It's what you don't want to find... go out to let chickens out at 7am and wonder why an outbuilding door is swinging wide open. Notice the locked padlock on the floor and realise the hasp and been cut with bolt crops. Unlock OK looking second outbuilding to see they'd broken in through the rear of the building.
Lots of stuff strewn about and covers pulled off things, boxes moved and some plastic bags with things stored inside ripped open... but.....
Nothing taken apart from some ready meals pinched from the freezer!
They did uncover loads of stuff I had stored including DVD player, hi-fi system, small power tools, £100 of new plumbing fittings etc etc.
Now going through the classic feelings of violation knowing someone's been on the place.... and looking with despair at replacement/upgraded padlocks/hasps which will probably fall just as easily if they come back given there's a limit to the level of security with timber buildings/doors. Thinking also about CCTV real/dummy, extra lighting... but it's all hassle.
Police reckon they were just after larger power tools, chain saws, gennys etc.
Made me feel real anti about life & people today.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Thu 27 May 10 at 17:40
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Ohh meant to ask if anyone has an outdoors home cctv system... I'd need wireless really.
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It is disheartening, wouldn't it be nice if everyone could be trusted?
We have CCTV where I work, but it's only good after the event and hasn't stopped 'them' ( you will know who I mean Fenlander) going over the fence, under the fence and driving in through the (open) security gate one hot sunny summers weekday when we were all at work.
They drew up inside the gate, looked through the open window of the workshop service transit with the keys in the ignition, jumped in and drove off heading towards Peterborough.
The fitters saw them and my boss jumped in his BMW and headed for the camp at Paston! He met the transit being driven out as he went in and couldn't stop them. It was abandoned but when the Police found it the compressor, welder and all the tools had been stripped out in less than half an hour.
I suspect yours was done by the same sort of folk and no prosecutions were ever made:)
Pat
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Low-lifes broke into our summer house in leafy North Lodz just before Christmas and stole a brand new petrol strimmer and all the petrol (98RON too). They took a calor gas bottle and some smaller power tools. The worst thing they did is cut the top off a fir tree obviously to use as a christmas tree. They turned over most of the homes there in fact. The power is all turned off out of season so cctv wouldn't work. I've idly been wondering if it's possible to buy a bear trap - you know, something that will snap shut on an ankle and crush the bone and leave the filthy s.o.b. to starve or freeze to death. Probably get away with it too where I live.
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Just to be cheerful, experience has shown burglars will return when they judge the stuff they nicked has been replaced with shiny, new items.
Happily for Fenlander, nothing much was taken.
But I would be wary of upgrading security for a few weeks.
Best to put it back as it was, with a similar quality padlock, and see if anything else happens.
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Thanks I better go and make sure the main gate to my lockup is locked now. People keep forgetting to lock it and there is at least 20 quite big lockups on that unit. I only have a load of old books and my bike but I don't want anybody to pinch them.
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Before i put the wooden shed in place i dropped a homemade anchor into the concrete bed with a "eye" on top to fasten things to the shed sits by the corner of this and the ladders are chained to it.
Just do the best you can if you leave the dewalt drill in there your asking for it if it's a £50.00 lawnmower then well it's only worth £10.00 second hand so whats the point they may leave it.
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Mouse traps. Everywhere. Snap a few fingers and make them squeal! Much better to cause them pain and suffering. If you can find those joke springy things that fly out of boxes that would give them a fright too. Oh and a strategically placed rake.... A realistic looking severed head in the freezer might also make them think twice too.
Have you got gravel down? The noise puts off thieves but lights can encourage them as they can see what they're doing.... Generally make the back area a hazard in the dark to those that don't know what it's like :-)
If you have a gate then make sure a buzzer goes off when it is opened. Ditto the doors. Noise is much better than light.
You an also get movement detectors that make barking dog noises. Also more effective than just lights.
Brambles are also good anti theft devices. Encourage them to grow all round the building. And any fences they may wish to climb over.
Don't let the snivelling little weasel minority get you down.
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>>You an also get movement detectors that make barking dog noises<<
I like that idea, in fact - I like it a lot.
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>>You an also get movement detectors that make barking dog noises<<
Instead of a barking dog the noise a shot gun makes when it's re loading another round.!
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Thanks for all the comments.
I think you're spot on with one of the likely home locations Pat! All the farming community here is constantly on alert in case those boys come after their fuel.
You're right about replacing the locks with broadly the same iffy. I bought new ones yesterday and went for similar looking/size but with crop resistant shackles. If I'd fitted the £70 locks/hasps that really looked the business they'd probably go for another weakness and make more mess. Folks locally say a really posh lock often indicates something like a quad bike and makes them even more determined.
I don't really want to go into what we have stored about the place but we have 1000 sqft of outbuildings containing the items related to a lifetime of varied interests. Just as an example though in one shed they left a £600 saddle and another just failed to uncover a boating related item worth £1500.
>>>>if you leave the dewalt drill in there your asking for it.
Thing is Bigtee these outbuildings are where we keep all such stuff... no room for it under the bed :-)
We have very thick prickly hedges but once they got round these sadly they afforded almost total privacy to the crims from both our house and the road. Funnily enough you can't see any of these outbuildings at all from the road but they parked and crossed the dyke in exactly the right place to get to them. I wondered if Google Earth was used to see the layout of our place.
Oh well it's a sunny day to do my repairs.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Fri 28 May 10 at 08:11
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>>they left a £600 saddle <<
I think they ride bareback:)
Pat
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if you want something that barks, get a dog. If you want someting that bites get a bigger dog.
I thought that in the flatlands everyone had a shotgun stashed away somewhere? While the dog is barking you have time to load it.
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Thing is Bigtee these outbuildings are where we keep all such stuff... no room for it under the bed :-) Lol.................
Then my man make it more secure is it brick/stone built? or wooden shed if wood there you go!, fit a hardwood door to a brickbuilt place and have a tool cage fitted inside to make it harder for these (fatherless people. same name as a file)
You just have to do what you can but have you got a gun?
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Better lay a heffalump trap just at the crossing point for the dyke.... if there's a handy tree one of those foot loop thing that swings them up by their ankles could be excellent for entertainment :-)
You can ask google to be removed from streetview.
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Make some traps like Rambo made in first blood out of trees and set them up around you barn and watch? just be carefull you don't step on one.!
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I have had a couple of lock-ups in a block of sixteen behind some flats for about 20 years and every few years they get broken into. Some times all of them, sometimes just the ones with no extra padlocks, and sometimes just the ones with the extra padlocks.
I usually just lose a few tools but once they found the oxy welding gear I had hidden away. More recently they break the locks, decide I've got nothing they want and just leave the door open.
It is all very annoying but I feel lucky that I have never had my home violated in the same way.
One technique I read about, but couldn't possible condone, is to find a shiny but redundant power tool, short out the wiring in the plug, and leave it for them to take. They'll get a shock when they plug it in!
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>>>make it more secure is it brick/stone built? or wooden shed if wood there you go!, fit a hardwood door to a brickbuilt place and have a tool cage fitted inside to make it harder...
Mixed constructions Bigtee. Some brick, some box profile steel and others 3/4ins T&G timber with 3/4in timber lining.
If I had a £5k quad bike maybe some specific very high security would be good... but our stuff is quite run of the mill for outbuildings.... it's just we have a lot of it.
As the police and others with rural theft experience locally agree if they want to get in they will.
Just as an example boat outboard motor theft is a problem. Insurance specify they're locked to the boat. Many locks are easily broken by thieves but if they can't sort the lock there have been many instances where they've chain sawed the outboard off the stern ruining the boat!
Our place is well secured against the average teen druggy looking to make a few quid and that's about as far as I'm prepared to go.
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Outbuildings - Odd but maddening break in. - Fenlander
