Workshop burgled, now my tools are on eBay

[AndrewG]

The burglary was traumatic, 30yrs of accumulated hand tools, clamps and power tools gone over night from my garage. Thought I was secure but some building work on an extension meant they had forced a temporary gate into my garden and broke the lock on the pedestrian garden door. No CCTV or name to give them so police wouldn't even come out.

I know there will be lots of sympathy from this community, but the reason for posting is rather to try and document all the lessons I am now learning (stable door, horse gone) so other might implement them before rather than after such an event. I also want to tap into the wisdom available here. As the second half of my title indicates, the robbery is not the end of the saga.

 

[Adam W.]

Bid for your tools and collect them, then you know where they are.

(Optional) Take a cattle prod and administer justice.

 

[Cobbs]

Please say you were insured?

 

[Bingy man]

If you can prove the tools were yours ( even some of them tgen surely you can contact both eBay and the police . I feel your pain as many years ago my flat was burgled while I was working away from home , my insurance tried to get out of paying but I was warned by a friend as he had A similar experience . So rightly or wrongly I claimed for items that I had got with me in London . Fishing tackle , clothes , jewelry etc - Edit all my power tools and hand tools collected over many years were stolen. The insurance threw out the claim for tools saying they were for business or proffesional use and therefore not covered but they ( 9 months later ) paid out for everything else . Ever since then I have kept a file of any invoices or receipts , manuals just in case . There was a thread a while back on smart water etc . I know you say stable door / horse bolted but I see now how although expensive it would be invaluable in your case so worth considering moving forward . Hope you get your gear back ..

 

[Max Power]

If you can prove the tools were yours ( even some of them tgen surely you can contact both eBay and the police . I feel your pain as many years ago my flat was burgled while I was working away from home , my insurance tried to get out of paying but I was warned by a friend as he had A similar experience . So rightly or wrongly I xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx . - Edit all my power tools and hand tools collected over many years were stolen. The insurance threw out the claim for tools saying they were for business or proffesional use and therefore not covered but they ( 9 months later ) paid out for everything else . Ever since then I have kept a file of any invoices or receipts , manuals just in case . There was a thread a while back on smart water etc . I know you say stable door / horse bolted but I see now how although expensive it would be invaluable in your case so worth considering moving forward . Hope you get your gear back ..

You might want to consider editing your reply, it could come back to bite you

 

[Bingy man]

You might want to consider editing your reply, it could come back to bite you

Over 35 years ago

 

[Spectric]

Cambridge, you would not have thought of that as a crime spot twenty years ago but unfortunately there is to much scum that know the police will not get involved and are more concerned with people using the wrong language.

Security is a set of layers, at one end is to prevent access to the tools and at the other is chemical marking using smartwater that will prove beyond doubt ownership. The missing layer in the UK is physical prevention like electrification of inner handles or sprung loaded traps.

You current problem is proving the tools on ebay are yours, without marking or serial numbers that will be difficult unless they are selling a job lot where the probability of someone else having the same make and models of tools becomes less likely.

If you really believe they are yours then you may need to hire labour when making them a visit on the pretence of paying on collection but instead you deliver a free holiday with the NHS !

 

[Cobbs]

While I'm all in favour of the perps getting what they deserve, if you turn up and clobber them, as some have suggested having bought the tools back on ebay, you've left a very obvious trail for the plod to follow back to your door. Assault, no matter how well earned, is viewed more seriously than theft and is likely to rub the salt of a conviction into your wounds. I hate to say it as I know how precious and personal tools are, but it may be best to just accept that the tools are gone and put it behind you. Not easy, I know.

 

[Adam W.]

Until they come for your tools.

Anyway @AndrewG it might be your builder, it happened to me.

 

[The Otters]

Ask if you can view the tools and pay cash on collection.
If they are yours, decline to purchase them and leave.
Call the Police, tell them your tools are there.
They are unlikely to still come out, so tell them you were threatened.
You will also know who has taken them.

 

[Spectric]

They may think they have a trail back to you but odds on these scumbags have upset other people as well. With the right labour they will not be saying anything to anyone once they have gone through physio to walk again as they will have had a very clear message delivered.

The problem now is we have a police force that is becoming as much use as a plastic teabag or chocolate teapot and more people will be giving up on using them because better services will become available, it is inevitable that if the police cannot deliver justice then the people will as it is just instinct.

 

[Spectric]

They are unlikely to still come out, so tell them you were threatened.

Better to tell them that they called you some terrible name that has hurt your feelings because they will repond to this but don't try saying they had a firearm because they wiill not come out as that might be dangerous.

 

[flh801978]

I helped my cousin some years ago with a similar tale
He had a large tool stolen from his van..a distinguishable tool..
I found it on eBay local to him….the police didn’t want to know
They said bid and win it then they would help.
So I created a new eBay account and bid to win
After making a date and time to collect the police did swing into action
They sent 6 officers with me and cousin
They asked to use his van and we followed a few minutes later
The chaps garage was absolutely chokka with tools ..the police seized the lot and asked cousin to transport them back to the nick
He got his tool back and the thieve got his comeuppance

 

[Blackswanwood]

Sorry to hear that you are in this situation. I think some of the suggestions put forward are deeply flawed.

Taking vigilante action may feel like a good idea but it’s illegal and not without risk. In a former life I used to be the MD of a well known home insurer. We paid a claim for a house that was burned to the ground after our policyholder took action (including administering some natural justice) to recover a stolen bike. Petrol was poured through the letterbox in the early hours of the morning before being lit. I cannot recall if it was two or three children who ended up in hospital with smoke inhalation - the perpetrator was sent down for attempted murder - he was the cousin of the person the bike had been recovered from.

I’d suggest it’s best to go back to the Police. If they don’t help point out that you’ll be referring the matter to your Police and Crime Commissioner or even going to the local press.

 

[Cobbs]

Until they come for your tools.

Anyway @AndrewG it might be your builder, it happened to me.

I understand the urge to dole out baseball bat justice, I would be spitting blood if someone took my tools, but if you were to get even in that way and you got caught and convicted, that conviction would stay on your record for maybe 10 years, during which time it would have to be declared on every job application, every time you wanted credit or insurance. The person who would suffer the most would be the person who was wronged in the first place.

 

[Spectric]

I’d suggest it’s best to go back to the Police. If they don’t help point out that you’ll be referring the matter to your Police and Crime Commissioner or even going to the local press.

Have you tried talking to a brick wall, they really do not give a monkeys because they are now the ones wearing the handcuffs and whatever they do they get flak for doing it. You must have noticed how crime seems to be so common on the news these days, without a working justice system that can offer reprecussions for criminal behavior then it just spirals out of control.

What the OP needs is a plan and some ideas now that can put up a strong set of precautions to prevent further thefts by scum bags. The first and most obvious is to secure the workshop using high quality locks and hasp, suggest Abloy for these. Then secure the area with plenty of PIR lights but use perspect shields otherwise they can be taken out with an air rifle and also if possible use aggregate for paths as this cannot be walked over quietly. Make sure the perimeter is secure, more important if you back onto fields or public paths. As I have already mentioned use smartwater and put the smartwater labels in prominent places so everyone knows your property is protected by forensic science. There have also been other threads on the UKW about scumbags and workshops so would be worth a search.

 

[Cozzer]

There is another side to this, depending on when the eBay listing expires - I could innocently buy one of the items.
If the item is (eventually) proved without doubt to be yours, you are still the legal owner.
I lose the item, and my purchase money to boot.
Yes, I would be bitter about it, even though I understand the reason why!

 

[Spectric]

I understand the urge to dole out baseball bat justice,

The right hired labour would be psycho's , ghost in the night that turn horror films into reality for scum bags.

 

[Inspector]

I feel for AndrewG and would advise him that the same thieves may be back in a month or two to get the new tools the insurance company has paid for. Bolster the shop "defences", locks, barred windows, etc.

Pete

 

[Luckosaurous]

I had my shed broken into in my last house and they took off with all of my tools. To be honest they didn’t steal much of financial value as I was just starting out. But they stole almost every tool I had inherited from my dad who had died a couple of years before, so I was pretty devastated.

My insurance company were great and paid out no questions asked, they didn’t want to see receipts for anything they just took my word for it.

Afterwards I bought some metal shelving and a long bike chain and tied the tools to it when not in use. I figured if it happens again I’ll at least make the thieves work for it.

Since then I’ve spent a couple of years doing up my house and in the process accumulated thousands of pounds worth of tools, so a burglary now would be a much more costly affair. I aim to convert half of my garage into a workshop just as soon as my newborn son becomes less time-consuming, and when I do I was thinking of buying a lockable metal cabinet like this to store tools in, and then bike lock it to a wall. Has anyone done anything similar? And if so how have you found it?