Caravan repairer warns over hair-raising but 'common' trick after customer's 'crazy story'
Luke Weber, owner of Affordable Caravans Service & Repairs which sells and repairs vans, explained he first heard of the trick over six years ago when a customer explained they had their camping gear stolen right in front of them, when thieves used a piece of paper to disable the latch lock on their caravan door. The travellers, trapped inside, could apparently do nothing but watch as their belongings were taken away.
The majority of caravan doors manufactured from 2000 onwards have a lock mechanism involving a latch, with the latch needing to jut outwards in order to open the door. However, a metal ring also found on the door handle — which is used to hook the door open when required — can be used to prevent the door from opening.
As demonstrated by Luke in a recent video, something as innocuous as a piece of paper can be used to block the space where the latch juts out, preventing the system from unlocking.
The "crazy story" he relayed from a customer detailed how they had their camping possessions ransacked "in the middle of the night ... and they couldn't get out of the caravan," he said in the video.
"It's very, very simple and it'll lock people in," Luke explained to Yahoo News. "I've been fixing caravans for a long time, and it has been well known for a long time that a thief can just use a sheet of paper, or even sticky tape, to stop those doors from opening.
"It's such a common problem, people get their gear stolen in the middle of the night. People even get their barbecues taken and their fridges taken... They just have to sit in the caravan until it's over, then climb out a window or something."
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Caravanners advised of 'easy fix' to avoid being locked inside
Thankfully, there is an easy solution, Luke explained.
"It's an easy fix, you just take the little metal ring off where people put the paper. It just clicks right off, and you can put it inside your caravan, and the problem is solved," he said.
As the metal ring is simply a functional hook for keeping the door open, removing it doesn't impact the ability to lock the door, so caravanners can still safely lock themselves inside overnight.
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