French Driving Dangers

The shootings of the British family in France is a horrific warning of driving in France . I have driven in France many times with out any problems . But I am aware of problems driving there and I am always on guard . One such danger which always is in my mind is gassing. YES GASSING ! More so in the South on the French motorways . It happened to a good friend of mine 2 years ago .

After driving non stop for 8 hours in their camper-van . They stopped in the parking area of a motor way services . To cook dinner a bottle of wine and sleep for a early start in the the morning the joys of a camper , you would think . After a day of hard driving a couple of glasses of wine they crashed out. It was mid August and a very warm night . My mate woke up with a terrible hang over . Which he thought was strange after only 2 glasses of wine . He tried to checked the time no watch no phone . All their clothing was all over the floor his girl friend was snoring her head off . Her bag was tipped upside down it contents scattered every where . He checked the clock on the dash board 11.30 am . They had been asleep for 13 hours, with a thumping head ache ,he woke his girl friend  up .

Every think had gone passports bank cards money bit of gold, phones,watches . All the booze the food cupboards had been cleaned out . The only thing not gone was the keys to the van he had a habit of throwing them behind the drivers seat . They had not found them a lucky habit .
The police told them it was a crime that was getting more common . With it being so hot they had left a small slatted window open . The thieves had fed a hose pipe though the gap taped the slit releasing gas into the van . After enough gas was released they forced the lock helping them shelves . What made it worse was his girl friend purse had been under her pillow . As you could imagine it freaked them out . What would of happened if the keys would have been in the steering column . Does not bare thinking about .
The police blamed it on North African gangs . With more and more people going on driving holidays in France plus the shooting of yesterday . I thought I would share this story .