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Sat on the sofa and garage alarm goes off. Go to back door and dog rushes out barking.
Security light is broken, side window has glass broken and is wide open. However alarm has worked and drop bars behind internal doors did their job.
Bristol. BS6. 36 minutes ago.
Police informed but it's all kicking off in the centre of town so they have better things to deal with for now. Kids are bit shook up.
FTS.
Oh dear, hope the kids are OK. Good that your security worked. We had a spate of antisocial behaviour (people kicking the front door and chucking stuff at the windows) when the kids were 3 and 4. It scared them but they got over it thankfully. Nasty business all this awful behaviour.
Bring them inside as they’ll be back, put the security light higher up and buy a pack of hunting dogs.
Bristol seems to be going to **** at the moment. Massive bike theft and various riots. Over in BS15 there were a spate of bike thefts last year (neighbour lost his bike but they only part got my up and over door open as I had too much crap behind it) 🤣
What do you mean by drop bars behind internal doors?
Are those string activated blank shotgun cartridge devices still available?
I really feel for you, life is hard enough at the moment without people being such utter tools.
Doesn't sound like too much damage but I'm only round the corner if you need a (socially distanced) hand with repairs
and various riots
Yep, I think we are up to nine now, in the last 300 years. Getting crazy.
In Bristol or the UK as a whole?
Anyway my sympathies to the OP and as has already mentioned probably best to bring the bikes inside for a while also worth playing down your worries/fears etc at least when the kids are in earshot as no need to worry them overly. Kids imaginations can run wild with sort of thing.
OP on the plus side it sounds like the time and money you invested in extra security was well spent - it could have been far worse this morning!
Agree about taking the bikes in for a short period. All my bikes live indoors, but I do have a shedful of knackered kids bikes which I wish someone would take.!!!
Thanks for the offer Nickjb - only a small broken window and a security light to deal with, which I can manage.
The last break-in 18 months ago paid for the improved security.
So it looks like a targeted hit.
Neighbour's camera shows them walking up road, down lane, over wall, breaking window and away in under 3 mins. No hanging around and straight to the garage. My money is on the same guys as last time.
A mate of mine had 3 high end bikes taken from his garage, last week, just over the water nr Chepstow.
Reckons it was a targeted job, during the day when they in the house. The garage is about 10 metres from his back door.
drop bars behind internal doors
What are these? Got any pics?
Two pairs of these with timber bars top and bottom.
I've done a lot of Strava Detective work and general 'hacking' recently (not Strava application hacking - just social / public domain). It's just too easy, so for anyone reading this thread who's concerned about targeted attacks (I presume the same applies to Garmin and other activity tracking services):
- Remove your visual signs (bike rack on cars, stickers, cleaning in plain view)
- Set your Strava profile to Request to Follow and kick out all the followers you don't know whom you signed up once upon a time for Kudos harvesting. Why would you want someone following you on Strava whom you'd never met and who didn't want to introduce themselves?
- Add some Privacy Zones and be conscious of your mates privacy zones if local rides/riders come via your house. We've all seen routes where the wiggle is obvious that you stopped and if it's in a residential area it's a pretty good guess what's there. How you use privacy zones should consider how isolated your house is. You can set more than one.
- Change your Strava name to something fake so your Strava efforts can't be linked to other social media (see below). Why would you want someone finding you on Strava whom you weren't talking to via other channels? It needn't be too hidden, just something that doesn't can't be linked to other public domain information.
- Set your Strava activities to default to Private/Followers - You only want to enable activities to Public if you want KOM / leaderboards or other status, otherwise what's the point? For rides from your house where you have / want KOM presence, take extra care as I suspect KOM lists are mined because of the likely correlation with high-end kit.
- Check your other social media settings particularly Facearse. There's loads of rider groups on there with 1000's of members not all of whom are honest. These groups are a great source of raw data to go 'hunting' with but they're not the only source. So be careful what you post and if you've never considered your FB privacy settings take the time to educate yourself.
- I've yet to have a look at some of the other 'paid for' public sources of information but I expect for crims it's probably worth having the ability to link names to addresses.
Of course some of these overlap so there's a fair bit of belt and braces but doing this is a hell of a lot less inconvenient than the consequences of theft. And as OP (and others) say, once they've been once they'll likely come back for the insurance.
^^ Great advice. Obviously my forum username comes from a more carefree time. 😉
I've always had Strava locked down and don't do any other social media apart from here. My ride home from trails also always includes some wrong way up a one way street and across a park.
In this case I'm certain they were the ones who had my bikes last time. This time they were met with steel doors with full perimeter locking, security lights, drop bars, an alarm and a Hungarian rescue dog. If they were to get into the garage element, they would be met with yet more challenges. Think Crystal Maze for wrong'uns.
“ Think Crystal Maze for wrong’uns.” genuine LoL.
Glad they didn’t get anything mate, and you and the dog are alright too!
Glad everyone is okay OP. Make your partner sleep on the sofa and snuggle up with the bikes tonight.
Makes me glad that I don’t live in the UK - or at least where you are....
I don't feel we are missing out.
It is always unsettling to have your home violated. Glad you are all ok and its not too much to deal with.
It sounds opportunistic rather than carefully planned and targeted. After all, they failed.
I guess it is only cameras and/or additional lighting that could do more than the security you already have.
dogbone
Full Memb https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-Pair-STEEL-Drop-In-Security-BRACKET-Fits-60-x-30-mm-Wood-or-Bar-SCREWS/361841673057?hash=item543f71c361:g:uj4AAOSwLxheaLXeTwo pairs of these with timber bars top and bottom.
Bookmarking those. Not seen them before and will be handy for my sons new place with a decidedly shonky garage door.
How do those bars work? Do you use them on the big garage door on the inside then exit the garage through another door?
How do those bars work?
You can fit them on the inside then exit from another door (great if your garage is attached) but generally they are fitted on the outside then padlocked in place
This reminds me I need to screw an unused door shut....
So they came back last night at 1.30am.
This time they tried to break in via the roof. They unscrewed one of the galvanised corrugated sheets and removed it. Then they found that I had ply lined the ceiling for just this reason. The dog then heard them and went mental. That woke me up and they pissed off.
Luckily it all screwed back together this morning. Even if they'd got in there is an alarm and the doors don't unlock from the inside..
Going to replace the roof panel bolts with security ones. Maybe time for a camera aimed at rear lane as well.
Get a Rottweiler & keep it in the garage? 😜
That sucks.
If they're determined, they'll find a way. Hopefully they won't be back a third time.
However, the question I'd ask yourself now is "do I actually want to confront these guys if they do get inside"?
I hope your insurance is up to scratch and you've got gold sold secure chains / ground anchors inside (and photos of them being locked up / copies of frame numbers etc - to give the insurance company no place to squirm).
Any interest from the police this time?
This was the third visit. First one was before the building work and they took 3 bikes all locked together (Yeti, Santa Cruz & Orbea).
Photos, ground anchors (one per bike) and big arse chains. Insurance unlimited and new for old.
No interest from police and I know of at least 5 hits locally in the last 4 days..
Not sure it would achieve much, but in your situation, I wouldn't be able to stop myself writing a strongly worded letter to the PCC for the area as well as your MP.
Either that, or I'd be setting the sort of protective measures that I wouldn't be discussing in an open forum.
gold sold secure chains
Get Almax chains, they make gold secure bike locks look like the stuff that holds your bath plug on.
And do you have security cameras?
Get Almax chains
+1.
& locks to match!
Blimey, just remembered left the garage unlocked when I went out at lunchtime! Thanks for the reminder 😳
No camera (yet) but alarm sensors which link to my phone. And a dog.
dogbone
Full Member
No interest from police and I know of at least 5 hits locally in the last 4 days..
Yeah, funny old thing that, had the same last year just north of brizzle, they don't even send someone round anymore, just a case of them asking if you caught them on camera, if no they go straight to case closed.
Had two bikes nicked just over 2 years ago, different house, about 7k worth of bikes nicked, police don't even turn up, funnily enough they did start sending me stuff about taking a couple of youngsters to court, but for a completely different thing, as much as i enjoyed reading about the two of them getting deferred sentences for multiple burglaries in south bristol it didn't really mean much for my case.
I keep all of my bikes in the cellar for this exact reason. Hope they just get bored of trying OP and go for an easier target. I’m not sure I’m brave enough to tackle them if they did get in though even with a shotgun in the bedroom (the mrs’, not mine).
If you use almax or pragmasis chains, they will cut the frames they're quite happy flogging components.
A mate of mine spent a fortune on physical security but didn't bother with alarms cctv or lighting.
He did after they came back and chopped through his collection
My mate has a baby monitor in his garage so any noise is picked up and sent to the house.
Can you anti vandal paint the roof?
A camera should be a must with 5 figures worth in the garage, one obvious one as a deterrent and a hidden one to get their ugly mugs unawares. Something to hinder them at the first hurdle of getting onto the property and an early warning system to know they're coming like a motion sensor that also triggers an audio recording so it sounds like you're in the garage with a mate or a dog barking before your actual dog does, have some fireworks at the ready and a co2 powered pistol with pointy pellets loaded. (not that I have a walther cp99 handy or anything after an attempted break-in). 😉
Ever seen a c02 fire suppression system set off by accident? Building regs insist on a fire door between the garage and the house so it must be a real risk.
Shear bolts or security torx on the roof panels
Then some chemical metal in the torx holes, they wont unscrew them.
Box of screws screwed up through the panels, holding the panels up of course, 5 x 100 should do. Punji stakes for people who try to kick in the roof.
If you want a remote deterrent a 120db siren you can trigger with a guarded toggle switch will force them to depart the area very quickly,
I've just ordered new security screws for the roof. Alarm and dog warning stickers as well.
Next will be a flood light to rear lane with security cage (last time they broke the external lights first).
Anti climb paint is a good idea but I'd need to check it's safe for the local fox that uses my roof as a short cut.
It's a bloody shame that you have to do all that just so you can have a nice bike. Hope the robbing bastards get what they deserve.
After a load of quad thefts on Gower one farmer set up a dye bomb, it was quite easy to identify the culprit once they resembled a smurf.
Got off lightly compared to the thief that didn't outrun a farmer a few years previously.
It's a struggle to work out what to use, security cameras are always good, but easily defeated with a simple mask, not many police forces would use the limited evidence to do much with, unless you have a real smackhead who's bungling about without a mask on, or driven up right to your door with the VRN in sight.
Floodlights, our neighbourhood has several that go off all night, nobody bats an eyelid.
Alarm, this is about as good as you'll get, noise is a big deterrent, there's those shotgun blank alarm traps you can get, but with a 6 year old, a bit too dangerous to have about the place!
So reality is, you use cameras and floodlights, but that doesn't stop many burglars who have a bit of ability at it, they know the risks aren't high on them being caught doing the burglary, and if they are, usual deferred sentence is the only real threat they have.
Really good work on being one step ahead of them.
Bear traps and/or flamethrowers are the next logical step, right?
Strobe lights and a ridiculously, painfully loud siren inside the garage that trigger from the main garage alarm.
Alarm triggered smoke generator in a confined space like a garage are good too.
Aidy
Free Member
Really good work on being one step ahead of them.Bear traps and/or flamethrowers are the next logical step, right?
Bear traps are a pain to clean afterwards, and fuel and gas prices are way too high to even think of using flamethrowers!
Nails in the inside of fences, edges of shed roof. Clear out the shed. Arm your door so that when they open it, they get covered in paint. This isn't advice by the way.. 🤣
Time to bring back shards of broken glass cemented into the top of walls.
massive pit with spikes in the bottom and a false floor you need to step on the right squares to cross.
Alarm, this is about as good as you’ll get, noise is a big deterrent,
Is it?
When you hear an alarm going off, do you think "oh my god, I'm / someone is being burgled, I'd better investigate" or do you think "there's a bloody alarm going off"?
I tripped my house alarm a little while ago. The neighbour knocked on my door to see if everything was OK. Which was lovely and all, but if I was being turned over then I'm not wholly sure what a blue-badge owning pensioner would've done about it.
a co2 powered pistol with pointy pellets loaded. (not that I have a walther cp99 handy or anything after an attempted break-in). 😉
Hmm, what exactly do you expect to do with a ~2ft/lb pistol besides annoy them and potentially earn yourself a firearms offence?
If you can put a very loud bell sounder in an enclosed space like a garage, (possible add some strobes) it can make it a very uncomfortable and disorienting place to be.
Maybe your approaching this all wrong. No matter what you've done, they still keep coming back.
In alaska, when bears keep coming back, they trap them, scare them half to death, drug them and put them to sleep and then release them miles away in the middle of nowhere, it stops over 50% coming back.
Just kidding. Hopefully they will think your garage is a nut too hard to crack and go find an easier target.
@Cougar i was just on about personally hearing it, so something that is monitored back to me, some cameras can do this, but really just something that rings near me to tell me someones at the garage.
No interest from police and I know of at least 5 hits locally in the last 4 days..
This for me is the most fked up thing
The police have been so degraded that the only thing they'll investigate is a murder
(apart from speeding which has been turned into a hyper efficient conviction machine)
Very bright strobes sound a good idea - better still if they work with an alarm too.
Squirrelking, Speaking as someone who has been shot in the leg with a pellet from an air pistol its a bit more than annoying, the scumbags would have to be unbelievably bold to stick around and take more shots, I certainly wouldn't stick around for pellet number two and i doubt they'd report you to the cops.
Alarm triggered smoke generator in a confined space like a garage are good too.
CS or tear gas?
CS or tear gas?
Just CO2 would do it.
Fog bomb....
Then some flashbangs
then a pick axe handle
Should fix it nicely
Squirrelking, Speaking as someone who has been shot in the leg with a pellet from an air pistol its a bit more than annoying, the scumbags would have to be unbelievably bold to stick around and take more shots, I certainly wouldn’t stick around for pellet number two and i doubt they’d report you to the cops.
I'd be very surprised if they didn't, there's a very good chance you'll spend time inside on fire arms charges and quite possibly paying compensation to your "victims"
In alaska, when bears keep coming back, they trap them, scare them half to death, drug them and put them to sleep and then release them miles away in the middle of nowhere, it stops over 50% coming back.
This would be bloody brilliant. Capture them, back of a van into the middle of nowhere or central Bristol at the height of rush hour, tell them to strip stark bollock naked and push them out the van.
Capture them, back of a van into the middle of nowhere or central Bristol at the height of rush hour, tell them to strip stark bollock naked and push them out the van.
That's a normal Saturday night, for some folk
Connect the bikes to the mains.
Just dont forget 😉
In alaska, when bears keep coming back, they trap them, scare them half to death, drug them and put them to sleep and then release them miles away in the middle of nowhere, it stops over 50% coming back.
When I grew up in the Fens that was done to a kid burgling locally- stripped, hands tied behind back and dumped in a ditch 15 miles from home , no doubt with some kickings on the way
Squirrelking, Speaking as someone who has been shot in the leg with a pellet from an air pistol its a bit more than annoying, the scumbags would have to be unbelievably bold to stick around and take more shots, I certainly wouldn’t stick around for pellet number two and i doubt they’d report you to the cops.
That may be so but it turns out I was wrong. A CP99 is 1.9J which is actually 1.4fpe, for comparison that's actually within the allowance for airsoft, the legal limit for a pistol is 6fpe. You'd be better off taking a shite and throwing that at them.
As an ARC holder I know I'd be in serious shit if I even got into a pre-meditated altercation never mind with a firearm involved. And as an aside, it's attitudes like yours and @endomick's that means I need a certificate in the first bloody place!
Connect the bikes to the mains.
Don't forget the warning signs outside to be legally compliant. (Not that I've given it some thought).
Hard to claim it was an accident if you put those signs up.
When I grew up in the Fens that was done to a kid burgling locally- stripped, hands tied behind back and dumped in a ditch 15 miles from home , no doubt with some kickings on the way
I am 100% behind this, but he does know where you (or whoever) live...
Hard to claim it was an accident if you put those signs up.
Who said anything about an accident. Aiming for the sub-station effect, there's live conductors and there's a warning. Non fit volenti injuria is a sound defence strategy.
Squirrelking, sorry I upset you and you feel the need to get personal, but turns out you're still wrong, it's 3.5J, 2.3 ft/lbs, 360 feet per second, amused that you went to the trouble of trying to look it up.
It was tongue in cheek, I'm not expecting him to get a gun, but if my guy comes back hes probably getting shot in the arse, especially if he is bold enough to carry on and not leg it the second I spot him, it's my word against his, no witnesses, deny everything.😀
Non-lethal electic fence on your property is legal in the UK
https://knight-fencing.co.uk/regulations-electric-fencing-residential/
Ever seen a c02 fire suppression system set off by accident? Building regs insist on a fire door between the garage and the house so it must be a real risk.
Obviously tongue in cheek.
I could actually arrange this to protect my garage.
There are a couple of issues.
If the concentration is a bit high, you will kill them also a false alarm would be a bit annoying.
A small cylinder, even just a 2kg portable might scare the crap out of them though.
I'd just go for your other suggestion of lots of noise. 240v Master Blaster off of a relay should do the job.
They are rather loud
Obviously tongue in cheek.
I could actually arrange this to protect my garage.
There are a couple of issues.
If the concentration is a bit high, you will kill them
Damn, wondered if anyone would notice. Concentration would need to be high enough to starve the fire of oxygen. If memory serves, there's a small window of oxygen concentration where you kill a fire, but not a person.
You could go for an inert gas and rupture their eardrums instead. Breathable though @around 40%.
Or a Fm200 which is also breathable @around 8.5% (chemical reaction) but might give them cancer. A risk I'd be prepared to take.
Co2 doesn't really have that window.
In fact just use all 3 and properly **** up their shit.