Car theft in a small town in the middle of nowhere.
Created | Updated Oct 25, 2002
Very early on Monday 21st October morning (probably around 2am) someone stole my father's car. This car is a G-reg (1989) bright yellow Ford Escort. They then drove about a mile and a half down a bumpy farm track and cleared most of our stuff out onto a muddy area just outside a farm. (A herd of cows went over it all on the way to the milking shed a few hours later.) They then went to the high street and used it as a get-away car in a smash-and-grab job on the local jewellery shop, probably using one of our hammors (they didn't chuck the toolbox out) to smash the window. However, they were disturbed and nothing was taken...
We then, at 2:30am, got a call from the police (answered by my mother) asking if we owned this car, and if we could check outside to see if it was still there. Obviously, it wasn't. Dad got very grumpy and spent the rest of the night looking up train timetables on the internet.
Much later on Monday (sometime during daylight) the car was found in Brighton, which is about half an hour away if you are driving within the speed limit (or an hour if you are a service bus). The police kept the car and refused to tell us how damaged it was. ("Well, is it drivable?" "Dunno mate.")
On Tuesday, the police released the car to the insurance people, who had it taken to a garage to have the damage valued. Still, we did not know if it was damaged.
We also received a letter (recorded delivery!) from the insurance, explaining some of the things that have happened to cars that have been stolen and recovered. These things included: [put something here!]
On Wednesday, dad got a phone call from the police, explaining that they'd forgotten to get forensics to go over the car and accidentally released it too early, and they would like it back, please.
On Thursday, the police phoned dad again regarding property found in the car. This includes: three garden ornaments: one concrete elephant, one concrete buddha, and one concrete windmill with only one sail, one set of golf clubs, an assortment of car radios and CD players, one AA membership card, and one loaf of bread. None of these things belonged to us; the only thing they found in the car that did was our toolbox.
Also, the insurance informed us that the car was, as far as they were concerned, a write-off. The reasons for this are, I feel, fair enough. The engine keeps making a funny noise which cannot be located, and the steering wheel keeps falling off. Much to our surprise, they have offered us quite a reasonable amount for the car.
So, to summarise: they stole an old, bright yellow, Ford Escort to use as a get-away car in a theft on a jewellery shop, but instead of stealing jewellery, they collected concrete garden ornaments, car radios, golf clubs, a loaf of bread and someone's AA membership card, and then left it on the road in the middle of a city.
What sort of thieves are these people?
