The police called about a "Weber bag"...

[Lightning]

I think this is the most innovative use of a barbecue cover, sadly.

My minivan was stolen late Saturday night/early Sunday morning and taken on a 240 KM joyride before being ditched not all that far from home. The police think it may have been used in some criminal activity because my contents had been totally emptied out including the rear seat.

Yesterday afternoon, after I had the van towed home from where it had been ditched after our police had finished up their investigation, the police department in the next town called to say that the contents including the ownership and insurance paperwork they used to identify me as the owner had been stuffed into a "Weber bag" and dumped in a parking lot along with the seat.  I'm not sure if it was the thieves or the police officer who found this stuff that used the barbecue cover as a bag since it was convenient.

Among other things, I had a new barbecue cover in the back and it seems like they shoved everything into that and threw it out the back in this parking lot.  I picked it up at the police station and brought it all home. Unfortunately my old film camera wasn't with the other stuff in the cover.





You can actually see the box from the cover in the second picture. What a day yesterday. I'm so gutted.


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[jcnaz]

Sorry to hear about your van being stolen. Now that it is back, hopefully there isn't too much damage, and can be made right.

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[addicted-to-smoke]

That's just shitty. Luckily no one got hurt. Around here, if a stolen vehicle is used to commit a crime, the insurance companies will sometimes ask the police to call the vehicle owner on their behalf in an attempt to get THEM to pay.

[Darko]

Wow! That sucks. Hopefully it all worked out OK.

[Travis]

That's sucks man. Hate to hear that.


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[Lightning]

Thanks guys.

Wow! That sucks. Hopefully it all worked out OK.

More than likely, I'm looking at unexpectedly financing a used car. The steering column's was wrecked when whoever stole it jimmied the ignition. The insurance value of this one is less than the deductible, even though it was worth the purchase price of not having to buy a vehicle to me.  So it's not likely worth fixing and insurance isn't going to do much or anything for me.  Not long after I called the police to report it stolen, they called me back to say it had been reported abandoned by one of the residents of the street it was left on.  It ran out of gas and then the lights killed the battery.

Then, I got a call from Halton police stating that a bunch of belongings including the vehicle's documents in a "Weber bag" and the rear bench seat had been left in a parking lot in Burlington, and asked if I knew why that would be. I explained that it had been stolen and subsequently recovered in Hamilton with about 240-250 KM on the odometer.  So I got a friend to drive me over to the police station over there and then to the lot and collected what was left.

As of right now, I coaxed the van back to life twice and given it a good run but I don't know if the battery is holding a charge now.  We are just finishing lunch up and we're going to see if she'll start up on her own otherwise the friend has a set of jumper cables we can use to start up off his car and then take it into the garage to get a quick estimate on repairing the steering column and see if it's worth doing.  For now, I'm using a large flat screwdriver on what's left of the ignition switch.

"Weber bag". I couldn't figure out what the police officer was talking about until he described it and then I realized it was the barbecue cover I had sitting in the back of the van.

[PotsieWeber]

Sorry to hear.  Hope it isn't an expensive fix. 

[Big Dawg]

D@mn that sucks ! ! !  Are they looking for the a$$es that did this?  I ask because our local PD usually doesn't spend much time investigating property crimes like this one.





BD

[Bubblehead]

Man, that sucks.  I had a car stolen  (and recovered) once, it's no fun.

I hope everything works out.

[greenweb]

Hate to hear that! Hope things work out for you.

[charred]

Sorry to hear this shit news.

[captjoe06]

Arggh!  I'm wishing for some good things to happen for you man. 

[Lightning]

Thanks guys.  It's been such a hectic week dealing with the aftermath and everything's going frustratingly slowly.  I've been spending a lot of time looking at cars with a friend of mine who's been a huge help.  Unfortunately, it's meant a lot of late evenings away from home and light dinners on the road.

I'd love to enjoy a quiet, peaceful evening in my own back yard and take the time and enjoy firing up the performer for a nice, relaxed dinner at home just to unwind from it all, but it looks like it's going to be a few more days before I can do that.  This whole ordeal has been a strong reminder of how much my hobbies matter to me and help me relax from life's stresses, including barbecuing on the different Webers here.

[Shoestringshop]

That really sucks! Glad you got the van back.