sport spare wheels dropping off ??????

i have recently had a spate of friends asking me to order spare wheels and tyres along with the cable winch for there rr sports they all seem to think they have been nicked but im not so sure they are not just snapping off at the cable they are all snapped/cut in the same place but when the wheel is up you cant get at the cable and there is no locking catch for when it is in place , at 30mph would you even notice it had fallen off two of the cars are very rarely out of the owners site theft from these is highly unlikely just wondered if anybody had heard or know anything about a problem

you might not notice it fallo ff but the fooker behind ya will

How old are the vehicles?? Could the cables have rusted through?? Could they have had flats, changed the wheel and then had some spotty oik at ATS or wherever fix the flat and swap the tyres back over and use an air wrench thingy to wind the spare wheel back up - wound it too tight and then a large bump caused the cable to snap??

To be honest whoever thought those wind up and down cable system thingys are any bloody good needs their head examining, they are the worst way to keep a spare wheel on the vehicle ever. My dad had a Renault Espacé for a while and got a puncture along a dark country lane one night when coming home from work, I shall never forget the sight of him coming back in through the front door looking like he had just done some major mechanical repair to the engine when infact all he had done was change the tyre which involved winding down the spare wheel! Was pretty funny at the time although he didnt think so

-Wills

all cars are 12 months old at the latest not one of them had ever even had the spare off all were still unused i must say that none of them have been back to land rover to ask about the problem or solution if there is one ,just me being curious as it comes to nearly a grand to replace