I came across a new Urban Legend recently that I hadn't heard of before, and which doesn't seem to have made it into the mainstream yet.
Basically there is a widespread belief amongst UK lorry drivers that on trips to Europe drivers are often gassed while asleep in their cabs and then robbed.
Apparently on one night alone last month three different drivers independently claimed to have been gassed while asleep in Luxemberg. Which, if true, would mean that there was a serious new crime wave going on.
But it is only happening to UK drivers. Drivers claim it is "CS Gas" which wouldn't put you to sleep, it is an irritant and would wake you up if sprayed into your cab. Even assuming they have got the gas wrong then what gas is it that you could somehow spray into a shut cab to put the driver out cold? Why isn't it used for other crimes such as robbing houses?
How come a wide range of criminals know about this gas and how to use it, but nobody else does? It is alleged to be used by petty thieves who rob the cab, taking the drivers wallet and stuff from the glove box. It is alleged to be used by illegal imigrants to stow away in the back of the truck without the driver hearing (yet they don't have it with them when captured). It is alleged to be used by serious gangsters who empty all the goods from the back of the HGV while the driver sleeps.
This was the only reference that I could find on the interweb after a quick search: http://www.roadtransport.com/Article...unresolved.htm
Although there have been (sceptical) articles in trade magazines and outraged letters from drivers who know that it happened to a mate of their's. So there probably is more out there electronically, I just couldn't find it.
I thought it was interesting for the similarities to other Urban Myths as much as that it is a new (?) one.
There has been news of lots of people who have been gassed in their homes here on the Costas.
Here is a story about France (sorry it's in the Mail so no idea if it's true or not).
Britons on the French Riviera are being drugged and robbed by thieves who gas them as they sleep.
The gangs quietly break in or slip inside patio doors left open because of the heat.
They then crouch down and release the gas into air conditioning units or under the victims' bedroom doors.A French police officer from the specialist burglary squad said: 'It's the time of year - the thieves go for tourists who they see as rich.
'Hire cars have special number plates here so that's one big giveaway.
'There are a couple of break-ins a night and these new gangs are very organised.
'Gassing victims seems to be a worrying trend that is sweeping Europe.'
And another from fairly near here
And anotherTHIEVES used a potentially lethal sleeping gas to rob a house in Nerja last week.
“The robbers pumped the gas through an open window, as the residents slept, before breaking in.”
Police revealed that the gang used the gas to knock out the couple, while they were sleeping, before robbing them of over 50,000 euros worth of jewellery, cash and electrical items.
It is believed the robbers pumped the gas through an open window, as the residents slept, before breaking in.
The owner’s luxury 100,000 euros Mercedes car was used as a getaway vehicle. It was later found abandoned near Velez-Malaga.
French police are searching for burglars who used gas to knock out Patrick Vieira and his wife and daughter during a robbery at the family home near Cannes. Gas was pumped into the house air conditioning system in a bid to keep the occupants asleep.I must confess that I had not considered that it could be an urban myth until now. Am I being too credulous?The Vieira family complained of feeling unwell when they awoke and police scientists confirmed gas was pumped into the house's air conditioning system
The only personal knowledge I have is that a family member reckoned that she had been gassed in her camper van in Central France. I wanted to ask her some questions about it because her story didn't ring true but didn't bother in the end because she's a nutter and would take offence that I was doubting her and cause me all sorts of grief. I don't believe she was gassed though...
I'm far from convinced - as soon as I hear claims referring to - my mate ... - I immediately assume that what follows is bullshit. Not very logical, perhaps, but, as a rule of thumb, it works for me.
Also, according to Snopes, these similar US rumours are both false.
"Robbers in shopping mall parking lots are using ether-filled perfume bottles to render their victims unconscious."
http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/perfume.asp False
"Are criminals in the U.S. using burundanga-soaked business cards to incapacitate their victims? "
http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/burundanga.asp False
This makes me very suspicious, thieves steal from anyone.Originally Posted by Croydon Bob
Even if they had some weird idea of not stealing from their own nationality (or other group such as religious), I find it hard to believe they would target one group (UK drivers).
I think that you are.
They then crouch down and release the gas into air conditioning units or under the victims' bedroom doors
How? Why? What type of gas? It makes the victims sleep, doesn't do anything to the thieves and never kills anyone. It's magic gas. Unless someone can identify a substance and delivery method then this has to be nonsense.
Yup. As you know, it's a common clue to something being an urban myth that it only hits one group of people. When the Chupacubra was busy sucking goats, it started in Latin America, moved to Spain and Portugal the following year, and then hit US goat farmers the year after that. But only Hispanic ones! Their anglo neighbours were free ferom the menace of an alien being that chose it's goats according to the ethnic origine of the goat's owners. Almost as if it was just a story being spread by word of mouth and not a real problem at all.
Articles like this from The Times give you no reason to doubt the stories.
And this quote, purportedly also from the Times I found in http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/for...showtopic=9790"It is what we call a home-jacking -- when there is a break-in to an inhabited home by people who want the keys to a vehicle," a Cannes police spokesman said. The 29-year-old footballer's Mercedes 4x4 was later found parked in Nice.
Home-jackers, who are active on the Cote d'Azur, often inject narcotic gas into the air-conditioning system of their victims, the spokesman said. "It is possible that gas was used in the Vieira house. The fact that Vieira and his wife complained of strong headaches suggests that gas was diffused but we do not have any evidence to confirm this yet."
Damn Times - probably have to pay for the original.
There's a lot of chat about this on Mobile Home forumsThe Times 21st May
Panic sales on costas as gangs gas and burgle the British
By Edward Owen in Madrid and Daniel McGrory
CRIMINAL gangs are targeting British homeowners on the Spanish costas and using knockout gas to overpower their victims in exclusive resorts.
A spate of robberies and the murder last weekend of Winston Mills, 67, who was shot dead in front of his wife at their villa near La Manga, have prompted many Britons to put their properties on the market.
Some frightened residents block roads leading to their estate with sandbags every night and mount their own vigilante patrols at La Nucia, near Benidorm.
Victims have told The Times how the gangs sprayed them with an aerosol of anaesthetic gas that rendered them unconscious. One vetern British consular officer on the Costa Blanca, who was too scared to give his name, described how he was the recent target of a gang.
“I was asleep in my house with my wife, and my son was in another room. Suddenly I woke up and felt sweaty, sick and groggy for no reason. I staggered out of bed and I could hardly walk. I turned on the passage light, saw it was 5am and went to the bathroom where I vomited. I must have passed out again because it wasn’t until later that morning I realised that someone had entered the house during the night and robbed us, and I had not heard a thing.
“The robbers had even been next to our bed and stolen my wife’s jewellery and watch. They must have sprayed me with something to keep me asleep and that’s what made me ill.”
Police told him that he was a victim of skilled Eastern European gangs, mainly from Romania and Albania, who are stalking foreign residents. The police say that they are overwhelmed by the gangs’ activities. Mayors, worried about the damage being done to their area’s reputation, have promised to set up emergency task forces to cope with the menace, but British homeowners say that there is little evidence of extra patrols.
Chris Poole, a former police officer from Dudley, in the West Midlands, has set up a neighbourhood watch team to patrol the streets at Orihuela on the Costa Blanca. Worried British homeowners around Torrevieja, 30 miles south of Alicante, have set up 42 patrols.
Victims have complained that even when the gas gangsters are caught, lax laws allow them to go free. Some gang members have been detained as many as 25 times. Around Tarragona, hundreds of villas have been robbed in the past four months despite Operation Insomnia undertaken by the Civil Guard. Members of an Albanian gang were charged with 200 villa robberies. Britons who have tried to resist their attackers have been treated brutally. One pensioner was stabbed in the neck, tied up and left for dead as a four-man gang ransacked his home.
The frustration at the lack of police action led to a meeting last week between Enough is Enough (Ya Está Bien), a foreigners’ action group, and Etelvina Andreu, the regional government delegate in Alicante. She acknowledged that the extra police protection that was promised would not arrive until later this year. A spokesman for the Civil Guard said: “This is a paradise for [the criminals], with tens of thousands of villas and apartments. They go for wealthy-looking properties, especially with nice cars outside.”
I found this quote purportedly from The Royal College of Aneasthetists on a forum called Motor Home Fun
__________________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.
13 Sep 2007
A mate of mine.... no, wait, come back!
A mate of mine came with a similar story when travelling on trains in Europe in the 80s. I said it was poppycock then and I say it now. I think people often use it as an excuse if they get pickpocketed or get very drunk and get pickpocketed. Or lose something.
"How could they get away with my wallet? I was right here! Someone must've drugged me!"
Knocking someone out without killing them is something you have to train years for.
Do these trucker victims lock their cabs before going to sleep?
If so, presumably there's physical evidence of having been robbed?
If not, how do they know someone isn't just quietly taking their wallet?
Presumably they all went straight to the police, and to be checked out at the local hospital - after all, someone is hardly in a fit state to drive a truck if they've just recovered from an unknown anaesthetic being administered by a (likely) amateur.
Likewise for thefts from houses with doors open - unless there's forensic evidence of a particular anaesthetic having been used, how can the person be sure they just didn't sleep through a quiet burglary?
I'd have thought that a smart burglar could just watch a suitable couple having a few drinks in a local bar or on their balcony, and then wait until they were sound asleep before robbing them.
Still seems likely to succeed, but without the risk of someone pegging out on them from a heart attack or swallowing their tongue.
Weren't there loads of deaths in the Moscow theatre siege assault due to people choking after being knocked out?
Oy!! - aren't you reading my posts?
Apparently not.
Apologies - I've been juggling various things I need to get mad, all of which I've left until the last minute, and so I've been diving in to read and post while one load of epoxy sets, or while my eyes recover from a burst of close-up work
You don't need to get mad ...
That'll be the eyestrain, I guess.
Hi all. 1st post here.
I did a search on google and it brought me to this site and I though I must add my experience.
I am a continental driver and left the UK via Dover to Calais on Monday this week.
Destination, Morefelden, Germany.
Due to bad weather, I didn't get to the delivery point, so pulled into a services on the A3 in Germany, at a place called Fernthal.
I cancelled my current toll collect and took out a new one for the morning, then retired to my cab. I drive a DAF XF super space cab and the door locks are fairly sturdy (never had a problem before this).
I locked the doors, drew the curtains and got into bed.
I awoke sometime during the night with a thumping headache and the amount I was sweating, could have sunk the Titanic. I had not been feeling 100% a couple of days before this, so thought I just had a severe cold and chill and went back to sleep.
I woke later and wondered what the time was (I had set my alarm for 0600 and it had not yet gone off). I reached for where my own personal Nokia E71 was on charge and it was not there. Thinking I may have accidentally knocked it during the night, I turned on the lights.
It was nowhere to be seen. Also, my jeans had gone from being folded op on the top middle of the dash (on top of my 19" flat screen tv/dvd that was laid down), to being rolled up on the drivers' seat. I checked my pockets and every one was totally empty.
I quickly dressed and pulled back the curtains and nearly fell out of the drivers' door, which had just been pushed to. I went into the services and asked the lady to call the police. While I was waiting for them, I called my wife and told her to cancel all my cards asap.
The police arrived about 10 minutes later and followed me to the lorry. They shone torches around the lorry and my wallet was laying on the bottom step of the lorry. All the cards, driving licence and other stuff was still there, but gone was about €350 and £60.
I rang my wife to tell her not to cancel the cards, but it was too late.
The police took me to the police station and then (because no doctor was available) to the hospital, where I was examined and had to have a blood test. I have a phobia of needles and have had 2 lots of root canal treatment with no pain relief, but I guess I was subdued and gave no resistance. (Either that or the thought the police carry guns did the trick). Anyway, blood test done, back to the police station, then 2 guys arrive. Forensics, so off to the lorry we go, which by this time, was coned and taped off. They do their stuff, pics and dna swabs, then off to the police station once more.
Now comes the questioning for a statement and a dna swab and breath test.
Finally, after 6 hrs, I am returned back to the lorry to continue my journey.
My door lock on the drivers' door now opens with anything and there are visual signs of it being forced.
As for the results of the breath test, not 1 bit.
Results of the blood test, I will find out in 2 weeks.
I returned to the UK today and rang O2 to block the IMEI number and the sim (only pay and go) and they confirmed all the credit was used ringing a number after I had reported this whole thing to the police (1pm yesterday actually), but want £10 for a printout with the number on.
So, sorry for the long 1st post, but urban myth????????????
I think not.
Last edited by grav888; 2nd December 2010 at 05:34 PM.
OK, so even assuming that everything you've written is true, where's the evidence that gas was used? Perhaps the headache was purely coincidental and the crook had just relied on not waking you - the fact that the door was just pushed to would be consistent with that. Maybe you were lucky you didn't wake up - the consequence might have been a sharp blow to the skull with a blunt instrument.
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