- Paperback: 208 pages
- Publisher: Mirage Publishing (19 Jun 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1902578104
- ISBN-13: 978-1902578101
- Product Dimensions: 20.2 x 14.6 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,571,123 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
From the North East of England, spreading to New Zealand and Australia, this book looks at ramraiding. Ramraiders are interviewed and photographs from inside of prison are included.
Excerpted from Ramraiders by Stephen Richards. Copyright © 2000. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
When ramraids were thwarted by the ingenuity or luck of those being victimised there were plenty more retail outlets to rape and strip of their goods. This chapter acts as a reminder, an ‘aide memoir’, to build up to the ending, which revolves around a specific gang that danced with death on many an occasion, they gambled with their raw talents, they were Eddie Kid and Evel Knievel mixed into one, they gave entertainment value for the public, fed to them via the media, but like all things, fashions change, but like anything else this once in vogue element will make a comeback. In the meantime let’s take a look back over the time at this phenomenon that took the North East region of England then the rest of the UK and finally the world by storm.
I could be accused of glamorising crime, the favourite question on all journalists’ lips whenever they ask about anyone taking up with writing such things, the answer to that must be an emphatic, “Yes”. We’ve come to expect our icons of the criminal world to be larger than life, better than anyone else at foiling the final capture scene. We all love a good thriller so here it is for real.
How often we’ve willed Steve McQueen to be able to jump his stolen motor bike over that barbed wire fence in the film ‘The Great Escape’, even though we’ve seen the act fail time after time, we still want him to escape, willing him to escape. The ‘Italian Job’, didn’t we want to see them get away with it, of course. Remember the end of the film when one of the characters says, “Hold on, I’ve got an idea,” what the fuck was the idea, didn’t we want the film to go on a little longer, I sure did. What of those other films that have become part of our repeat TV diet, we know the ending but we always hope, and that’s why we’ve come to champion the cause of the underdog.
Don’t forget that most of those carrying out these ramraids were doing so out of necessity and of course ‘necessity’ is, as we know, ‘the mother of invention’. ‘Necessity’ though eventually turned into greed. More wasn’t enough. Daring became a challenge to the ramraiders in outrunning the authorities, who only had a real break when the gang were all grassed up, good policing or detective work had nothing to do with the capture of the main gang, more of that in the relevant chapter, let’s crack on.
I could be accused of glamorising crime, the favourite question on all journalists’ lips whenever they ask about anyone taking up with writing such things, the answer to that must be an emphatic, “Yes”. We’ve come to expect our icons of the criminal world to be larger than life, better than anyone else at foiling the final capture scene. We all love a good thriller so here it is for real.
How often we’ve willed Steve McQueen to be able to jump his stolen motor bike over that barbed wire fence in the film ‘The Great Escape’, even though we’ve seen the act fail time after time, we still want him to escape, willing him to escape. The ‘Italian Job’, didn’t we want to see them get away with it, of course. Remember the end of the film when one of the characters says, “Hold on, I’ve got an idea,” what the fuck was the idea, didn’t we want the film to go on a little longer, I sure did. What of those other films that have become part of our repeat TV diet, we know the ending but we always hope, and that’s why we’ve come to champion the cause of the underdog.
Don’t forget that most of those carrying out these ramraids were doing so out of necessity and of course ‘necessity’ is, as we know, ‘the mother of invention’. ‘Necessity’ though eventually turned into greed. More wasn’t enough. Daring became a challenge to the ramraiders in outrunning the authorities, who only had a real break when the gang were all grassed up, good policing or detective work had nothing to do with the capture of the main gang, more of that in the relevant chapter, let’s crack on.
April 1987 – ‘Try and try again’ was the motto in use by these gangs. A bungled raid on a clothes shop in the West End of Newcastle didn’t put off the occupants of a stolen turbo powered Saab. The clothes shop was rammed to such a degree that it caused masonry to fall onto the turbo powered vehicle, nothing else for it but to travel at high speed across Newcastle to nearby Jesmond, home to the hoity-toity brigade, yeah, there’s sure to be one of them posh wine stores there, what’s it called, ‘Winterschladen’.
The rear doors to the off-licence were rammed and the load up of fags was fast – supersonic fast, some £1,500 worth was taken. Invariably the damage caused was far more in excess of the value of goods stolen and that was the case in both of these raids. Finding the right ‘G’ spot was going to take some practice to hone the skills needed for future raids.
Although residents were awakened by noise from the raid on the off-licence and they witnessed the booty being loaded up they made no attempt to stop the crime. Ordinarily such a crime would be bound to attract some sort of Rambo character out of his mud hut, but this was a crime against unseen victims - commercial victims.
Okay we all know that commercial insurance premiums are hiked up due to this sort of thing, repairs to premises after such raids would make many business a high risk, who’d risk their lives to stop such a commercial robbery, not many! We’d nearly all, protect our neighbours from such an attack because we know them, but people that we don’t know, who run most business ventures, have to fight their own battles.
This off-licence had been victim to umpteen previous robberies, now the upgraded version was to hit them.
May 1987 – Driving skills were going to have to be improved on - this raid proves it. This was the second raid on one of Tyneside’s home electrical suppliers. Luxury goods were targeted – video recorders. Okay we’ve nearly all got one of these contraptions, soon outdated by DVD, but back then these machines were bringing £100 to £150 from the right people and there were plenty of people willing to forgo the usual one to three year warranty in order to save a few hundred quid.
A stolen van from the renamed ‘Water Board’ was used to ram the shop window, the goods were loaded into another stolen vehicle, this time to a Metro turbo powered car, oh yes, they needed the kudos of a high powered car and if it was black it made it even better to sport around town in. The turbo-powered car was spotted by British Rail Transport Police, last seen by them, powering its way out of Newcastle City centre at a fast rate of knots.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
58 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Burning the rubber,
By A Customer
This review is from: Ramraiders (Paperback)
I watched the ram raid film directed by Paul Anderson and thought little of it but the book sure was a true tyre burning experience for me. Spinning doughnuts with oiled up tyres really lit my literary fires. Smart, clever and fast from start to finish. Loved the unusual use of a fork lift truck and the big art ram raid had me gripping the steering wheel, erm I mean book.
46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Did Dome Raiders copy this book?,
By A Customer
This review is from: Ramraiders (Paperback)
After reading this book it certainly rammed home the finer points of ramraiding. In view of the recent ramraid on the Dome I feel this book has to be looked at in a different light. This isn't just another one of those crime books that gives a rough coverage of the title's contents. Brilliantly put together social history of ramraids in an easy to take in style. The interviews with the ramraiders is the best part and anyone that thinks this is a general crime book can forget it, it's a gem of a read!
42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I've read nothing like this ever before - True Crime 100%,
By A Customer
This review is from: Ramraiders (Paperback)
I'm a Steve Richards fan and anything he writes has a unique style and blend of the past and the present rolled into one, good stuff. For a paperback it gives so much and real heavy stuff when it comes to the photos smuggled out of prisons. Makes you wonder what really goes on behind bars and reading the chapters that the ram raiders give interviews in is hot stuff, keep the good work up Steve Richards, you'll make it big.
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