caravan stolen from storage please help

barriejohn69

My parents have kept their caravan in storage on a farm which is pretty local for about 10 months. Their next door neighbour did the same and heard through the grapevine that the farm had been repossessed so they went and got their caravan asap and informed my parents.
As soon as my parents heard this they went to the farm to find the house abandoned and the gates chained, the man who lives next door to the farm came out and said that the people in charge of the bankruptcy had entrusted him with the keys to let people get their caravans out.
When my parents went onto the farm their caravan was gone, just tyre marks where it had been. Most of the other half decent vans were gone and the ones that were left had been broken into. The people who own these vans, and possibly some of the missing ones have not been informed of the damage/loss.
Who would be responsible? As far as I could see it would be the people in charge of the bankruptcy as they would be the custodians of the land and property. The police have been informed but does anyone have any advice?
My parents are guttted as the caravan was their pride and joy. And no it wasn't insured as the farm was a "secure" site.

barriejohn69

the gate was locked but the neighbour had a key to let people in to get their caravans, they did not belong to the farm owners, people were storing them there for the winter

2ax

They should have been insured against loss. You would need to prove negligence against any other party, which is probably very difficult. It wouldn't be reasonable to suggest that someone who padlocked a gate should also stay up all night to check that people didn't arrive with cutting tools at 3 am and lift the gate off its hinges.

Becles

How does the neighbour know who the caravans belong to?

Someone with a rubbish old caravan might have decided to help themselves to a better one. Or someone could have just turned up and claimed it, even though they have never owned a caravan.

Sorry to hear of their loss, but I can't see what they can do if it isn't insured.

chrisw

I know it's little consolation, but I am amazed it wasn't insured despite the secure site, particularly as it's a pride and joy and given the tendency for caravans to 'disappear' despite a vast array of antitheft devices.
I guess there's a lesson there.

CGM_2

I don't usually read this board, but the heading caught my eye as a similier thing happened to us. well i say us, it was my parents caravan.

We had it in storage at a farm nearby, alot of people did, it was a common set up around here. The gates were always looked at night so no one else would have access, but some Bar-Stewards drove a 4x4 off road across the nearby fields and hooked up that way. They use a extended ball tow bar and just chain it around the hook up. We had all the decent security fitted to it but they know what they are doing, so just hook up and drive off.

Well to cut a long story short we claimed against the storage site (need to check the paperwork), also the caravan club have a insurance policy if the site was part of them, or associated in any way

Edinburghlass_2

I am actually surprised that a neighbour would be given a key to allow anyone to take property from a site that has been repossessed?

I would have thought that the bankcruptcy would have "assumed" that any property held on the site would have been assets of the former owner and that it would have to be proved to be otherwise.

I also would be surprised if the people who had owned the farm where the vans were stored would have had appropriate insurance for doing this if they were in trouble financially.

I used to over winter my van on the caravan site we used throughout the season but as during the season, insurance was up to the owners in the winter. The only time the site's insurance would come into play was if say a van was damaged during moving or on one classic occasion a November 5th firework when the site was closed!