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Your Garden is the first line of defence against intruders - Protect yourself.
Unsecured tools are often used by burglars to break into your home.
Power tools and mowers are an attractive target for thieves, and are expensive for you to replace. Officially £20 million of property was stolen from gardens last year.
THINGS YOU CAN DO
- Ensure your perimeter fencing and hedging is in a good state of repair.
- Use thorny shrubs as barriers and to fill gaps in hedges etc.
- Any boundary at the rear of the premises needs to be 6ft (1.8 metres) in height.
- Bushes and shrubs in the front garden need to be well maintained and kept below one metre in height to allow neighbours to see who is at your door.
- Consider adding trellis to existing low fences and walls, it's not easy to climb over quietly.
- Fit locks to gates, make sure it's not easy to get to the rear of your property easily, 75% of house burglaries are through the rear of the house.
- Put away tools and equipment, and ensure all sheds are securely locked, using closed shackle padlocks.
- Reinforce the hasp on the shed on the inside using hardwood and extra length screws. Line windows with chicken wire. Put chains through tool handles and secure or keep in a secure metal box or cage.
- Anchor garden valuables like statues and plant pots/hanging baskets. They are available from DIY centres and some specialist companies. Spike plant pots through the drain holes and consider hooks and chains for anything movable ie statues/ornaments and conceal chain with soil or bark.
- Install outside security lighting on a sensor. Make sure these are fitted high so they cannot be pulled down.
- Consider using gravel on driveways and under windows and doors, it's difficult to walk on quietly.
- If you have a burglar alarm, try to extend it to garages and sheds. Check out shed alarms at DIY centres.
- Photograph valuable statues or ornaments or garden furniture.
- Mark your property with your postcode or consider an electronic tag: it helps us reunite stolen property with its rightful owner.
- Check your household insurance policy covers your garden and shed or consider taking out an adequate insurance to cover your garden equipment.
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