Stolen tools

J

jeremy

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Mentor
Arms
My pick up was broken into in the Docklands Travelodge car park on Wednesday night. Kit taken is as follows:
Fluke 1654
Fluke 381
Fluke T6-1000
Fluke 3000 multimeter, DC ammeter, AC ammeter, Voltmeter
Fluke 325
Fluke IR thermometer
Above packed in Fluke storage cases
Bosch 12V FC drill
Bosch 18V FC drill
Bosch 18V jigsaw
Bosch 18V recip saw
Bosch 18V multitool
Bosch 18V vacuum
Bosch GO scredriver
Wera insulated socket set
DeWalt 400mm tough system boxes x 2
Cembre 550dn hydraulic crimp tool
Dymo XTL 500 label printer
Roughly £8-9k
Some of the kit has my company name ULSTEL LTD written on, with a contact number.
I'm not expecting to get anything back, and as not covered by insurance, a fairly hefty loss.
If anyone hears of anything matching the above, I'd be eternally grateful for any info.
I thank you.
 
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jeremy said:
My pick up was broken into in the Docklands Travelodge car park on Wednesday night. Kit taken is as follows:
Fluke 1654
Fluke 381
Fluke T6-1000
Fluke 3000 multimeter, DC ammeter, AC ammeter, Voltmeter
Fluke 325
Fluke IR thermometer
Above packed in Fluke storage cases
Bosch 12V FC drill
Bosch 18V FC drill
Bosch 18V jigsaw
Bosch 18V recip saw
Bosch 18V multitool
Bosch 18V vacuum
Bosch GO scredriver
Wera insulated socket set
DeWalt 400mm tough system boxes x 2
Cembre 550dn hydraulic crimp tool
Dymo XTL 500 label printer
Roughly £8-9k
Some of the kit has my company name ULSTEL LTD written on, with a contact number.
I'm not expecting to get anything back, and as not covered by insurance, a fairly hefty loss.
If anyone hears of anything matching the above, I'd be eternally grateful for any info.
I thank you.
Click to expand...

Incredible amount of stolen tools end up being sent to auction by police (or sold directly by them). Worth keeping on top of forces in surrounding areas as well as that which the theft was reported to.

Wish I could offer something more useful ☹️
 
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nicebutdim said:
Incredible amount of stolen tools end up being sent to auction by police (or sold directly by them). Worth keeping on top of forces in surrounding areas as well as that which the theft was reported to.

Wish I could offer something more useful ☹️
Click to expand...

I used to work next door to an auction house that handled goods for the police

The sheer amount of seized power tools , test gear and expensive hand tools that ended up being auctioned was eye watering

I went to a viewing day once there must have been over 50 MFTs up for auction, Fluke , Kewtec, Meggers
 
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There should really be a central register where MFT serial numbers could be registered - in case they ever get put in for calibration. Or for sale in places like Cash Converters....

By then they'll be in the hands of someone who may not know they're stolen of course, but even so it might limit the market for them - or at least get a few back to the rightful owners...
 
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Dartlec said:
There should really be a central register where MFT serial numbers could be registered - in case they ever get put in for calibration. Or for sale in places like Cash Converters....

By then they'll be in the hands of someone who may not know they're stolen of course, but even so it might limit the market for them - or at least get a few back to the rightful owners...
Click to expand...

Like an expanded warranty registration programme from manufacturers. Wouldn't be particularly difficult to administer and should only require consent that details could be made available to police for this purpose.
 
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I can back up my van to garage door with wall on one side.

Still had some scrotes try to open it a couple of years back by drilling the door lock - but since I have a cage bulkhead they couldn't get into the back anyway or drive it away. (Ford Transit Connect)

Anytime it has to be parked on the street, my MFT comes inside.

I also have the added safety feature that if I can't find anything in the van, then thieves won't either!
 
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jeremy said:
My pick up was broken into in the Docklands Travelodge car park on Wednesday night. Kit taken is as follows:
Fluke 1654
Fluke 381
Fluke T6-1000
Fluke 3000 multimeter, DC ammeter, AC ammeter, Voltmeter
Fluke 325
Fluke IR thermometer
Above packed in Fluke storage cases
Bosch 12V FC drill
Bosch 18V FC drill
Bosch 18V jigsaw
Bosch 18V recip saw
Bosch 18V multitool
Bosch 18V vacuum
Bosch GO scredriver
Wera insulated socket set
DeWalt 400mm tough system boxes x 2
Cembre 550dn hydraulic crimp tool
Dymo XTL 500 label printer
Roughly £8-9k
Some of the kit has my company name ULSTEL LTD written on, with a contact number.
I'm not expecting to get anything back, and as not covered by insurance, a fairly hefty loss.
If anyone hears of anything matching the above, I'd be eternally grateful for any info.
I thank you.
Click to expand...
No CCTV on the car park? Might be worth asking the Travelodge - guarantee the police won't bother....

Won't get things back, but might well be someone 'known to' them...
 
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Many friends in various trades in London scrapped vans years ago .Estate cars and any thing big gets delivered to site .Vans are sitting ducks . My tools come in the house and then into the shed every day .takes less time than replacing them
 
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Dartlec said:
I can back up my van to garage door with wall on one side.

Still had some scrotes try to open it a couple of years back by drilling the door lock - but since I have a cage bulkhead they couldn't get into the back anyway or drive it away. (Ford Transit Connect)

Anytime it has to be parked on the street, my MFT comes inside.

I also have the added safety feature that if I can't find anything in the van, then thieves won't either!
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear that Mate, there are some barstewards about hope they get what they deserve
 
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Sympathies Jeremy, know that feeling too well when you find the doors open and tools gone.
Almost slept in the van once where staying (guest house), area had a bad reputation for van thefts but risked it and was lucky that time!
 
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Zerax said:
All my tools/test gear goes into the garage every night... no matter how tired or knackered I am. I'd worry so much I wouldn't get any sleep otherwise. If I'm away from home, which is rare these days, and can't offload the valuables... I sleep in the van... It's all insulated in there, so remarkably cosy...
Click to expand...
I,m same. all tools (except maybe a few hand tools ) come off at night into garage, even though we are in a low risk area , van is only 20ft. away from bedroom window, and they're insured. at my age, I don't work away anyway.
 
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Someone tried to break into one of our vans yesterday. All except one van have deadlocks fitted. They were ignored. The one without was targeted. Middle of the day in a power station outage carpark. Didn't get away with anything, just the damage to the van.
 
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I thought that Travelodge had a controlled barrier on the access road due to the two massive data centres that are on the same road. Someone will have let them in.
 
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Zerax said:
Maybe there's a market for a van alarm that calls your mobile phone if it detects any unusual activity ??
Click to expand...
That might take 30 seconds. So by that time they are in and unloading .Also do you really want to front a few nomadic caravaners tooled up for a fight ? The level "of front" these types have is serious. Soho square in london was mental for motorbike theft .3x guys are on youtube stealing a expensive bike and been challenged by up to 15 burly lads . They just dont give a ----.
 
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LukeD said:
That might take 30 seconds. So by that time they are in and unloading .Also do you really want to front a few nomadic caravaners tooled up for a fight ? The level "of front" these types have is serious. Soho square in london was mental for motorbike theft .3x guys are on youtube stealing a expensive bike and been challenged by up to 15 burly lads . They just dont give a ----.
Click to expand...
Had my fishing tackle nicked by Nomads whilst I was having a leak, chased the blighters only to get a hiding when I caught up with them, next to a travelers site, should have known better., dohhh
 
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A guy I work for caught some members of the traveling community stealing diesel from his tank and gave them a good hiding (he's a big bloke and very handy) they came. Back the next night and punctured the tank then set fire to a load of pallets he had from building work stacked against the house not far away from the tank! He was lucky and saw the flames, managed to get his family out in time but it did some damage before the fire Brigade got there and put it out!

A mate a few months ago was sat at traffic lights waiting when someone opened the back doors on his van and grabbed a bag of kit, did a runner, he got out and ran after them! Meanwhile two other blokes emptied a load more into a van in another lane while telling the guy in the car behind my mates van that he didn't see anything! This was in broad daylight, with people all round. The police later said that he wasn't the first and that the vehicle they had used had been reported stolen and was also full of kit. They found it later on burnt out down a lane not far from the scene.

Another mate was sat at traffic lights again when a moped pulled up next to him with two lads on, the guy on the back jumps off and opens his van door holding a very large knife and announces that if he doesn't get out he will pull him out when he is dead. Again the police found the van some hours later on fire down a lane.

It's getting worse out there, people who do these kind of things know they can get away with it. It's not going to stop any time soon! And you can't do anything about it either as they will come after you and your family, or you end up arrested! Not even going to start on the police. They won't even go near the community of united nomadic traveling sods campsites for fear of getting a shoeing, and trying to get convictions if they do arrest them is near on impossible as they all lie together and say they weren't there and have a whole camp who will back them up!
 
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Must be the season for it, we had a site burglary last Wednesday night and I lost all of my tools, carpentry and electrical plus about a grands worth of stock.....insurance company need two weeks to even look at it ?‍♂️......I lost about £4K in one night!.....not a good week.....scumbag w&nkers!.......
 
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Thefts of tools and gear certainly seems on the up

I know 2 tradespeople who have been van broken into in the last few weeks , one in a car park on a call out job in broad daylight and the other at night on his driveway

absolute nightmare
 
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Dartlec said:
There should really be a central register where MFT serial numbers could be registered - in case they ever get put in for calibration. Or for sale in places like Cash Converters....

By then they'll be in the hands of someone who may not know they're stolen of course, but even so it might limit the market for them - or at least get a few back to the rightful owners...
Click to expand...
The schemes would be well placed for this! With each company is the calibration certs and at annual inspection the testers are logged/ recorded. Held on a central database. Truth be told it exists all they need us somebody to write correct code to pull it out the databases that they have
 
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The real problem is the deliberate dismantling of the criminal justice system. It's been going on for years and years and heading in one direction only. And of course to make it all totally farcical, the traveller community largely have an automatic immunity to the law.

To put some numbers to this... For most crimes, there's say a 5% chance of being caught.... then once caught, maybe 25% chance of being charged up... then if charged and found guilty, maybe 10% chance of being properly punished... So that's 5% x 25% x 10% = 0.125% chance of being properly 'dealt with'. Not much of a disincentive is it ?
 
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Lots of stolen tools get shipped abroad .There is a market for stuff everywhere . The fact is a very well known travelling community within Ireland and the Uk are the biggest players .
 
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The problem is that prospect of a stay at one of the HM Hotels is just that they have no punishment value anymore because they have become driven by the PC brigade and are there to rehabilitate not punish, is any surprise we have career criminals. Then you have the courts with the sentencing why give a prison sentence when the reality is only 50% of it will be served.
I've had a few close calls with people looking to steal stuff from my van one was a Saturday afternoon I had nipped into the office to pick something up I came out of the office to find a couple of lads who had been hanging round the area being chased off by one of the salesman from the car showroom opposite the police had already been called and arrived quite quickly the lads were identified by someone who knew who they were and when a police officer stopped them one ran off and the other was arrested, it went to court a couple of months later and his clever brief got him off by blaming the other guy in the foyer of the court I walked up to this smiling career crook and told him not to walk in that street again as if a saw him the first thin he would see would be the front of my van then the underside and when he saw daylight again I would be jumping on him I followed it with this is not a threat it is a promise so don't go to the police about 6 weeks later I heard that both of them were back inside for 12 months. After he got out I did see him start to walk into the street where our office was just as I had got into my van it was quite funny watching him run just for the hell of it I followed him for a short distance

When I was on a call out rota for the alarm systems we installed I saw many things as to how these criminals work the problem was the lack of police response and that was 20 years ago, I lost count of the number of times I was told the way I was carrying my 4 or 6 cell on my shoulder looked threatening by keyholder's as we investigated where the alarm had been triggered. A popular one I had a few times was the trigger the alarm and run do it a few times and hope that the alarm is then left off, it worked well on a couple of occasions when we left a police officer and his dog in the building while we went and stood off a short distance away making it clear we had left the alarm off (we hadn't) a short while later the K9 made an arrest as they came back to break in
 
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@jeremy
Really sorry for you chap. That's a lot of tools and a lot of money to replace them.
There's always going to be some horrible person around that will steal tools. You have to learn from this. You must now insure your tools, It's not that expensive. I add mine on to my PL insurance and it gives me great peace of mind. in addition, you must make sure that the tools are covered in your vehicle over night as some insurance companies offer this as an extra, but do not make it clear when you take out the policy.

In addition, dead locks. Good quality deadlocks. Both my neighbours vans have been broken into and tools stolen. Mine has not been touched (kiss of death!) and I think it is because of the deadlocks. The thieves want quick easy pickings and will go for the easy van, not the hard van. However, if they really want to get in, they will, hence the insurance.

Sorry again chap.
 
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UNG said:
The problem is that prospect of a stay at one of the HM Hotels is just that they have no punishment value anymore because they have become driven by the PC brigade and are there to rehabilitate not punish, is any surprise we have career criminals. Then you have the courts with the sentencing why give a prison sentence when the reality is only 50% of it will be served.
I've had a few close calls with people looking to steal stuff from my van one was a Saturday afternoon I had nipped into the office to pick something up I came out of the office to find a couple of lads who had been hanging round the area being chased off by one of the salesman from the car showroom opposite the police had already been called and arrived quite quickly the lads were identified by someone who knew who they were and when a police officer stopped them one ran off and the other was arrested, it went to court a couple of months later and his clever brief got him off by blaming the other guy in the foyer of the court I walked up to this smiling career crook and told him not to walk in that street again as if a saw him the first thin he would see would be the front of my van then the underside and when he saw daylight again I would be jumping on him I followed it with this is not a threat it is a promise so don't go to the police about 6 weeks later I heard that both of them were back inside for 12 months. After he got out I did see him start to walk into the street where our office was just as I had got into my van it was quite funny watching him run just for the hell of it I followed him for a short distance

When I was on a call out rota for the alarm systems we installed I saw many things as to how these criminals work the problem was the lack of police response and that was 20 years ago, I lost count of the number of times I was told the way I was carrying my 4 or 6 cell on my shoulder looked threatening by keyholder's as we investigated where the alarm had been triggered. A popular one I had a few times was the trigger the alarm and run do it a few times and hope that the alarm is then left off, it worked well on a couple of occasions when we left a police officer and his dog in the building while we went and stood off a short distance away making it clear we had left the alarm off (we hadn't) a short while later the K9 made an arrest as they came back to break in
Click to expand...
When I had my fishing stuff nicked and got a pasting for mt\y troubles, I have the satisfaction to know that one of the Perps is missing what was left of his front teeth, felt like that bloke from death wish at the time, my wife wasn't to pleased though. especially after the Sheriff and his men left, just can't believe they reported it. the nerve of some people
 
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jeremy

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Stolen tools
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