Welcome To The Gardien Newsletter

In this newsletter:

1. Beat Tommy T-Leaf : Beat the Crunch
2. Tip of the Iceberg
3. Fighting Garden Crime

Beat Tommy T-Leaf : Beat the Crunch

Hard times lead to more crime.

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Click on to Metal Sheds, Property Marking Stencils, DNA Property Marking (for Garden Antiques), Neulocks & Bolts Rootball Anchors, Shed Shackles, Deterrent Signs.

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Tip of the iceberg

A major problem with the growth of Garden Crime is that, in the main, individual break-ins are not particularly newsworthy and do not hit the headlines - further examples of the "man bites dog" syndrome!

However, our earlier warnings of the increase in garden crime - no doubt fuelled by the adverse economic conditions, have been endorsed by the reports in our last three Newsletters of country-wide thefts of York stone paving, expensive plants and garden antiques, together with numerous shed break-ins. Understandably, the only industry sector shouting "Help" are the Insurance Companies. This month we are featuring two examples of local garden break-ins, which have received no previous publicity; we are only aware of them because of personal contact. This is happening across the country on a huge scale!

Put it to the test - ask your own friends and contacts!

Two very different targets were the victims of garden theft last week in one area of South Manchester. In the first case two mature bay trees were removed from the driveway at the side of the house. The trees were in pots which were themselves sitting in large planters – the planters are heavy and were left but the trees were hauled out and will cost about £70 each to replace. The theft is thought to have occurred at night and was obviously undertaken by someone who knew the value of the trees as many others in the garden remained untouched. The owners were at home when the theft occurred and though it is obviously not a major loss financially it leaves a feeling of unease and some anger. The best suggestion here is to use constant dusk-to dawn lighting since thieves are much less likely to approach a lit environment and the cost of such lighting is now very low. The alternative would be to use a Rootball Anchor fitted through the base of each planter.

Not far away (and possibly on the same day) a garden shed was emptied of its primary contents to a value around £750.00 while the owners were away. Inspection of the premises indicated that entry was almost certainly via a low gap in the garden hedge, which gives access to open land. The shed window was not curtained so a torch would easily show what was inside, and the flimsy lock was soon broken (there was even a garden fork available in the garden in case the thieves turned up without tools). Strimmers and other electrical equipment were taken and will surely appear at a car boot sale before long. The number one preventive action here has to be to secure the boundary, which is mainly impenetrable holly, and thereafter to deal with the shed. There are different options here but we would recommend a physical barrier such as a Shed Bar, or the utopian solution of a secure metal shed

All cases of garden crime should be reported to the police so that accurate statistics can be built up re the scale of the problem nationwide.

Alternatively you can contact Crime stoppers on 0800 555111 or on-line via https://secure.crimestoppersuk.org

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Fighting Garden Crime

Calling all Crime Reduction & Community Safety Officers

The following flyer is now available to help in the fight against Garden Crime.

We hope that it will prove useful, particularly to your Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators, Allotment Society contacts etc.

To obtain your free copies, please contact us at feedback@garden-security.co.uk stating the number required and the address to send them to.

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