To think I shouldn't have to chain down everything in my garden to stop it being stolen?

[PiousPrat]

my back garden can't be seen from the front due to an 8 foot fence at the side of the house. The back garden can only be seen from a small access road which is used by around 6 houses who don't have parking at the front of their house. No one goes down this road except the local kids who play there, the 6 houses and the odd scrap merchant. Fairly secluded and I thought pretty safe.

Seems i thought wrong. I have had to chase dodgy scrappies out of the garden before to stop them nicking off with the kids seesaw. It was still taken later. Now my 11 year olds bike has been taken from the side of the house. You can't even see this side alley unless you are standing right by my gate and of the 6 houses that park down the road, only 3 of them are further down than me, so it really isn't somewhere anyone would have a legitamate reason to be. Some utter bastard has opened the garden gate, come down the path, opened the iron gate that pens the side alley in and fucked off with his bike.

What is the world coming to that a bike needs to be chained to an immovable object, even when it is behind 2 gates in a garden on a quiet street?

WIBU to hope whoever took it's nadgers fall off in a painful and public way?

Jeez - your poor DS!

Can't offer any practical advice but there are some real bastards out there who'll nick anything that isn't nailed down.

We've had a whole rabbit hutch stolen before... utterly ridiculous =/

Just awful.

We've had 'scrap metal people' wandering in the garden trying to get access to the back. So rude. I don't know what you can do about it either. I felt so angry when I caught one of them in the alley, he just flashed past me and back to his van. It's so intrusive. :(

Do they do this in daylight? If it's done at night time you could install a light that is activated by movement, which would act as a deterrent. Otherwsie could you put a bolt across your back gate?

Someone stole the pavement outside my old house. Proper yorkshire stone pavement. Council didnt even seem surprised either wehn i phoned.
Feel sorry for your DS.

It was about 9am, mirry - I work from home so there's mostly always somebody here but I think the assumption was that people would be at work.

Mirry2 the back gate does have a bolt. It was undone this morning when we found the bike missing and checked. The bolt is always drawn because the hinges are going a bit and the gate has slipped, so the bolt holds it in place.

I thought a rabbit hutch was bad (please tell me the rabbit wasn't in it at the time!) but to steal a pavement?

Actually I think scrap metal fetches big money - that's why they have had people knicking copper wires and cables and things from railways etc.
It's costing thousands and thousands of pounds not to mention the risks to safety.
There was an item on the news about it a while back.

We have gravel on our drive and path which is quite effective for alerting you to someone's presence - burglars don't like it apparently.

I have a heavy and broken gate which usually causes cursing and huffing from whoever tries to open it. That is usually a pretty effective warning system as well ;)

Although obviously not in this case :(

oiwheresthecoffee - I have noticed some of my yorkshire stone 'bricks' are missing out of my garden and wondered if someone is stealing them one at a time! . Not too fussed in this case as I don't like them and they are just stacked rather than cemented so a bit ricekty (previous owner had built a wall of them around the flower beds) but it's the bloody barefaced cheek of it isn't it!

All you can do is put proper solid gates, and locks on the boundaries to your property.

Call local policing team for advice - as if they give out smart water in your area to mark possesions with. Tell them about the dodgy scrapmen too. We have these locally and even the sight of them riles me.

Good grief - I just noticed I put knicking in that post - obviously I meant nicking.

Do you live in a crappy area? I'm not in the UK but I can (and do) leave childrens bikes, pram etc outside the house on the pavement, I can leave my car unlocked (and on more than one occasion with the keys in by mistake), and nothing has ever been stolen.

Well it isn't a naice leafy suburb a la Chipping Norton, but it is hardly Moss Side either. It's what used to be a council estate (houses not tower blocks if that matters) but is now about 85% owned, right on the outskirts of a large town that abuts a major city, but on the outside edge by fields rather than the city side. So all in I would say a decent area, if not a fabulous one. Certainly more working class than middle but with a fair proportion of SAHPs with a working partner, if that is any indicator of class ;)

To be honest though, even if I lived in the middle of a shitty estate in Shitsville, I would be pissed off that someone has walked into my garden and stolen what is obviously a child's bike and think it a sad reflection on society that anywhere would be deemed unsafe to leave a child's toys in their own garden for fear of theft.

I mean really, what sort of scum steals from a child?

that is pretty low, piousprat
however, I have heard of people having their fake grass stolen from their gardens which serves them bloody well right for having fake grass in the first place

Scrap metal is getting £180 - £190 a ton at the moment and a lot of the scrap merchants (the guys who run the scrap yards) pay cash, no questions asked.

Consequently, there is a thriving "trade" for scrap metal which is why you see more and more gypsies "scrappies" about. Add in the fact that the trade in gypsy horses for meat has dropped through the floor because Ireland has banned live export of horses to the continent, and it puts pressure on the scrap business because of more competition. Consequently the thieving fuckers are nicking anything

We are having serious issues around us - rural crime has increased and it's mostly metal items that are being stolen. fucking bastards

I couldnt believe it about the pavement. I was

My house is in a very small cul de sac, a few streets off a main road. Some bastard stole my bike off the back garden and stole ds's scooter. It was a cheap, rusty thing but he used it to help him get around as he has problems with his feet.

YANBU! So sorry about this OP. I've had someone come in my yard and try to nick the dogs crate when I wash washing it and had popped in house for a cuppa. Luckily my soft as shite big scary dog chased him off.

Report everything that has been stolen. Someone stole my Mam and Dad's gate once, they reported it and it was found. Local police are frequently stopping the vans and checking for stolen goods.

May I recommend a beware of the dog sign and a fake cctv camera? Real cameras are so expensive but you can pick up a really good looking one that has a flashy red light (needs two AA batteries) and it really puts people off. Also on a legal note taking any scrap without permission from someones property is stealing, even if it's obviously rubbish!

A few months back someone came round and started knocking on back doors. I wasn't sure if there was someone knicking so I wnet and checked and lo and behold a man. Was picking at stuff near the garden and asking if he could take it.
I phoned the non emergency police as I thought it was a bloody cheek to go round the back of peoples houses and start poking around.
There has been about five times within about a year that I have been delayed on local overground due to people stealing the cables.

OP it's totally out of order.

People where I live seem to think that if I leave anything in the garden if means I'm throwing it out. I've had to run after a guy carrying off my daughter's trampoline. When I caught up to him he seemed shocked that I wanted it back. I've also had kids trying to run off with my daughter's table and chairs, she only came in to get a cup of water and when she went back out they were gone.

I used to keep a web cam trained out of my back window because of this sort of thing - only generally caught cats, but I did get some pics of the local kids hopping the fence to have a look around.

Casual helping themselves type theft is really nasty.

My little garden table walked from the old house, it was an utterly worthless pound shop one.

Totally unimportant except that someone felt quite happy to open my gate, walk up my path and wander off with it in broad daylight.

We're now out in the sticks and sadly the more organised theft of vehicles and from sheds is a recurring problem.

I'm forever telling the the DDs to put their bikes well away from the gate and out of sight. Now they have adult ones it would be so easy for someone walking past to just ride off on them. Lots of cyclists on our lanes no one would notice.

My neighbour has had plants stolen from her garden! I know we're in a recession and all that, but plants and children's toys? What's happening to people?

We had my husbands cars exhaust stolen from the garage they had knocked and asked if they could have it and I said no it was being repaired, the next day it's gone, coincidence I think not

We've had a locked-up bike stolen from a 'tidy tent' in our back garden. Neatly-cut chain. And also had my spare wheel stolen - one of those that fit under the boot, so accessible from the outside of the car - again, attached by a metal cable that was snipped through.