Long-time caravanners Mr and Mrs Baker from Peterborough celebrated their upcoming retirement by purchasing a brand-new caravan, a market-favourite and flagship model, the Bailey Unicorn.  To protect their shiny new home-from-home, the couple located a highly-rated secure storage compound and paid to keep their new asset under lock and key when they weren’t travelling, but the investment in a dedicated storage facility, along with other standard anti-theft precautions, was not enough to outwit some determined and experienced caravan criminals.

Mrs Baker explained: “We were shocked to receive a call early one morning to say that our beloved caravan had gone missing overnight. We couldn’t understand how this could happen, when we’d so carefully chosen a secure location and ensured the doors and windows of the caravan were all locked when we left it.  It also had a wheel lock and we’d added a hitch lock. We thought we had done enough to stop it ever being stolen. When we bought the caravan we knew it had a factory-fitted Tracker, but never dreamt we’d need to use it.”

Once the theft was reported to the Police and a crime report received, Tracker was able to alert the relevant Traffic Police Unit to track the caravan. Within hours, on that same day, the caravan had been successfully located, much to the relief of its owners.   

Clive Wain, Head of Police Liaison at Tracker commented: “Leisure vehicles such as caravans and motorhomes are increasingly valuable targets for thieves. With the price of caravans easily exceeding £20,000, and ownership increasingly popular in recent years, we are also seeing the number of thefts increase. Thieves often steal to order, shipping caravans abroad as quickly as possible to avoid recovery. However, we are also seeing cases where the caravan is left unattended for a period of time before shipping, to check whether it is being tracked. Whilst a Tracker onboard will not stop a caravan or motorhome from being stolen, it does significantly increase the likelihood of a successful and rapid recovery.”

Mrs Baker added: “Having invested a significant amount of money in purchasing this new caravan, we were determined to protect it so we could enjoy it for many years to come. We never thought it could be stolen, but the thieves clearly knew what they were doing. The caravan is our second home, and knowing that someone had stolen it, along with a lot of our personal belongings, including many sentimental items made us feel violated and vulnerable.

“It was as if someone had broken in and burgled our house. If it wasn’t for the tracking unit, the theft would have cost us a great deal of money and caused us significant distress at the loss of the caravan and our sentimental items inside.  But the worse thing is, it would also have shattered our confidence in owning a caravan again in the future. We are extremely thankful that our beloved home-from-home has SVR technology installed. Not only did it restore our confidence in being a caravan owner, it left us in no doubt that without Tracker’s help we would never have seen our caravan or our possessions again.”

Unlike other devices, Tracker’s unique and market-leading technology is resistant to jamming and can locate stolen vehicles anywhere, even when they are hidden in a garage or shipping container, stored underground or have been shipped overseas. Tracker is the only company supported by every UK police force, with Tracker detection equipment fitted in police vehicles and helicopters. The stolen vehicle recovery system consists of a covert transmitter which is professionally installed, hidden in one of several dozen possible locations around the vehicle. As it has no visible aerial, the thief won’t even know it’s there until the police arrive to recover the vehicle and make an arrest.