A few months ago I arrived at my storage site full of excitement for the trip ahead. I soon realised I’d forgotten the Eriba keys at home. I’ll never make that mistake again, I thought.

I decided to leave the keys to my Eriba in the glove box of my car from then on.

Last night my car got broken into - actually this is a lie. I forgot to lock it!

I got into the car this morning ready to head off to work. I noticed the armrest cover was open, as was the glove box. It suddenly dawned on my that all my stuff had been stolen from my car.

Stupidly I had the keys to my Eriba, the keys to my hitch lock, wheel clamp, fob to the security gates at the storage yard, map of my storage yard showing my plot all in the glove box. Not any more.

What an idiot!

I’ve spent the whole day collecting a new fob from the storage owner, checking my caravan is still at the storage compound, buying new locks and booking a mobile mechanic to cut the old locks off.

There’s a lesson here. My wife has been telling me about it all night.

There will be a lot of 'hindsight' based advice, I'm sure, but I have always had 2 sets of keys, kept in different places.

I also have a spare door key secreted about the van. Also as a backup, in my car, I have a piece of thick wire with a hook on one end that can be slid up through the window rubbers and push up the clips.

Quote: Ray Lawrence wrote in post #5

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Also as a backup, in my car, I have a piece of thick wire with a hook on one end that can be slid up through the window rubbers and push up the clips.

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I keep my eriba keys in the house safe together with my faberge egg. The key to the safe is the same as my front door key in case I loose it. Don't worry, I can't forget it as it's under the front door mat. Don't tell anyone.

We were locked out of the Eriba. No probs (I thought!) because I had secreted a key under the van somewhere.
Where? WHERE❓
Couldn’t find it and therefore convinced myself that it must have fallen off.
Luckily the underbed locker was unlocked so I thought I could empty it and crawl through into the van.
Err no.
Happily a more flexible friend managed to squirm in and up through the bed to unlock the door and let us in.
He made a half hearted attempt to claim salvage rights😄.......
.........and it was round about then that I remembered where the key was actually hidden.

Was that the friend from times past ? Access...your flexible friend ??

Hi, I bought a Masterlock key lock from Screwfix and fixed it under the entrance step of my van for s security, only £14, it's reasonably well protected by here too.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/master-lock-5...wE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Hope it is well hidden. These are fairly easy to work out the code. Are you taping over the dials to keep road dirt out?

I haven't no , but I get down and dirty and open it occasionally and it seems to be ok.
But I'll check.

What an expensive palaver. I managed to get a spare key from Jandi and a mobile mechanic cut off my wheel clamp and hitch lock. I can’t recommend the Millenco hitch lock enough. It resisted determined drilling, angle grinding and hammering for nearly an hour. The mechanic got through 3 batteries in the process of removing it.

I’ve now fitted new security and my beloved Troll is safe again. This has been a very expensive lesson.