Page 4 | Key Safes - a cautionary tale

Original poster

HurdyGurdy19 · 01/12/2025 07:09

Jellycatspyjamas · 01/12/2025 05:59

Armed response at 3 in the morning is very unusual for a simple car theft - did the police tell you why their response was so extreme?

No, they didn't give many details.

But my husband reckons it was just because an ARU was in the area and was involved in the pursuit "by default", rather than the situation needed an ARU.

Apparently the pursuit was quite prolonged and the police lost them and found them a couple of times, so probably more than one police unit was involved in the pursuit.

OP posts:

CelestialGazer · 01/12/2025 07:09

We don’t have a Yale type lock, but one where you have to pull the handle up and then lock it from the outside. It makes forgetting your key (or simply closing the door by accident) impossible.

miss79guided · 01/12/2025 14:08

HurdyGurdy19 · 30/11/2025 14:16

We are never having another keysafe again.

We were woken at 4am by the police. Unbeknown to us, my son's car had been stolen from our driveway at 3am, was involved in a police chase with the Armed Response Unit, before crashing into a lamppost.

The three thieves, wearing balaclavas, gloves and with hoods up, had used a crowbar to get the keysafe off the wall, and then a screwdriver to get the key out. (They also pulled the video doorbell off the wall)

We have video footage of two of them using the key to come into the house, where they found my keys and our son's keys, coming back out of the house, locking the door behind them, (presumably so that when we had to unlock and open the door, our fingerprints would overlay any that they had left behind, despite them wearing gloves?) and getting into my son's car and driving off. Thank god they only came for the keys, and didn't go any further into the house. My son's bedroom is downstairs and thank god also that he didn't need to get up in the night to use the loo or anything, as I am certain they'd have had no qualms in smashing him with the crowbar 😢

I posted on our local area's Facebook page to see if anyone in the adjoining streets had any doorbell/cctv footage of them walking around, hopefully without their balaclavas on. Turns out these little scrotes have been around at least three nearby streets, trying houses and pulling off video doorbells and multiple pieces of footage have been passed to the police, so with a bit of luck, they may stand a chance of catching them. CID said they "have their suspicions" as to who it was, so with any luck, all the footage will help them identify them.

We have had a parade of police at the house today - the original officers who tracked us down via ANPR, then SOCO, then CID and we will be contacted by the Burglary Section tomorrow.

Our neighbours are now in the process of taking their keysafe off their house, and have told their children to do the same.

The keysafe for us has been a godsend (during my Menopause Years, I was forever forgetting my keys and getting locked out), but never again. We are now looking into changing the lock for a digital one so we never need a spare key again.

Oh but the hassle this has now caused. My son has had to take today and tomorrow off work as he needs his car to get there, and has had to speak to police, and his insurers (waiting for them to call back still) as he needs a courtesy car. So that's two days' lost pay for him. I don't have a spare key for my car (I can't count the number of times I've walked past the Timpson's cabin on my way into the supermarket and thought "I must see if they can cut me a new key for my car" 🙄), and now having to change the lock on the front door (the thieves still have our spare key from the keysafe).

would overlay any that they had left behind, despite them wearing gloves?

NO lockin the door behind them WOULD delay YOU / ANY chase

Original poster

HurdyGurdy19 · 01/12/2025 14:14

@miss79guided - oh of course! My head isnt thinking straight. Of course it would be to delay us.

OP posts:

scalt · 01/12/2025 16:14

@JenniferBooth No mention of the key under the mat in that article.

JenniferBooth · 01/12/2025 18:54

scalt · 01/12/2025 16:14

@JenniferBooth No mention of the key under the mat in that article.

Yes i noticed that I liked the idea of stashing Christmas presents in the attic though, as no burglar will chance going up there in case the resident comes home while they are up there

Nomdemare · 01/12/2025 19:05

Photo of our key safe at our home in London last week. This was inside a cupboard outside the house. Thankfully, nothing of value was taken from inside the house, other than some old jam jars full of foreign currency

Booksandwine80 · 01/12/2025 19:13

I think this is rare. I will say the push button ones are safer than the ones that spin though. We had one where someone in our company changed the code and then left without telling anyone the new number.

We smashed that thing to within an inch of its life with lump hammers and all sorts and there was no getting into it. Admitted defeat and got the lock changed instead.

AnnaQuayInTheUk · 01/12/2025 19:22

I'm very sorry this has happened to you.

I'm an OP social worker. I've never come across anyone who's keysafe has been broken into. I've encouraged my mum to get one, and we've got one ourselves

I think the issue isn't so much with the key safes per se, but with the value of the cars etc on the drive, the look of the house. It's obvious from anyone walking past our house that there's nothing worth stealing - ancient cars, work needed on the house.

My parents house was burgled a few years ago. The burglar broke in through the kitchen window - he (or she?) ignored the key safe.

SemiRetiredLoveGoddeess · 01/12/2025 19:54

OMG.

Where on earth do you live?

Sounds like a real no go area

Did you not hear any noise whilst all this was happening!

godmum56 · 01/12/2025 20:11

truthsayers · 01/12/2025 06:57

the key safe advertises the fact that there’s a house key sitting in a box, waiting to be stolen. On rare occasions where I’ve needed to leave a key for someone to get in, I’ve just hidden the key under something, sometimes involving some digging to get to it. Covered and no external clues that a key is anywhere to be found

this as I said upthread.

Original poster

HurdyGurdy19 · 01/12/2025 20:49

SemiRetiredLoveGoddeess · 01/12/2025 19:54

OMG.

Where on earth do you live?

Sounds like a real no go area

Did you not hear any noise whilst all this was happening!

We are actually in a nice part of town, with very low crime rate, in Bedfordshire (we've been assured it's not going to be on 24 Hours in Police Custody, as they are not currently filming in the area 😃)

We really didn't hear a thing. My son's bedroom is in the converted garage, and he's not usually a heavy sleeper, but he wasnt disturbed at all.

The video doorbell was ripped off and thrown on the front grass, so probably not much noise. I don't know how much noise was made when they popped the keysafe off and left it on the driveway.

Forensics have finished with my son's car now. He was told that they found blood in his car, which they can "link to another job", so the police seem quietly confident that they could catch them.

We have had a spare key cut for my car, and my husband has replaced the barrel lock on the front door, whilst waiting for a more robust lock to be fitted.

I slept zero hours last night, constantly listening for the sound of a key being inserted into the lock, and hypervigilant to every little noise outside. I'm hoping to sleep better tonight.

OP posts:

Hollyhobbi · 01/12/2025 22:51

Op I'm surprised you don't have a house alarm? What with all the other security you had like the doorbell etc.

CautiousLurker2 · 01/12/2025 23:14

We explored a keysafe as we have a cleaner and dogsitters and occasionally get caught short (DH doesn’t carry a door key as his car is an EV and operated by his phone 🤦🏽‍♀️) and have to go to a friend who has a spare. however, our home insurance state clearly on their website that they may not cover you if you use one.

TheMellowSquid · 18/12/2025 11:22