We were there for all of the BN event. First guy was subdued by a couple of Brits - another Brit camper rode up to the track to get the police who showed up. By that time, the whole gig had unfolded, amazingly no one had been chinned.
The guys in question (6 of them) were camping in the trees near the road. They'd arrived with a tent and gradually knicked stuff over the whole event (table, chairs, booze, generator, pushbike, an axe etc. etc. (who brings an axe to Le Mans?). Their little orange tent had stuff like folks' bags, etc, in it, the car had car stereos, cameras etc.
The whole scene was like an interactive crime scene as you could basically stroll around it and interact with the cops, victims or perps. We ended up doing a little translating for the cops and English campers to explain the basic premise. Then I looked in their other filthy tent and discovered another dude asleep, covered up. He was subsequently hauled out by the feet.
Eventually, they pulled out some of their less legal posessions (a mighty red bong) and it went on from there. They all looked like junkies - one was a right arrogant bastard and gave the cops a fair bit of crap.
It went on endlessly with lots of people standing around and the cops appearing alarmingly disorganized and semi-interested. Finally they decided to cart the dudes off - only to realize they didn't have enough handcuffs. They tried a pair and they failed so had to be cut off the perp with bolt cutters. Then an enterprising camper came-up with long zip ties and they were carted off. As they closed the police van door, one of the coppers bowed to the crowed which got a cheer.
We reclaimed one of or camp chairs they'd knicked and went back to drinking from a distance. Then the thoughtful campers set about "their" car and scooter. They did what Chris24 captured above - and then the cops came back to inform everyone that it was a stolen car. Nice foresight from the campers there. Not that that was obvious then?
All in all a good catch - and tremendous restraint shown by the immediate surrounding campers and initial 2 dudes involved in the first apprehension. It could have all gone horribly wrong.
The thieves were kids - literally. It doesn't make them any less scum - but they were clearly junkies and idiots to boot. Steal stuff and then keep it at your campsite. In addition to that, they were stealing stuff from literally across the pitch from them.
We all think that the villains are sneaking around and using opportunity before disappearing into the night - not camped right next to you!!!
We've got photos of the entire event. They'll probably show-up on Dunlopbridge.com in coming weeks.
