Most people are aware that the average garden shed can contain a lot of items. Think about this for a moment and add up the items you have in your own shed. Lawn mower, strimmer, hedge trimmers and many other things can all add up to a very expensive batch of items that you need to look after.
It is not surprising then that a lot of people experience thefts from their garden. Thieves know that these items are usually quite easy to get rid of for a cash sum. Boot sales can often be good places to get ‘second hand’ goods like this, even though you are not strictly allowed to sell electrical items. Somehow we don’t think thieves are too worried about sticking to laws like that.
And it is not only homes that are at risk from such thefts. If you search online at any time – particularly during the warmer summer months – you will always find a raft of reports and news items concentrating on the fact that thefts of this nature are rife wherever you go.
Let’s take a look at two examples where a home was not the target of a theft. The first one occurred in Essex, where a well known golf club was the target of a theft which saw gardening equipment stolen. Another incident occurred in Kidderminster when a thief stole a hedge trimmer worth £300. The unfortunate victim was a workman who was carrying out some gardening work at the time.
These are unfortunately just two examples of thefts which have occurred in recent times. And there are plenty more where they came from too. Electrical items such as hedge trimmers are easy to get away with for opportunistic thieves. They may be seen making off with them, but they are generally reasonably easy to carry. This means that if you have one you should be careful not to let it out of your sight if you are working in your own front garden.
The back garden is not as problematic for opportunist crimes of course. But you should still ensure that all your gardening tools are safely put away and locked up in your shed at the end of each gardening day. You should do everything you legally can to make your garden secure as well. Good measures are to grow prickly hedges around your boundary, as thieves don’t tend to like climbing over these!
And of course you will have the right set of hedge trimmers to help you keep such an item well trimmed and looking at its best as well.
It would be easy to start worrying about how secure your gardening equipment is at all times. But the key to remember is that you can do a lot to protect your own items. Some thieves only take items which are on show and easy to snatch – so make sure your items don’t fall into this category.