Thats a great story.
Sorry to hear about it though, hope the bills arnāt that high. 
now were getting the full story parked up on a nuddy beach, may you repent for your sins 
you lucky sod 
and i bet you didnāt sit back with the curtains twitching,and you was i the front row with ya back to the sea
thats awful i bet the mental cash till just kept going up.
did you find the imobileisar key.
JD -
I had the immobiliser key, but the ā ā ā ā thing wouldnāt work!
Took an Iveco bod over two hours to rip the thing out!
It was a Scorpion.
It was wired into absolutely everything!!
It was wired into the brakes, so they wouldnāt release - wired into the fuel via a fuel cut off device, and probably wired into my DVD player as well!
Iāve just purchased tractor unit number three as well - and guess what?
IMMOBILISER!!! 
Told the dealer to rip it out.
Whoād want to nick an Iveco anyway?
Iād be a bit miffed if they nicked mine though, 'cos Iāve got some valuable teddies in the window!
I was about 3 miles north of Canet De Mar on my way to Barcelona on the nationals.
Driving alongside a lovely stretch of sea with a sandy beach.
It was a three lane road with loads of parking areas next to the cliffs, so I thought Iād park up for a bit.
After a few business calls, I was on the phone to the wife when I thought Iām gonna have a walk over and have a look at the beach.
So phone to my ear, I walked over the road and crossed the barrier to the side of the road and looked down onto the beach.
There were quite a few people on it I noticed as I was chatting to my wife.
Hang on - theres one bloke standing not too far awayā¦whats he doing??..looks like heās playing with himselfā¦canāt be. Itās a beach and heās got swimming trunks on. Hang onā¦ no he hasnāt!!!
As I live and breathe, this fella was playinā with himself in full view of everyone.
I looked up the beach rather quickly to see two girls lying on thier beach towels.
āTheyāre starkers!!ā I said to the missus.
I looked a bit further up and I saw a woman walking down the beach.
āYouāll never guess what I can seeā¦ā I said.
Everyone was starkers.
I got a little embarrased at that point and went back over to my truck, but curiosity and male hormones took over, and I was soon back looking at the beach.
Dotted inbetween the ā ā ā ā sunbathers were locals fishing as well!
My god - what a place!
Anyway, about 3 hours later, I left the lay-by and drove towards Barcelona.
But for the next couple of miles, all I saw were naked people on the beach!
Iāve never done so much one handed driving, and I also had a cricked neck from trying to see across the road and onto the beach.
Canāt wait to go there again! 
Apart from that, the ā ā ā ā immobiliser and my frequent trips with Sea France - a boring trip really. 
ianyng:
I was about 3 miles north of Canet De Mar on my way to Barcelona on the nationals.
Driving alongside a lovely stretch of sea with a sandy beach.
It was a three lane road with loads of parking areas next to the cliffs, so I thought Iād park up for a bit.
After a few business calls, I was on the phone to the wife when I thought Iām gonna have a walk over and have a look at the beach.
So phone to my ear, I walked over the road and crossed the barrier to the side of the road and looked down onto the beach.
There were quite a few people on it I noticed as I was chatting to my wife.
Hang on - theres one bloke standing not too far awayā¦whats he doing??..looks like heās playing with himselfā¦canāt be. Itās a beach and heās got swimming trunks on. Hang onā¦ no he hasnāt!!!
As I live and breathe, this fella was playinā with himself in full view of everyone.
I looked up the beach rather quickly to see two girls lying on thier beach towels.
āTheyāre starkers!!ā I said to the missus.
I looked a bit further up and I saw a woman walking down the beach.
āYouāll never guess what I can seeā¦ā I said.
Everyone was starkers.
I got a little embarrased at that point and went back over to my truck, but curiosity and male hormones took over, and I was soon back looking at the beach.
Dotted inbetween the ā ā ā ā sunbathers were locals fishing as well!
My god - what a place!
Anyway, about 3 hours later, I left the lay-by and drove towards Barcelona.
But for the next couple of miles, all I saw were naked people on the beach!
Iāve never done so much one handed driving, and I also had a cricked neck from trying to see across the road and onto the beach.
Canāt wait to go there again!
quote]
ive had exactly the same thingā¦
i was loading timber at jewsons on shoreham harbour and thought ā¦ i will have my lunch on the beach.
there i was sat on the beach eating my sarnies when i looked across and there was this old bloke about 70 stood chatting to these 2 girls about 20 ish i thought something didnt look quite right it took me a couple of minutes before i relised he was starkers all apart from an old captins hat.
while sitting there gobsmacked he came walking past and said hello i said hello back.
after deciding it was a nice day and if you beat them join them i changed my mind and went quickly back to the lorry.and to think of all the days i spent in that harbour when i did ship repairs fixing the sand weaver dregder.
Great story Ian. But my worst nightmare. The immobiliser in the key for my car occasionally fails to switch off. There is always a tense moment when watching to see if the little light flashes or goes out. Sometimes taking the key out and back does the trick. Other times it is necessary to replace it the other way. Yesterday just after we got loaded at the supermarket it took 5 minutes to click - the longest yet. If it had been any longer I would have been pleading with the supermarket to take the ice cream back!
Some years ago I had an MG Montego which got nicked by joy riders. When I got it back the next day (28 miles on the clock and a lot of mud on the body) with smashed steering lock & hole dug in the door, I decided that I didnāt want these āsecurityā devices any more - especially as the insurance company wanted Ā£300 excess - so decided not to claim. Had to buy another steering lock of course, ignitions donāt come without them these days, but just got my mate to 'bodge ā the hole in the door and after that never bothered locking it. He also fitted a mechanical fuel cut-off switch, hidden but conveniently placed. I then bought a highly visible chain and padlock suitable for mooring the Dover ferry, and secured it between seat and steering wheel whenever I parked. Easy to remove I know but it was the āput offā factor I was looking for. Never had any more trouble, of course you canāt leaving anything valuable in there on show, but then you shouldnāt anyway should you?
Total cost for door repair and chain? Less than Ā£50. Now you will understand that once a car is paid for I never have anything but third party only insurance.
No further trouble. Bit worried about this immobiliser though 
Talking about security devices I remember now that when I was hauling whisky on flat roped and sheeted trailers for Ilkeston Haulage in the 70s my Scammell Highwayman was supposed to have 3 seperate āsystemsā. Door lock of course, diesel cut off switch (plainly visible) in the cab, and loud alarm operated by a key in the back of the cab (outside). No truck on the fleet had all three working. My door lock didnāt work so I always set the alarm when I left it. I nearly always forgot to de-activate it when I got back in and during the several seconds of the racket it made till I got out of the cab and fiddled to find the right key - nobody took a blind bit of notice!
No, I havenāt gone off thread. Just changed the title a bit. I hate (manufacturerās) security devices 
Salut, David.
ianyng:
Iāve never done so much one handed driving
Too much information!
jessicas dad:
jewsons on shoreham harbour
I was on the 8 wheelers doing sand out of there (harbour not jewsons) with about 10 other blokes from the firm I used to work for.
After about my third load I was coming out onto the beach road (as you come out the road is on an upward slope) as I crested the turn I t ought I saw 2 young ladies in the nuddie so I stopped on the road then reversed back so I was on the beach side facing the oncoming traffic.
I was about number 6 in the run series & the bloke behind shouts over the cb
āWhat have you stopped there for?ā
Knowing what was about to happen I made sure I was in the best viewing position then shouted back
āTheres 2 young ladies in the nod throw a beach ball at each other hereā
the driver in front of me shouts the driver in front of him who shouts the driver in front of him etc etc.
There ended up being 10ntipper driversparked along the road
One driver had a p.a & was shouting
āpass it to me,pass it to meā
They carried on their game as if we werenāt there which couldnāt have been easy especiallly when you take into account all the noise from the air horns
.
jessicas dad:
after deciding it was a nice day and if you beat them join them
I cant go sunbathing in the ā ā ā ā on the beach anymore!
The last time I did Greenpeace were there with a load of volunteers trying to roll me into the sea
Hereās what I wouldāve done:
Call a towtruck to met you there, and let them know that they would need to release the brakes first. If this had an autobox, you probably wouldāve needed to remove the driveshaft as well, but 8 brakes cannisters and a driveshaft takes all of 30 minutes. Then you can tow the entire unit off the boat and deal with it on shore.
Iām sure that you had some air disc setups on that unit that Iām not familiar with, but there still needs to be a parking brake. We do this sort of towing job fairly frequently-itās really not a big deal. Iād certainly concentrate on removing the truck from the boat before Iād worry about repairing the problem.
AlexxInNY:
Hereās what I wouldāve done:Call a towtruck to met you there, and let them know that they would need to release the brakes first. If this had an autobox, you probably wouldāve needed to remove the driveshaft as well, but 8 brakes cannisters and a driveshaft takes all of 30 minutes. Then you can tow the entire unit off the boat and deal with it on shore.
Iām sure that you had some air disc setups on that unit that Iām not familiar with, but there still needs to be a parking brake. We do this sort of towing job fairly frequently-itās really not a big deal. Iād certainly concentrate on removing the truck from the boat before Iād worry about repairing the problem.
Alex, the ferry companies do not give anyone chance to have a mechanic working on a truck, the ferries come into the harbour and they are on such a tight schedule to turn around, even building the air up in a truck or putting a tacho card in has them jumping up and down.
I suppose the only answer to that would be to get permission of the captain to work on the truck while at sea, but it is doubtful if he would give it.
Seafrance and P & O are running a hugely competitive business and a few minutes lost on a turnaround can cost them hours
In reply to the original post - well what did we try to tell you about Ivecoās ā¦ Should have bought Volvo or DAF [hint].
that happened to me on the newhaven dieppe crossing late last year i had a y reg scanny topliner and the starter motor packed in it also had an air leak i boreded the evening ferry in dieppe got to newhaven couldnt get off back to dieppe early hours in morn boat reloaded back to newhaven finally got off at midday the first time they sent a van and 2 mechanics the second time they had a wrecker waiting for me and dragged me round to a garage round the corner transmanche ferries wouldnt touch it as theyve dragged stuff off before damaged it in the prosess and ended up getting the bill for said damage luckilly i was not on the sardinia vera.those that use that crossing will now where im coming from
a bit off topic but still boat related
when i lived in germany i had to drive a coach over to the uk. i got to europort dropped the passengers off and then went to put the coach on the boat. well, the tide was way out and the loading ramp was very steep. when i got to the bottom the coaches bumper grounded out on the deck of the boat. only a small dent mind. anyhow when i got back to germany my boss questioned me about it and then he asked if i had reported it to the ships captain/crew.
i said no , obviously, thinking he meant that maybe they were at fault of somekind
but then he said it was incase i had damaged the boat
i thought he was taking the pee, but he was serious.