Shed and greenhouses broken into.

[crichmond]

Hi All

Just went onto my allotment during my lunch break and found that the lock on the shed door has been ripped off and the doors on both greenhouses have been ragged off their runners, all were padlocked to stop them being slid open but obviously this was not good enough.

Any advice on how to secure the greenhouse doors a bit better would be appreciated, as for the shed I am going to strengthen where the hasp is fastened and use nuts and bolts right through this time instead of screws.

Luckily it must have been kids as nothing is missing, but I am going to have to take some tools after work and put the doors back on the greenhouses.

Cheers Chris

[yoanbob]

oh no what a nightmare, bloody vandals, hope you get it sorted chris

[muckdiva]

That's awful Crichmond. I never know if it's better to padlock or not - more damage with padlocks forced off the doors, but having none makes you a target for opportunists.

[joolzabb]

having had vandals myself recently know how you feel. sorry mate.

[SarzWix]

That's awful Chris. Glad nothing's been stolen though.
If you Google search on how to lock a greenhouse, your own tip about a padlock is what comes up..!! Doesn't seem like there's many security products available for greenhouses The main advice given by the police seems to be to secure the boundaries, or keep everything in the shed! Not very helpful really.
If you come up with any great ideas, please post them here, as I'm sure this is something other people have a problem with.

[lottie dolly]

we've had same bother on our site,it seems that if the shed has a padlock it's easy to prize of,when ours was jemmied of it tore the loop bit clean of the back plate,so we put another on using thin bolts but could only get one fixing,as it still needs another hole drilling in the door,weekend just gone the xxxxxx came again,into several other sheds,i only noticed when i came to lock up on leaving it looks like they had a go at ours ,as the backplate was bent and the 1 bolt still in place,they did not get in,we may try and do it with the bolts plus a metal backing on the inside for extra strength,also maybe a bit metal and weld a strong loop to it and then do the bolts thing,hope this makes some sence to people,i have noticed that the sheds with a mortice lock seem to deter ,its a mater of what works for you,and what you can get a hold of

[kernowyon]

every half term we have break ins, no one on the site locks their sheds anymore except the shed on the young offenders project plot. who says there is no honour amongst theives, as it is the only shed that hasn't been done over at all.

[megan]

stole my seeds

we were robbed yesterday they stole all my seeds,was so upset as the seeds were xmas prezies.Our shed has a lock but with a good yank you can pull it open,less damage to repair.I think the only thing to do is leave nothing in the shed you want to keep.

[crichmond]

Reported it to the police, and to my surprise they came out at four oclock, I was nicely surprised when he paid me a compliment saying he was very impressed with me for having a shed alarm as he had never met anyone else who had one.

Maybe I should get some for the greenhouses as well, as he said that it was probably why they didnt take anything, they were probably scared off by it he said.

cheers Chris

PS, I also have a plan to secure the doors and will post pictures when I do it.

[chuffa]

Very sorry to hear that you have had trouble with vandles Chris. Its probably some mardy litlle bu--er that has got nothing better to do than to cause havoc and heartache.
Feel sorry for the sado, cos there in for a good clip round earole if he's caught. For the last couple of years, we have had no trouble with the pesky varmin on the plot but more and more sheds are going up which makes it desirable for light fingers. We are in the process of trying to get the council to errect a security fence as more and more valubles are being stored on the plot, but its all down to cost. Bungie sticks might work .

[crichmond]

We are in the process of trying to get the council to errect a security fence

Alas it doesnt stop them, we have a 10ft fence round the site and it still happens just not as much.

[moggssue]

Really sorry to read this Chrichmond - and everyone else who's suffered a breakin/robbery. it really makes me sooo mad, whatever happened to community spirit, respect, and all those other obviously defunct values?

I've been keeping a few tools in the back of my car since I dont have anywhere on the lottie to keep them, not sure that's any safer than a shed.

At least I do believe in karma, and as we keep saying on here, these idiots will get their comeuppance.

[Matt.]

I suppose securing a greenhouse is pretty difficult. If someone is determined to get in they can just smash or remove the panes?

The shed is different. You can try and install a lock on the inside. Sounds crazy but my Grandad did this and it worked really well. You make a bar that runs the width of the door plus some to overlap the edges. When the bar is in place the door can't be opened. To move the bar make a small notch in the door through which you can pass a six inch nail or equivalent. Drill a hole in the bar that the nail can hook into so you can slide the bar left and right. Simple. Now remove all door handles, latches etc from the front of the shed so its smooth. Theives won't even both trying because theres no lock, no handle yet the door is firmly shut.

[TonyF]

When we were in the Uk we lost stuff from our sheds (which were brick built, part of the house and also plants from the front garden - east London, they nick the plants there as well!

So I alarmed the shed doors and voila, it stopped and after we also built the wooden sheds the alarms on them scared the little rascals away.

[kentvegplot]

When we had our allotment, I had one breakin (nothing taken, just windows smashed) so I replace them with plastic and left the door secured with nothing more than a piece of stick. Needless to say, I took the tools away and carried them up when I needed them.

The only problem I then had was a tramp used my shed as a sleeping place. The police/council weren't interested, so I just dumped the sleeping bag outside - he didn't return.

I don't kknow why the eejits would break into a greenhouse - what on earth could be of value in there???

Good luck with your new security