During the night of 30/31 December, in freezing cold weather, some deranged person broke into our site and cut the locks off at least 60 sheds. Nothing seems to have been stolen, so we are left wondering why someone would do such a thing. Has anyone else had something like this on their site?
Betty
Walsall Road Allotments
Birmingham
www.growit.ik.com
Happened to me 3 months ago , nothing taken,but had to buy new lock.I can only think the Burglars are looking for more expensive items such as Rotivators, petrol Strimmers etc
Well Betty we have a plot at Court Lane Erdington. None of us lock our sheds. We are told when we take the plots on not to bother putting a lock on because it will be broken off and probably cause more damage to the shed. A while back we had our portacabin broken into. They managed to cut off a really heavy lock. They caused a lot of damage. Since then it hasn't been locked at all and nothing has happened.Seems to me that the locks present a challenge to kids.
We had a spate of it 2 or 3 years back. Again - nothing stolen!
The lock from my locker was vandalised. Just inside the door was a petrol strimmer and a gallon of fuel. And a selection of DIY tools, including a 4-foot long spirit metal level. Plus the usual selection of garden tools. I don't think they even opened the door - just think what fun kids could have had with a gallon of unleaded....!!
Report it to the police. They won't be able to do anything, but at least it will be logged, with an incident number. We now work on the basis that if we don't report any crimes, someone sitting in an office will think we don't have any and will move manpower to another area!
Quote from: pntalbot on January 02, 2009, 16:03:35
Happened to me 3 months ago , nothing taken,but had to buy new lock.I can only think the Burglars are looking for more expensive items such as Rotivators, petrol Strimmers etc
The strange thing is that some people did have rotovators in their sheds but they weren't taken.
Quote from: shirlton on January 02, 2009, 16:09:28
Well Betty we have a plot at Court Lane Erdington. None of us lock our sheds. We are told when we take the plots on not to bother putting a lock on because it will be broken off and probably cause more damage to the shed. A while back we had our portacabin broken into. They managed to cut off a really heavy lock. They caused a lot of damage. Since then it hasn't been locked at all and nothing has happened.Seems to me that the locks present a challenge to kids.
I'm not going to replace the lock on my shed. They caused a lot of damaged to the doorframe so it isn't worth it. Our pavilion was broken into last year but we had a re-inforced door put back on. If we left it unlocked squatters would probably move in!
Quote from: Trevor_D on January 02, 2009, 16:23:23
We had a spate of it 2 or 3 years back. Again - nothing stolen!
The lock from my locker was vandalised. Just inside the door was a petrol strimmer and a gallon of fuel. And a selection of DIY tools, including a 4-foot long spirit metal level. Plus the usual selection of garden tools. I don't think they even opened the door - just think what fun kids could have had with a gallon of unleaded....!!
Report it to the police. They won't be able to do anything, but at least it will be logged, with an incident number. We now work on the basis that if we don't report any crimes, someone sitting in an office will think we don't have any and will move manpower to another area!
The police came out straight away (4 of them!) and gave me a log number. They have been excellent, phoning me to see if there is any more news and visiting the site again today. It's puzzling to them why someone would go to all the trouble of opening so many sheds for nothing.
I am the secretary and I have about 40 of our plot holders on an email list so it was easy to let them know. I phoned round the rest and have encouraged everyone to report the break in to the police. I have tried to get your point about manpower being moved to other areas across to everyone I speak to. I asked a man today if he had reported it but he said "it's only a lock". The police were still on site so I persuaded him to go and give them the details. So far, only 7 people have reported it.
Well done the police!
One problem is that all crimes have to be reported by the victim - this means each individual plot-holder, not the Secretary of the site.
We had a brand-new strimmer stolen a year or so ago - it had been purched for the Society, but locked in a member's shed overnight, as he couldn't get into our secure machinery store. He reported it and within 48 hours had a phone call to say it had been found and the thief arrested! How about that for service?!
Well Betty if some of them can't be bothered to pick up a phone and report it then be it on their own heads if they get all their stuff nicked. Trouble is the police can only record the individual break ins.
Quote from: shirlton on January 02, 2009, 18:37:51
Well Betty if some of them can't be bothered to pick up a phone and report it then be it on their own heads if they get all their stuff nicked. Trouble is the police can only record the individual break ins.
But Shirl, it's on
everyone's head if all the total lock smashing isn't reported :o - an allotment complex is (or should be) a community pulling together, but what have the plice got on record? That..over the hols 7-8 sheds were broken into out of a total of 60+...grrrrrrr... so... minor incident with no priority to patrol the area more thoroughly....more grrrrs >:(
But Shirl, it's on everyone's head if all the total lock smashing isn't reported :o - an allotment complex is (or should be) a community pulling together, but what have the plice got on record? That..over the hols 7-8 sheds were broken into out of a total of 60+...grrrrrrr... so... minor incident with no priority to patrol the area more thoroughly....more grrrrs >:(
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Yes, this is exactly the problem we face every time there is crime, not only at the allotments but in the neighbourhood too. I am doing my utmost to get people to report their sheds, even printed out little leaflets with the phone number and details of the log number. I might see more people there on Sunday morning and I'll ask the ones who haven't already reported it if they want to use my mobile to do it.
It's all uphill gardening, isn't it? Vandals on one hand & apathy to do anything on the other :-\
btw Betty, I'm in S. Birmingham & a couple of years ago I invited some scrap metal merchants round to collect some old radiators from my back garden - good turn for them, good turn for me? It was my good luck that I happened to see, from a window, one of these men take a hammer out of his pocket & smash through my yale padlock on my potting shed en route-not looking into the shed, just to make it available?....it happened so quickly & was so skilled I really wouldn't have noticed if I'd not seen it done. Apparently 'they' would have been back to have done the place over before I would have noticed/got the lock fixed? Same scenario I wonder?
But, of course, thankfully, I did... 8)
WE had a similar problem three years ago. It was reported to our local police officier said would call as soon as he finished his breakfast- we are still waiting
We are fortunate to have the 2 neighbourhood police visit our site quite regularly. We have all made friends with them. They have a key to get in at any time they want. I do understand the fact that what every plot holder does will affect the others, but some folks will just accept what happens and have given up even expecting justice to be done.
Quote from: Hyacinth on January 02, 2009, 20:38:03
It's all uphill gardening, isn't it? Vandals on one hand & apathy to do anything on the other :-\
btw Betty, I'm in S. Birmingham & a couple of years ago I invited some scrap metal merchants round to collect some old radiators from my back garden - good turn for them, good turn for me? It was my good luck that I happened to see, from a window, one of these men take a hammer out of his pocket & smash through my yale padlock on my potting shed en route-not looking into the shed, just to make it available?....it happened so quickly & was so skilled I really wouldn't have noticed if I'd not seen it done. Apparently 'they' would have been back to have done the place over before I would have noticed/got the lock fixed? Same scenario I wonder?
But, of course, thankfully, I did... 8)
It was lucky for you that you were there at the time. We had all our taps and standpipes stolen last year, but apparently metal isn't worth so much these days.
We think our 'visitors' came back again last night as the garage door where we store compost and other bulky stuff was wide open this morning. Nothing taken though. Obviously they are not gardeners because there were tubs of chicken manure just near the door which they could easily have nicked.
Our allotments are just over the road from the police station, but not visible from it as we are in a park. The police have been excellent, as they always are. The came again yesterday to look around and see if there was anything they'd missed the first time. They phoned me today and said that the sergeant would come over in the morning to speak us. We belong to an Allotment Watch which was set up by the police. They have keys to our gate and call in when they have time. I really can't fault them at all, apart from the fact that they all look so young, but that's just me getting old!
I really can't fault them at all, apart from the fact that they all look so young, but that's just me getting old!
I had to laugh at that. I said that to one of the policemen that came to see our damage. I have to agree with you Betty they do seem to be getting younger
I'm glad that the police are being helpful. We are also in the allotment watch. When we went to the meeting with the police and the liason woman we were promised stickers and stuff to put around the site, haven't had them to date as far as I know
Allotment watch? What's that?
OK - I can guess, but I've never heard of it. Is it just local to you, or nationwide? If so, I'll get on to our local police pronto.
Fairly certain it is National, we are in the Derby one... ???
Hello Betty:
We had a similar poblem on our site a few weeks ago when overnight we had 35 sheds broken into and nothing taken but damage done to the locks and in some cases the wood near the shed doors. The most damaged shed was our field machinery store where we have a bar securing it, so they tried to smash their way in by breaking the wood at the side but didn't get in - extremely annoying and costly and time consuming to repair the damage. The vandals got into our site by cutting through the chain link on the locked gates. Two weeks later they were back - and they got in by bolt cropping the main padlock on the gate and then this time half a dozen sheds had their bolts cropped but again nothing taken. And then a few days later, they tried to get in by cutting through the chain link on the fence next to the gate but without success, we've since put on a second layer of very heavy duty chain link.
The police attended very quickly on the first two occasions (we said we didn't need them to attend when the chain link on the fence was cut but they did log it and gave us an incident number) and since then we've had a very helpful meeting with them and they have provided us with some shed alarms. They also told us that everyone needs to make an individual report of damage and everyone on our site did so.
:)as others have said you MUST report any break ins and take LOTS of photos.
The police asked me to take photos as they were 'too busy', the chap who was breaking into and burning down our sheds eventually went on to worse crime, and the police came begging for my photos, ( the police found a diary at the chaps home, he logged all his crimes including burning down allotment sheds) and three years later he was taken to court./ shades x
We had mass break-ins a couple of times - nothing like that number of sheds though because many of the plots have thick hedges and stout locks on the gates. Every time it was a case of someone having brought a lorry or large van down. At the time a certain committee member was persistently the last person on the site at night, and wasn't bothering to lock the gate. Since we had a new committee, and made a point of keeping it locked, there haven't been any problems.
We had break-ins where they attempted to take the sheds!
The more recent ones have been kids - nothing serious taken, just damage and the odd can of beer gone AWOL.
Thats why we dont have sheds on our site !!!!! No shed no break ins !
My shed has been broken into, they stole a petrol strimmer and a roll of garden fleece. The fleece seemed an odd choice.
It's more annoying than anything.
the only vandles ive had up my lotty is slugs and pigeons
but then again im a night owl
6 sheds broken into last thursday night, nothing stolen, but everything trashed inside. several broken forks, probably broken by trying to break into next shed!! police visited, tried to find fingerprints, no success >:(
So sorry, this so sad -- you must be devaststed.
How can this sort of vandalism be resolved -- not so long ago we were in fear
of being fined for dropping litter ! :-\
What's the answer ?
floss xxx
So sorry Tony. Going through our current crisis, I know how you feel.
We had a break in and a lot of sheds were vandalised trying to get the padlocks off.
The stupid thing was, one shed had no lock, it just had a twist clip.
They actually got their crow bar on the hinge side to rip it open.
One actual theft. A pair of size 9 Wellies.
Since nothing else was taken from any shed (some expensive stuff in some too) all we can think of was that some one needed wellies for some reason and that was the only pair that fitted.
we got given a couple of names of likely suspects, these have been passed on to the plod, let's see if they can do anything?
After our fire and break-ins I reported my shed break-in and theft separately. Police came for a look, took a statement and fingerprints. Got a letter a week later saying the case is closed. >:(
I have serious doubts about whether the plod actually want to catch the criminals?? if they did catch them, the crime figures would fall, along with their budget.!!
;)
Some one provided the police with photos of the ones who came into ours last summer.
They had been taken from a distance but were blown up to be identifiable to any one who knew the individuals.
Plod phoned the local crime prevention person who also has copies to ask if he still had them last week. Wonder where the first lot were filed?
Tonybloke
It is not a question of whether the Police "want" to catch these grotbags but it isi proving that they did it!
This takes form filling to the "enth" degree and whilst we do not like it I that is how it is!
PurpleHeather - It is all very well having a picture of someone up at the lotties - even walking into a shed - but how do you prove that "they" are the people that broke into it/stole anything. Maybe this particular "vandal" has been caught doing something else that will tie him into your break ins as well. Don't knock policemen - just for their job - my son is a detective in Bristol and does as much as he can to put away some of our nasties - and believe me there are far worse things happening in this country apart from the very annoying shed breaking and so on. Unfortunately it is a sign of the times.
Old Bird
::)
Sorry to hear your news Tone lets hope the old bill get their fingers out. :-\ ;D ;D ;D
Somehow I'm relieved to see that we're all in the same boat here. Up until this year we had the occasional visit where all the locks were broken but nothing taken.
This year we have had a spate of thefts by gardeners. We've lost seeds, greenhouse glass, seed potatoes and the good quality hand tools. Yes I did say greenhouse glass, they unclipped the sheets they needed, and left the clips.
When we stared losing tools, I rang the police and got told that each person needed to report the theft individually. Then I spoke to the local station, and could report the thefts en bloc, giving the details for each plot holder who's had a theft.The police then contacted them, visited site, and I've had calls from the CPO and community police as well.
You will need to get permission from your plotholders to pass on their details (data protection and all that) but I think you can write that into the rules with an opt out clause.
Old bird, if they keen on catching them, why, when my mate had intruders on his roof,which he reported, did they turn up with all their sirens a wailing?? to give the burglars warning of their approach, Perhaps?? (they had fled when they got there, surprise, surprise) >:(
I'm sorry to be negative about our police force, I wish I could be proud of them, but only speak as I find. they more interested in traffic issues, than burglaries!!
if you have a car smash, 3 or 4 coppers appear, if you have a burglary, maybe 1 turn up 2morra!!
while they busy running around shooting innocent people in the head, we getting burgled!!
we don't lock our shed as it seems to attract people who think you have something worth nicking, if they want a hoe that badly then whats a few quid to a broken door or worse, your shed totally wrecked as has happened on our site b4.
Hi
I see people paying lots of money for padlocks, I paid 4.99 for mine, my shed is locked, but if they break in cut the lock off then I won't have lost much money, padlock wise!
At work I quite often have to break into places most locked with padlocks (no I am not a burgular) but if the keys get lost wich they seem to alot of the time. No matter what padlock, it hasn't defeated me yet, and what you bolt the padlock to, the clasp, is held on with what three or 4 screwes, and the wood it is fastened to? Also most sheds are of simple construction, so if they want to get in they can, either through the roof or the wall etc.
My lock is to deter other plot holders borrowing things while I am away, I have been told there a few that do borrow without asking!
Cheers
Dave