Thieving numb sculls

[chris day]

Hello sparks

Is it me or are van break inns hugely on the rise, this year every electrician i know has been broken into.
on a new van what is the best way to secure your van as best as you can as i think 90% are low hanging fruit with robbers not bothering with well secured van.
Although with that said i know of a gentlemen who has a brand new transporter with security like fort knocks.... grinder on the roof and the van was subsequently written off.
Also insurance anyone can recommend?
and finally anyone been done over themselves as i feel like i am the only one who has been lucky so far as a good friend got all is stuff taken just going into ASDA.

 

[Specialist]

Had my truck done over a few months back, smashed the rear screen & also bent the top of the drivers side door. The sum total of stuff they stole ? Absolutely nothing, everything was still there but I'd gained a big screwdriver.
Police didn't want to know as it was parked on a private estate outside a garage, awaiting repair.
Luckily the guy who runs the garage picked up the bill, that's the third vehicle we've had done over

 

[DPG]

They need to put locking systems similar to UPVC doors, but with bolts all around. Then as long as the door is internally braced with a couple of cross bars it would need TNT to get in!

 

[Specialist]

Couldn't we just put the TNT to a better use ?.

 

[telectrix]

smart water is a good option, but only works after they've got in.

 

[Rock'N'Rebel]

What DPG said is a very good solution.
But then the scumbags will just resort to the high destruction method like cutting though the sides or roof.
Cordless tools have made many things easier for ourselves for work but also has made breaking in to other persons properties easier for the scumbags.

 

[Wilko]

We could get this one to work, I reckon ...

 

[Specialist]

Ooh pretty, about 5' high I reckon

 

[Midwest]

You think the criminal fraternity have a cushty lifestyle in our prisons, you might what to check out the Danish ones

 

[Adie moore]

had my mft and sds lifted from a contractors car park at the NEC just a couple of days ago. I think they must have picked the locks as their was no damage. inevitably I'm now looking into van security, better late than never I guess.

 

[Leesparkykent]

had my mft and sds lifted from a contractors car park at the NEC just a couple of days ago. I think they must have picked the locks as their was no damage. inevitably I'm now looking into van security, better late than never I guess.

Scumbags...........I've had it done twice over the years. You don't have a Transit do you?

 

[Adie moore]

yep, kicking myself now as I even know about the tib (?) locks and how easy they are to pick.
seriously anyone reading this thread, make time to secure your van. because it's a lot cheaper to do it before rather than after you've been done.

 

[Rock'N'Rebel]

Adie moore
So if you were in the contractor's area I'm guessing some other contractors would have taken your things or is it not a restricted area

 

[Adie moore]

its not a restricted area but i wouldn't be surprised if it was another cotractor. when the shows are being built up theirs 100's of blokes about.

 

[Rock'N'Rebel]

I would like to think we all would have the respect for our fellow work professionals. But as you said if it's not a restricted area then who knows.
What is a mft??
Festool multifunctional table?

 

[telectrix]

MFT... multifunctional tester, as in megger 1552 etc.

 

[Rock'N'Rebel]

OK
So £600 + gone I'm guessing.
If this may help you out have a look at Sussex installations on YouTube.
All about van security very good and shows you many different options.
I hope this the one and only time this will happen to you.

 

[Adie moore]

not quite that bad £120 for the drill and ~£350 for the tester. I had a second hand fluke 1653 but never used the phase rotation feature so going for a 1652, again second hand. also thinking of going battery sds for the convenience but I'm worried it will crap itself if it ever has to core drill a 100mm hole.

 

[Specialist]

Use a good battery SDS for normal daily use & keep a cheap 110v for taking when you know your going to need it.

 

[ruston]

Use a good battery SDS for normal daily use & keep a cheap 110v for taking when you know your going to need it.

I got to the stage unless I knew I really needed my good gear I used Aldi and Lidl cheap gear, but was surprised how good it was.
Testers and the like I took into the premises.if it was secure , and took them out at night.
Consumables I was prepared to lose , but cherished hand gear was always well cared for and taken in at night. I never left gear lying around a site , and had a bag of shoddy crap for the ones that said can I borrow.. They seldom asked twice.

 

[Specialist]

Bought an SDS from Lidl about 15 years back, after 2 Dewalt we were using on site burnt out.
Used it daily on site for ages & still have it, thing still works like a dream. Best £70.00 I've spent.
People that ask to borrow tools get a short refusal from me I'm afraid, had stuff lost or damaged in the past due to lending people tools.

 

[Deleted member 9648]

I had a laptop stolen just before Christmas. It was worth maybe £100, so £50 to them at most, but it had a few thousand pounds worth of EICR's for a laboratory on it which I had to redo.

There's bankers and politicians thieving from us from the top out in the open about it, and there's scum from the bottom creeping about nicking our stuff, then there's us working hard but getting shafted from both ends. What a life!

Can I suggest to everyone it is vital to back up files for precisely this reason. Might seem like rubbing salt into the wound here....but....
A very large site I do day to day repairs at had an EICR carried out over many months by another contractor using a subbie. At the end of the job he fecked off taking the laptop with him never to be traced again. The contractor had to flood the site with sparks for a couple of weeks to do the whole lot again before the agreed finish date. Cost them a fortune.
Getting a simple backup from the subbies laptop once a week would have saved all that.
If you do EICR's on a laptop and don't back up this WILL happen to you at some point.

 

[DPG]

Excellent advice. A lot of people don't think about backups until after the event.

 

[stummish]

@wirepuller I have my laptop set to auto backup to a cloud when it connects to wifi, problem was I'd changed my wifi password and forgot at change it on my laptop. Stupid mistake but I've learnt a lot from the experience!

 

[DPG]

Always keep your own backups on your own hard drive as well. External USB hard drives cost next to nothing.

 

[valleybilly]

Good tip if your going on holiday or away with robbery ' Dont leave any spare keys or cash at home in a draw etc / get a safe . We did this thinking nothing of it and the bastards got in the house and use our van and soft top to empty the house . Got the van back but the car got smoked . Luckily it was an Alfa so not too bad lol and the tools where in the house at the time so covered with house contents & More Than where great (would recommend the all day long) so be warned.

 

[DPG]

And don't put anything on facebook about going away on holiday. It's amazing how many people do this.

 

[ruston]

Up here the scroats would go into the working man's clubs to see who was in then go and rob the houses.
They soon got sussed and were dished out Miners justice.

 

[Specialist]

Miners Justice is like Valleys justice, The best form of deterrent

 

[ruston]

A lot of them moved away to be honest . But with the demise of the Mines the town is full of toe rags . It is a shadow of it's former self.
The community does not exist anymore.

 

[Specialist]

It was exactly the same in the village where I was living, when the local pits closed.
The shops started closing, then other small businesses & finally the school. Nowadays the place is pretty dead, doesn't have even a pub or post office anymore.