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We had another rough night last night. I was awoken at 3am by the Mrs asking if I'd heard a noise. Of course I hadn't because I was flat out with my earbuds in. Seconds later she's opening the window and shouting to someone that she's phoning the police and a less polite version of "please vacate my residential driveway".
I jumped out of bed and looked out the window and there were 3 big lads, fully kitted up like ninjas, masks, hoods, gloves, Nike Air Max's, metal bars in hand, slowly walking away from around our car which was blocking the garage door.
You may remember that I posted around 18 months ago that our garage door was ripped open and I lost a Geometron and a Transition. The garage door has been broken and screwed shut since then which is why it didn't pop open again. As they were casually walking up the street one of them shouted back "It was us last time as well. I took your push bikes."
That's not all though. As they were walking away they were checking car doors. One car door opened, so he reached inside and released the handbrake then just walked away. Just as they disappeared out of my sight, a white hatchback came speeding down the hill backwards and eventually came to rest in the engine bay of someone else's Octavia. So there's 2 cars written off out of spite because they were upset at being chased off.
So yeah. We’ve now got this to think about every night at bedtime. I’m at a hectic new job with my brain firing on 1 cylinder and Mrs has been on Rightmove all day. I’d move house right now but obviously it’s not a quick fix and would take months. On inspection, because our door doesn't slide up anymore they've got their hands under it and peeled it open so now it's folded over at the bottom and unsecured. I've screwed some sheets of ply wood to it.
Also, two weekends ago, our new next door neighbour had their similarly crap garage door popped open and an e-bike taken. CCTV from over the road showed 3 lads actually spent most of their time trying to get into our garage but it was totally blocked by my van. They then went next door and tried that one.
So they're not strangers or random opportunists. They know where we live and what we've got. They’ve had one easy score and they’re going to keep trying for another one. And now we’ve upset them and they have a point to prove.
I feel literally, physically sick thinking about it. I can't imagine what they'll do next.
We live in a nice(ish) place. It’s a bit scruffy but it’s mostly quiet and peaceful (just like me). But, these scrotes got lucky once and now we’re on their hit list. Unless we win the lottery this weekend we’re stuck where we are for the foreseeable.
Absolutely bummed out today.
The cops gave me this pamphlet when the riots were on so that we could protect our shop.
It's amazing what I now have "easily to hand"
Scum of the highest order.
See if they'd been caught and incarcerated (or ideally, hanged) 18 months ago all this would have been avoided. Perhaps the two written off cars might force the police to do something this time.
The sterotypical hand wringing lefties I'm sure will say they just need a youth club and/or it's Thatchers fault somehow.
I'm sorry for your shit situation.
Reported to the Police? They've gone armed and you would hope the police would be pretty proactive in removing them from the streets.
-Everything secured in the garage?
-Security lights?
-Security system ?
I've even put this in the wrong forum. I did say my brain was fried!
I also do have some objects to hand but unless they're in the house I'm not going to run outside looking for a fight. I'll just end up stabbed.
It’s amazing what I now have “easily to hand”
Just don't go full Tony Martin on them.
That's horrible mate, got done over at my old place so I know how you feel now.
Definitely don't run out and start swinging at three big lads with crowbars, film them while you call the police.
Any scope to keep bikes in house? Or build extension for them with the money you'd spend on a move?
Problem is 1 against 3 is not good odds even if you happen to grab a baseball bat you had lying in the hall from playing baseball earlier that day or my personal fav a 4d Maglite, (obviously I grabbed my torch on the way out the house your honour as it was dark).
Feel for you and honestly I think in the mid term a move is sensible. Not feeling safe in your own home is not a nice way to live.
Sounds horrible hope the police get the ****ers.
Any scope to keep bikes in house? Or build extension for them with the money you’d spend on a move?
garage conversion extension, keep the bikes somewhere else inside the house.
I think @tracey managed to thwart returning theives with a second, internal cage in the rear half of the garage.
I'd move. I'd also be storing the bikes elsewhere and/or upping security. Nothing will stop them if they're brazen enough to admit to doing your house over last time and would quite happily take a handbrake off, sending an out of control car anywhere...
Any ring doorbell footage?
Folk like that need a good shoeing.
Really shit that is. CCTV and PIR lights, alarms in the garage. Do what you can to make life difficult for them but don't do so much that they want to get into your house. Bikes are just bikes, they sell them in shops or on the internet, so don't worry too much about someone nicking them. If you don;t need to use the up and over door in the garage put stuff in front of them on the inside. That end of my garage is full of racking with camping gear on, you literally cannot open the up and over door.
Feel for you OP.
Police might give you a crime number for the damage to your property but that's it.
Was in the news yesterday that in half of constabularies not one single solitary burglary was solved. They have basically stopped bothering with burglary as they don't have the people.
Having had my garage done a few years back, the key is to have a good alarm, good security and really good insurance. You're really hoping they move down the street to someone without an alarm or shit security and rob them instead.
Lights and CCTV are pointless, your helping them see what their doing and they know the police won't use the CCTV footage.
By the way, my comment above about moving wasn't made lightly. We had similiar'ish about 8 years ago. House next to us was a private rental which ended up taking a council "problem" family. That kick started nearly 8 months of absolute hell ranging from being able to hear the husband and wife kicking seven shades out of each other, their feral teenage kids sat on the wall looking straight into our house, being threatened in the street when we asked them to watch their language when our 3 year old was playing in the street etc.
We tried everything we could with police and council to get them out and eventually it worked and they were evicted but by that point we were months into selling our place and buying another and going through with it was the best thing we ever did.
Alternatively, the cage mentioned above would be an expensive but worthwhile addition although for them to get as far as seeing the bikes locked inside a cage they're still going to have to have got into your garage and theres nothing to say that next time they won't try and fire up one of those cars with an unlocked door and ram raid the garage.
Horrific for you OP. As someone who has suffered with where they live, you have my sympathy...
To answer some of your questions...
The Police were bang on to be fair. Last time they showed up 8 hours later but last night we had 3 cars in around 5 minutes. Obviously there was no sign of the scrotes, they've probably just gone into their mates house around the corner.
Everything in the garage is secured. Ground anchors, massive chains, D-locks. Even if they had unrestricted access it would be a nightmare trying to take anything without the keys. Nothing else valuable in there.
Lots of CCTV in the street but you basically get a video of a gang of masked individuals doing you over which is both terrifying to watch and utterly useless in identifying anyone. You can't even read the plate on the car that they used to do numerous sighting laps.
I'm definitely considering moving. It's horrible timing with the prices of everything but I'm not living with this hanging over us for years on end.
I know this kind of thing happens all over the country but I feel like they know who we are now and we've pissed them off. We have absolutely no defence against them terrorizing us whenever they feel like it.
The only good news is that young'un slept through the whole thing and isn't traumatised.
Sorry man. Sucks.
Sorry to hear this.
They'll be back, not tonight, or tomorrow, but in a few weeks/months when you've dropped your guard a bit more.
Not much you can do aside from increase your level of visible security to try and put them off having another go- as you say, they know what you've got.
Can you get a roller shutter garage door , so that its obvious you have improved things security wise? On the inside, many different chains and ground anchors so it takes a while to cut through them all (or a cage) and hopefully they make a noise. An alarm on the garage would be good too, they're obviously not bothered about waiting until you are not home before having a go, so if you can get it set up so you are woken up when they have a try , at least you can send the mrs after them.
We were burgled a few weeks ago when we were away on holiday, they broke in and found the keys to the cars, and took them both along with some unopened birthday cards containing a bit of cash for my sons 12th birthday. We have cctv so I have some nice footage of them prowling around ,then breaking in. They tried breaking in last summer , but didnt get in, I thought that given the fact they didnt get in last time wouldve put them off, but they came back 9 months later and finished the job. I assume they will be back again......Police not interested in the cctv footage, and seemingly powerless to catch them or prevent it happening again. All my neighbours have also been broken into over the last few weeks - presumably the same scrotes.
We now have those driveway security posts to try and act as a more visible deterrent, door locks replaced with antisnap locks, security film on the inside of the garage windows, garage alarm fitted, 2 ground anchors ,plus 3 different chains holding the bikes. Car keys & spares will now always be with us when we're not at home. None of this will stop them if they decide they want what we have, but it might slow them down.
They’ll be back, not tonight, or tomorrow, but in a few weeks/months when you’ve dropped your guard a bit more.
I know this. I think we'll be on Rightmove all evening after work!
Can you get a roller shutter garage door , so that its obvious you have improved things security wise?
Yes. First job. Already on the case.
On the inside, many different chains and ground anchors so it takes a while to cut through them all (or a cage) and hopefully they make a noise.
Already done. Honestly, if I lost the keys to all the Kryptonite gear I have, I'd just have to surrender my bike to the sands of time, or go through a stack of cutting discs. There's also an alarm sensor in there which made them scarper last time as they were fully inside where there's a door to the house.
I think they got lucky last time. There was no way anyone knew the bikes were inside but I had a desirable car on the drive and I think they came looking for the keys. I left the garage door unblocked and the bikes unlocked because we'd been in and out of hospital all week with a sick baby and I was too knackered to think about it.
I know this. I think we’ll be on Rightmove all evening after work!
I talked about moving after our recent burglary - but as the mrs quite rightly points out to me- you dont know whether you're just moving to a house with a different burglary problem. If we get targeted again in the next year or so, we're moving..... This was our 2nd actual burglary ( 3 attempted) in 16 years of living here
It's true what you say, it does happen everywhere and I'm definitely not a paranoid person. But, now we know we're being targeted on multiple occasions by the same people. There's no telling what they're willing to do and no way of stopping them. It's just a fun night out for them isn't it?
Just don’t go full Tony Martin on them.
You can still shoot them if they are coming towards you, just not shoot them in the back as they are leaving.
Really sorry OP. The Police really need to be trying to stretch their limited resources to keep an eye out as it's obviously an organised gang targeting the area, but I'm not sure what else you can do in the meantime.
There is another way of thinking about it.
I’ve had a car and various other things nicked, similar deal with local scrotes.
My view now is that it’s stuff, and it’s mostly stuff that’s insured. If they want it that much they can have it. As long as they don’t come inside the house they can have what they want from the garage and driveway.
I make reasonable provisions to stop it, secure garage door, locks, car keys in a secure box, etc. but that’s as much to appease the insurers as it is to deter the scrotes.
Don’t let the scum bags get you down.
Big angry dog in the garage?
Could you put your bikes into a local storage unit?
Really sorry to read this, that's not a pleasant way to live.
ut, now we know we’re being targeted on multiple occasions by the same people.
That in particular is the bit that'd get me - the fact it's not random and, as their brazen behaviour shows, they don't give a **** about you knowing it's them. As you say, you know they'll be back.
I've no suggestions other than MORE time on Rightmove
sympathies. we were burgled 6 years ago. it took me years to get over it. I still sleep really badly. what helped was fitting cctv so I can check it when I wake rather than go downstairs and investigate every time.
it seems it is really getting out of hand. desperation and lack of punishment driving it
if things keep going in this direction we may see the rise of gangs you pay a protection fee to, to keep your property safe....
I'd be moving everything into a local storage unit and leaving the door to my empty garage wide open. Feels like the least worse short term solution.
Get a garage door that locks the ****ers in.
if things keep going in this direction we may see the rise of gangs you pay a protection fee to, to keep your property safe….
Buccaneering private enterprise - just the sort of thing the Tories love.
if things keep going in this direction we may see the rise of gangs you pay a protection fee to, to keep your property safe….
It's already here (has been for years),in my area at least, which is partly why I suspect so many houses round our way keep getting done over, because they won't pay the local 'security firm' their fee.
So they’re not strangers or random opportunists. They know where we live and what we’ve got. They’ve had one easy score and they’re going to keep trying for another one. And now we’ve upset them and they have a point to prove.
But, now we know we’re being targeted on multiple occasions by the same people. There’s no telling what they’re willing to do and no way of stopping them. It’s just a fun night out for them isn’t it?
Actually, if you think logically about this your wife scared them off just by opening a window and shouting. If they were truly menacing they'd have kicked your front door in to shut her up in person. The car handbrake was an interesting tactic - either it was to stop you chasing them or perhaps so that it if the police turned up they were delayed dealing with that and not chasing them. In any case its clear that a lot of noise and the threat of the police and they are off. They may well come back - they will know you have new stuff by now, but if they've been twice in recent weeks and got nothing from you they might move on to an easier target.
We got done a few years ago. They came masked up, kicked the garage door in and got to work trying to break my bike locks. One of them took his mask off inside the garage and my internal hidden CCTV camera got a great shot together with audio of them talking.
He eventually went down for around 10 years for multiple burglaries including mine.
I went to the court to watch, sat behind his skank mum smiling the whole time.
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/predatory-teen-who-violently-robbed-15501094
I went to the court to watch, sat behind his skank mum smiling the whole time.
I hope we get a moment like that.
It would be quite productive to rig your garage to "catch" them and lock them in for the Police to collect.
In the interim I'd go for some huge lumen sensor lighting and an alarm inside the garage so loud as to drive them out.
Then move so you can get a decent night's sleep again.
I fitted one of these in the garage, linked to the PIR in there. Pisses me right off when I set it off accidentally.
In my motorcycling days there used to be "security" articles, the alarm mines were just one element!
My favourite was wiring the metal garage door up to a car ignition coil and a micro-switch under a mat outside, apparently the scrote "lit up like the Ready Brek kids"!!
Ps I'm really sorry you are going through this, we had a car stolen from outside a few months ago which was annoying enough.
Good luck with however you choose to proceed.
Ask the beat coppers where the local robbers/burglars live then move onto the same street as one or two of them. You want mid-ranking villains as they don't like others drawing police attention to where they live.
That’s a terrible thing to happen.
From a bike point of view can you remove everything expensive from your garage and leave it at a relative or friend’s house that’s not local?
We had someone break into our garage about 15 years ago and while we were in the process of moving away I took everything of value (bikes, boats, tools, etc) out of the garage and stored it at my parents’s farm an hour away. It was a ballache from a biking point of view but when they came back all they found was an empty garage and a really good resolution camera.
My favourite was wiring the metal garage door up to a car ignition coil and a micro-switch under a mat outside, apparently the scrote “lit up like the Ready Brek kids”!!
That's a good way to get yourself a holiday at HM expense.
Hey there,
We used to live in a very dodgy area, but the locals were friends and Romany Gypsies. Once said to a Policeman friend that we had never had any problems. It turned out that our son taking their kids mountain biking paid off 😉 Policeman said there's a good reason that you have never been targeted by the local scrotes. The local scrotes assumed we were Romany too and hence avoided us 😉
On the same note Guard Geese:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_goose
On a footnote one of the Romany Gypsies van was broken into, knocked on my door asking for footage from my security camera. During the conversation said the scrotes better hope they get caught by the police first, heck!
To be honest Romanies are lovely people and always got on with them well. Maybe by having dark skin dark hair and having Turkish in the family paid off 😉
BR
Jerry
Sorry to hear this. When I got my bike stolen about 6 years ago, it really changed things for me. Constantly paranoid, even now we've moved to a nicer, quieter area. You should never feel unsafe in your home, but I did for years, and still do at times.
I really hope you find a solution.
This thread is properly depressing. To think this stuff goes on and is pretty much waved through by the rozzers because they haven't got the resources to deal with it...
21st Century Britain. Won't be too long before the prevalence of gated communities goes through the roof.
😥
Amazon blink cctv system is fairly cheap, and it works reasonably well.
Do not go out to them.
Call the cops if you’re woken up, they will take it seriously if the lads are armed with iron bars
Amazon blink cctv system is fairly cheap, and it works reasonably well.
We have blink cameras everywhere, and it captured some great footage of the scrotes breaking into our house, and of them taking one of the cameras out, but the footage was not sufficient to get an identification. The police werent interested in it at all.
So cctv doesnt seem to put them off, but it does allow you know you've been done when you're out of the country and at least get a friend to go round and secure the house again.
Sorry to hear about this. Distressing stuff.
With regards to CCTV camera's, are they a double edged sword? On the one hand, stay away, you are on film (even tho you are covered up), on the other hand, i have camera's as i dont want you stealing my expensive stuff?
Touch wood, only ever been the victim of theft once, many moons ago, when my 10 day old Trek got stolen. I still had to pay it off over the following two years! These days i really should have more security, despite living in somewhere i feel totally safe.
Well, I slept like a log last night! I didn't really have a choice after being awake over for 20 hours.
I've got a mortgage advisor figuring out what our new house budget would be but by God, Rightmove is depressing. Sheffield is full of very small, hideously ugly, vastly overpriced houses. We can't afford a big leap into anything much better but just a change of location would remove our unwelcome acquaintances from our life.
Insurance bloke is coming to look at the garage door but not until next Thursday. Not sure what happens after that regarding choosing a supplier and door etc. If I can choose what we get I'm going with Latham's www.lathamssteeldoors.co.uk/security-garage-doors/side-hinged-garage-door
The garage is totally barricaded shut front and rear. You're not coming in without a sustained effort with very noisy power tools.
The Police said they would come and take statements from ourselves and our neighbours when they came on shift last night but that didn't happen. We've got CCTV where you can clearly here their voices as they walk away taking the piss out of us but we've got no one to give it to yet.
Nothing else to do but wait and hope for peace.
Lentil belt - Meersbrook / Heeley? FWIW I can recommend Shefflock if you need doors/locks supplying or fitting. Not sure if they do garage doors though.
I've been broken into twice in the past five years or so (different houses in different areas) - both times they didn't actually take anything 😀 !
First one was into the house proper, the police reckoned they were after car keys only so left when they didn't find any. Absolutely horrific mess though. I'd just rented a van that morning for three days and assume they put two and two together seeing it outside. Either that or someone at Arnold Clark was on the make.
Second time someone broke into our garage which was filled with furniture only. Haha again, ****s! Fixing the door was a pain though.
OP please bear in mind these are cocky little sh1ts dragged up by sh1t parents - they don't give a flying ****. They will know most of the houses locally and who has stuff as the y did you over, they know you will have replaced it. Personally, I'd beef up security - it happens everywhere, you just have to make your house less of a target.
We're tucked up in a little cul de sac, but we've had the garage targeted twice and one of the cars 'gone through', plus other 'visits'. Just the other week, we were returning from holiday at 3am, and my wife spotted 3 lads in 'hoddies' prowling round the local streets.
They are looking for easy pickings - sort that garage door, and you'll be OK.
After each attempt, my garage security went up - lots of locks stop the door being pealed back, and bikes locked inside.
Remember, these little sh1ts aren't deliberately targeting you, they are doing this night after night as they can get away with it.
Do you actually need a garage door? Could you not brick / block it up and leave a regular UPVC door in situ or access it from elsewhere?
Yep, brick up the big, wide access point.
Then put in a steel dead bolted security door. You might need substantial wooden posts to mount it to.
Add a nuisance siren inside that garage so in the event they blow the door open they won't be able to stay inside the garage for more than a few seconds.
Could you put your bikes into a local storage unit?
This was my thought. Let them come back and finish ruining your existing garage door, find nothing and **** off. Then replace the totally knackered door with the insurance money plus a bit extra with something decent. Or just keep the bikes elsewhere mid-term whilst you consider your options.
Total nightmare though, I feel for you OP.