Friends van broken into, but how?

Flatulentoldgoat

Friend is distraught, van broken into. He is absolutely adamant it was locked, I've looked over the van and this is what appears to have happened.

The split rear door was open a crack (this was the first tell tell give away that something was amiss) all the stuff inside the back was messed around. Oddly, nothing was stolen. There was about £200-600 worth of stock there some of which was grab sized.

The intruder made his way through the van, got his hand through where the bulkhead was (replaced with a screen) and opened the drivers door. The intruder then went back out through the back, and into the drivers side. Turned the cab inside out and stole about £4-5. That was it.

No point claiming on insurance and no signs of damage.

Question is to those in the know, how the hell did they manage to get open the back split door? It's a 7 year old NV200 with factory fitted central locking. Was it unlocked? I doubt it as the intruder wouldn't have surely gone through the trouble of going into the back, sticking their hand through the drivers seat and opening the door from the inside. I did some messing with the lock, and on the fob everything gets locked on the first press of the lock button. Including the split rear doors.

Is there some sort of weakness with split doors? Should my friend take the van to a mechanic? It all seems to lock normally despite this incident.

Grumpy_chap

Sounds like an opportunist if all they took was the loose change.  Common when the vehicle is left unlocked.  Not surprising they looked in the driver zone as well as the load area (or vice-versa), but how do you know they reached through the bulkhead to open the driver's door?  If the van was unlocked, then just try both doors separately.  Apart from cash, they want stuff that is easily sold online and untraceable.

justworriedabit

Have an extra lock on the doors many vans do. Some extra security locks stick out and others not so much. Better still get an alarm.

Flatulentoldgoat

Is it difficult to DIY slam door locks, or would any old garage fit them?

I knew they tried the drivers door from inside as I could see the screen was shifted to allow an arm through!