New Catalytic Converter Theft Warning

Heads up everyone just seen this on BBC news webpage.

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thanks for the warning, always been a problem with low lives around here wanting to steal to feed their habits.
Boaby

This is a real threat. I recently had someone try and cut the cats from my BMW. They must have jacked it up in broad daylight while parked near to Northwood station.
I suspect it was some demo contractors working on a small housing project as it happened the last day that they were around.
Although they didn’t cut right through that result was still the same in that I needed a new exhaust.
I now park in the main road and will fit a proper alarm. The immobilised obviously had no effect.
BTW. No CCTV or witnesses so the police had nothing to go on. With the price of home CCTV coming down I wonder if it’s worth covering my van on our drive. Another deterrent if nothing else.
Pete

All of our works vans come fitted with expensive 'cat locks ' which range from a steel cable wrapped around the cat and fixed to the chassis to a cage that is also fixed to the chassis. I doubt if either would survive long with Aldi and Lidl selling perfectly good 20v battery angle grinders at £29 ! Pipe cutters are available that will silently cut the exhaust pipe either side of the cat anyway ....
       Thieves know that there is little chance of police catching them as I hear that in our town of 50, 000 inhabitants there are as little as 4 police officers also  covering a large rural  area at weekends........

There was a scheme, some time ago now, possibly paid for by our local county council, and we took part in it
Several local garages took part, and engraved a number onto the Cat, this was a unique number.
The idea was that when low life took it to the scrapyard, the number was recognised and Police were called.
I think there was also a heatproof sticker on the Cat as well to forewarn lowlife?
I did hear of a case where a whole dealership had them all stolen overnight.
Personally I favour connecting it to a very high voltage source, lethal voltage, in this way you'll know it has been tampered with and you get the chance to run over the body!!!!

IanH...Electrify valuables.......I love radical solutions to problems because if implemented they would work.Unfortunately We live in a world where someone committing a crime is entitled to be able to carry it out safely and without fear of intervention from the victim.!!!

Thanks KDC
There was a certain amount of tongue in cheek in the last part of my post, unfortunately this late in life I have yet to realise that humour doesn't travel well over the internet!!

Recently a couple from Colchester, had stopped in CAEN, Normandy, then drove to Calais the ferry to UK and then home

On arrival at their home they found an immigrant climbing out from under their truck, next pic shows them feeding it tea on the terrace!!!!

We now have a simpler plan.................when at any Froggie channel port, prior to joining the ferry queue, we accelerate as hard as poss then brake, foot trying to go through the floor, then immediately select reverse and go backwards as fast as poss

You wont find many imports on my terrace, having tea!!

I expect this attempt at, 1, practicality, and 2, humour won't work well but I'll go for it anyway!!!

IanH...I read it as tongue in cheek, as was my reply.There is a certain amount of underlying reality in some radical solutions as we tend to keep trying the same old things even if they do not work!

The cat was removed from my 2.0HDi Diesel Harmony around three years back whilst the vehicle was on my drive in a quiet Cul-de-Sac. Of course, I'd made it easier by sticking the offside front wheel on a levelling block. Fortunately no other damage was done.

Since then I've made a steel 'undertray' to protect the cat, and I've wrapped barbed wire around any stretch of exposed downpipe in the hope that your average pipe cutter wouldn't be able to fit onto the pipe with the wire present. Obviously this won't stop and angle grinder, but as my neighbours' overlook the van I don't see such a noisy process as being feasible for your average criminal.

I was quoted £1200 for a replacement cat from Peugeot. In the end I got an eBay cheap no-brand for circa £100 and it seems OK.

Bartfarst

Hope you weren't buying back your old one 

Nope!

The cut in the downpipe and exit pipe was really clean, as if one of those plumbing pipe cutters incorporating a small wheel had been used. They don't hang about disconnecting the bolts!

Bart

By the way...

I still have an original cat from a 1995 2.0i petrol Boxer, removed in 2011 after 65,000 miles. Open to offers.

Bart