take the f***ing keys.' So I let him have them. I was terrified.

"I've never been robbed before. But when someone's holding a pistol to your head, and his mate is shouting at him to kill you, you don't mess about. A car's not worth dying for." He added: "They all sounded like they were from London and I think that I might have been followed home.

"The police seem to think that the same gang stole at least two other cars that night and at least one was an Impreza too, so it looks like they might have been stealing to order.

"It has certainly made me think differently about living in London. There is just violence all over this town these days."

The victim's landlady, a 64-year-old nurse, was also threatened. She said: "I woke up and I heard them knocking the door down so I jumped out of bed and called the police. Then I took off all my rings and went to see what was happening. As soon as I walked on to the landing one of the robbers pointed a gun at me and said, 'Move!.

"But I'm a tough old bird and I don't get scared easily - I've been a nurse for 40 years - so I said, 'There's no use in waving that thing at me. I've already called the police.'

"I think that the police and the Government have let me down. There is no question of me staying in London after this. I'm old enough to retire and I have no intention of putting up with this kind of thing."

The first of the four attacks took place in Albany Park Avenue, Enfield, at 2.40am when the gang threatened a couple before stealing the keys to their car, a red Impreza.

Then came the Langton Avenue attack at 3.30am, before the robbers moved to Heather Gardens, Romford, where they stole a Blue BMW coupe at 4.30am. It was later found abandoned in Tottenham.

Two hours later the robbers struck again in Waterfall Road, New Southgate, where they threatened a couple with a gun but fled empty-handed. "

zoog

There is one thing that stands out in this story:

How does a tube driver own a £600000 house? They are clearly paid too much!

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Read it again!

It's a serious issue and should be treated as such!!

Elvis Presley

He was a lodger in the house.

These people need shooting.

zoog

It is serious I agree , there is virtual anarchy on the streets of London at the moment.

Nurses must have had some pay rises recently ! (Landlady)

juan

read it!! He's a lodger

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

For goodness sake Zoog, does it matter how much the house is worth or what the occupant does for a living? That is not the issue and I personally think you are out of order for making light of this matter.

Jeez I can't believe I'm having to type this

Sal

Scooby-Doo

Maybe the police can setup a tracker hotline, so 1 quick 999 call and the police are on the case.

Does it work this way ?

BaldyMan

You got that right mate - bring back hanging - for these types of criminal activities.

Someone comes into your house - with a gun - threatening your life.

1 if they have a gun - surely they intend to use it - thats 'assault' or worse 'murder'
2 they have broken into your house - thats 'breakin 'n' enterin'
3 they want your car - thats 'auto theft'

And exactly what do they get - when ( IF ) they get convicted - a couple of years living at our expense.

Fu*kin hang em - might just give them summet to think about - before they nick other peoples stuff.

smanning

I spoke to a guy earlier on this week who had a escort cosworth.... aparantly 3 guys in a white van who had irish accents tried to carjack him in the basildon / laindon area when they saw his poster in the window of his car for sale.

One guy got out to talk to him while the other 2 jumped out the back and tried to force their way into his passenger door / boot.

be warned.

i think i shall be keeping an object in the car for defence in future.....

i jest not.

Jolly Green Monster 2

I don't see why they even put the price of the house in the article!

She is 64 and still working so she could have been paying for it all her life.. what does her pay or the cost of her house have to do with any of it.. I think I would complain if something like this happened to me and they wrote the price of the house etc..

This is outrageous... what can you do except hand over the keys..

Very glad I don't live in London...

The guy saying kill him could just be play acting (I hope) to up the tension and force the keys to be handed over.

The only soloution has got to be an anti hijack system... and hope that the Police are along before they come back to threaten you because you didn't tell them the code and the car has stopped 300yards up the road etc..

I think it is time it was made legal to electrify the seat...etc..

Be careful out there...

JGM

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Dont any of these cars have trackers on them??

STi go fast

her pay is in this post becasue zoog made a joke of it, the reason it has continued in this post is cause some of you are like those big fish in chinese ponds that appear desperate to be hooked.

Elvis Presley

Then the only problem is that you will more than likely go to prison if you try to defend your property or even yourself.

Something like "assault with a weapon"?

Still, we can't help living in a sick society where right and wrong are completely mixed up. It won't stop me from busting someones arm with a bat if they try and take my scoob. I'd rather go to prison after just out of principle.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

As The Verve said mate "The drugs don't work"

tiggers

Sorry to start on again about this, but what is needed in the UK is a change of policing/judicial policy from the government and senior police officers.

Stop spending money on speed cameras etc. and start employing more police to walk the beat and show a presence. Start following up crimes such as burglary, aggravated vehicle theft etc. rather than just doling out a crime reference number over the phone. Get back to old style community policing. Punish criminals who are caught so they don't want to do it again. Make examples of these people. etc. etc.

Until this happens the UK is going to carry on slipping towards anarchy and I really mean that - mark my words it could happen.

What really gets my back up is that recently the Lancashire Constabulary have announced a zero tolerance approach to speeding in the county, but not for any other crime - draw what conclusions you want from that, but I know what I think.

Regards,

tiggers.

HamsterWheel

Question no-one seems to have asked is where all these Scoobies end up. How many on here have bought one in dubious circumstances ? Bet there's loads of you driving around in nicked ones, or buying parts cheap from stripped down ones.

GazP

Its about time the government woke up and realised that their citizens are being robbed at gun point, and that soon someone, god forbid, is going to get killed, for their car

Nothing will change, the people in power don't give a to$$, and that is the way it will stay.

Sad but true.

juan

this must be classed as armed robbery which does have some quite nice stiff penalties. just need to catch the fkers

Little Miss WRX

This is one reason why I want out of this country, I have so unfortunate little faith in the police and justice system .

As scoobychick says zoog, I feel you were well out of order for that comment.

My thoughts go out to people affected by this and I hope that up until my car is sold, I shall not be on the receiving end of this type of thing

This incident is one of the reasons why I am
1. selling my car and
2. moving out of my parents.

Regards,

Michelle.

Geezer

To say that the people in power don't give a toss or the police should concentrate on real crime blah blah blah........... is pointless and simply not the case. Whilst this sort of incident is shocking, there is nothing the gov or the police can do about it. Even if we had double the amount of police we have now, if someone wants to get into your house at 3 in the morning and take your car at gunpoint, there ain't nothing that the police are going to be able to do about it. The police arrived promptly, but not promptly enough it would seem, but unless there are enough police to cover every few streets in the UK, they never will arrive in time.

The catching of these people could be improved, but not to the extent where you could seriously make a dent in there actions.

Someone made a comment about how they don't want to give up enjoying their Scoob because of these scumbags, and that's a fair point, but at the end of the day, what's more important? Your right to enjoy your car or the lives of your children and family? I know what gets my vote.

It's like people who live on the slopes of volcanos, it's their choice but they know the risks. If you live in an area where this is likely to happen, then either sell the car or move (or just accept it and carry on).

I hope that you recover from this trauma, and it is terrible that scumbags like can get away with it, but there is not a great deal that can be done.

Geezer

Dracoro

Sorry Geezer, but that sort of defeatist attitude is what is wrong in this country nowadays, and why so many criminals are active.
The reason these criminals are active is because they know that there is a lack of resources to deal with them.
If there are twice as many police in this country, then there's more chance that the bobby is 5 minutes away rather than 10 minutes away, thus increasing the chance of getting there in time. It also means more work done on the ground level investigating these crimes (rather than a crime number then forgotten about etc.) and providing long term strategies against crime. If we, as a society, don't try to deal with these things then anarchy comes about.

This may be the case if you decide to move to crappy part of london/birmingham/manchester etc. but a lot of these cars are being stolen from somewhat nice areas. It's totally unreasonable to expect people to move from their homes rather than forging better crime prevention techniques. Most of us don't live in a place where this is likely to happen, but steadily the thieves are moving to our areas, NOT the other way round.

Not a dig at you personally Geezer, I assure you. I just don't think we should sit back and say 'nothing can be done'. It's a dangerous road to go down.

carl

Indeed -- if we all sell our Scoobs then the scum will just move on to whatever happens to be the next flavour of the month [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

dosenöffner

Let them have the car. You can't drive it if you are dead or in prison for defending yourself. Yes - you will be found the guilty one. That is how the law protects us.

Get yourself a tracker if you are really worried about this happening to you and want them caught.

Zoog - you are a moron.

smanning

just thought i would point out the fact that a tracker is useless if the have the keys... no tracker system will detect anything wrong if the immobiliser has been disarmed.

One simple question.... how many of us with them actually would have the number to hand if our car got nicked....? And how long would it take for you to get hold of it, and alert them?

long enough for them to get the car somewhere safe, and strip it?

i wonder... i am just as guilty. food for thought though.

still say a baseball bat is more effective

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

navtrak pro-active has a seperate card to de-activate the tracker. You don't keep it with the keys. I have the number in my Mobile. So lets face it not a difficult job really. The traker should kick in almost imediately.

smanning

well u are obiously well prepared. i think i will do the same, but many people arent......

...i wouldnt want mine back anyhow.....

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

I didn't want to sound condescending but I probably did. However I think unless we take the appropriate measures that we can things will only get worse. I think it will only be a matter of time before all impreza's will have to have a tracker for insurance purposes.

I can understand why you wouldn't want your car back if it was totally trashed but if these people are steeling to order then they are going to try and keep the car in a reasonable condition. If they use the keys as in the cases mentioned then they will not damage the doors/locks. If the car is driven hard from cold once I'm sure it will do little or no damage.

How many people have full protected no claims? If you dont and your car is stolen and not recovered could you afford to insure another scoob or similar motor? I couldn't

Little Miss WRX

Okay the NAv Trak thing is good in a way.

BUT

What if the fact that the car won't start without it riles them so much that they end up pulling the trigger and another person gets killed? Give the car up FULL STOP.

No matter how hard it is a car is not worth yours or anyone else's life.

I always keep my tracker number on my person, so if something does happen I can phone immediately.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

The car does start and drives but you have to de-activate the tracker with the key-card or the tracker sends a signal to Navtrak HQ that he car is moving without authorisation. They will then contact you to see if you are aware ie false alarm or not. They confirm this with passwords etc..