allotment security

[areia]

I was in two mind about this until of course I had my brand new spade nicked, when i took my plot prev owner never locked their shed,( their theory as with others, lock it you have summin to hide plus others have had their locked sheds trashed to get stuff ) and in the 4 yrs they were their they never had anything nicked, im there 6 weeks i get summin nicked.

needless to say i have now attached two sets of locks,
turns out i wasnt the only one, when i asked some other 'plotters ' some were quite rude in just saying well leave it unlocked kids will nick stuff

well I know it wasn't kids firstly kids wouldnt take the effort to put back all the obstacles in front of the door and put it back once they had been in, nor move things that have clearly dropped to the side, nothing else was touched,

Do you report to police if youve had stuff nicked or do you not bother ?

[binley100]

My sheds not locked .there again if anyone looked in they'd think it had been trashed anyway . We do report if anything valuable is taken but tbh I wouldn't leave anything valuable up there. We have security fencing all round the site but they still manage to get in ......

[chris]

I don't keep anything of value in my shed. It's about to fall down, there's a hoe, rack and fork in there that the last person left. They're cheap, I only use the rack. I take my spade and fork with me when I go (along with a trug), and take it home again with me when I leave.

[Andromeda]

The site has hooligans masquerading as children there regularly...my shed has a door that locks properly (not just a padlock). I have not had anything stolen, but others have.

[donnakebab]

Before I got a plot our site suffered from kids burning sheds down and pumpkin steeling around Halloween. They say not to lock your shed too. I do keep cheap tools there because sometimes I walk there so can't carry too much. The site is pretty secure too, or so you'd think (large metal fence all around perimeter). Backs onto a railway line but we regularly see kids running along there (teenagers ...possibly of adult age). Foxes too with cubs...but we likes them.

[Bigmallly]

When I first got the plot, I had my shed broken into (along with 40 others), they took my power tools as I was building beds at the time but they left all the gardening tools..............now I leave my tools in the boot of the car.......just waiting to get the car nicked now........

[Kaiya]

We had issues on the site of children vandalising the plots nearest our house and lobbing apples and onions at our windows (we overlook the site). That is, until that last time, when in response they had me, my brother-in-law and my dad explode from the house and vault over a 6 foot fence in front of them We hadn't known we could jump the fence until we'd misplaced a cat a few weeks previously - turned out to be a useful skill!

I don't have room on my plot to store anything, but as I'm within about 30m of an access road I worry about even my few paving slabs, so wouldn't keep anything portable on site. But then, I can see my plot from my house, so don't really need to. Our site has no security bar overlooking houses - there is a straggly hedge boundary, no fence, no gates.

I did select my winter squash to be relatively boring colours as I doubt pumpkins would survive, and I'm slightly concerned about my yellow courgettes, but at least I didn't buy these ones - Courgette 'Zephyr' F1 Hybrid - Pumpkin, Squash & Courgette Seeds - Thompson & Morgan - that would have been too much for kids to resist!

[Mr Dave]

Reading this thread I wondered what the general advice towards shed security was amongst allotmenteers so I had a quick google and found this article on the Daily Mail website interesting:
Council tells allotment holders NOT to lock sheds in case thieves wreck them during break-in | Mail Online
The last line I found very funny

[Alison]

I didn't lock mine when I first got a plot but got really fed up with things being moved from my shed to somebody else's and vice versa - had to spend the first half hour of each visit trying to reallocate our posessions which was a real pain. Nothing much of value kept in the shed as I also have a secure crate which is hidden behind the shed where better stuff is stored. I now lock the shed but still keep nothing much valuable in there. The biggest problem we had was vandalism a couple of summers ago, the police were useless and just told us that we needed to ring them when it was acutally in progress - doh, as if we could do that........ Ended up sorting it when one of the plot holders and a couple of his mates visited the ring leader - I've not asked what was said but it seemed to work!

[dominic10]

On our site a couple of years ago two young men were identified as breaking into a shed and taking various items. No action was taken until one returned a few weeks later, broke into the same shed, was apprehended and said 'oh we needed a (can't remember now if it was a spade or fork)". Some people lock their sheds and some don't. I was told a couple of weeks ago someone had left a trailer at the site and the thieves took bolt cutters to cut through the lock to steal it. We take all our tools in the back of my car. There were some chickens vandalised a while ago. I say vandalised as what was left had to be put down it was so bad.

[Mr Dave]

I didn't lock mine when I first got a plot but got really fed up with things being moved from my shed to somebody else's and vice versa - had to spend the first half hour of each visit trying to reallocate our posessions which was a real pain. Nothing much of value kept in the shed as I also have a secure crate which is hidden behind the shed where better stuff is stored. I now lock the shed but still keep nothing much valuable in there. The biggest problem we had was vandalism a couple of summers ago, the police were useless and just told us that we needed to ring them when it was acutally in progress - doh, as if we could do that........ Ended up sorting it when one of the plot holders and a couple of his mates visited the ring leader - I've not asked what was said but it seemed to work!

Other Gardeners were taking your stuff?

[donnakebab]

There were some chickens vandalised a while ago. I say vandalised as what was left had to be put down it was so bad.

That's horrendous! One of my daughters studied social psychology a few years ago and the general consensus was that those capable of committing such a crime against animals are capable of going on to do the same to their fellow man.

What pond do these people crawl out of? well TBH that's an insult to newts, frogs, nymphs and all manner of BENEFICIAL wildlife.

[dominic10]

I can well believe it. The owner was in tears. I can't print here what was done to the poor things but the word torture springs to mind.

[Normans Mum]

Fortunately (gardening fingers crossed) we haven't had anything stolen from our plot or any of the neighbouring plots. Had a pair of secateurs pinched by the moron next to me- I had left them out intending to go and get them the same afternoon and found him using them. Grrr! Other than that just young children throwing stones. As a consequence, most greenhouses are wire meshed or haveplastic windows.

[Gazz666]

It's so sad that u cant even do a spot of gardening nowdays without the scum of the earth hampering your efforts. A crudely constructed spring loaded pitch fork tied to the roof of ur shed would do the job but then again you would be in bother and not them. It's political correctness gone mad.