BE WELL AWARE!

[SJ & RE]

thank you sweetie pie
Less brain cells frazzled by drugs for pain, oh and less alcohol.
Am I a pleasanter person without the afore mentioned substances. No better not answer as we sweve off subject and I shall get slapped bottom again

[bruce]

I think you are ok on or off them honey!
Alcohol is good for you or so I keep telling myself

[kennycapes]

Would you leave doors and windows open in the UK, I doubt it so why do it in CVO you are only inviting the opportunist thief who frequent holiday areas Knowing that we all become a bit too casual and relaxed when on holiday
The type of theft reported is also all too common in the UK once the weather warms up and we make it easy for the thief.

Its a shame this sort of things go on but i would like to know how many poeple back in the UK get home from work and before sitting down to a meal go round a lock all the doors in the house. I dont for sure, its not until bedtime that i go a lock the doors.

At least it was only money they were after. Everyone take care, think, and have fun

K

[patti]

Last night our villa on VDM was broken into. The thieves smashed the marble sills at the bottom of the patio doors in order to release the bottom bolts on the metal shutters,they then used a lever of some kind to force the top of the shutters open and smashed the windows to gain entry. They stole the usual phones,cameras etc. As a parting gift they threw the broken glass from the window into the pool. Thank God our adult grandchildren did not arrive home until after the b****** had left.

The house was as secure as we could make it and all the doors,windows and shutters were locked and bolted. There was a car on the drive and lights on in the house. Hope this is not the start of break-ins, of a more violent nature than we have ever encountered in the twenty plus years we have been in CVO

[SAM SPARKLE]

Last night our villa on VDM was broken into. The thieves smashed the marble sills at the bottom of the patio doors in order to release the bottom bolts on the metal shutters,they then used a lever of some kind to force the top of the shutters open and smashed the windows to gain entry. They stole the usual phones,cameras etc. As a parting gift they threw the broken glass from the window into the pool. Thank God our adult grandchildren did not arrive home until after the b****** had left.

The house was as secure as we could make it and all the doors,windows and shutters were locked and bolted. There was a car on the drive and lights on in the house. Hope this is not the start of break-ins, of a more violent nature than we have ever encountered in the twenty plus years we have been in CVO

Sorry to hear this Patti, this could indeed be the start of a worrying trend if they are prepared to go to this much trouble just for a few items of low monetary value, usually thieves would use this amount of force only if they knew something worthwhile/valuable was inside.

[patti]

Thank you for your sympathy Sam. What worries us more than anything is that they must have been equiped with some pretty heavy duty tools to do the damage they did and would they have broken in if people had been in side? They did a pretty thorough job inside, emptying all the drawers etc. Not the usual opportunists!

[SAM SPARKLE]

Thank you for your sympathy Sam. What worries us more than anything is that they must have been equiped with some pretty heavy duty tools to do the damage they did and would they have broken in if people had been in side? They did a pretty thorough job inside, emptying all the drawers etc. Not the usual opportunists!

What was the GNR reaction to such force being used Patti?

[jonboy]

Very sorry to hear that Patti - I know only too well how it feels. In my case they must have had a heft old crow bar to get the security shutters off their hinges. They clearly look for sign of life ie lights, cars and then break in regardless of the consequences. Did you have an alarm system such as Prosecom as I have heard they will think twice when they see these as it does limit their time in the property. It is not a nice feeling and they really do need to be taught a swift very hard lesson - something the GNR are incapable of doing!!

[sanreen]

Sorry to hear of your break in Patti. Hope you are doing ok under the circumstances, not a nice feeling. I wonder if they were watching your house and see you leave?

[SJ & RE]

Sanreen made a very valid point.
As I said before, people looking like they work on site on a complex may not be what they look like.
Very worrying. Please I hope you are ok Patti.
Swift action by talking to others around on the complex. Put notices up saying about thefts and theives abound on the complexes etc. Get a note put in the Resident etc.
A little pro activeness is needed in whichever form you wish to take.

[patti]

Thank you all for your good wishes, I wiil try to answer all your points in one post if I may
Sam
The GNR went through the motions,disinterested would be the kindest comment!!

Jonboy
We have the Prosecom patrol which was OK at first. We have not been happy with them for a while (the patrols seem to be very sparse bordering on non existent )and we were considering changing to another security firm on our next visit. We will be looking to change to an alarm system with some kind of response unit similar to ADT in the UK

Sanreen
We are not in CVO at present. The villa was occupied by our adult grandchildren. They are obviously shaken up and very angry and of course their holiday has been ruined.

It does seem likely that they were being watched.

BaggySallyJane

They had not noticed anyone around who seemed unusual. They have been visiting CVO since they were toddlers and know by sight most of the people who work in the area.

Whilst I agree with you that we should take action it is difficult since we are not resident in CVO at the moment, maybe I can print some posters here and get a friend of mine to put them up around VDM

Thank you all again for sympathy

[Michael Crane]

Very well said BSJ have you got your 'thinking cap' on today?

She's having a rare sober moment.

[SJ & RE]

Hiya, Mike and Sharen, hope the break away was good and the exploration exciting
Sober moment elapsed

[patti]

After 20 yrs coming to Carvoiero we are seriously considering selling our villa on VDM. After two break ins and one attempted break in since the middle of June.

What worries us most is the escalating amount of violence being used to gain entry. Last night someone tried to prise the iron grill from one of the windows in the turret of our home, presumably they had come equiped with ropes to enable them to descend from the roof into the villa, when this failed they smashed their way through the metal shutters on a downstairs door and then smashed through the window to gain entry.

All they got was one ipod, but the members of our family who are there have had there holiday ruined, and are considering cutting short their holiday, they have now got to stay in the villa until window is repaired and the villa will not be secure then as they shutters are so badly damaged they will have to be replaced.

Who is going to want to spend a holiday either too afraid to go out or dreading what they find when they return. Plus our insurance premiums will be significantly increased

If this trend continues I do not think we will be the only ones who will want to leave. The accumulative effect on the Carvoeiro economy could be significant, after all we visit all year round, when business is slack not just in the summer.

[Bristle Si]

This is worrying. We arrive in a week's time, staying at Monte Carvoeiro. We're increasingly hearing stories of this kind. Been coming to Carvoeiro for 8 years now.

Seems to be coming more common. And please don't anyone reply with the Carvoeiro 'blinkers' on about how it's much worse in the UK. If you can back a statement of that kind up with hard stats, don't bother posting the 'romantic' replies. My mate got mugged last year in Praia de Luz and beat quite badly, so i know it's just as common in the Algarve as parts of the UK.

We will also consider not coming to the Algarve in future years if things get much worse.