Gassy Urban Myth? (1 Viewer)

[OddSocks]

I have heard a few times, and not believed, stories about people being gassed in their motorhomes or caravans and then robbed. So I thought I would do some research, as I am sure the topic has been done to death on forums like this one. So I have done some research:

Magazine articles discussing it: hundreds
Forum Threads multiple forums: even more hundreds
Gas Alarm Manufacturers: Dozens
News articles about attacks: Zero.

Not 1 single news article about people being gassed and robbed in their motorhome or caravan. I searched news sites, the BBC, Google News, Yahoo, Sky, Huffington Post, RT, and every other combination of search phrase on every site I could possible think of. Not one single news report from any agency that I can find in the UK, or indeed Europe.

Not one news report on the entire internet of a gassing and robery in a motorhome or caravan.

Don't think I will worry about this urban myth any longer! lol oh:oh:oh:

 

[Tootles]

It does happen!! My wife was badly gassed when sleeping in the MH.

We put it down to the double egg, beans and SPAM she gave me for tea. oh:

 

[camocam1]

do actually remember reading an article in either the CCC or CC magazine about but cant remember which one it was. It was by a member who wrote in about "actually being gassed" Like you I do not believe the myth BUT we were planning a trip to France at the time and the boss said "see I told you it is true so we are not going "
Still trying to talk her round

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[TheBig1]

look for the report by the royal college of anaesthesiology about the feasibility or possibility of gassing. not just a myth total and utter crap. if this mythical gas could do as suggested it would revolutionise surgery. after all nobody has ever died of being gassed in a motorhome, unlike the pioneers of surgery

the quantity of ether needed to incapacitate the average person is a pretty high quantity in parts per million of ambient air. long before this the natural gagging reflex will wake you up. how do i know this? well lets just say I have had to learn a lot about how I breathe due to a medical condition. I need extra oxygen when i sleep and terrify any anaesthetist if i go in for operations due to high risk of stopping breathing resulting in brain damage

believe me, there is no such thing as robbers gassing unsuspecting travellers without killing plenty. gas alarms for other gasses though are really a lifesaver. hydrogen rich gas from bad batteries and lpg leaks are explosive and carbon monoxide, well we all know that is deadly

 

[Gizmouk]

More likely the truth is:
Motorhomers get pissed / smacked off their tits, gone to sleep / passed out without locking the doors. Opportunist thief helps themselves to contents of said motorhome.
Motorhomists don't want to admit the truth the plod / insurance, so roll out the usual "we must have been gassed" story.


Or, like us, they have a greyhound - who gasses us most nights

 

[OddSocks]

Related: Are those Gas alarms (For CO, LPG etc) any use? Recommend one?

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[jhorsf]

 

[johnp10]

Related: Are those Gas alarms (For CO, LPG etc) any use? Recommend one?

CO and smoke alarms are seen by many as a must.
Myself included.

I have seen on the market alarms which are supposed to be smoke / CO combined.
Two different functions combined??
Don't think so.

Decent separate smoke and CO alarms have it covered.

 

[Dazzlin]

Just had this conversation with a couple in portugal.
Me "Yes but have you ever experienced it first hand?"
Them "yes the people we spoke to were knocked out by gas"
Me "have YOU experienced it?"
Them "yes, they really were gassed!"

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[sedge]

Yup and they stick smoke detectors far too high up in the van to be any use to you in a CO2 situation. CO2 sinks and smoke rises!

So if you are sleeping at normal bed level and not in an extra high Luton with it's own means of escape, you'd most likely be near enough dead if not completely defunct, by the time a high-up alarm went off.

Madness.

 

[Chris]

I have got an anti Romanian alarm fitted to mine.

You can't be too careful:thumb:

 

[DuxDeluxe]

Yup and they stick smoke detectors far too high up in the van to be any use to you in a CO2 situation. CO2 sinks and smoke rises!

So if you are sleeping at normal bed level and not in an extra high Luton with it's own means of escape, you'd most likely be near enough dead if not completely defunct, by the time a high-up alarm went off.

Madness.

Smoke detectors don't detect the CO2, though. There are many different types and the common ones as fitted to most MHs work (I think) on ionisation principles and detect smoke which does rise with the heat. I would not be without either a CO alarm or smoke detector.

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[scotjimland]

look for the report by the royal college of anaesthesiology about the feasibility or possibility of gassing.

it's on the Fun magazine ..

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A statement from The Royal College of Anaesthetists about Motorhome owners being gassed then robbed.

Despite the increasing numbers of reports of people being gassed in motor-homes or commercial trucks in France, and the warning put out by the Foreign Office for travellers to be aware of this danger, this College remains of the view that this is a myth. It is the view of the College that it would not be possible to render someone unconscious by blowing ether, chloroform or any of the currently used volatile anaesthetic agents, through the window of a motor-home without their knowledge, even if they were sleeping at the time. Ether is an extremely pungent agent and a relatively weak anaesthetic by modern standards and has a very irritant affect on the air passages, causing coughing and sometimes vomiting. It takes some time to reach unconsciousness, even if given by direct application to the face on a cloth, and the concentration needed by some sort of spray administered directly into a room would be enormous. The smell hangs around for days and would be obvious to anyone the next day. Even the more powerful modern volatile agents would need to be delivered in tankerloads of carrier gas or by a large compressor. Potential agents, such as the one used by the Russians in the Moscow siege are few in number and difficult to obtain. Moreover, these drugs would be too expensive for the average thief to use. The other important point to remember is that general anaesthetics are potentially very dangerous, which is why they are only administered in the UK by doctors who have undergone many years of postgraduate training in the subject and who remain with the unconscious patient throughout the anaesthetic. Unsupervised patients are likely to die from obstruction of the airway by their tongues falling back. In the Moscow seige approximately 20% of the people died, many probably from airway obstruction directly related to the agent used. If there was a totally safe, odourless, potent, cheap anaesthetic agent available to thieves for this purpose it is likely the medical profession would know about it and be investigating its use in anaesthetic practice.

 

[Tootles]

I have got an anti Romanian alarm fitted to mine.

You can't be too careful:thumb:

Is that the alarm with a trip switch and a very loud speaker that screams "Ai un interviu de angajare!" if they break in, making them run away?

 

[Minxy]

It does happen!! My wife was badly gassed when sleeping in the MH.

We put it down to the double egg, beans and SPAM she gave me for tea. oh:

Wow you really know how to dine well don't you ... forget spam ... it has be bacon grill!!!

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[TheBig1]

Thanks Jim, knew the article was here someplace but forgot to look in the magazine pages:thumb:

@Tootles.....job interview indeed doubt they have ever heard of such a thing in Romania

 

[Tootles]

Wow you really know how to dine well don't you ... forget spam ... it has be bacon grill!!!

I have always enjoyed simple food, cooked at home on a simple grate, by a simple woman.

 

[DBK]

Yup and they stick smoke detectors far too high up in the van to be any use to you in a CO2 situation. CO2 sinks and smoke rises!

So if you are sleeping at normal bed level and not in an extra high Luton with it's own means of escape, you'd most likely be near enough dead if not completely defunct, by the time a high-up alarm went off.

Madness.

Please follow the manufacturer's recommendations which will come with the device.. CO detectors should be placed high up if the potential threat is in the same room, which it is in a MH. Fit two to be doubly sure if you want, one high one low. They cost peanuts. Link Removed

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[Wyaye wires]

I have always enjoyed simple food, cooked at home on a simple grate,[HI] by a simple woman.[/HI]

Dare one suggest that she would have to be to stay with you? oh::Blush:

 

[Inthezone]

Gassing

I do beleive its unlikley to happen, but we have the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms fitted in case there is a fault with the cooker / boiler or batteries, more importantly we have the Thacham cat 1 alarm which protects the external doors etc when we are asleep and sounds a very loud alarm to scare off any intruders, but the main thing is to never leave valuables on show for the oppotunist scumbag to steal them.

All you can do is try to deter them, gone are the days of shooting intruders and dumping them in the Biffa bins

 

[Movinon]

Now you tell me! I suppose I'll have to start taking them to the local tip myself. Problems, always problems.

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[jockaneezer]

Maybe not a good solution, but we had to take our smoke alarm down as it would go off if you merely boiled the kettle, never mind making toast :Sad:

 

[scotjimland]

Maybe not a good solution, but we had to take our smoke alarm down as it would go off if you merely boiled the kettle, never mind making toast :Sad:

It's the wrong type of smoke alarm..

Fit an Ionisation Smoke Alarm, rather than the optical type that not only detect smoke but also water vapour (commonly called steam, but it isn't)

 

[hilldweller]

Yup and they stick smoke detectors far too high up in the van to be any use to you in a CO2 situation. CO2 sinks and smoke rises!

But what about CO !

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[TheBig1]

i appreciate that there is the possibility some people are confused about the two chemical formulae CO (carbon monoxide) and CO2 (carbon dioxide) but this is an important safety issue

if you search for a CO2 detector, youre not going to find the correct info or the multitude of detectors you really need. I have a CO2 alarm built into my medical equipment, which samples air quality and oxygen in my lungs. CO2 wont set of a CO detector as far as I am aware

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[mcflipflop]

mcflipflop

I've done many thousands of K's all over Europe driving trucks, this has been an urban myth for as long as I can remember and that's before Europe became united.
So, don't believe all you read on the internet, get on and enjoy Europe but same as the U.K. be careful where you park, try to park in company with others, don't look for problems where there aren't any, just get on with it.