We have a secure site that is fenced in and also an 8ft steel gate entrance that is locked... most of the time. Last weekend one plotholder had a blue water barrel stolen, and now another plotholder has had all his timber stolen from his beds. It is only allotment related stuff that is going missing. I will put up warning signs tomorrow around the site. Any other suggestions welcomed.
I'd very much like to have an answer to that one as well. Our site isn't totally secure, but things like generators won't walk far before they need transporting.
If its only gardening stuff thats going missing are there any houses near you some one is pinching to order, allso check how far the next allotment is from you. Times are hard for everyone with out some toerags >:( taking stuff check boundry fence they may have cut a way in and have hid it or look for marks were the stuff has been thrown over it may give you an idea were they are from >:(
We are very lucky not to have a big problem with pilfering from our site...and when it does happen,and its not often...its the odd leek or two or a potato plant!
They like rhubarb here :(
And sheds, tools, wood.........
Then again there's no security whatsoever
Don't know wish I did though. Our NSALG area rep suggested leaving a can of coke in the shed...apparently people can't help themselves and drink it leaving DNA but I suspect that works mainly on the vandal type rather than fellow plotholders.
A blue water barrel does not seem worth knicking unless it's been moved from one plot to another. Paint plot number on water butts. Was the timber part of a raised bed or going to become a raised bed?
Regards
Bluecar
The only real way is to stake it out and watch...............
No shed break-ins. It is all stuff that is left outside in the elements.
Boundaries are unbroken.
The wood was that of ready made beds.
The plots affected at the moment are in the centre of the site, not those on the perimeters.
Only two of us out of 140 have our initials spraypainted onto our water butts. This may now increase.
leave an unmarked but booby trapped butt for the thief.....................
I put my initials in morse code on things people do not even realise that a set of random looking marks are in fact named. .
if a few of you club together get one of these
http://www.maplin.co.uk/micro-high-resolution-digital-spy-camera-dvr-256541
set a trap and you will catcth the lowlife
i sell these and they work like a dream
I could have saved my site a great many problems if those had been available ten years ago!
Secret markings, photographed on your plot to prove you own it...
See if you can establish a pattern, like, every Saturday night. Then lie in wait, in a cold, dark, vaguely smelly shed and catch 'em red handed. Don't tackle them yourself though!
Options then would include calling the police straight away, following them to where the take the stuff / what they transport it in and call the police later, you may know them from your allotments....
These behaviours make my blood boil >:( why can't people just let others get on with their lives without causing damage or upsetting them?
The trouble is we can all come up with ideas .... I was thinking electricution, the odd drop of rat poison but then the person trying to defend their property ends up on the wrong side of the law.
On a serious note, we have used one of those small battery powered PIR activated camera's at work and they are a good idea. We caught our culprit.
I hope you get this resolved soon and don't let the bu***rs get you down. :)
It certainly made my blood boil when that, and worse, was being done to me on a weekly basis!
People like these will not have any scrupples and do not care what they do or take.
On the railway we have erected 8' high palisade fencing and have in places 25' chainlink to deter. ::)
Alas the squirrels have gotten over this and have taken all manner of items.
My heart goes out to you all who have a problem on your allotments.
Smart water seems to be the only way of caching these perishers, and at what cost.
A LOT to you and me.
If I had my way and the way we dealt with them in the services, before they went to the legal beagles we trapped their hands in metal doors to show they had taken from colleagues in their area.
May not have stopped them, but they felt sore for a few weeks after they were caught.
I had someone climbing over my fence at the very bottom of my garden where my veg is
they came back when my veg was ready for harvest on two nights.The third night i had put dog muck on the fence where they were getting over,they didnt come again
marcusesmum
As everyone is on the web. Type your post code onto the search section of your local police web site. You will find details of your local officers. Tell them the problems and make them log it as a priority. Please do not set booby traps!! You could get sponcered by your community safety unit at your local council to get smart water or the likes. Signs work well also ;)
Quote from: Digeroo on March 14, 2011, 08:49:09
I put my initials in morse code on things people do not even realise that a set of random looking marks are in fact named. .
That's a great idea...thanks.
It's so annoying when this happens!!!! As I daren't leave anything on the plot it would take me up to an hour to load everything into the car, sometimes for only half an hour visit. In the end I felt it wasn't worth the effort so I gave up my plot and moved all my cultivation to my garden.
So far, nothing's gone missing from my garden but last year some little grotbag stole the brussels from my parent's garden, even though they're pensioners and on a limited budget!!!!
CC
You need detection methods, i.e. smartwater and cctv
Quote from: gto2210 on March 27, 2011, 07:11:20
You need detection methods, i.e. smartwater and cctv
Or a big set of sharp teeth attached to a growling OH ;D ;D ;D
Our site is quite secure. Only once have we had some vandalism, and they have never nicked any veg as far as I am aware. Yet our site is pretty much off the beaten track, on the edge of a big park of open ground, although it does have houses near the entrance.
Either a webcam or a stakeout seems like the only solution! the things being nicked do sound like they are being transferred to someone's own plot.