Workshop burgled, now my tools are on eBay

[sawtooth-9]

I had several tools stolen and these were covered by my household contents insurance.
I did have serial numbers on the major items and the insurance paid up with no questions.
The police were notified and were more than interested when I discovered a knife that was dropped at the scene.
The police sent a forensic tech and DNA from the knife confirmed the identity of the thief. Eventually he was arrested and charged.
He was remanded in custody for 12 months awaiting trial.
For various reasons the charge for " break, enter and steal " was dropped but he was charged with quite a few more offences.
He was sentenced to a further 12 months imprisonment.
It took a long time to get a final result, and no bones were broken.

 

[niemeyjt]

Once again . . .

Please can we have a section dedicated to securing our property, etc - all the relevant posts in one place - so we can all learn from others' experiences and advice?

 

[sploo]

Because they are no different to people who catch rats for a living or remove other unwanted pest from society. In life there has to be reprocussions for criminal behavior otherwise we will just become a lawless society. This time the scumbag just broke into a workshop, what happens when he decides that he has a customer for your expensive car on the driveway and now needs to break into your home to get the keys !

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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...me--avoid-violent-confrontation-burglars.html
Also having a letter box in a door is not a good idea, apart from the old game of fishing determined crooks will use a hook and tug it open.

I would politely suggest that if it's in the Daily Fail, it's probably not true.

Heck, even Wikipedia considers the Fail to be unreliable source for references.

 

[Bristol_Rob]

I recently tried to include my machines (Planer/thicknesser/bandsaw/table saw) in my home insurance - they refused. Said they were not covered by house or contents insurance.

So are people buying a separate insurance policy for wood shops?

 

[Luckosaurous]

I recently tried to include my machines (Planer/thicknesser/bandsaw/table saw) in my home insurance - they refused. Said they were not covered by house or contents insurance.

So are people buying a separate insurance policy for wood shops?

Interesting, on what grounds? Are you a professional and they’re a tool of your trade?

 

[Cozzer]

I recently tried to include my machines (Planer/thicknesser/bandsaw/table saw) in my home insurance - they refused. Said they were not covered by house or contents

I would think that was the norm, to be honest. I had stuff nicked out of an outbuilding some years ago, and although it was physically attached to the house, it wasn't covered.

 

[Bristol_Rob]

Interesting, on what grounds? Are you a professional and they’re a tool of your trade?

nope, hobby...

 

[Spectric]

On many policies you have to list all items over a certain value, small high value items carry a higher risk like jewllery and smart phones but something like a woodworking machine is not going to be so easy to steal so lower risk, more profit for insurers when you add it to a policy. Location also plays a big part, it is literally post code lottery and if you live in the wrong one then you pay much higher premiums.

 

[Luckosaurous]

nope, hobby...

That’s seems such a strange stance to me. Like where do they draw the line? If you have a bench top thicknesser is that okay? But floor mounted isn’t? Or are they basing it on power? Bed width? How about powered hand planers?

I could understand them refusing if it was a tool of your trade, but odd for personal use.

 

[Keith Cocker]

They could easily be your neighbours, people who have had enough of scum bags and have got to the point of enough is enough. The synario is like if we turned off all our sewage treatment plants, eventualy we would all be swamped in shieete.

Thankfully they are not my neighbours. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere near people with that mentality. Laws are passed by parliament, interpreted by judges and maintained by a sworn police force. Anything else is a slippery slope.

 

[Blackswanwood]

nope, hobby...

My guess is that they have misunderstood as items you own to perform a hobby are likely to fall within the definition of household contents.

Alternatively if you keep your woodworking gear in a separate outbuilding to your main home they may have a limit on the level of cover that they are prepared to provide.

All other things being equal plenty of insurers will provide cover for woodworking tools and machinery. Insurers such as Hiscox or NFU Mutual tend to be a bit more flexible. There is also a firm of Insurance brokers - Walker Midgley - who do workshop insurance for model engineers. It may be worth speaking with them to see if they can help.

 

[Crazy Dave]

Back to the topic at hand.
Imagine you are nicking your own stuff, think how would you remove it and where's the shortest route out of your property.
Now, the first thing scum do is ensure that they have an exit route so instead of spending copious amounts of money trying to keep things of value in their location, focus on preventing scum from leaving with them.
Example, shed door is too small to fit larger items through.
Increase the height of your perimeter fence, if you have a gate that can be climbed over, board it up so there are no longer and footholds to assist the scum from climbing over.
Remove anything that can be used as a step to get over a gate or fence.
Remember the first thing scum do is secure themselves an exit, so don't assist them by leaving stuff lying around that they could use.

CCTV Camera could help but you need to install it out of reach so spend time researching and making sure that it will zoom into their faces automatically, the biggest problem with most CCTV is a lack of details especially at night so additional infrared lighting can help brighten up the shaded areas.

I'm only in Stevenage so not far from you, should you need any assistance, my fee is a mug of coffee.
Many years ago I used to do security surveys for a well know alarm company and had to draw up recommended action required to secure domestic premises, so even though the available hardware has greatly improved over the years the principles are the same.

Good luck.

 

[Luckosaurous]

Back to the topic at hand.
Imagine you are nicking your own stuff, think how would you remove it and where's the shortest route out of your property.
Now, the first thing scum do is ensure that they have an exit route so instead of spending copious amounts of money trying to keep things of value in their location, focus on preventing scum from leaving with them.
Example, shed door is too small to fit larger items through.
Increase the height of your perimeter fence, if you have a gate that can be climbed over, board it up so there are no longer and footholds to assist the scum from climbing over.
Remove anything that can be used as a step to get over a gate or fence.
Remember the first thing scum do is secure themselves an exit, so don't assist them by leaving stuff lying around that they could use.

CCTV Camera could help but you need to install it out of reach so spend time researching and making sure that it will zoom into their faces automatically, the biggest problem with most CCTV is a lack of details especially at night so additional infrared lighting can help brighten up the shaded areas.

I'm only in Stevenage so not far from you, should you need any assistance, my fee is a mug of coffee.
Many years ago I used to do security surveys for a well know alarm company and had to draw up recommended action required to secure domestic premises, so even though the available hardware has greatly improved over the years the principles are the same.

Good luck.

Is cctv actually a deterrent? Like I would have thought that if I was a criminal that wearing a balaclava, or a hat and face covering would be an easy way around rendering the cctv useless.

 

[Spectric]

Is cctv actually a deterrent?

I doubt CCTV is much of a deterrent because all to easy to hide their faces, but covert CCTV within the workshop might work better especially with audio because the scum might let there guard down and also talk. The smartwater spray is solid proof they were on your property and as I have said marking everything with smartwater can prove ownership if recovered. Often it is the more basic security nmeasures that work, again something that will sound loud enough to wake the neighbourhood if the door is forced open and plenty of lighting, these scum do not like being highlighted. On the subject of fences, any weak spots you could grow suitable plants, something like Pyracantha or one of the many spiky shrubs out there which will if nothing else ensure the scum leaves there DNA behind.

 

[Stan]

Is cctv actually a deterrent? Like I would have thought that if I was a criminal that wearing a balaclava, or a hat and face covering would be an easy way around rendering the cctv useless.

It is part of a process called "target hardening".

Thieves come in different varieties which vary in their skill sets. They also vary in the amount of effort they are prepared to put in to achieve their goal. Target-hardening is about introducing measures which will deter or thwart more and more thieves by requiring better skill sets and/or more effort.

On its own CCTV will only deter a few, perhaps the laziest or least able. It is better than nothing but not a lot better. It has a place as part of an increasing range of measures to deter more and more people.

 

[AndyMc]

Some surprisingly antediluvian attitudes to criminal justice in this thread so far. It's very natural to feel angry about the injustice of it all, but perhaps worth bearing in mind that:
- The state owns the monopoly on violence
- Your liberty is likely to be impaired if you forget that
- Anyone who engages in a revenge act, aka a criminal enterprise, over someone else's stolen rusty impact driver is a fool. If it goes wrong, which it probably will, the consequences are serious
- Anyone who persuades a friend or neighbour to engage per the above is a bigger fool and will be viewed less favourably by the criminal justice system than the theiving scrote you set out to swat.
- If you don't like how the justice system works you can vote for another political party that's prepared to put more money into it than the current one
- Be prepared to pay more taxes/receive fewer benefits if you think it's worth it

That said, there's a point of diminishing financial returns with home security measures. Perhaps worth investigating a decent insurance policy with explict cover and implement the bare minimum of security measures as required by the policy. Things like alarm systems make little difference to your premium. If they're mentioned on your policy and you forget to enage them you might find you're not covered. Should the worst happen, as others have said, asset tagging, receipts, photos and good record keeping can help both the police and your insurance company process things quickly.

 

[NormanB]

No real value to add, other than the observation that all the locks and security devices (sensible precautions) just keep honest people honest. Experienced and determined thieves will, if they really want to, find a way and opportunity to have it away with your ‘valuables’.

 

[Spectric]

What has not been mentioned is that apart from the physical loss of property it is going to be a traumatic experience knowing that some scumbag has decided that he should own your tools to sell for well less than market value and intruded into your space. The tools can be replaced but what about the impact on society, these sort of experiences change peoples outlook on society and unless this has happened to you it is not easy to understand what is going through the OP's mind and lets not forget that everything does not always have a monetary value, some things cannot be replaced due to there history or significance in the persons life.

There are an awful lot of people who just vanish every year in the UK,

some will be deliberate, maybe some alien abductions and others taking a break from the rat race but how many are disposals !!

 

[Crazy Dave]

Victim: Is CCTV worth it?

Copper/ insurance co: You claim that your shed was broken into and your tools were stolen, do you have any proof of that sir?

Victim: Err um No.

OR

Victim: Yes I have CCTV footage of the little scumbags in the act, look here on my mobile/Tablet, sadly you can't see their faces.

Copper: I recognize that scumbag by his gait, he's well know to us.

Victim: So glad I had that camera installed.

CrazyDave Can I make it anymore simple for you doubting Thomas's?
Horse to water, not thirsty then.

Edit: Gait.
Thank you Phil

 

[Luckosaurous]

What has not been mentioned is that apart from the physical loss of property it is going to be a traumatic experience knowing that some scumbag has decided that he should own your tools to sell for well less than market value and intruded into your space. The tools can be replaced but what about the impact on society, these sort of experiences change peoples outlook on society and unless this has happened to you it is not easy to understand what is going through the OP's mind and lets not forget that everything does not always have a monetary value, some things cannot be replaced due to there history or significance in the persons life.

There are an awful lot of people who just vanish every year in the UK,

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some will be deliberate, maybe some alien abductions and others taking a break from the rat race but how many are disposals !!

It kinda has been mentioned. I said that when I was the victim, the thieves took a lot of tools that weren’t worth much money from me that were left to me by my dad when he passed away in my 20’s.

He and I weren’t aligned on tool buying so he ascribed to the “it’ll do” philosophy, where as I’m more of a “buy once cry once”’kind of guy. So aside from a Makita sds drill, and a Bosch belt sander, I don’t think i would actually have used any of the other tools. But they meant the world to me, and if given the opportunity, I would have bought them back from the thieves no questions asked in a heartbeat. Sadly though, mine didn’t come up on eBay, they probably got thrown in the bin when the thief failed to sell them in the local pub because they weren’t worth money to anybody else.