French thieves knocked out a British family by gassing them as they slept in their camper van before stealing £1,500 worth of their belongings.
Perry Hudson, Kim Heighway and their three children Olivia, 15, Jacob, 12, and Charlie, 10, from Redditch, Worcestershire, fell victim to thieves at a service station in Antran after a tour around Spain and France.
As the family tried to sleep before their final journey home on the ferry, a gang of three burglars pumped gas through the air vents shortly after 1 am on Sunday.
CCTV captured the trio climbing over a fence from woods nearby as they fled with the family of five’s passports, their wallets, medication and a designer handbag.
Mr Hudson told MailOnline he and his terrified family were stranded in France with no identification or money, and little help from the British authorities – who told them to drive to the nearest embassy, in Paris – some 300 miles away.
The thieves carried out the theft in less than five minutes and even made off with life-saving medication and an inhaler.
Mr Hudson said: ‘My partner has a rare heart condition and has to take medication daily and my son Charlie, who is 10, has chronic asthma.
‘As we had no money or no means of payment again we were expected to sleep with our three children in a foreign country in the vehicle that we just had a robbery in.
Mr Hudson added: ‘The British consulate told us to drive hundreds of miles to Paris without ID – which is illegal.
‘We were told it could be up to 48 hours for new passports to get issued.’
The family eventually managed to make their way home after French police gave them provisional forms of identification and their dog sitter texts them pictures of their old passports from home.
Landscape gardener Mr Hudson, did not take out travel insurance because he has completed the same trip on several occasions.
He added: ‘Noting like this has happened before’
‘They were so close to us. We were concerned for our children’s’ safety.’
The gang snatched their passports, three bags, a wallet containing £50, a purse with around 400-500 euros, Kim’s birth certificate, bank cards, house keys and sentimental items in the wallets including children’s drawings.
ack in 2018, former Top Gear host Richard Hammond and his wife Mindy were gassed before being burgled as they slept in their Saint Tropez villa.
Hammond, Mindy, and 15 other guests were targeted by raiders who used anaesthetic gas to knock them out before rifling through rooms for cash and jewellery.
At the time, she revealed that she almost walked in on the burglars after hearing a noise in the hallway – but instead turned away after assuming it was another couple in the villa.
And in 2015, Jenson Button’s villa in St Tropez was ransacked by robbers while he and his ex-wife were asleep – with the couple claiming they had been gassed.
The Formula One ace said thieves took a £250,000 engagement ring belonging to his wife at the time, Jessica Michibata.
As well as Jessica’s pricey engagement band, it is believed another £750,000 worth of items were taken in the break-in.