Travelling Thieves

[vhgmcbuddy]

Well, After Five break ins, you would have thought I would be used to it by now! I have reported on the forum My past experiences where they have broken into my barn, The last time a few months ago, when they broke into all the sheds on the allotment, as my barn is nearby I had a look, and sure enough the Police had left a note on the gates asking if anything was missing! you would have thought that they knew me by now, and would have phoned.

After spending many hours beefing up the locks and repairing the damage (Again!) I got a call last week from an allotment holder to say they had broken into his shed and stolen his Merry Tiller, Sure enough, They also smashed into one of my lockups next to the barn, The violence they used to gain entry was amazing, I had used a Yale heavy duty hardened Hasp and staple, with a very good padlock,I had bolted not screwed the hasp and staple through the door and wall, they actually shattered the hardened metal and broke through the brickwork to gain entry! almost ripping the door faome out of the wall. The good news is that the Alarm Mine went off, and the 12 bore blank sent them off without taking enything, but left me a hell of a mess to clear up, and while I was rebuilding the security, Locks etc I realised that nothing will stop them, they are simply not afraid, and the Police dont care to even inspect the site anymore, so, I am going to downsize and just keep what I can in a garage, .. Life is too short for this!

[bish]

Sorry to hear they’re still targeting you, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to matter what security you have if they want it bad enough they will still take it. We had a break in at work where they used so much force they bent a fire door push bar from outside the door then cut through half inch thick chain to steal 3 tools and they did all of that with 2 alarms screeching!!

[vhgmcbuddy]

I can totally sympathise with you. At work we were not touched for 13years then in the space of 18 months the pikeys came in 5 times. It was one of the contributing factors to moving. There’s now a security gate and fence, followed by a heavy duty security grill over the outside door. All other entrances have a roller shutter door dead locked inside them plus a few other surprises waiting for them which I won’t in to details on an open forum. The police never want to know, even when one of the stolen items came in for repair later, they said because the serial numbers had been removed they couldn’t prove it was ours?!? Be warned I have also seen another machine that was stolen from us on ebay. Again the police said they couldn’t do anything.

[charlie]

Very sorry to hear the news of more break ins. Regarding the problem of identifying stolen items if recovered, a while back the FBHVC had an article about and an offer on Select DNA . This overcomes the problem of removed serial numbers as any item marked has a unique fingerprint which can be traced to the owner, might be worth looking at.

[vhgmcbuddy]

A good suggestion Charlie however the only problem is we have a high turn over of machines that then become someone else property so DNA type marking is not very practical.
At the time I said to the copper was that by using his logic I could steal a brand new car, remove the chasis number and reg plates then they wouldn’t touch me? He didn’t have an answer for that.

[andyfrost]

Same thing has happened to me , had two really good machines taken from what I thought was a very secure allotment shed. So now keep all my gear at home , shed is a bit crowded now , and to make space matters worse , some clown bought some stuff from me on the auction site absolutely MONTHS ago , and still hasn’t had the decency to pick them up.

Andy.

[bish]

Just relist the items Andy I’ve had people before bid on items and never collect them so I’ve always ended up resisting items.

[andyfrost]

Bish , therein lies the problem , he’s paid for them. Fortunately my daughter is a solicitor , so shortly I shall be seeking some advice.

Andy.

[vhgmcbuddy]

What sticks in my craw, is the total lack of interest from the Police, in this village we used to have two police houses and got used to seeing the police on patrol around the villages, about twenty years ago they demolished the houses and built a brand new Police station complete with reception desk and cells, since then none of us have ever seen a policeman,! the place is used as a a half way house for the nearby M40 patrols, it is a Joke, when you visit this place, you can only go at certain times, as the desk has to be manned by a volunteer from the village! if you report a crime, they tell you to ring 101 when you get a recording from the chief Constable explaining they are very busy! does anyone know what they do?

[charlie]

Of subject, I had a similar incident on e bay, item sold, paid for not collected despite several reminders. In the end one final reminder telling buyer he had 30 days to collect or item would be relisted and his payment kept as storage fees. No contact so I kept the money and sold item.

[charlie]

plonker, a member had sevearl Mayfields stolen some years ago, including a rare prototype, almost no help from police. So using his own time and initiative managed to track down who by and where they were sold. After much chasing of police I think it did lead to a prosecution but only because he would not let it rest.
If you had used a live shotgun cartridge and killed the thieving (insert suitable words) low life I am sure they would have paid a lot more interest!!!

[vhgmcbuddy]

Here are a few pics. showing the damage, as you can see my outbuildings are in a very rural area, you can see how they broke away the brickwork, and the hardened Yale hasp and staple, they managed to shatter.i have now made a new hasp that goes right through the wall… We shall see!

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[charlie]

Nice series one Land Rover. I see the blocks are only thermalite type so not as strong as a concrete block. Hope your new system works.

[trusty220]

Hear, hear! We all sympathise with your predicament, Phil. It’s a job to know what to do sometimes when you get targetted like this, I think I would be tempted to wire the whole thing up to the mains!!

[charlie]

Geoff, at least that would get the police interested!!!!!

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