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?

My mother had a load of large pot plants (think big shrubs and small-ish trees) stolen from her back garden the other week. They also tried to take the bird bath, but that was a bit heavy for them as they dropped it on the drive.

Metal theft is a big problem here too, and the police are targeting the vans used by the scrappies as it's apparently simpler and more effective than doing them for stealing. If they get the vans off the road then that stops the thieves, and I suspect police can more or less find something wrong with any white van on the road if they want to give the driver a hard time.

Is it possible for you to keep an eye out for the van and take the registration number? Also, it's definitely worth speaking to the local police about, if you haven't already.

Thorns and nettles are the way forward.

My dad got an old wheelbarrow, sans wheels, nicked recently. Fortunately he found it hilarious.

Got this thread makes me feel sad

Yup. Big problem. My friend's neighbour just had her metal garden furniture nicked.

What needs to happen is regulations for scrap metal dealers. They have to be made to feel that it simply isn't worth 'no questions asked' because it's likely to cost them money.

If people can't sell it - they won't nick it.

It would be nice if people were decent enough to not steal, but, well - ha!

So we need to see people turning up at a scrap metal dealers with an iron gate and being asked for drivers licence/passport, bill of sale/proof of ownership etc. Or something like that.

With huge huge huge fines for those who don't get that information.

It might help if people marked their property with their postcode in some way. The dealers should scan it and ask for proof of address. If they don't match they should call the police. I'm not sure if UV washes off?

I've had plants stolen from both my front and back gardens. NOT plants in pots, you understand, BUT plants which were planted in the ground! Cheeky buggers!!