Oldpathfinder
New Member
- Posts
- 4
- Location
- Aylesbury, Bucks
Stealing Defenders There has been a spate of stolen defenders around the North Bucks/West Herts/South Beds areas for the past few years where 90s and 110s are being nicked without the keys. The vehicles have been left locked with the alarms on and have gone missing overnight.
I spoke to somebody today who was lucky enough to get his back before the thieves started to take it apart when the Police found it near Leighton Buzzard about 20 miles from where he lived.
One of the things in common in this spate is people finding just their headlight left where their Defender was parked. When the bloke I spoke to today got his back the headlight and battery were missing. The ignition was forced off. When the Police found it about an hour after it was nicked the engine was cold.
I've recently bought my first Landrover but was aware of the spate of thefts and the headlight thing before I bought it. One of the first things I did was to look at the workshop manual and I see that the alarm sounder and horn are mounted behind the front nearside headlight.
It looks like what is happening is the thieves are taking out the headlamp, reaching through the hole and pulling the wires off the alarm sounder and horn. They're breaking into the vehicle which sets off the alarm and immobiliser. The 4 ways flash but there's no sound. They're then forcing the ignition steering lock ( One of the defenders last year had a steering lock on the steering wheel which they used to help snap the ignition lock, they then took off the centre cap from the steering wheel, undid the bolt and binned the steering wheel, presumably replacing it with one they brought with them). They then disconnect the battery=no flashing lights, and push the car down the road to where they've got a recovery truck waiting. Winch it onto a recovery tuck and drive it off to where they're going to take it apart. They've even got kit to locate and block 'Tracker' signals till they take it out.
The reason I'm posting this is to let everybody know that they need to either move the alarm sounder or fit something to stop them reaching through to disable the sounder & horn. Also, if anybody knows who's nicking Defenders from this area I'd appreciate a PM as I might be able to do something about it. Cheers.
