35 replies to this topic

[samperks]

Bump for yah mate. all the best getting it back

[Tobyh42]

Is anyone near Nuneaton? Had a report of a possible sighting but the police aren't interested. There's apparently a dodgy parts dealership who will find what you're looking for??

If anyone is around there, she's BRG 1995 M948DEU, white roof and bonnet stripes, walnut dash. Immaculate front end as recent refurb. Slight dink on boot. Half leather black seats, dog hairs on the back seat, walnut dash. CD/radio but I've still got the front. Little grey seal lives on the dash if he's still there.

Thanks.

[minisprint]

Is anyone near Nuneaton? Had a report of a possible sighting but the police aren't interested. There's apparently a dodgy parts dealership who will find what you're looking for??

If anyone is around there, she's BRG 1995 M948DEU, white roof and bonnet stripes, walnut dash. Immaculate front end as recent refurb. Slight dink on boot. Half leather black seats, dog hairs on the back seat, walnut dash. CD/radio but I've still got the front. Little grey seal lives on the dash if he's still there.

Thanks.

Do you know address for the dealer? I'm in Leicester and know people in and around the area!

[Tobyh42]

Is anyone near Nuneaton? Had a report of a possible sighting but the police aren't interested. There's apparently a dodgy parts dealership who will find what you're looking for??

If anyone is around there, she's BRG 1995 M948DEU, white roof and bonnet stripes, walnut dash. Immaculate front end as recent refurb. Slight dink on boot. Half leather black seats, dog hairs on the back seat, walnut dash. CD/radio but I've still got the front. Little grey seal lives on the dash if he's still there.

Thanks.

Do you know address for the dealer? I'm in Leicester and know people in and around the area!

Thanks, we've checked it out. Sadly false alarm.

[Sam14]

If you get the police involved

I dont know how you would do it but ask them to watch out in dover harbour?

[Sam14]

Over 300,000 cars are stolen in the UK each year, half of them from outside their owners' homes. And worldwide thieves drive away almost five million cars annually - totalling 30,000 acres of them, if they were very tightly parked together. Where do all these vehicles go to?

About 65 per cent of those stolen in the UK find their way back to their owners (albeit often damaged), usually within 48 hours, after being used for joyriding or in the commission of crime. But the other 35 per cent, usually stolen by thieves paid up to £700 by gang leaders, have one of three fates: (i) to be taken to a 'chop shop' (usually nearby), partially or thoroughly dismantled, and sold as spare parts in the UK or abroad; (ii) to be given a new identity (with false papers) before sale in the UK; or (iii) to be taken (as swiftly as possible) out of the country with false export documents.

Twenty thousand stolen cars are said to be shipped intact, and another 20,000 in pieces, out of the UK each year, usually in containers, while a similar amount stolen abroad find their way here. Packers can 'stuff' three cars - or the best spare parts from 20 cars - inside one 40ft container, before dispatch to a port with papers claiming they're sanitary pads or fridges.

From the UK a large proportion surface in West Africa - in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Benin, Togo, Nigeria - where popular cars, such as Peugeot 405s, will often have been stolen in London's suburbs and sent through Tilbury Dock. Otherwise UK cars will go to left-hand drive countries in East Africa, or Cyprus, India, Pakistan, Japan, or Malaysia, usually via the free trade zone of Dubai, where cars stolen in Japan and heading for the UK are also laundered. It's believed there are currently as many as 100,000 cars pootling along UK roads (and many more in Vietnam and China) which derive from crime in Japan. Cars stolen in Belgium, Eire and Australia frequently surface in the UK too.

The traffic is now a huge international merry-go-round. Roughly 1.5m cars stolen abroad are said to be on Russia's roads. (If stolen again, they will then head for Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Syria or Finland.) From Germany alone, Russia receives 170,000 stolen cars each year (via the 'clearing house' of Poland), and a further 550,000 are cannibalised within Germany to provide parts for those that have already skedaddled.

Two thirds of the cars stolen in France are German-designed. Many end up in Germany, but more go to Russia, Switzerland or - via Spanish ports - to the Middle East or Tunisia.

The US loses cars in all directions - Asian-designed cars from New Jersey off to Italy or the Middle East; luxury cars from Miami heading for the Caribbean, Russia and Central and South America. From the West Coast cars go increasingly to China, while from southwestern states most head to Mexico, where they may even surface as police vehicles. More curiously still, the FBI is pondering how cars used for bombs in Iraq could have been reported stolen in America...

Trying to trace a stolen car is like looking for a needle in a haystack. But drivers losing their vehicles in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, have it especially bad. With three borders nearby - the Austrian, Czech and Hungarian - Bratislava loses scores of cars daily to and through those countries, to Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Afghanistan, Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece, Serbia and Montenegro. In the latter country, stolen motors are now said to be "worth their weight in meat".

Edited by Sam14, 04 April 2011 - 11:15 PM.

[Sam14]

So some it up, best bet, local garages, or ports or france :/

[minidream94]

when you put it like that, it makes you wonder if ya daily drive car could infact be a stolen international car :S

[RobFox]

Thanks, we've checked it out. Sadly false alarm.

Only just seen this thread, gutted for you

I live on the outskirts of Bristol and regularly drive in to the cetner so ill keep an eye out for you.

[lozzy92]

Hi Toby,
So sorry to hearyour news will keep a look out for your Mini down here in somerset !!

Hope u find it

Kindest Regards
Lozzy92

[Tobyh42]

Nearly 3 weeks now and no sign of her, I guess the chances of getting her back are slipping away.
Would rather she's been shipped than broken up. : (

[thehelstonian]

Sorry to hear buddy.

if it does manage to get to scotland i'll clock it for you, ive taken a note of the details for you...best of luck

[Tobyh42]

Losing hope now, I have been holding out but it's been a long time.
The insurance people don't seem to understand that I don't want a new car, I just want my little car back.

Didn't help when the insurance person on the end of the phone laughed when I said how much I think she's worth.

If anyone spots her please let me know, that car is a big part of my life.

[maggies_minder]

i'd report who ever you spoke too.

[electricjim]

Ditto thats no way to react to someone who has had their car pinched, report them