tomdhu

Glad you got the CCTV recording sorted. What you relate appears to prove yet again the deterrence benefit of having PIR activated lights. They are fantastic value for money and very effective. The last one I bought was only about ?7. I posted some advice a few days earlier on this subject and would add one more suggestion viz - Install a cheap Infrared illuminator at the rear of your property. They cost around ?5 and consume only about 3 watts. Have it switched on after dark. As you will know infrared is invisible to the human eye. Crims these days know this so they scan a property first with their mobile phone camera which shows up infrared light. They know that any property with infrared illumination will certainly have a camera and will also most likely have a good alarm system. They will give that property a wide berth. Tom

Sorry to hear about the crime but it does seem to be on the increase. Here are a few essential tips. 1. Have visible deterrence lights that come on automatically when motion detected plus ideally, camera, sensors and- both front and especially rear. 2. Make ingress and egress to the rear garden as difficult as possible. 3. Cut back foliage so that your neighbours can see into your front & rear areas. 4. Have a working alarm with a dialler. 5. Have a repeat alarm sounder at the rear. (Not just a dummy) 6. Mortice lock all external doors. 7. Make sure your door lock is not remotely accessible via the letter box or cat flap. About 75% of all burglaries feature access from the REAR of the property. The first thing the scrotes do is put the snib up on the front door lock so they don't get disturbed whilst they loot your property. They start upstairs and work their way down. They know where to look for hidden valuables. You may think it's hidden, but they know ALL the quaint places! They go for money,jewelry, mobiles, ipads, ipods and laptops - in that order. It all must fit in a backpack. They will be in and out inside 4-5 minutes. Put your valuables in a small safe. They cost around 50 quid and they simply bolt onto a wall. Well worth it! They trade the info on the job to other crims. They (or their mates) will do a repeat when the victim has replaced all the goodies that were nicked because they know it will be the latest models. I've been a burglary victim before but never since I adopted the above measures. Tom

And definitely got class as he is wearing Ugg boots!!

A package for you was wrongly delivered to us. Same number, different street.

Sorry to hear about the crime but it does seem to be on the increase. About 75% of all burglaries feature access from the rear of the property. The first thing the scrotes do is put the snib up on the front door lock so they don't get disturbed whilst they loot your gaffe. They start upstairs and work their way down. They know where to look for hidden valuables. You may think it's hidden, but they know ALL the quaint places! They go for money,jewelry, mobiles, ipads, ipods and laptops - in that order. It all must fit in a backpack. They will be in and out inside 4-5 minutes. Put your valuables in a small safe. They cost around 50 quid and they simply bolt onto a wall. Well worth it! They trade the info on the job to other crims. They (or their mates) will do a repeat when the victim has replaced all the goodies that were nicked because they know it will be the latest models. Here are a few essential tips. 1. Have visible deterrence eg camera, sensors and lights - both front and especially rear. 2. Make ingress and egress to the rear garden as difficult as possible. 3. Cut back foliage so that your neighbours can see into your front & rear areas. 4. Have a working alarm with a dialler. 5. Install an alarm. 6. Have a repeat alarm sounder at the rear. (Not just a dummy) 7. Mortice lock all external doors. 8. Make sure your door lock is not remotely accessible via the letter box or cat flap. I've been a burglary victim before but never since I adopted the above measures. Tom

He did tax avoidance but not tax evasion. The former is legal, the latter is not. Where Ken tripped himself up was like the pot calling the kettle black by making a big issue about rich boys when he was actually earning heaps and using the same tax avoidance techniques. Typical snydie political trick.

Have you reported it to the police? I ask because, I understand two bikes plus a tandem were found early on Friday morning. They had been dropped over the fence into the Horniman grounds. The bikes are with the police. Hope they're yours. Tom

The station redevelopment plan indicates no additional tracks. It says that the current arrangement of 9 terminating tracks with 6 through tracks will become 6 terminating plus 9 through tracks. This does not appear to stack up with the fact that there are currently 16 platforms, so one track must be shared. The benefit of this will be that there will be better access to CharingX and Blackfriars - and maybe even direct trains from ED to CharingX in due course. Let's hope! It's due to be completed in 2018.

So they took the battery but left the car! You are not running a Trabant are you? :))

Surely you mean 4 ie 2 per plate?

Worthwhile mentioning also that these scrotes usually steal the plates off very popular makes/models of cars and often cars that are slightly older than average. My 8 year old silver Zafira was a classic example. The original plates were stuck on with double sided sticky pads!

Yes, it appears that some police forces do give them away and Merseyside police actually fit them free of charge! Tom

Yes, not bad for a quid is it? And you have plenty left over for relatives and friends. Its the sort of thing the police should give away for free as it would prevent a lot of crime and grief. Tom

Had an attempt to steal mine a few months ago and luckily they were disturbed in the act. Its just takes seconds to remove them as some are stuck on with double sided sticky pads. Following the attempt I got a pack of special number plate screws that cannot be unscrewed because of the design of the screw head. Got mine off Epay and worth every penny. This is a typical listing Security screws for number plates Edited to add:- Coincidentally, the theft attempt was also of Forest Hill road when I was visiting the Horniman Museum!

No problem. Try this... Chutney

Have PM'd you.

SG, Statistically, i feel what I said still holds true - particularly about access from the rear. There's a risk about making off with the safe but again it is percentages as the average perpetrators dont always go equipped to achieve this. You can never be totally safe, but reducing the risk is a really useful investment. The questions I would ask in this case would be... 1. Was there a functioning alarm at the premises? 2. Were the motice locks on the doors locked? 3. Was the safe in the bedroom? 4. Was the safe properly secured to a brick wall and floor with bolts rather than screws? 5. Would someone other than the family know that there was, as you say, "lots of other cash around the house"? Let me conclude by saying that I have no connection with the security industry,it's just that I was burgled a long time ago - as a sharer in a basement flat, and thereafter I became determined to reduce the risk of it happening again. So far the measures that I have taken have been effective.

Somewhat naive me thinks James, as getting caught these days certainly doesnt mean getting banged up - even for notorious recidivists. So long as there is no violence involved, the scrotes can get away with a slap on the wrist ( eg community service) which just leaves them free to do it again. There was one last month from Camberwell who did at least 2 burglaries when he was on bail pending appearance before court.

Worrying for sure but this can be alleviated by installing a small safe . You can get one for around ?50 that is slightly larger than a bread bin and is very useful to store jewelry, passports and important documents. Just fix to a solid wall with two self-tapping Thunderbolts and the jobs done. Burglars go for the easy pickings. First upstairs to find jewelry and money. They know where to look! Then they look for mobiles, IPods, and IPads - only things that will go in a backpack They want to be in and out in less than 5 minutes hence the majority will not bother with a safe. Worthwhile mentioning also that around 75% of burglars gain access from the rear and these days you can get stand alone motion sensor alarms for a little as ?5 - yes, only ?5 for 110 decibels.

Pete, Having seen the area change over the years, I think your tattoos would last a lot longer than your new business. Tom

Yes the professional burglars can be in and out in within 2 minutes as they know where to look. If they can't get a result quickly, they will quit. Having been burglared some years ago, I decided to invest in a couple of small safes. One for passports/jewelry and bigger one for documents ( banking etc etc) They are simple to bolt to a brick wall using Thunder Bolts. For under ?50 you can have piece of mind. I have one spare which I bought for my son at Uni but he will be staying in halls again next year so it's surplus to requirements. I am asking ?39 for it. It is new, unused and still in its original box. http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9380972&fh_location=//catalog01/en_GB/categories%3C%7B9372015%7D/categories%3C%7B9372044%7D/categories%3C%7B9382012%7D/specificationsProductType=safes/specificationsSpecificProductType=electronic_safes Here's a pic of the Thunder Bolts.

Sue Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > DJKillaQueen Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > To be fair though, postmen are paid to do a job > > and some of them aren't doing it. It's hard to > > have any sympathy for that. > > xxxxxxxxxx > Yes, but that didn't appear to be the point that > tomdhu was making, and he hasn't come back in > response to my post. The main point I was making was in my original post QUOTE If they can't be @rsed to provide the service that they are paid to provide, why does Royal Mail continue to exist at all? UNQUOTE - which is not too far from DJKQ's take on it. Whatever, Royal Mail has for a long time been a problem that the politicians have stuggled with - best described as primarily a huge pension fund with a cr@ppy postal delivery service attached. Get rid of it. If Ronald Regan can sack 7000 bolshie skilled air traffic controllers (and still keep air transport running) then replacing several thousand low skilled postmen shouldnt be all that difficult. I had another incident about a year ago when I was actually out of the house when a delivery had been attempted. I came home to find the red card which said "The pkt is in your brown bin". The brown bin had been put out to the front of the house that morning but, by a stroke of good fortune, the bin men had failed to empty it as scheduled. Is this a case of two wrongs making a right?? :) Oh, and finally Sue, if did find myself out of a job (again) I would take anything going - including delivering mail. I've been made redundant several times but I never been out of work for very long. I've always found that having a job, any job, makes it easier to get considered when applying for another (eg better paid ) job.

Update. It has been suggested that when the sorting office doesn't have a driver available or if their parcel van has is out of service, they hire a casual to go out on foot with the red cards with the cards already written out but with the time only added when he gets to the door of the recipient. Card gets popped though your letter box and the door bell doesn't get rung.

Thanks for the advice DJKQ. What sticks in my craw is that only a few months ago RM postal workers were given a very very generous payoff by the Labour government, including:- a) 7% pay increase. b) Reduction of 1 hour in the working week. c) A gift of ?2,500 for accepting modernisation. d) Improved maternity and paternity arrangements. e) Guarantee of no enforced redundancies. On top of this they will all receive gold-plated final salary pensions that we tax payers are having to pay for. No wonder the economy is in hole.

I have just become a victim, once again, of this little fiddle. I was at home (on my knees wiring up a network socket) in the room immediately adjacent to the front door. I heard footsteps on the pebbles in the front yard as someone walked up to the front door. This was immediately followed by the sound of the flap on the letter box dropping back down. No door bell ring or knock whatsoever. Having already had a delivery of letters a couple of hours earlier, I was intruiged to find out what had come through the letter box. I took a break from what I was doing, got up and went to the front door in what was less that 20 seconds. I noticed a red card had been delivered and immediately recollected the recent posts to the forum. The card indicated that a packet could not be deilvered because "It's too large". So I thought, great, if I am quick I'll be able to catch the postie and get the package. Got outside and looked around. No postie or post van in sight. Whoever it was was b****y quick! Based on this and the comments in earlier posts, it suggests that the cards are written out in advance and the packages are not actually in the van and therefor not actually available to be delivered. So, like a lot of others, I'll have to turn up at Sylvester Road sorting office some time Saturday. Are they working a nice little earner involving overtime on the Saturday or there some other angle? If they can't be @rsed to provide the service that they are paid to provide, why does Royal Mail continue to exist at all?