Wheel tampering Aviemore region

[Nonsuch]

I have just returned from a multi-day trip in the Aviemore area. The car (LR Defender) was left by the river near the Rothiemurchus road bridge with other cars in quite a busy place.

On my return the car seemed to be driving strangely and after 500 yards I stopped to get fuel anyway. To my horror I noticed that three of the five wheel bolts in the front near-side wheel had fallen out completely and the two remaining were finger-loose (no locking wheel nut on that wheel for some reason, one on all the others) Another 200 yards and I reckon the wheel would have come off and, if I had got as far as the A9 by that time, it could have caused a major accident.

I reported the incident to the police, who seemed convinced that the wheel had just come loose by itself, which I find a bit bizarre, since the other three wheels were as tight as a nut and in thirty years of driving I have never had a wheel come loose (always re-tighten after a tyre change etc). There was nothing in the car's recent history to provoke a wheel coming off by itself.

So that leaves me with two theories :
1) Someone tried to steal the wheel while I was away, got as far as loosening the bolts, was disturbed and ran off leaving the wheel loose (thereby potentially causing a potentially fatal accident). The problem with this theory is that the spare on the back had no locking wheel nuts either, would have been far easier to steal, but was ignored.
2) Someone in the area thinks it's a fun prank to loosen wheel nuts on random parked cars (thereby potentially causing a potentially fatal accident)

I think it means walkers and canoeists returning to their cars at Aviemore, or anywhere in the area, need to check that all their wheels are tight before driving off, and always have locking wheel nuts.

It seems there are scumbags everywhere these days unfortunately.

 

[ged]

Given the potential seriousness of the incident I'm a bit surprised by the response of the police to your report. I think I'd have insisted on getting a crime number. At least that way if enough people report the incidents a pattern might start to emerge on the Police National Computer. If the police continue to avoid work then instead of a pattern of loose wheel nuts there'll most likely be a pattern of dead bodies.

For professional drivers it's standard procedure to do a daily 'walk round' before the start of the day's run. That includes a check on wheel nuts. When I'm driving a truck I always do that, but I have to confess that I don't take anything like the same care when I nip somewhere in a car or a small van. I'm a bit more fussy about the motor-bikes though. :yikes:

 

[Nonsuch]

I am insisting on a crime number

 

[Retired Member southey]

My bet is the prank\attempted manslauter route, as you say the spare is there, or, an unscrupulous chap needing three bolts for his LR, those chaps are out there two, had similar thing happen in a tesco car park to my Jeep, lucky for me i came back while he was distracted with try to take them, its sad to hear of it around there though dude, any chance of a pointer to the spot to avoid in the future,

 

[Nonsuch]

I will pm you as I was parked at a local inn with their agreement but I am sure it wasn't their fault

 

[Retired Member southey]

No worries dude, thank you, planning a jaunt up end of this year,

 

[Shewie]

Blimey that's not good, the number of times I've returned from a canoe trip and just loaded my stuff and set off without even thinking about such things.

 

[havocsdad]

I've had this happen twice to me when I've been parked at work ( nhs ambulance station of all places) my local LR dealer keeps them in stock as it seems to be an increasing trend

 

[mrrivers]

It seems even the Highlands has its share of scumbags,

that's a bit strong, as you have no real idea what happened, just an assumption. it was a possibly catastrophic situation, and thankfully you found it before an accident. I have half dozen cousins in the highlands and they would

be justifiably miffed at your assertion. with the amount of visitors to the region could it not have been one of them, or even just the nuts working themselves loose! they do you know, it's why truckers, bus drivers, squaddies who drive landys and careful

drivers do a check every day the vehicle is used.

 

[Nonsuch]

Had it happened to you I think you would be feeling a bit annoyed as well

 

[harrisp]

Not got mud tyres on have you? They are quite desirable to thieves.
I had two wheelnuts go missing off my 4x4 while it was sat on my drive for about a week (so no chance of coming loose).

 

[Nonsuch]

No, All-Terrains.

This seems to be becoming quite a problem. Trouble is that you can't just checking the nuts are finger tight before driving off - you would have to get the brace out and make sure they're torqued up

 

[dwardo]

CCTV? anywhere nearby?

 

[Retired Member southey]

You could always put A little witness mark on the bits once settled after fitting, use a permy pen so you can redo when you rotate or change the wheel, a solid etched mark has the habit of being used as the torque mark instead of using a proper torque wrench, I use engineers tamper tell paste. Good visual clue for both tamper and torque loss and easy to clean off each time.

 

[filcon]

I put 2 new van tyres on a newly bought caravan and crashed it after driving just 500yds,the wheel came off at a roundabout right in front of the fire station I used to work at. Scumbags had been trying to steal the new tyres and must have been interupted. It was bad but could have been worse.

phil