Not long after I was dishcarged from hospital in July, Carole noticed a bloke looking at the Eriba which was parked in the drive. He wasn't the "normal" Eriba sort of person she said. A couple of days later I spotted a similar, in the sense of not "normal" woman doing the same thing, both were on the far side of the road and not straight across from the house. There was a spate of burglaries and theft going on so we had been warned by our police neighbour, so we got a bit worried. As I was wheelchair bound, I got our son to pop by and he and Carole turned the Eriba round so that the hitch was facing inwards. It always has the wheel lock on anyway, but I guess someone determined could overcome that. Now it's under a cover I suppose it's less attractive and we sleep better.

Might have been a couple of Eriba fans but you can only go with your gut instinct, if it seems strange it probably is. We always parked our Eriba with the hitch in, makes it that much harder. Nowadays she is safely marooned in the back garden, the builders dug up half the garden and you would need a tractor to get her out and that's only if it ever stops raining!

Thanks Julie, yes it was strange to us, neither were regular bypassers. We know or recognise most people going past.

Better safe than sorry, Eriba are becoming more desirable.
Ours is nose-in clamped and hitchlocked, and covered by
the driveway P.I.R lamp[

We had our Eriba broken in to just two weeks after we bought it, they took all the bedding and a few bits and pieces. It is stored on the drive and we have since used a cover, no more problems but still paranoid!

You can get a portable alarm from around £6 on Amazon or the posher versions
from around £25 (Milenco sleep safe) again on Amazon.
I had one in my Puck L 230GT when it went off you could not stay inside the caravan!

We were/are more worried about the van being nicked. The car alarms round here go off frequetnly so another one on the van going off with no reason would be a real pain, we'll just remain paranoid and hope the hitch inwards parking, the wheel lock and the hitch lock are enough deterrents

There's an alarm fitted as standard on our van. Apparently it works by volumetric sensing of the van's interior and by a motion sensor AND by a contact on one of the rear corner steadies. So it's got everything covered.

However there's one problem, the remote is ultra sensitive and you only have to brush the button for the alarm to set and you get about three seconds before the alarm starts to screech.

And don't think you can disarm it by pressing the remote button again once it starts sounding. Oh no, you have to get down on your hands and knees and lift up a front bench, reach inside to the rear of the locker, and insert a tiny key into a small hole in the alarm box, then twist the key a quarter turn. Then the cacophony ceases and you can turn the key back, ready for the next time.

Think how bad all that can be when you're outside the van and hear the alarm set because you've bent down with the remote in your pocket. The van's loaded for transit with gear all over the floor between the door and the alarm box in the front locker.

There's got to be a better way.