Why would you steal two old fence panels?

[1moreglassplease]

Woke up this morning and opened the curtains in the bedroom. Discovered that the two fence panels at the end of my garden which separate me and my NDN have been removed and stolen. Neither of us heard a thing.

Spoke to him this morning about it (he''s a nice guy) and he was a bit bemused. It's being sorted by me but why would you steal two fence panels that are about 15 years old? They surely wouldn't be worth much? Just wondering whether this is a 'thing' and whether anyone has had any other weird things stolen from their property.

Firewood?
To mend a fence?

Kids for a bonfire perhaps?

they need them to repair their own fence and dont want it looking odd with new panels and the rest old

It's only going to be one of the neighbours who can see it from their house surely, since nobody else would even know they're there or have access at all?

Tbh I'd suspect the NDN had them removed because they're old and then felt awkward after you mentioned 'stealing' and acted none the wiser.

Someone on a local Facebook page had their garden gate stolen the other day and another commented to say they'd had their gas meter stolen from the front of their house. People steal the weirdest things.

Id say NDN or if its someone else then firewood (how many people can see them from the street?)

Back in my student days, one of my friends and her housemates woke up one morning and their front door had gone!

Had my hose pipe cut from outside tap during the night

There is a shortage of timber at the moment and I have heard this is affecting fencing supplies.

I work in a similar area but not fencing; I regularly need lengths of raw wood and I can confirm this is the case in my industry.

Maybe some odd job type handyman has nicked them to do someone else's fencing job?

People are strange. We had someone steal a plant pot from our front garden. They replanted it in an empty pot we wanted to get rid of and stole the pot we liked. We were bemused to say the least.

Thanks everyone.

It's definitely not my NDN as we're a terrace property and this affects him too. He's done a lot of work on his garden and had had the panels painted on his side last year so that wouldn't make sense. The rest of the fence is still there and so is the other side. Other surrounding neighbours all have intact fences.

There's a private road at the back so I guess they must have come over via that.

Spiderlight - that's amazing. Did they not hear anything?

Happy - that might explain it but it seems like a lot of work to go to just for two panels.

People are indeed very strange

Somebody has decided to start on a pathway into petty crime and has misunderstood the meaning of 'a fence' ?!

How bizarre, though. I suppose it's a crime of convenience rather than of high value. A couple of fence panels don't cost that much brand new, but there's the hassle of getting them home from B&Q or wherever or paying for and waiting in for delivery (if they don't have a minimum order value for delivery which is way more than two fence panels). Also, as a PP said, the brand new ones then look silly next to the existing old ones.

Obviously, it's very wrong, but I can easily see why somebody would consider all the above and then contrast it with just nicking somebody else's and walking around the corner with them, and then opt for the latter.

Somebody has decided to start on a pathway into petty crime and has misunderstood the meaning of 'a fence' ?!

WeBuilt (love your user name and can't get that song out of my head now). It must have been just as inconvenient to climb over the back and try and lift the panels out of the concrete posts and lift them over the back fence so they must be desperate to finish their DIY, never mind the inconvenience to me and the NDN.

Hey ho - more bloody expense.

I’ve just woken up to find a whole back fence panel gone in the night so is this the new normal as it was old and is it possibly a person in the neighbourhood ?as they know a disabled person lives here whoever did this so it’s a despicable act and unnerving someone is watching your house.