Jurors at Derby Crown Court heard that 49 year old Beverley Jeffs, and her husband Brian, purchased the caravan in 2004.They then split in 2006, after which Mr Jeffs used the caravan as a temporary home.

He returned it to the marital home three weeks later helped by his brother Michael, who then posted the keys through the letter box.

Beverely Jeffs subsequently reported the caravan stolen in February of 2007, and tried to claim on her touring caravan insurance. Meanwhile, her 46 year old brother David Porter changed the registration plates and sold the caravan on for £15,000.

The man who bought the caravan, a Mr Treasure, gave evidence in court: “I think it was the sister selling it herself because the brother-in-law hadn’t paid for it originally. I always understood he was selling it on behalf of his sister, not his brother-in-law.”

Prosecutor Abigail Joyce read out both Porter’s and Jeffs’ original police interviews, in which Jeffs denied knowing her brother had taken and sold the touring caravan.

Porter said in a statement read out to the court that, “He (Brian Jeffs) texted me and said where the keys were and the wheel clamp. He told me to sell it for £20,000 and not to go less than £15,000. He didn’t want my sister to have it. As far as I’m concerned I haven’t done anything wrong — that’s why I registered it in my own name.”

Porter denies disguising criminal property and fraud, while Jeffs denies providing false representation and perverting the course of justice.

The trial continues.

To help you, I have provided a few tips which will set you on your way to protect your caravan, and keep the cost of your touring caravan insurance down.

• Fit approved security device or wheel clamp, alarms and hitchlocks.
• Padlock gas cylinders to fixing clamps.
• Make sure your storage site offers good security
• Always close and lock doors and windows, even if your only away a few minutes
• Fit a special caravan deadlock to the door
• Remove personal belongings when not in use
• Get a special number (e.g. a CRIS number put on your windows)
• Use a time switch to make lights come on after dark, to give the impression you are inside
• Valuables (e.g. jewelry) are not covered by insurance, so don’t leave them in the caravan
• Don’t leave documents relating to your caravan inside your caravan.

These are just a few tips to protecting your caravan. There are a number of other ways to do so.

One of the best ways to keep the cost of your touring caravan insurance down is to make sure you don’t have to claim on it.  And to do that you must think security.

TRACKER is the only tracking device that is used by all 52 of the UK’s police forces, so coverage is second-to-none.

The device uses motion sensing to detect tampering with the caravan, and if confirmed a silent UHF signal is transmitted that can be picked up by police vehicles fitted with the tracking computer technology. This greatly increases the chances of a stolen caravan being recovered safe and sound.

Around 5000 caravans are stolen annually in the UK, generally by professional gangs, rather than by opportunist thieves. And while this figure is on the decrease, what is on the increase is so-called ‘cloning and ringing’, which means the caravan is illegally given a new identity.

TRACKER offer 2 different subscriptions, an annual one, which has been reduced from £125 to £39.95, and a ‘duration of ownership’, which has dropped from £350 to £99. If you were to take a duration of ownership subscription on a caravan and keep it for 5 years, you would probably found that you actually saved money overall, due to the reduction in your insurance premiums.

That sounds like an excellent deal to me… make your caravan much more secure AND save yourself money. If you like the sound of it, visit the TRACKER site for more information.

Damage and Loss - this covers the caravan, normally up to its full value, for damage to or loss of the caravan. If you have a caravan normally up to 5 years old you can get new for old cover, which will provide you with a new caravan. Older caravans require Market Value cover, which means that if it needs replacing, it will be to the going value of your old caravan.

Contents and personal effects is often an optional extra, and is generally quite limited in coverage, so check what is covered. Normally excluded are money and credit cards, valuables, audio/video devices, bikes, phones, documents and computers. Forcible entry is also required to be able to make a claim, and also policies differ in whether they cover theft from awnings, trailer and toilet tents.

Liability to the public is to protect the owner in the case of injury or loss to the general public resulting from use of the caravan. This will often cover people the caravan is leant to, as long as it is not for business purposes or hired to them. The level of cover is normally between 1 and 2 million pounds, sometimes including costs, sometimes plus costs.

You must make sure you have continental use coverage if you are going to mainland Europe, as this doesn’t always come as a standard. Some policies will also offer repatriation of the caravan (up to its insured value) and roadside assistance (up to a maximum amount). A number of the former Soviet block states are not covered, among them Bulgaria, Albania, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

The amount of any claim you must pay yourself before the insurance company are willing to part with any money is called the excess. To illustrate, if you made a claim for 500 and your excess was 200, then you would get 300 from the insurance company. If you up the amount of excess that you have on your policy, you will find that your policy will get cheaper.

General exclusions are a feature of all policies, and are generally very exceptional circumstances, however you should still be aware of them. Terrorism, pressure waves from supersonic aircraft, and hostilities to name a few, but be aware that use other than social, domestic and pleasure is excluded also. Often the general exclusions are fairly consistent between the different available caravan insurance policies.

As with most things in life, it always pays to shop around when looking for your touring caravan insurance.

Saga discovered that over a third of people over 50 in the UK are to take a caravan holiday in 2009. And, as this is their target demographic, they are encouraging them to double check their caravan insurance.

This increasing trend of taking caravan holidays in the UK is a result mainly of the credit crunch, as people look to tighten their purse strings, but still enjoy their lives.

As a result caravan sales have surged 10% to 15% recently. Unfortunately some novice caravan owners assume that their caravan is covered by their home or car insurance policies, and they are mistaken in this belief.

This could leave them very much out of pocket in the event of damage to the caravan, or theft from the caravan.

The caravan owner needs to think also of the contents of the caravan. If they take things like tellies, games consoles, laptops etc… then they will find these are most likely not covered by their home insurance, and these will need to be covered seperately by a caravan insurance policy.

Heed the advice of the chief executive of Saga Group, Andrew Goodsell, when he says “Separate caravan insurance is vital when using your caravan, and ensures that even if the holiday takes a turn for the worst, you won’t be left out of pocket.”

When looking for touring caravan insurance there are a couple of major aspects to be weighed up: Price; coverage. Simply plumping for the cheapest available could ultimately prove to be a costly mistake, as you may not be covered to adequate levels and/or some crucial elements may not be included. The logic of this is that you need to ensure you know what you need to be cover for prior to starting to look for the lowest priced policy.

The best tip to saving money when buying touring caravan insurance is to make use of the web. The wealth of information it provides at your fingertips will make it far easier when it comes to buying your next policy. Many of the good caravan insurance providers have websites that will allow you to get quotes and information about their available policies.

A fairly obvious bit of advice is to ensure you shop around for your insurance policy. Be sure to get several different quotes from a several different insurers, or you may end up paying over the odds. Online insurance also has the added bonus of bringing with it a discount on the premium. As stated earlier you should be conscious of precisely what you require from a touring caravan insurance policy, as there are a number of aspects to consider.

One of the primary choices you have to make is whether to get ‘Market Value’ or ‘New for Old’ cover for your caravan. If you have a ‘new for old’ insurance policy and end up needing to replace your existing caravan, you will be provided with a brand new caravan of the same (or equivalent) range. Often though you will discover this type of policy is not an option for caravans older than about five years. If you take out a ‘market value’ insurance policy, and end up having to replace it you will be paid out to the amount needed to buy an equivalent caravan.

Continental insurance cover is another aspect of a policy, and is one for which you should be decided on. If you take caravan holidays overseas you should make sure it is a part of your insurance, and also that you are protected for the [whole time you will be abroad. You should check the period this coverage is for as it varies widely between policies.

Be careful when considering cover for your personal items, as a variety of things can be not included on insurance for touring caravans. Jewellery is not included among a number of things - electronic devices are another - so you should check your home contents insurance to see if that covers it. So it is important for you to be clear what is covered by the caravan insurance policy, what things are protected by your home contents insurance, and if there is anything else that you feel should be protected will require an additional insurance.

You should also be aware that in the event your caravan becomes uninhabitable while you are away, you will need to organise alternative accommodation. Most insurances will protect against this set of circumstances, but you should make sure that the provision is adequate for your needs.

It is possible to reduce the cost of touring caravan insurance by a variety of different means. If you join a caravan club you will find that the insurers will cut the amount they charge to insure the caravan. Making sure your caravan is securer is another, with common devices like axle locking devices, tracking devices, and alarms being the most common way.

Ensuring you get the best available price and the correct cover for your caravan needs some investigation and thought but is definitely very well worth it. You may finish up with entirely unsuitable coverage at an inflated price if you just buy the first policy you come across. Finding the right touring caravan insurance at the best price can take a little time and work, but brings with it peace of mind.

The main reason for this according to Dutch Traffic Minister Camiel Eurlings, is to help truck drivers who on many roads are not allowed to overtake caravans. This as you can imagine causes friction between car and truck drivers, even resulting occasionally in accidents.

They have also banned all drivers of any category of motorised vehicle from using a mobile phone. Previously light scooters and mopeds were exempt from this.

Sponsored by the International Caravan and Motorhome Show 2009, Millets, and the Explorer Group amongst others, there are a variety of events taking place nationwide through the week.

Yeomans are holding a number of exhibitions nationwide to tie in with the event. There is a fly fishing demonstration at the Haltwhistle Club Site on 26 May, events at Ripon Racecourse, a rally at Hill Cottage Farm Camping and Caravan Park in Hampshire, to name but a few.

Competitions such as a children’s drawing competition, a Photography competition, a Halfords ‘Get Active’ competition (over £500 worth of bikes and scooters for the winner), and a Yeomans competition (the prize is a £800 Outwell Indian Lake 6 tent) are being held.

So, if you fancy getting involved, doing a competition, visiting an event, don’t delay, get over to their website: www.nccw.co.uk.

On BBC2  8:00pm - 9:00pm Thursday 02 April there is a documentary, narrated by Alison Steadman that details our love affair with the caravan. Showing how we became the world’s largest caravan manufacturer, and how the holiday habits of generations of families were transformed.

In telling the story of caravanning in the UK from the 50s through to the present day, the film explores how changes through these years reflect the wider changes in our society.

This sounds like a fascinating watch for all caravan enthusiasts, and to be honest anyone interested in British culture.

There are several categories under which the sites can be nominated. These include the Wow Factor Award, the Extra Mile Award, and the Close to Nature Award.

The aim of the Wow Factor Award is to find the most mind-blowing site in the UK, the ones that take your breath away.

Then there is the Close to Nature Award which is looking for the  environmentally friendly sites that work to protect our natural habitats and conserve energy. 2008’s winner in this category was Kelling Heath in Norfolk,  a 250-acre park that aims to put the caravan in harmony with its surroundings.

So get onto their site andput in your suggestions.