Costa Del Crime Caravanning

01/07/08

Police offices from Lancashire Constabulary have travelled to Benidorm Spain, as part of a major on going investigation into the theft of caravans in Lancashire. On the 16 June a number of officers from the Serious and Organised Crime Units stolen vehicle squad working with the Spanish police and caravan insurance investigators, visited two large caravan sites where they searched around 120 caravans, and recovered 30 vans that had been stolen from the North of England. Stolen vehicle squad offices are continuing to work with the Guardia Civil and with the Spanish press. The offices will return to Benidorm latter in the year as part of the on gong enquires.

The total cost of caravan theft in Lancashire alone reached one million pounds in 2007 according to police figures. In the first eight months of 2007, over one hundred caravan where stolen many of these van where valued at over £25.000. The authorities say that most thefts take place between 4am and 7am.

A spokesperson for the stolen vehicle squad said: “The recovery of the holiday homes in Benidorm is part of an ongoing investigation into caravan thefts. We are continuing to make enquires both here and in Spain to find out who is responsible for the thefts and to bring them to justice.
The occupiers of the caravans which we have recovered in Spain are often innocent parties in all this and it is unfortunate for them that they have bought what has turned out to be a stolen caravan.
I would advise anybody who is considering buying a caravan to make sure they carry out a number of checks beforehand. It is advisable to conduct a HPI check with the CRIS number, which can be found, etched on the windows of the caravan. Details of how to do this can be found on the HPI website. If any numbers on the windows of the caravan appear to have been interfered with this could be an indication something is wrong. Buyers are also encouraged not to agree to cash transactions and insist that payment goes through a bank account.
www.hpicheck.com