D700 stolen

<p>Just back from vacation in London. Complete disaster. Backpack containing D700/mb-d10 (SNo. 2126484)with 24-120mm , 17-35 sigma, 70-300 sigma, passport, airline ticket, all just siphoned away by scumbags operating in the busy Cambden Town area of London, near to London Zoo. Sitting in a restaurant early evening, fell for the "have you got a light ?.." distraction while the partner scumbag siphons the bag from under the table on the other side. Devastated. Holiday ruined. Lots of hassle getting new passport etc.</p>

<p>And the worst thing about it ? London Police absolutely useless. Not interested. Not a serious enough event to warrent their serious attention. After waiting three and half hours for a cop to show up, they call to say they are too busy to attend and do I want to make a telephone report ? The restaurant, CCTV overlooking the entire scene, captured the whole thing and confirmed to me days later by staff that the footage showed the whole thing, but the boss is not there at the moment. This information goes to the police, but days later the police say " the owner of the restaurant has not cooperated, and we cannot do anything about it" . But this is evidence to a crime, and a gang obviously operating in the area, preying on tourists, which you may catch....... "yes Sir, but if he doesn't hand the footage to us voluntarily, we cannot do anything..." Incredible. Honestly, if I had hair I'd be pulling it out in anger and frustration. Incompetent police, and a restaurant owner who as far as I'm concerned is no better than the thieves.</p>

<p>Had to bite the bullet, and went and bought another D700, with the 24-85 f/2.8 and the sigma 70-300mm for 2500 pounds. My logic being that at least I can recover some of my holiday and go and retake some of my photos, and worry about the money later. Any similar experiences anyone ?</p>

<p>Can't say that I've had anything close to that happen. </p>

<p>Sorry for your losses...it hurts the pocketbook... </p>

<p>I think the next time my wife asks why we take a D40 on vacation with us - I'll show her this. </p>

<p>Dave</p>

 

<p>Andrew, sorry to learn that.</p>

<p>In the 1990's we lived close to New York City, but usually we went there with a shoulder bag and some NY subway maps, so we kind of looked like tourists.</p>

<p>Once my wife and I had lunch at a fastfood place. We had a small table and we sat face to face. After we sat down, I placed the bag under the table and I opeded it to check the map. After lunch, the bag was gone. Fortunately, there was no camera inside.</p>

<p>Now when I sit down, I put my foot inside the loop of the shoulder strap so that people cannot snatch it. Sometimes my camera bag weights 20, 30 pounds. In a way that is safe also since it is hard to run with it.</p>

<p>Well thanks for posting your experience so the rest of us can watch out for this scam. Wife and I traveled around London for 9 days a couple years ago, and ate lunch and dinner at many pubs (we stayed in an apartment so we always had breakfast at home before we went out for the day). One time, in a busy pub just outside Embankment tube station, near the Thames, we were eating dinner and I was on my second beer. And a Brit spoke to me from another table and asked me if I liked bitter, and I said yes, and he gave me the beer. Said it had been placed on his table without his asking, that he didn't order it. I guess it was meant for someone else. Drank half of that, by then I was getting too drunk so we split. Reading your account, I imagine this would be one way to get my bag, which was sitting on the bench next to me, while I leaned over and got the beer from the guy. Thankfully my wife was sitting on the other side of the bag so it couldn't happen. But if I were by myself I'd have to be a lot more wary. Anyway, sucks to be a victim of crime. I hope you got a printed police report so you can report it to your insurance when you get home. Should be full coverage for all items lost minus your deductible.</p>

<p>Andrew,<br>

This is just a thought. Since it was captured on CCTV and happened in a restaurant, try filing a claim against the restaurants insurance. I don't know what the insurance laws in England are. But, the worst that could happen is that the insurance company just declines the claim. I had a coworker that damaged his $1000 (ea) auto rims on freeway construction (metal plates covering pits). He complained to the CALTRANS and they referred him to the contractors insurance that ended up writing a check to replace the rims. Just a thought. </p>

<p>Similar to Shun, I put the leg of the chair I'm sitting on inside the strap and keep my leg in contact with the bag. </p>

<p>Give nobody anything. A light. Spare change. Conversation. Nothing. Protect your stuff!</p>

<p>I was late meeting a friend for dinner (and very annoyed that he was being so picky about a restaurant) and quickly parked and went to eat. While we were eating, a thief broke into my car and stole my messenger bag, which had my laptop.</p>

<p>The police basically don't care. I was parked in an area covered by security cameras, and this was all recorded. The police know that most of the time, this stuff is covered by homeowners insurance, and they're too busy taking care of public safety and such to care about break ins. They told me it would take 2 hours to send a cop to take the report, and actually told me to file a report through a website.</p>

<p>Really sorry about your stuff. There are some real scumbags around...</p>

<p>I hate these kind of people. They can have better things to do elsewhere, but chose to steal from others instead.</p>

<p>Could it be the bag was too bling? They must have been following from a distance.</p>

<p>At least you are safe & unharmed.</p>

 

<p>Did you have insurance to cover the loss? I need to look into insurance now that I have a D700...</p>

<p>Andrew - first of all, and despite what I'm about to write, sorry about your stuff. Its a horrid feeling and is all too common anyplace where you are visiting and an obvious tourist. Certainly its a common experience here in Paris.</p>

<p>That said, guys remember that for the one experience like this there are a thousand lovely people wanting to genuinely interact and be friendly. And I get sad when people use anecdotes like this to worry, fear, and close themselves up.</p>

<p>So Jack, I hope your response was sarcastic and exaggerated, because "protecting your stuff" is to me a million times less important than being an open, generous person that connects with the world that he/she lives in.</p>

<p>And to David, quite simply there is only one thing more stupid than losing your best camera gear on vacation and that's not taking it there in the first place, and going with some inferior compromise instead.</p>

<p>And what if the police take any action? The stuff is already sold, the thief doesn't own anything, so he can't pay for new stuff, the only thing what's hapening he/she goes to jail and starts over again in 1 or 2 years.</p>

<p>Sorry to hear of your loss, and ashamed that it happened in my city. Hopefully your insurance will cover the monetary loss .</p>

<p>While I agree with BM Mills that an essential part of humanity is about being open and generous, this does not mean you should not be cautious. The other side of human nature, unfortunately, is greed and taking advantage of others.</p>

<p>I've been the victim of distraction theft only once (was only my spare bottle of beer while waiting on a train platform - was a while ago - you can't drink on train platforms anymore in London!), and I'm always cautious now when anyone approaches me.<br /><br /><br>

I only ever use public transport and sometimes carry about 15,000+GBP worth of gear in a backpack, often late at night travelling back from a show and not through the best areas of London (in fact, in London "good" and "bad" areas are often side by side so it doesn't matter where you are). I always have my arm or foot through a strap when its not on my back.</p>

<p>Re the restaurant CCTV - in the UK the freedom of information act means that you are entitled to have a copy of the footage by law, and if the restaurant does not supply it within a certain time they can be prosecuted (the comedian Mark Thomas has used this law to get footage of himself dressed as cartoon characters in front of sensitive government buildings). They are entitled to charge you a fee for this, maximum 10pounds I think. A small price if it helps to nail the thieves.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Very sorry this happened in England, but as others have said - it could have been anywhere. I've heard stories in other countries of peoples bag being snatched by passing thief on a motorbike carrying a big knife used to slash through the bag strap..<br>

Honestly, however bad you feel, I think there's no point in your spending lots of effort in following this up if the police aren't interested - as someone has said, you'll never get the stuff back anyway.<br>

The key to it is proper INSURANCE - anyone travelling should have PLENTY of it, and make sure there's no silly exclusions such as limits on the value of individual items, etc, so your stuff is fully covered .<br>

I agree too, that however you feel, you still need to be 'friendly to the locals' as 99.9% of them have only the best intentions.</p>

<p>Andrew,<br>

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. My solution to this type of potential disaster when I travel is to use a large, locking carabiner design for serious rock climbers and lock the bag's strap to the table leg, chair leg, railing or whatever is close. If you use one that's wide enough it'll hold a few shoulder bags and/or purses, too.</p>

 

<p>Firstly, no, unfortunately I didn't have insurance. My mistake, but here where I lived that sort of thing just happen often. Maybe I'm naive, but I gave human nature the benefit of the doubt for the best. After this, have to agree with Jack's statement. Dave Lee, you were probably right to be suspicious. Thats the kind of innocent looking thing that a scammer would get up to. I wouldn't have touched that drink. It could have been spiked, you pass out and wake up to find all your possesions gone. Nothing is beyond these scumbags. One mistake I may have made, is while waiting for the food I had my camera out and was reveiwing my photos. I realise now that maybe I should not have done that.<br>

Jose P, this person (an Italian restaurant, run by Turks, and a Turkish owner), does not cooperate to hand over the CCTV footage to the police, and you think he will let you claim on his insurance ? I just called the police now, three weeks after the event, and nothing has been done. As someone said, nobody cares. In the first days when I was saying to the police that they need to go and rcover the CCTV footage, they were saying "well, we have a 5 day backlog of cases, sorry" . Low priority. Then it became " if they don't hand us the CCTV footage we can't do anything" To the Turkish owner you are just another shmuck tourist thats been robbed and not worth the trouble. Why waste any of his time ? But no fears, I found the website to his four restaurants that he owns, and the comments that I will be bombarding his feedback page with I dare not repeat here. As far as I'm concerned, someone that prevents the police from finding the theives that stole your goods is as good as the theives themselves.</p>

<p>After hearing of my plight, somebody pointed out to this clipping in one of the UK papers last week, and I thought it was hilarious and worth sharing. If only all thieves were so dumb. The tourist couple are posing for a self timed photo, while a thief takes advantage of their distraction to steal their bags. He didn't calculate on the being caught in the picture though, and being caught !<br>

<img src="http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr327/eurocypria/clip.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>A similar thing happened to me in Lima, Peru. I lost everything - suitcase and camera bag. It was 6:00 in the morning, and I was waiting on the street curb to catch a taxi to take me to the airport for the return flight home. I was half asleep at that hour.<br>

A fellow tapped me on the shoulder and spoke to me in Spanish, about which I know little. As I was trying figure out what he wanted, a car had rushed up to the curb, and someone inside snatched everything. I turned to see the car screeching down the street and the car door closing with my bags inside. I turned again to the fellow I had spoken too, and he too was running down the street.<br>

Now, I am always physically in contact with my luggage and camera bag. In restaurants or other public places, the camera bag strap is always around my leg. Want the bag, you take the leg!</p>

<p>Andrew,<br>

As a Londoner I am sorry to hear of your loss, lets be grateful it was only financial.<br>

Unfortunately, there are a number of scumbags in the city as there are everywhere else in the world.<br>

Re getting the video tape footage and the Freedom of Information Act, you only have a legal right to obtain this from a public body, if it's privately held the owner needs to agree. Most likely the cameras weren't operational anyway.<br>

Why the couple of mentions of the Turkish owner, what has his nationality got to do with it?<br>

And the police? They're probably focusing on violent crime, etc<br>

For any future readers of this post and as general advice, London is a great city, full of friendly residents who live in one of the most cosmopiltan cities in the world and welcome visitors with open arms. Camden is one of the most touristy areas in London and I have no idea why anyone would visit there, same goes for Leceister square, Piccadilly circus etc, these areas therefore attracts thieves who know there will be tourists there who probably carry lots of cash and valuables, and that may not be as 'streetwise' as someone who lives in London, New York, LA etc, It probably isn't advisable to display £000's worth of very portable equipment for all to see.<br>

I think avoiding talking to people is the worst thing to do, just take sensible precautions with expensive stuff.<br>

Avoid eating in toutist hot spots like Camden, the food it likely to be awful, and they'll be expensive, get off the beaten track and explore London, it's a great city to wander round.<br>

Thanks,<br>

Andrew</p>

<p> </p>

<p>very sorry to hear about this, and also about the police response. I am a bit surprised, as when I was mugged in London a couple of years ago, the police came within minutes, offered to fingerprint my possessions that had been handled to trace the villains, and were generally very helpful. Perhaps the difference was that mugging is potentially violent, whereas you lost only property. The other problem the police face, as in my case, is that there is little chance that overseas visitors will return to give evidence in court if the thief is caught and prosecuted, but I would think they should ask you this first rather than assume it. </p>

<p>Well, at least you got rid of that sorry excuse for a lens (24-120). Just kidding. I am truly sorry to hear of your horrible experience. I, too, lost a camera (FA + 35-105MF) to thieves in Spain when I was in the Army. The theft happened at a Navy supper club on base! I left the camera on my chair when I went to the salad bar and when I came back, it was gone. Now I never leave the thing behind. When I sit in a public area such as an airport, I slip my leg into the case strap and put my foot firmly on the ground. The thief would have to knock me off my chair to get the bag or cut the strap.<br>

This is why I insure my camera equipment and I hope that you did, too. You don't have to be a pro photographer to buy this insurance and it is very cheap. I get mine from an insurance company headquartered in Bloomington, Ill., known for its car insurance and have had one claim since then and was completely satisfied with the outcome.<br>

I hope you were able to retake some of the photos.</p>

<p>Ugh, that sucks. I am really careful about my gear when I am out - I always have one hand on it, a foot on a strap or a strap under a chair leg if possible.</p>

<p>I am not a pro by any means but I have spent quite a bit on equipment over the last few years and the first thing I did when I bought my D80 kit was call my insurance agent. A policy to cover camera equipment is cheap IMO. I now have $6000 coverage (I just gave copies of my reciepts and they asked what I wanted covered - I said all of it) and it costs me about $50 a year. I was asked if I was using the equipment professionally because if I was the policy would be about double the cost - still reasonable in my opinion. I said no, it's just an expensive hobby. It covers ANYTHING that happens to my stuff and there is no deductable.</p>

<p>Andrew M, I too am a Londoner, even though I now live abroad and visit the tourist attractions wHich I greatly enjoy and miss when I'm back in London visiting family. Tourist London, museums, zoo, etc is great. Re: "Most likely the cameras weren't operational anyway", if you read my original post, I said the staff members days later actually confirmed to me what they saw on the video, not realising probably that their boss was not going to cooperate. Its the boss thats seems to be the uncooperative so-and-so. Thats what makes it so annoying. He is actually actively obstructing the investigation as far as I'm concerned. That road on Camden is the main route between Camden Town Stn and London Zoo, and these vultures know that thousands of tourists traverse this road to go to the zoo every day, all loaded with cameras and money. The police, if they had half a set of balls, should have jumped at the opportunity to arrest a pair of these vultures.</p>

<p>Why mention that he's Turkish ? Because he is. Maybe his attitude is different. Maybe an Englishman would have been more cooperative with the police. All I know is that 3000 pounds of my hard earned money, plus passports and a ruined holiday have been snuffed away, and the person who could help the police is actively obstructing them, then to me he is the same as the thieves, and I have no qualms about mentioning his nationality. Infact there are quite a few things I would like to say about him but they would probably get deleted. All he had to do was put the footage on disc and hand it to the police. End of matter. Instead, the police say he's never there when they call, he won't reply to their calls, and the staff are forbidden to give out his details. So I don't do nice when it comes to people like this.</p>

<p>I'm glad so many people have mentioned their experiences. I never imagined that so many ways of scamming people out of their cameras could possibly exist. It has certainly been an eye opener. John McGill your experience and mine go to show how audatious and brazen these people can be. I hope this all helps others to be aware for these things.</p>

<p>Central Park NYC - bag containing 5d and assorted lenses taken while I was distracted with my son..... but State Farm were good for most of it (i have a camera rider on my homeowners policy covering the equipment !). </p>

<p>Sorry about your loss...My stuff was almost stolen while I was setting up mu tripod at "Sacré Coeur"...Luckily I had my bag in the corner of my eye when I caught the guy! The only excuse he came up with for touching my bag was that he was moving it to lean against the wall...That didn't satisfy me and he got a couple of slaps! Same thing for the "guy" who stole my wallet in the Metro which I caught up with, got my money back and everything else!!!Cops don't have time for my stuff so I'll do what I have to do to get it back myself!!<br>

P.S. I do have insurance for my stuff though but it's the principle that makes me MAD!!!!</p>