[Scottish Cleaning Service]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg7285zz8eo

I wonder if we are next to be targeted for our poles?

[NBwcs]

Had mine broken into a few years ago overnight whilst on my drive. They will have been very disappointed as  I take the poles and pump box in every night.

[Tam1872]

My van gets left unlocked every night with everything in the van, a pair of bose earbuds sitting on the dash and ray ban sunglasses in view aswell.  I've forgot to close the back doors a few times and they have been wide open all night.  Left keys in the ignition more than a few times too.   Nothing has ever been took.

[Scottish Cleaning Service]

My van gets left unlocked every night with everything in the van, a pair of bose earbuds sitting on the dash and ray ban sunglasses in view aswell.  I've forgot to close the back doors a few times and they have been wide open all night.  Left keys in the ignition more than a few times too.   Nothing has ever been took.

You are lucky because if our van gets stolen with keys left in ignition then they don't pay out. I have those Garrison  £150 locks on my back and side doors and not been broken into yet. Heard someone say, glue or screw a length of carpet gripper inside at top of side door just incase they grab it and try and fold it. At least they will leave some blood and their DNA behind. It's all about making it harder for them so they will not be bothered and move on.
Decades ago I was standing by some dodgy people in a big DVD store. They were opening up the DVD plastic covers to see if they were inside. When they realised they were empty they left the store, sad but true.

[dazmond]

My van gets left unlocked every night with everything in the van, a pair of bose earbuds sitting on the dash and ray ban sunglasses in view aswell.  I've forgot to close the back doors a few times and they have been wide open all night.  Left keys in the ignition more than a few times too.   Nothing has ever been took.

Your asking for it mate!

Why the hell would you do that? You almost deserve to be robbed!

You wouldn't last 2 mins round here....everything would get robbed within minutes....

Gangs of lads walk round in the middle of the night trying vehicle doors on a regular basis....

It's just foolish to be so lax with your security!🙄

[Stoots]

My old van got broken into, they took nothing at all, side door was left wide open.

Obvioulsy they werent interest in window cleaning gear

[KS Cleaning]

My van gets left unlocked every night with everything in the van, a pair of bose earbuds sitting on the dash and ray ban sunglasses in view aswell.  I've forgot to close the back doors a few times and they have been wide open all night.  Left keys in the ignition more than a few times too.   Nothing has ever been took.

You are lucky because if our van gets stolen with keys left in ignition then they don't pay out. I have those Garrison  £150 locks on my back and side doors and not been broken into yet. Heard someone say, glue or screw a length of carpet gripper inside at top of side door just incase they grab it and try and fold it. At least they will leave some blood and their DNA behind. It's all about making it harder for them so they will not be bothered and move on.
Decades ago I was standing by some dodgy people in a big DVD store. They were opening up the DVD plastic covers to see if they were inside. When they realised they were empty they left the store, sad but true.

Aye because forensics would be dispatched to a van that’s been broken into

[Tam1872]

My van gets left unlocked every night with everything in the van, a pair of bose earbuds sitting on the dash and ray ban sunglasses in view aswell.  I've forgot to close the back doors a few times and they have been wide open all night.  Left keys in the ignition more than a few times too.   Nothing has ever been took.

Your asking for it mate!

Why the hell would you do that? You almost deserve to be robbed!

You wouldn't last 2 mins round here....everything would get robbed within minutes....

Gangs of lads walk round in the middle of the night trying vehicle doors on a regular basis....

It's just foolish to be so lax with your security!🙄

No one deserves to be robbed, ive never really locked the van, just habbit I suppose, 9 times out of 10 my front doors not locked at night either.  They would open it up and ignore the poles and look for expensive tools probably. If they did look, there's none there in the back, my ladders sit on top of my van unhooked aswell. You could just lift them off.

It's been a mistake when I've left the keys in the ignition though, or left the bacl doors wide open.

[tonyoliver]

I i’ve just brought a brand-new van. I wasn’t going to sign write it or put roof rack on top as I want to go ladders less
 but the van looked like any builders parcel guys or gardeners van which made it vulnerable to someone looking inside. I’ve got the signwriting nice big letters with Window Cleaner on the side and back and a big phone number. Hopefully they won’t be interested in a bucket sponge and squeegee we know how much the poles cost. Hopefully they don’t  want the tank as it’s is nicely bolted down  and will take half an hour to get out. It weighs a bloody ton so I guess they’ll just have to go for the scrims. They do more damage than the stuff you lose thousands of pounds ripping the doors off to get a few quid of stolen tools pure scum of course the boys in blue aren’t interested. Traditionally you never stole the tools of a man’s trade or bailiffs would never take the tools of a man’s trade seems like times have changed sometimes for the better, but mostly for the worst.

[Soupy]

My van gets left unlocked every night with everything in the van, a pair of bose earbuds sitting on the dash and ray ban sunglasses in view aswell.  I've forgot to close the back doors a few times and they have been wide open all night.  Left keys in the ignition more than a few times too.   Nothing has ever been took.

You are lucky because if our van gets stolen with keys left in ignition then they don't pay out. I have those Garrison  £150 locks on my back and side doors and not been broken into yet. Heard someone say, glue or screw a length of carpet gripper inside at top of side door just incase they grab it and try and fold it. At least they will leave some blood and their DNA behind. It's all about making it harder for them so they will not be bothered and move on.
Decades ago I was standing by some dodgy people in a big DVD store. They were opening up the DVD plastic covers to see if they were inside. When they realised they were empty they left the store, sad but true.

Aye because forensics would be dispatched to a van that’s been broken into

To be fair many of the van robberies nowadays are by organised gangs. Good chance the rozzers might take an interest if it's suspected organised crime.

They took a few of my landys in about 6 years ago. They were checking serial numbers on the engine/gearbox/axles etc. They didn't find anything untoward.

[jay moley]

I once disturbed 3 blokes breaking into my van. As I was running across the road they all jumped in their van. I managed to kick one as he was getting in the back doors.

They had smashed the lock through but nothing was taken.

My new van is sign written and has deadlocks.

Funny enough someone nicked my steps out of the van two weeks ago! Must be desperate to do that. Thankfully they are only worth £19.99 from amazon.

[tlwcs]

Over the years a couple of my vans have had rear glass in the rear doors. Although the van is signed, it good anyone on the rob can see it’s just a tank and reel in there.
I’ve never been robbed. Yet. 

[Scottish Cleaning Service]

When I bought my van and was using it for building work, I bought a 36kg tool vault. Bolted it down and put all my power tools in the vault and it was hard to break in. Ended up buying another one and doing the same in my lockup. When I moved into window cleaning I removed it. You can get bigger vaults which are good for sheds and garages. So if anyone has expensive stuff they don't want stolen then its a good idea. No doubt in the future someone will make one for our poles because I have 3 in the van all the time and I will need my 35' pole to be included because I have a customer who bought a new town house. I need that to clean the veluxes and some solar panels on the roof.
That means I will have over £3k worth of poles in my van. Thieves want to be in and away as quick as possible so anything that slows them down usually works.
Just some thoughts for anyone wanting to do some theft prevention in the next few months. Okay it may cost a few bob but could save you thousands and keep you on the road making money.

[EandM]

I live in a pretty low crime area but the back of my pick up has no Mountain Top or otherwise.

So far, 25+ years of driving pick ups, no one has nicked anything...yet.

If I do have to go anywhere urban, I lock the pole inside the truck.

Possibly, every potential criminal, being able to see that there's nothing worth nicking results in less potential crime or damage than having a van that they just speculatively break into?

[JandS]

I live in a fairly lively area.
Last year we sat out on back patio for the last of the late summer sun in early September with patio doors open.......in late November we went to Canaries for 2 weeks and whilst checking everything was locked up just before setting off I found that the patio doors were unlocked........2 months unlocked.
Earlier that same year whilst going off for the w/e I checked security and found the side door was unlocked.......we very rarely use this door and it had been unlocked for roughly 6 weeks.
Just goes to show.

[dazmond]

My van gets left unlocked every night with everything in the van, a pair of bose earbuds sitting on the dash and ray ban sunglasses in view aswell.  I've forgot to close the back doors a few times and they have been wide open all night.  Left keys in the ignition more than a few times too.   Nothing has ever been took.

Your asking for it mate!

Why the hell would you do that? You almost deserve to be robbed!

You wouldn't last 2 mins round here....everything would get robbed within minutes....

Gangs of lads walk round in the middle of the night trying vehicle doors on a regular basis....

It's just foolish to be so lax with your security!🙄

No one deserves to be robbed, ive never really locked the van, just habbit I suppose, 9 times out of 10 my front doors not locked at night either.  They would open it up and ignore the poles and look for expensive tools probably. If they did look, there's none there in the back, my ladders sit on top of my van unhooked aswell. You could just lift them off.

It's been a mistake when I've left the keys in the ignition though, or left the bacl doors wide open.

You will get robbed one day having such a security 'blind spot'.....

You obviously never had your house and shed burgled(we did numerous times in the 80s)

[Bungle]

My van gets left unlocked every night with everything  in the van, a pair of bose earbuds sitting on the dash and ray ban sunglasses in view aswell.  I've forgot to close the back doors a few times and they have been wide open all night.  Left keys in the ignition more than a few times too.   Nothing has ever been took.

What's your postcode?

[Tam1872]

My van gets left unlocked every night with everything in the van, a pair of bose earbuds sitting on the dash and ray ban sunglasses in view aswell.  I've forgot to close the back doors a few times and they have been wide open all night.  Left keys in the ignition more than a few times too.   Nothing has ever been took.

Your asking for it mate!

Why the hell would you do that? You almost deserve to be robbed!

You wouldn't last 2 mins round here....everything would get robbed within minutes....

Gangs of lads walk round in the middle of the night trying vehicle doors on a regular basis....

It's just foolish to be so lax with your security!🙄

No one deserves to be robbed, ive never really locked the van, just habbit I suppose, 9 times out of 10 my front doors not locked at night either.  They would open it up and ignore the poles and look for expensive tools probably. If they did look, there's none there in the back, my ladders sit on top of my van unhooked aswell. You could just lift them off.

It's been a mistake when I've left the keys in the ignition though, or left the bacl doors wide open.

You will get robbed one day having such a security 'blind spot'.....

You obviously never had your house and shed burgled(we did numerous times in the 80s)

Never had shed etc done either no, in the summer when it's really hot, my front door gets left wide open all night because the dog gets to hot in the house and likes sleeping in the garden because it's cooler for him.  Never had anyone even attempt to come in the gate, never mind the house.  There's a 53kg german sheperd lying sleeping in the garden mind you that you would have to bypass to get into the house.

[Spruce]

My van gets left unlocked every night with everything in the van, a pair of bose earbuds sitting on the dash and ray ban sunglasses in view aswell.  I've forgot to close the back doors a few times and they have been wide open all night.  Left keys in the ignition more than a few times too.   Nothing has ever been took.

You are lucky because if our van gets stolen with keys left in ignition then they don't pay out. I have those Garrison  £150 locks on my back and side doors and not been broken into yet. Heard someone say, glue or screw a length of carpet gripper inside at top of side door just incase they grab it and try and fold it. At least they will leave some blood and their DNA behind. It's all about making it harder for them so they will not be bothered and move on.
Decades ago I was standing by some dodgy people in a big DVD store. They were opening up the DVD plastic covers to see if they were inside. When they realised they were empty they left the store, sad but true.

I think you have to be very careful advising others to do this.

While it sounds a good way of teaching a thief a lesson, the thief/thieves could sue you for  causing personal injury.

Remember the farmer who shot a thief on his property? He was charged with murder if memory serves me.

Someone in our village put up an electric barbed wire fence around his property. He was told he had to put up warning signs advising thieves they could get electrocuted.

[Bungle]

My van gets left unlocked every night with everything in the van, a pair of bose earbuds sitting on the dash and ray ban sunglasses in view aswell.  I've forgot to close the back doors a few times and they have been wide open all night.  Left keys in the ignition more than a few times too.   Nothing has ever been took.

You are lucky because if our van gets stolen with keys left in ignition then they don't pay out. I have those Garrison  £150 locks on my back and side doors and not been broken into yet. Heard someone say, glue or screw a length of carpet gripper inside at top of side door just incase they grab it and try and fold it. At least they will leave some blood and their DNA behind. It's all about making it harder for them so they will not be bothered and move on.
Decades ago I was standing by some dodgy people in a big DVD store. They were opening up the DVD plastic covers to see if they were inside. When they realised they were empty they left the store, sad but true.

I think you have to be very careful advising others to do this.

While it sounds a good way of teaching a thief a lesson, the thief/thieves could sue you for  causing personal injury.

Remember the farmer who shot a thief on his property? He was charged with murder if memory serves me.

Someone in our village put up an electric barbed wire fence around his property. He was told he had to put up warning signs advising thieves they could get electrocuted.

Or put up signs saying if you steal things you'll get your hands chopped off.